In the basement of the Restos du Coeur reintegration and distribution center in Dijon, Christophe, an RSA beneficiary for almost two years, takes advantage of his free time to repair computers and give highway code lessons to the Restos du Coeur. at least five hours a week. Since 2020, the city has encouraged RSA beneficiaries to carry out volunteer hours on a voluntary basis.
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Volunteering, therefore, as proposed by the current President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron: the candidate for his re-election thus proposes in his electoral program that the approximately 1.95 million beneficiaries of the allowance carry out 15 to 20 hours of activity. or training per week. A proposal that has caused trouble in its own camp and is debated, especially on the side of associations.
“Volunteering already allows us to be useful and to help people who are at the same level as us and to find a certain place in a society”, emphasizes Christophe, who also readily concedes that not everyone can do the same.
“Make no mistake, volunteering is expensive: you have to be able to get around by car, for example.”
Christophe, RSA beneficiary and volunteerat franceinfo
“Me, I live in the middle of the village and if I do my volunteering in Dijon, at the Restos du Coeur, I have an hour’s drive to go, two hours’ drive in all, and you have to travel by car , continues Christophe. And at 500 euros per month, there are other priorities, such as eating, among others!
In Côte d’Or, it is the association France Bénévolat and Daniel Jaquier who make the link between the Departmental Council and the beneficiaries of the RSA. Daniel Jaquier is not really convinced by an income subject to conditions. “To be involved in community life for a long time, warns Daniel Jaquier, we know that volunteering cannot be decreed, is not compulsory and it is really everyone’s desire to join an association in order to feel useful, recognized and competent.”
In Alsace, the experiment was tried to condition the payment of the RSA to an associative commitment to seven hours of obligatory volunteering. A measure rejected after only a few months by the administrative court. “Since, indicates Frédéric Bierry, president of the regional council of Alsace, volunteering is offered on a voluntary basis. Result: we have 41,000 RSA beneficiaries in the Alsatian perimeter and today, there are about 300 who have associative activities. That is to say less than 1%, according to the associations. The real problem, on the ground, is support in the most rural areas: it happens that beneficiaries do not see integration advisers for several years.