Entourage, a citizen support network for homeless people

admin on 23 March 2022

A cell phone application that puts homeless people in contact with other people in the neighborhood or city, to break the spiral of loneliness in which they find themselves and their lack of social relationships.

Entourage is a collaborative network that strengthens the community contacts of homeless people, since the lack of relationships, invisibility and little attention are elements that prevent them from living a life of dignity. In addition, it helps to fight stereotypes, fear and lack of knowledge among citizens about how to act in this type of situation.

The application also has a solidarity guide that offers geolocated information on associations that offer services to the group. Entourage does not intend to be a network of only material help, but a network of egalitarian relationships that allows the humanization of both parties.

Entourage also ensures the protection of the data of the people who participate, as well as the obligatory nature of consent when creating a solidarity action towards the people who receive help. In addition, it has a system of moderation and verification of profiles that can delete content if it is not appropriate.

Characteristics of innovation

Bank of innovations, Homelessness and the right to housing, Lab, Link with the community, New model of intervention, New technological tool, Personalization of the service, Proximity care

Localization

France (Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, l’Îlle, Rennes)

Partners/Funders

Groupe SeLoger, Gouvernement de France, Impact 2024

Genesis

The Entourage project was born in 2012 on the initiative of Jean-Marc Potdevin, a person who met homeless people every day on his way to work, whom he began to meet and establish a bond. From this he became aware of their concerns and needs, as well as the lack of links suffered by people at risk of social exclusion. The existing social network works adequately in terms of medical devices, associations working in food services, temporary accommodation, etc. but it is lacking in terms of relationships and links to which these people have access.

That is why from 2014 the Entourage project took its first steps as an association and in 2015 the first version of the mobile application was released. It began to operate in Paris, and currently operates in 4 other French cities, with more and more participants and solidarity actions carried out.

Level of implementation

The application is working in five French cities: Paris, Grenoble, Îlle, Rennes and Lyon.

More than 130,000 people have joined the collaborative network, and more than 17,000 solidarity actions have been created. In addition, more than 15,000 people have been sensitized through its events.

Further information

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P.I.P.P.I., intensive care programme for vulnerable families with young children

admin on 4 March 2022

Girls playing.

Intensive and multidisciplinary intervention programme in vulnerable families to reduce the risk of children being removed from their nuclear family, articulating a set of combined actions in relation to children’s needs: intensive home care, group activities with other parents, accompaniment by volunteer families, and joint work with teachers and social workers from schools and social services.

In line with the aim of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to develop measures to ensure the best interests of the child, the Italian Ministry of Social Welfare, in partnership with the University of Padua, designed and implemented from 2011 this intensive care programme for vulnerable families called the Intervention Programme for the Prevention of Institutionalization. Its abbreviation, P.I.P.P.P.I. is at the same time inspired by the fictional character Pippi Långstrump, a creative and surprisingly resilient girl known all over the world.

As its name suggests, P.I.P.P.P.I. aims to prevent out-of-home care and respond to problems related to child neglect, taking into account the right of all children to quality care. When parental neglect is involved, and there is a subsequent removal of the child, the removal itself expropriates the competence of the parents. This practice does not seem to be the most desirable intervention, so P.I.P.P.Y. experiences a social response that attempts to put the developmental needs of children first.

P.I.P.P.P.Y. represents a co-ordinated and co-operative work between different institutions, professions and disciplines of social services, psychology and pedagogy to act together in order to achieve a reduction in the number of children removed from their families. At the same time, P.I.P.P.P.I. has developed its own tool for the assessment and evaluation of cases based on models from Scotland and Quebec.

P.I.P.P.P.Y. is now widespread throughout Italy, and several academic studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of this intervention model. The evaluation report of the seventh edition of the programme 2018-2020 provides evidence of the bonus results achieved.