Equal Opportunities for Older Women
About the initiative Content and framework conditions Organisational background Back
L'Entracte (Intermission)
Communicational details
Address:
33, Rue Barthélemy Delespaul
59000 Lille
France
Contact persons and their known foreign languages:
Jean-Pierre BULTEZ, Managing Director of the Association, English
Yvonne LEITE, Initiative Co-ordinator, Portuguese, Spanish
Telephone: + 33 (0)3 20 57 84 83
Telefax: + 33 (0)3 20 15 17 37
E-Mail:
Internet:
About the initiative
Status of the initiative:

The initiative is an initiative aimed at improving equal opportunities for older women through an organisation that pursues objectives which are independent of gender or age.
The initiative is independent and has the following legal form: registered association
The initiative has the dicisive support of the following organisation:
L'Association les petits frères des Pauvres
Address:
2, Rue Jean Moulin
59800 Lille
Frankreich
Telephone: + 33 (0)3 20 74 01 02
Telefax: + 33 (0)3 20 74 01 28
E-Mail: pflille@aol.com
Internet:
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Content and framework conditions of the project work
The initiative was founded in: 1988
The initiative was founded because of the following reasons:

Our aim is to extend our radius of activity in order to...
- combat the loss of status suffered by women over 50 (women without children, women with grown-up children, divorced women, separated women, etc);
- support women with no income (with no more than 350 FF a month, i.e. 53.56 Euro);
create a friendly social infrastructure for women over 50 living in Lille.
Target group(s): Single women in precarious material circumstances who are cut off from their social environment and friends.
Targets: All round help: Before the RMI existed [Revenu Minimal d'Insertion (Minimal Integration Income): financial assistance paid by the French government for which certain categories of people without an income are qualified - translator's note], we limited ourselves to purely financial aid. Today we maintain contact with those affected with the aim of finding them permanent accommodation. An important aspect of our work is helping these women to re-establish social contacts and to improve their self-image.
Details of the work done by the initiative:

1. Individual counselling
- Listening to the women concerned in an atmosphere of trust created by the volunteer worker;
- Helping the women to deal with the authorities;
- Smoothing the way to social welfare and health services;
-Sponsoring personal projects

2. Group counselling
- through the l'Entracte workshops: jam making, communal atelier, mosaic workshop - health workshop;
- through being together: holidays, weekends, trips, leisure time activities.
Areas of work of the initiative:
Care
Leisure/sport
Material aid
Social contacts
Health
Living circumstances
Unemployment among women
Culture
Success that the initiative has achieved:

- A greater sense of self worth;
- Friendships among the participants;
- The ability to start out on projects again;
- In some cases, the re-establishment of contact with the family.
Problems that the initiative has been faced during its work:

- The difficulty of establishing and maintaining a balance between dealing with emergencies on the one hand and following the precept of long-term support on the other.
-Emergencies take many forms and force us to deal with heterogeneous, often conflict-laden groups (for instance integrating the behaviourally disturbed).
Participation of the target group concerning the conception, planning and implementation of the initiative's work:

Internally: chaired group sessions in which everybody can speak freely (here we discuss the l'Entreacte project and relations with the volunteers, and also the life of the group).
Externally: The women we help themselves support our project, through helping to run our street stands, through selling our home-made jam, and through their participation in conferences and in theatre performances at our international meetings.
Co-operation:

Since 1998 we have been working together with associations in our city district and in the city in general; we have been co-operating with the city administration, passing on information about crisis situations and working together on solutions to crisis situations involving women over 50.

We belong to a European network which campaigns against the marginalisation of women in the cities.
Information:

We are available for people interested in receiving more information on our initiative by phone, post or e-mail.
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Organisational background of the initiative
Staff:

2 salaried employees at the supporting organisation.
12 volunteers/honorary members.
The total number of hours worked for the initiative is approx. 120 hours per week.
Budget:

276,000FF (42,076 Euro) for the year 2000
Sources of funding:
State funds (in F regional)
Local government funds (in F department)
Revenue from the project work
Funds from the supporting organisation(s)
Donations and funds from sponsors
Publications or information material available on our initiative:

- Press articles;
- Annual reports on our activities.
Recommended literature:
Tips and suggestions for people interested in foundig a similar initiative:

- Recognise the especial importance of training/educating the volunteers with whom one works;
- Build up on the existing variety of activities and fields of activity (culture, health, etc.) in order to create the necessary foundation for making global support work;
- Networking.
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2001-04-25