Grande-Synthe became a mid-size industrial town in the 1960s when the French State decided to implement a plan of industrialization. The town is currently facing social, economic and ecological challenges. Grande-Synthe has a poverty rate of 30% and an unemployment rate of 29% (reaching 46% for people aged 15-24). 45% of people aged +15 have a low educational background. Business creation has decreased by 20% from 2010 to 2015.
Since the 2000s, Grande-Synthe has implemented a sustainable development and wellbeing-oriented strategy for the city and its inhabitants. It declared itself a “Transition Town” in 2011. In 2017, it decided to launch a project improving the social, economic and ecological resilience through the setting-up of entrepreneurial communities. This project aims to:
In 2017, “Agence France Entrepreneur” launched a call for projects entitled “Develop, lead and coordinate support for the creation and revival of business in vulnerable territories” aiming at facilitating the development of economic activities in disadvantaged areas.
In Grande-Synthe, 1% of the firms employ 44% of the working population. 45% of the workers depend on decisions made abroad. At the local level, only 38 businesses have been created for 10.000 inhabitants in 2016, whereas the rate reached 83 creations at the national level.
The municipality decided with their partners to participate in this call for projects through “OSE” On S’Entreprend à Grande-Synthe. This project questions the local development model and supports the intention of the municipality to contribute to a fairer and more inclusive local economy, enabling social cohesions and ecological conservation. The main stakeholders are the House of Initiative (an association carrying out the orientation and support to vulnerable populations and developing a set of innovative methods in the field of social and professional integration), BGE Flandre Création (an association specialized in the coaching and training of entrepreneurs), and social associations of the territory.
The target group are the inhabitants of priority areas in the town representing half of the population.
This project will be developed in several stages: uncovering talents and awareness raising, accompanying, financing, and setting-up a Third Place.
One of the most important aspects of this project is the improvement of the collaborative momentum between local stakeholders thanks to individual and collective meetings and team-building workshops.
The original aspects of this project are:
This experimental approach aims at finding new responses to improve the access to employment, the wellbeing and the blossoming of the whole community.
“OSE” is a young project so all results stated below are expected results:
The results will be measured and assessed through the entrepreneurial index calculated at the beginning and the end of the project, through the impact study.
The purpose is to create an entrepreneurship community involving a plethora of actors, such as the civil society, trade organizations, city representatives, businessmen, trade unions, schools, associations, journalists.
In this project, the ultimate goal, beyond the creation of firms itself, is to:
The design of most of the outputs of “OSE” is thought to have a scale-up and long-lasting effect:
Through the awareness-raising process, we will work with many stakeholders in order to promote the entrepreneurial culture through:
From the beginning of the project, the project team identified the essential conditions for the success of “OSE”.
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability
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