Dear Friends,

We are pleased to welcome you at the first youth exchange organized in Vitry/Seine with “Planète Lilas”, a partner with whom SCI organize workcamps for the third year !

A - The partner :

Planete Lilas is a new NGO gathering inhabitants of the town of Vitry sur Seine willing to bring a new dynamic in the area. In 2006 they decided to create the NGO to start activities on the Park of Lilas and  the local authority (Conseil Général) made available a land for Planete Lilas to help them develop their project of collective garde in order to allow the new members to share knowledge about gardening and social economy.

Many activities are planned to take place on the site of the garden, in which the collectif garden is the starting point.

• A place for fare trade allowing the inhabitants to be active in the way of consuming.
• A place for the inhabitants to meet and have divers activities.
• A place for citizenship.
• A collectif garden.

The first production was distributed and sold among the members and those who work on the garden.

Now, a gardener organizes the work, with regular participation of inhabitants and volunteers from the organization and from SCI. The sale takes place 2 times/week on the garden and a weekly basket is sold to members.

Planete Lilas progressively organizes a social economy from the producer to the consumer by distributing biological vegetables and being autonomous by combining ecology, biological agriculture, fair trade, social economy, solidarity and local dynamic.

The garden is also used as a animation and pedagogical tool It offers educational activities for schoolchildren (once a week, on Wednesday), introduces members gardening and organizing events, creating a place of conviviality.

On a second step, the production might be more important and should allow Planete Lilas to start faire trade exchange.

They wished the presence of volunteers to start the work on the garden and around. Your presence will increase the impact of the project locally and make it possible to develop the animation work.

Service Civil International :

« SCI believes that all the people are capable of living together with mutual respect and without recourse to any form of violence to solve conflicts ».

• Fragments of the international SCI Constitution.

Service Civil International (SCI) is a voluntary organisation founded in 1920 with 33 branches and groups world wild. The aims are to promote peace, international understanding and solidarity, social justice, sustainable development, and respect for the environment.

The aim of the workcamps has always been twofold, contributing to peace and social justice, by doing a practical and constructive job for a project partner ad improving mutual understanding through working together with people from different countries and backgrounds.

Volunteers on a workcamp : We would like to remind you that SCI is not an alternative travel agency and that there is more behind our projects than holidays in France. We expect from every volunteer a high level of motivation, co-operation, flexibility and open-mindedness. SCI workcamps are based on self-organisation and this is also what makes them unique and enriching !

B- The Project:

The project will take place in Paris for the first night (accomodation in a building from Salvation Army, Paris 13°) and then in Vitry/seine (5 km South of Paris) where our partner, Planète Lilas propose an agricultural activity on 2 hectares.

The program will include little care and farming work (weeding, watering, small market in the garden on Wednesday and Saturday, etc.), visits connected with environment and culture, exchanges time about environment, its protection... in our countries (every national group can prepare a discussion about organic agriculture in their country, permaculture, fair trade, etc.), workshop with a peace messenger and with an environmental messenger, 2 afternoon to create a handbook about the exchange and good environmental practices ; each participants and each partner will receive then a copy of this handbook to be able to present the project, its aims, environment in the four countries involved, etc (you can already think about it, ideas that you will put in it, and also pictures or materials).

The participants

The project will involve 16 young aged between 18 and 25 years old coming from France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, and 5 leaders/coordinators ; so, 21 persons will be involved in the project.

Participants can have a disadvantaged background or not, the important thing is that everybody have to be informed of the possible presence of ''disadvantaged'' participants from other countries and must be prepared to live and to share the experience and the daily life with everybody.

The participants can't enter in France more than 2 days before the exchange and have to leave not more than 2 days after the exchange.

In case of reduced number of participants from one organization, the contribution to this organization could be reduced.