France

As the head of a European consortium, we support libraries in their role of welcoming exiled populations by sharing good practices, resources, and networking.  
 
Financial partners: Union Européenne – Fonds Asile et Migrations 
Operational partners: ANVITA, ACV, KISC, FRSI, EBLIDA, BSF Italie 
Tools: E-PANEMA platform and practice guides

We help a thousand underprivileged children, from kindergarten to middle school, discover the joy of reading. Thanks to our actions, each child can also build their first personal library by receiving ten books of their choice.   

Financial partners: Académie de Nantes, Établissement public territorial Grand-Orly Seine Bièvre, Fonds MAIF pour l’Éducation, Fondation Valentin Ribet  

Operational partners: DSDEN de Mayenne, École de la Vallée aux Renards à L’Haÿ-les-Roses  

Tools: 10,143 books

From metropolitan France to overseas territories, we support associations, socio-medical organizations, retailers, and citizens committed to creating their own microlibraries to rebuild social ties through reading. 
 
Fincancial partners: Fondation Cultura, Ministère de la Culture, Fondation Pierre Bellon, Fondation Almayuda 
Tools: 29,705 books 

We offer backpacks filled with books, selected by their classmates, to thousands of newly arrived allophone students in France to support their language learning and discovery of their host country.  
 
Financial partners: Centre national du livre, Fondation Valentin Ribet, Fondation du Crédit Mutuel pour la lecture, Strasbourg Capitale mondiale du livre 
Operational partners: Academies of Paris, Amiens, Aix-Marseille, Créteil and Strasbourg  
Tools: 16,150 books 

Every winter, several sports complexes in central Paris open their doors to homeless people. There, they can eat a hot meal, shower in the changing rooms, and sleep on camp beds. BSF sets up an Ideas Box and offers cultural activities there three times a week. The residents can use this time to entertain themselves, play games, watch films, or take care of administrative tasks required to get reestablished in society. In 2022, the Ideas Box was deployed in a former shopping center at the Porte de Saint-Cloud, which was converted into a shelter during the winter.

Started in 2019 in Marseille, Between Generations is a documentary project supported by the Inter-ministerial Committee for the Prevention of Delinquency and Radicalization that promotes intergenerational discussion between residents sharing a neighborhood. The project’s goal is to encourage young people to film their elders and ask them questions about their history, the concept of identity, and the feeling of belonging. This gives them the opportunity to learn how to produce a report and conduct an interview. In 2022, new videos were produced in several cities: Villepinte, Toul, Arcachon, Marseille and Koungou in Mayotte.

With the CNP Assurances Foundation, BSF has developed Health Ideas Box programs since 2017 to strengthen the quality of health-related information among adolescents and young adults. The greater Boulonnais community, the city of Sarcelles, and the Île-de-France Regional Center for Information and Prevention of AIDS and Youth Health (Crips) regularly deploy them in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The Health Ideas Box kits facilitate the implementation of awareness-raising activities on the themes of emotional and sexual life, prevention of alcohol and drug abuse, and healthy living overall. With the help of a scientific committee, a health prevention kit has also been created for facilitators, teachers, school nurses, and librarians who are partners in our projects in France. They can find themed content, activity sheets, and training tools to organize workshops for their audiences.

In 2019, in response to a call for projects, the town of Sarcelles welcomed our second Health Awareness Ideas Box. Developed in 2017 thanks to the support of the Fondation CNP Assurances, and first installed in the Boulonnais community, this thematic Ideas Box supports activities of health awareness and prevention among children, adolescents, and young adults. By proposing content adapted to their needs, the Ideas Box allows them to learn more about health in this formative period of their lives. Workshops also turn them into artists and content creators (video, theater) who showcase their skills to their friends and family.

Our teams selected six topics to discuss: emotional and sexual relations; well-being; prevention against drug consumption; food; physical activity and sleep; and access to healthcare for the disabled. In 2020, a third call for projects for districts and associations will bring a third Health Awareness Ideas Box to the community for the youth of the city’s Municipal Priority Districts. A Health Awareness Kit was also created in 2020 to be used by facilitators, teachers, school nurses, librarians, and partner organizations, everywhere in France, to support a first encounter with health issues. Users will be able to find content organized by theme, activity sheets, and training tools. Within the Ideas Box and the Ideas Cube, the kit will allow us to make use of some of the activities developed in the Health Awareness Ideas Box.

Ample content on prevention and awareness of Covid-19 will also be available in the kit. Finally, we will launch this year an appeal to a scientific commission that will, as its principal mission, define the broader strategic and technical stakes of the project and approve the pedagogic resources in the Health Prevention Ideas Box and the kit. This commission is composed of experts in the fields of unequal access to medical care and in the topics outlined above.

In rural areas, we welcome and orient young people who are distant from education and employment friendly, connected spaces to broaden their professional horizons and to dare to dream.  
 
Operational and financial partners: Fondation d’entreprise TotalEnergies, Conseil régional Bourgogne Franche Comté, Conseil départemental de la Haute Garonne, Fédération Léo Lagrange, Ville de Mont-Saint-Martin, Forvia, Préfecture de Guyane, Info Jeunesse Jura 
Tools: 7 Ideas Box 

As part of the SEA BEYOND oceanic educational programme, we are raising youth awareness in underprivileged neighbourhoods of Naples for ocean conservation through educational activities on biodiversity, climate, and the sustainable management of resources with a SEA BEOYND Ideas Box specially designed with the help of UNESCO-IOC experts. 

Themed content is also included in 18 Ideas Boxes in France, Burundi, and Ivory Coast.

Financial partners: Groupe Prada and UNESCO-IOC
Operational partner: Fondation Quartieri Spagnoli
Tools: 1 Ideas Box

After the Chido hurricane struck, BSF and its partners shipped two tons of school supplies to the archipelago to equip a thousand students across the Local Education Authority with writing materials, notebooks, pencil cases, and school bags.  

In 2025, we plan to deploy several Ideas Box and microlibraries to ensure educational continuity and to offer educational, cultural, and psychosocial support to the children and families affected.

Partners: Cultura, Fondation Cultura, STABILO International, and Hachette Livre 

We contribute to the fight against youth illiteracy by training local education stakeholders to run radio workshops and create podcasts.
 
Financial partners: Institut National de la Jeunesse et de l’Education Populaire (Fonds d’Expérimentation pour la Jeunesse), ministère de la Culture, Fondation VINCI pour la cité, Collectivité Territoriale de Guyane 
Operational partners: aking Waves, Atelier Canopé Guyane 
Tools : 1 pedagogical kit and 1 Radio Box