Afev

Afev (Association de la fondation étudiante pour la ville) is a French non-profit association founded in 1992 by three students — Christophe Borgel, Agnès Bathiany and Nicolas Delesque. Its mission is to mobilise student volunteers in solidarity actions and educational support within working-class neighbourhoods, based on the conviction that young people, and students in particular, are a lever for fighting inequality, especially educational inequality. The organisation was created in the context of the deployment of French urban policy and the observation that some young people in working-class neighbourhoods were being marginalised by social inequality. Afev's historical programme is student educational mentoring: a student volunteer spends two hours per week with a child or teenager facing academic or social difficulties, helping them with their schoolwork, rebuilding confidence and motivation, and working on cultural exchange, mobility, orientation and projection towards post-secondary education. The first actions developed at the time of Afev's creation in five cities — Marseille, Caen, Décines, Villiers-sur-Marne and Chennevières — before gradually spreading throughout France and to Spain, with the opening of its first Afev branch in Barcelona. Three years after its creation, Afev reached more than 50 sites and mobilised nearly 2,000 students who supported nearly 3,500 children. Over the decades, Afev has diversified its forms of engagement. Since 2005 it has offered Service Civique volunteering dedicated to educational actions, and since 2010 it has run the Kaps solidarity flat-shares, in which students live together and create solidarity projects with local residents. Other programmes include Apprentis Solidaires, which makes apprenticeship accessible to young people without qualifications, and Démo'Campus, which prepares, supports and guides young people in their educational pathways. Afev also organises the annual Journée du refus de l'échec scolaire (Day of Refusal of School Failure), bringing together experts, politicians, association members and civil society to discuss solutions to school dropout. In 2024, Afev's activity report recorded 531 priority urban neighbourhoods reached, 20,911 mentees, 20,465 volunteers, 1,093 Kaps residents, 1,305 Service Civique volunteers and 590 Apprentis Solidaires. The association is grouped into 68 hubs and employs 456 staff. It is also present in Catalonia and Guadeloupe. Afev is a non-profit association under the French law of 1901. Its 2023–2024 budget closed at 30.5 million euros, with 78% of expenses being personnel costs. It benefits from the historical support of the BNP Paribas Foundation and counts around twenty private donors, including the SNCF Foundation (programme "trouver sa voie"), FDJ and the Break Poverty Foundation. Its partners include social and solidarity economy organisations such as Les Petits Débrouillards and Unis-Cité, as well as institutional partners such as the Ministry of National Education. Christophe Paris is the Director General.

Afev was founded in 1992 by three students: Christophe Borgel, a former president of UNEF-ID, Agnès Bathiany and Nicolas Delesque. The association was created in the context of the deployment of French urban policy and following the observation that some young people in working-class neighbourhoods were being marginalised and were victims of social inequality. Their aim was to react to the indignation provoked by inequalities, based on their conviction that young people — and students in particular, through their willingness to commit — are a lever for fighting inequality, especially educational inequality. Their idea was to facilitate encounters between students and neighbourhoods. Student educational mentoring was Afev's flagship programme from the start. A student volunteer devotes two hours per week to a child or teenager in academic or social difficulty, helping them in their path, restoring their confidence and desire to learn. Beyond homework, volunteers and mentees work together on cultural exchange, mobility, orientation and projection towards post-secondary education. The first actions developed at the time of Afev's creation in five cities — Marseille, Caen, Décines, Villiers-sur-Marne and Chennevières — before gradually spreading throughout France and to Spain, with the opening of its first Afev branch in Barcelona. Three years after its creation, Afev reached more than 50 sites and mobilised nearly 2,000 students who supported nearly 3,500 children. Over the decades, Afev diversified its forms of engagement. Since 2005 it has offered Service Civique volunteering dedicated to educational actions, and since 2010 it has run the Kaps solidarity flat-shares, in which students live together and create solidarity projects with local residents. Other programmes include Apprentis Solidaires, which makes apprenticeship accessible to young people without qualifications, and Démo'Campus, which prepares, supports and guides young people in their educational pathways. Afev also organises the annual Journée du refus de l'échec scolaire (Day of Refusal of School Failure), bringing together experts, politicians, association members and civil society to discuss solutions to school dropout; the 2023 edition was the 16th, dedicated to the theme "Tous égaux devant la lecture ?" with youth author Marie Despleschin as patron. In 2024, Afev's activity report recorded 531 priority urban neighbourhoods reached, 20,911 mentees, 20,465 volunteers, 1,093 Kaps residents, 1,305 Service Civique volunteers and 590 Apprentis Solidaires. The association is grouped into 68 hubs and employs 456 staff. It is also present in Catalonia and Guadeloupe. Afev is a non-profit association under the French law of 1901. Its 2023–2024 budget closed at 30.5 million euros, with 78% of expenses being personnel costs. It benefits from the historical support of the BNP Paribas Foundation and counts around twenty private donors, including the SNCF Foundation (programme "trouver sa voie"), FDJ and the Break Poverty Foundation. Its partners include social and solidarity economy organisations such as Les Petits Débrouillards and Unis-Cité, as well as institutional partners such as the Ministry of National Education. Christophe Paris is the Director General.

• 2024

  Activity report records 531 priority urban neighbourhoods reached, 20,911 mentees, 20,465 volunteers, 1,093 Kaps residents, 1,305 Service Civique volunteers and 590 Apprentis Solidaires; 68 hubs and 456 staff.

• 2023

  16th edition of the Journée du Refus de l'Échec Scolaire, dedicated to the theme "Tous égaux devant la lecture ?" with Marie Despleschin as patron.

• 2010

  Afev launches the Kaps solidarity flat-shares.

• 2005

  Afev begins offering Service Civique volunteering dedicated to educational actions.

• 1995

  Three years after its creation, Afev reaches more than 50 sites and mobilises nearly 2,000 students supporting nearly 3,500 children.

• 1992

  Afev founded by three students: Christophe Borgel, Agnès Bathiany and Nicolas Delesque.

Non-profit student association fighting educational inequality and building solidarity links between campuses and working-class neighbourhoods.

• Mentorat bénévole

  A student volunteer spends two hours per week with a child or teenager in academic or social difficulty, helping with schoolwork, confidence, cultural exchange, mobility and orientation.

• Volontariat en Service Civique

  Service Civique volunteering dedicated to educational actions, offered since 2005.

• Colocations solidaires Kaps

  Students live together in solidarity flat-shares and create solidarity projects with local residents; residents are called kapseurs.

• Apprentis Solidaires

  Makes apprenticeship accessible to young people without qualifications.

• Démo'Campus

  Prepares, supports and guides young people in their educational pathways, including discovering university.

• Tiers-lieux

  Open and solidarity third places opened by Afev.

1. 1Afev - Construisons ensemble une société plus juste et solidaireafev.org
2. 230 ans d'Action de l'Association | Afevafev.org
3. 3Afevwikidata.org
4. 4Afevfr.wikipedia.org