GENERAL PRESENTATION
" Compagnons Bâtisseurs " (CBF) is an NGO founded in 1957. Its aim was to help a population that had
been hard hit by the effects of World War II, to reconstruct those homes destroyed during the conflict. From the very beginning up until today, CBF has been putting the principle of solidarity into practice in the form of workcamps, as well as promoting peace and better understanding between people from all over the world.
CBF is now composed as a network of one national organization and 9 regional organizations in
France:
- Rennes, Brest and Lanester in
Brittany.
- Bordeaux in Aquitaine.
- Clermont-Ferrand et Thiers inAuvergne.
- Montpellier in Languedoc
Roussillon.
- Marseille, Var et Vaucluse inProvence.
- Lyon in Rhône-Alpes.
- Paris in Ile de France.
- Saint Denis in Reunion island (IndianOcean).
- Tours in the Centre.
It carries out 3 activities throughout the year which are:
- Technical, financial and social support supplied to families and people in need, those oftenmarginalized from society and to organizations dedicated to collective interest projects, regarding the improvement of housing. The aim is to work along with the owner or renter of the house or flat, and with neighbourhoods networks
- Professional integration into building trades through construction site, training course... The aim isto help people with social or professional difficulties to re-enter the job market.
- Promote and develop voluntary by:
Encouraging the participation in voluntary actions of a diversity of people from CBF network (LTV, MTV, STV from workcamps, volunteers from the Executive Committee, families who participated in the renovation of their home, neighbourhoods networks, people coming from professional integration activities). The aim is to encourage mobility and participation inside the CBF network and also abroad through Alliance networks.
Offering the possibility to participate in workcamps (2 or 3 weeks) in France and abroard, most of the time in the field of housing, ecological constructions, surroundings and standard of living. Workcamps projects deal with construction and renovation of buildings such as social centres, community buildings or heritage buildings (old fountains, washhouses, wells, old stone bread ovens).
Coordinating LTV projects. Each regional organisation hosts between 2 and 11 volunteers, men and women over 18 years old who mainly come from France or European Union. The volunteers work together with families and neighbourhoods networks to help them renovating their house and reinvesting their homes.
LONG TERM VOLUNTEERS WITH COMPAGNONS BATISSEURS FRANCE
With an intervention in the field of building (from renovation to construction) the voluntary sector brings concrete help to families or people in need, often excluded from society and to organisations dedicated to collective interest projects.
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The teams intervene with and for the families for the improvement of their living conditions, giving them in this way the means to reinvest their housing. Volunteers work in one of the five local Compagnons Bâtisseurs organizations in France, and they share a community life.
THE VOLUNTEERS
The volunteer posts are open to girls and boys over 18 from different nationalities, with or without preliminary knowledge in construction and renovation. They have different status: European Voluntary Service volunteers, conscientious objectors, and Civic Service volunteers (French status). They all must be prepared to commit themselves in the fulfilment of the objectives of the organisationand develop their awareness of:
- Working closely with families in need and with organisations involved in community projects
- Participating to associative and communal life.
- Working as a genuine part of a team outside traditional structures
- Sharing a different experience of life.
This commitment is very demanding but also offers unquestionable experience and awareness of responsibility.On the project, volunteers also will find many ways to enjoy themselves through new acquaintances and cultural exchanges.
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