Nominees of the 2014 European Convergences Award

The three nominees for the European Award have been selected by the jury members! Here’s a closer look at the three projects.

“Micro-insurance: customized coverage for micro-entrepreneurs”

A project by ADIE in partnership with AXA and MACIF.

The objective of the project is to limit exposure to risk for micro-enterprises started by people living in vulnerable situations who are supported and financed by ADIE through their services dedicated to micro-insurance. The principal objective of the partnership is to create access to services (professional insurance) specifically adapted to the needs of the micro-entrepreneurs supported by the association.
The offered services complete the wide range of services that ADIE already provides (support and financing), which will reinforce the overall relevance of its interventions.

“Bâtiment Housing fast” (Housing Fast Building)

A project by Infirmiers de rue (Nurses of the Streets) in partnership with Care & 1000 Homes

The central objective of the project is the reinsertion of homeless people in Brussels into adapted housing. The social impact is twofold. First, Infirmiers de rue works on social reinsertion by supporting homeless individuals through direct psycho-medical and social services all the way from the streets to their stabilization in housing. Second, Care & 1000 Homes offers adapted lodging to people who do not have access to housing at the existing market prices. These homes are sustainable in order to allow patients to stay in stable housing over the long-term.

This approach is specific because it focuses on the most vulnerable homeless patients, and it was selected following a 2012 feasibility study with the help of university students in Brussels and other specialists on housing the homeless in New York, Vienna, Amsterdam, etc. The initial experiences of this project show success rates between 80-92% for reinserting long-term homeless people in individual housing for over two years.

“Club VertuVin”

A project by Solivers in partnership with Simply Market

The creation of Club VertuVin brought with it an economic and social response to the problem of inclusion for people with disabilities by providing work in a protected sector and acting as a bridge toward a more “ordinary” way of life. These solidarity businesses in the wine industry that develop quality (and often organic) products deserve to be more widely recognized. Their commercial development operates around the values of the social and solidarity economy on the initiative of SCIC Solivers and is supported by the supermarket network Simply Market.