Social entrepreneur´s profile:

Libraries Without Borders For Refugee Children in Harsh Realities of Confinement

His solution at a glance:Bibliothèques Sans Frontières Libraries Without Borders brings knowledge and information to those who are furthest away from it. To contribute the pedagogical continuity during times of lockdown, Jérémy Lachal and his team mobilize volunteer tutors to provide 25.000+ hours of pedagogical support for refugee children. 

Social Entrepreneur: Jérémy Lachal

Field: Protecting the most vulnerable groups

Needs for social innovation to have more impact: Business development and fundraisingdigital , marketing and communication 

Before and after Corona: Inclusion and driving positive impact in marginalized communities 

The mission of the social enterprise before Corona:

The mission is to build community hubs, vehicles of information, education, and culture, for those who live on the edge of society by transforming traditional libraries in creative ways. The goal: reduce violence, support physical and mental health, give access to education, and empower local communities in underprivileged areas, from refugee camps to impoverished neighborhoods. Libraries Without Borders works in 30 countries around the world.  

The positive impact is multifaceted: From improving maternal health and child security to empowering critical thinking, creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurial skills. The new community hubs also allow access to new technologies. By transforming existing libraries and creating these new spacesJérémy deeply impacts socio-economic realities and strengthens the capacities of local communities. This allows vulnerable populations around the world to recover a sense of full citizenship.

What changed with Corona?

As physical meetings are not allowed anymore and the confinement and closure of care and support programs for refugees have been severely disrupted, the overall crisis hit vulnerable communities in a particularly harsh way. When people must share one small room with four to five other people, the new rules of #stayathome have dramatic effects for the education, safety, health, and wellbeing of these communities. 

With all these changes and challenges, the work of Libraries Without Borders needed to quickly transform and adapt.  

The (biggest) challenge:

The health crisis of COVID-19 and the confinement have had profound consequences on the support and care of refugee populations in France. Asylum applications have been postponed, and legal and social support has been disrupted. The confinement in very small spaces and the closure of schools has dramatic effects for children in vulnerable situations. When they were just about to learn French and catch up academically, everything stopped, and schools closed 

Libraries without borders sees refugee children in France (between 6-15 years old) as particularly vulnerable in this situation so they focuses their work on supporting them. 

The solution:

As recent studies have shown, there is a strong need for educational tutoring and remote monitoring of the childrenLibraries Without Borders mobilizevolunteer tutors to provide pedagogical support at least till the end of school year (June) for refugee children. 

Concrete plans:  

125 volunteer tutors will be mobilized by BSF to carry out the action. The vast majority of these tutors will be teachers, postgraduate students and librarians. 

Each tutor will follow an average of 4 children (from a coherent age group). Exchanges with the children and their families will be done by phone (Whatsapp in priority to be able to send rich media content). 

The tutors will offer weekly group sessions and individual follow-up with the child:  

  • Individual follow-up: daily check-up of 30min at a fixed time determined in advance between the tutor and the family. These points allow the tutor to check up on the child and propose activities for the day.  

  • Group follow-up: 2 lessons of 1 hour per week for a group (by videoconference). 

Each child will benefit from an average of 2h30 of individual point per week and 2 hours of collective lesson, that is to say a total of 4h30 of accompaniment per week. In total, the children will benefit from more than 25,000 hours of support.  

BSF is in charge of coordinating the action, accompanying the tutors and providing a weekly pedagogical framework.  

The personal biggest worry and hope:

Ashoka: How are you dealing with the situation and what is your biggest personal worry?

Jérémy:On a personal note, I’m fine. My partner being a doctor, the period was particularly stressful and intense. But what I see are the deep fracture lines that existed in society and that the situation has brought to light. Tens of thousands of children have dropped out of school in France, entire families can no longer afford to eat. The health crisis will soon be overtaken by a social crisis of unprecedented proportions.  

We are fortunate in Europe to have very strong social safety nets. So, if it’s hard for us, imagine the situation in sub-Saharan Africa where we are receiving many warning signals from our teams and partners. Imagine the situation in the United States, where our team is working hard to fight against fake news and to provide the most fragile with quality, verified information.  

The coming months and years will be terrible and more than ever we will have to build coalitions to take up this huge challenge that awaits us.

Ashoka: “What is inspiring you and giving you hope that we can overcome this crisis?”

Jérémy:What inspires me is the courage of the medical staff, the teachers, all the people who have continued to work to provide essential services during this crisis.  

What inspires me as well is the tremendous creativity and energy of our teams and of all the social entrepreneurs who, in a few days after the lockdown, began to invent new forms of solidarity.  

This is the first time in the history of humanity that an event has turned everyone’s life upside down at the same time. I dare to hope that this universality of the challenges facing us will force us to build many more bridges and fewer barriers