Aymeric Lavin (E16): “Young People Are Particularly Vulnerable to Violence and Precarity”

Aymeric Lavin (E16) is head of Philanthropy for the Apprentis d’Auteuil Foundation, which supports 30,000 young people in difficulty. He explains the challenges these young people face, and offers some solutions.  

ESSEC Alumni: What led you to join the Apprentis d’Auteuil Foundation? 

Aymeric Lavin: At ESSEC, I followed the dual degree course with the École du Louvre and the Philanthropy Chair programme. I began my career in cultural patronage, and was in contact with major private donors and private or family foundations. After acquiring a certain amount of experience, I decided to move to another area of public interest 

EA: What are the actions of the Apprentis d’Auteuil?  

A. Lavin: The foundation was created almost 160 years ago by Abbot Roussel, to welcome and educate six young boys living on the streets of the Auteuil district. The foundation currently has 7,000 employees and assists 30,000 young people and 6,000 families in difficulty through its 300 establishments across France. We intervene in matters of child protection, education and the fight against school drop-out, vocational integration and parenting. We manage care institutions, schools under State contract, training centres, integration programmes, family centres and social housing, etc. We take a comprehensive approach in order to meet the specific needs of each young person.

EA: What difficulties are young people facing in France today?  

A. Lavin: Beyond the figures published on schooling and employment, the young people we come across today feel surrounded by violence in all forms (verbal, physical and psychological) and everywhere (at school, at home and online, etc.). Added to this is their precarity, which the health crisis not only highlighted but worsened for families and young people who were already in a vulnerable situation. 

EA: How do you explain this?  

A. Lavin: We believe that young people are not being heard, listened to and considered enough; that young people do not play a central role in public debate, when they should. There are also major malfunctions in our institutions which leave far too many young people behind.

EA: What solutions do you offer? 

A. Lavin: For each young person, we look for a solution which is adapted to their background, their project and their region. For the 2022 presidential campaign, we consulted 5,000 young people (supported or not by Apprentis d’Auteuil) and together we came up with 24 general, concrete and substantiated proposals to “change their future”, listed in the publication Prendre le Parti des Jeunes [Take Young People’s Side]. If applied, this programme would provide better protection and inclusion for young people, guarantee their access to rights, help them find their vocation, change school and support parents.  

EA: What are the achievements of Apprentis d’Auteuil? 

A. Lavin: All the projects and schemes we operate are subject to specific assessments, with a view to continuous improvement. In the area of integration, our Pro’Pulse, Boost and Skola programmes obtain high positive-outcome rates: 88% of participants complete their diploma. In terms of schooling, our programmes to prevent drop-out enable numerous young people to rekindle their interest in school.

EA: What are your projects for the years to come? 

A. Lavin: We will continue to open our family centres, to meet a growing need for parenting guidance, and we will adapt our vocational training programmes to meet the changes in young people’s ambitions and the sectors in demand. We are exploring educational innovations for our schools. More generally, we keep an attentive eye on the issues affecting the young generation as a whole, such as mental illness. Thanks to the contribution of a family foundation, we are about to roll out a national action plan in this regard, in particular to train our educators working in child protection.

EA: You also support international initiatives...

A. Lavin: Yes, we work with 66 partner organisations and assist more than 12,000 young people and families in 24 countries, mainly in Africa (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, DRC, and Senegal), but also in Europe, South America (Peru), South-East Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam).  

EA: Do the young people you work with face the same challenges and problems in all countries? 

A. Lavin: As Sonia Ligas Ovalle, the director of our Peruvian partner Qosqo Maki, says: “Whether they live in Peru, France or any other country, young people are always young people!” Children everywhere have to leave their homes, teenagers drop out of school, young people struggle to join the socio-professional world and dream of a better future...and parents and families express the need for support in the face of these issues. All our partners intervene according to the local context and can share their problems and successes within the Community of Knowledge and Practice that Apprentis d’Auteuil develops with its international partners. 

EA: How do you fund your actions? 

A. Lavin: 55% of the Foundations’ finance comes from public funding: 47% is allocated to us under Children’s Social Aid, 8% through European, national or regional calls for tender, and the remaining 45% comes from private funding through periodical or regular donors, companies, family foundations and bequests, etc. 

EA: How can the ESSEC community support Apprentis d’Auteuil? 

A. Lavin: You can make a financial donation (in cash or securities) which is eligible for income or wealth tax reductions. You can also involve your company through partnerships for skills patronage. Know also that Apprentis d’Auteuil has host foundation status, which means you can create a hosted foundation whose purpose is in line with Apprentis d'Auteuil - we already host 25 such foundations. Also, don’t hesitate to tell your friends, family, workmates or clients about our actions. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the numerous ESSEC members who have already provided invaluable help!

Interview by Louis Armengaud Wurmser (E10), Content Manager at ESSEC Alumni.

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