ABOUT US

Association Paseo is a Home-Start scheme set up in Nîmes, France. It was created and registered in July 2006 by Laurence Relin who had been trained as a Home-Start volunteer whilst living in London.

France offers the strong state support to all areas of the Social Services. The scheme has met with considerable success and has had good publicity in the region.

Paseo sees their main contribution as helping with integration and empowerment, as many of our families are from North Africa and Mayotte. A third of the families do not have French as their main language, many have larger families and therefore several children to support.

To further strengthen our one-to-one support, Paseo offers families a wide range of group events such as weekly playgroups (with longer sessions in the summer holidays,) placing emphasis on games which develop socialisation, training and imagination. These group activities also give parents and their children a chance to interact and learn more from each other.

Paseo also organizes other family support activities such as:

**School support: ASAP,

Computer training sessions: Maison Digitale Orange,

Local magazine steering committee: ZUP’plément,

Parents’ group: la Pause Ambitieuse,

Family outings**

All these activities aim to develop a family’s social inclusion, wellbeing and autonomy so that the parent-child bond is reinforced.

Since 2017, Paseo has increased its role in the community. We piloted the organisation of a giant local playground which is set up on the street twice a year, called La Rue aux Enfants. We do this in partnership with more than 25 other local associations and governmental institutions.

The 31 trained volunteers in the scheme supported 18 families and 79 children in 2017. Considerable funding comes from municipal and government sources, but Paseo has also raised money from National Foundations: Orange, Vinci and the Crédit Coopératif. France has a National Home-Start Board now and is keen to help interested parties in establishing Home-Start schemes elsewhere in France.

Testimony of a supported mother: “For me, Isabelle arrived when I needed to be listened to. She adapted to my mood of the day. Over time, Isabelle is no longer a volunteer but a friend to whom I can confide. She adapted to my culture, to my traditions without judging me.”