Joint programmes

Since its creation, and under the leadership of Abbé Pierre, Emmaus has been built around bringing people together; people who have experienced, or who are experiencing social exclusion and people from more privileged backgrounds, who together come up with alternatives to poverty to allow everyone to lead a decent life. Today, the Emmaus groups carry on this vision because they remain convinced that it is through this joint work, this integration and involvement of the most vulnerable to “help to help others”, that people can rebuild and give meaning to their lives.  

For over 10 years, Emmaus International has been running large-scale joint programmes* that demonstrate the capacity of the most excluded to regain their rights and manage them whilst becoming true actors of social change.  

By placing the most excluded at the heart of their work and through the support of many groups in the movement, these programmes enable people in situations of extreme poverty to build alternatives for access to, and citizen-led management of, their rights. These alternatives prove that another development model is possible: they serve as examples for fair and equitable public policies.  

*List of solidarity joint programmes

• “Citizens for Water”: programme focused on access to drinking water and basic sanitation infrastructure for inhabitants of the Lake Nokoué region in Benin. 
• Mutual Health Organisations : development and management of mutual health access systems in four countries – Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso and India. 
• Emmaus Ethical Fund : tool for pooling Emmaus groups’ financial resources to support those facing difficulties obtaining loans via the conventional banking system.  
• Education Programme : mutual funds earmarked to support Emmaus group activities on access to education and raising awareness, along with creating discussion fora to build a common political voice.