The PHARES

« Déniché pour Vous » 111 file

February 2022

Réseau des collectivités Territoriales pour une Economie Solidaire (RTES)

The « Déniché pour Vous » files have been developed by the RTES. They present local initiatives in France, their environment, their purpose and their development, with particular emphasis on the role of local authorities. Whether the initiatives focus on the energy transition, shared spaces, the circular economy, food, sustainable mobility, immigration or digital technology, these case studies offer an instructive immersion in the field of territorial social innovation.

Here, PHARES is seen as a crossroads for players and ideas for the development of collective projects combining joint action and reflection, pooling of resources and a desire to respond to local development issues.

To download : fiche_deniche_pour_vous_n_111_-_le_phares.pdf (320 KiB)

Origin and presentation of the initiative

PHARES, Pôle d’Hospitalité aux Activités à Rayonnement Ecologique et Solidaire, is based on the idea of creating a crossroads for economic initiatives and associations sharing the same values of solidarity, civic innovation and ecology. Housed in a 1350m² building on L’Ile-Saint-Denis since 2001, the Phares brings together more than fifteen associations, businesses and entrepreneurs from the social and solidarity economy. It is managed and run by the Société Coopérative d’Intérêt Collectif (SCIC) Cité PHARES, set up in January 2015.

The SCIC is made up of 3 types of partners (beneficiaries, employees and project supporters) who come together in a single college to take strategic decisions at the General Meeting. The SCIC is responsible for managing the building, coordinating collective projects and running the Pôle Territorial de Coopération Économique (PTCE). In 2011, PHARES was selected as a « showcase cluster » for the launch of the first PTCEs in France.

Its missions are :

Lastly, PHARES enables innovative projects to be co-constructed, for example Métropop’!, a popular education association based around a citizens’ collective that aims to change the way suburbs are portrayed and the images produced between city centres and outlying towns (which joined PHARES in 2014), or Les Alchimistes, a structure that collects and composts organic waste by reorganising its processing in an urban environment and using a short circuit.

PHARES is also working on the emergence of a local Fabrique de Transitions (Transitions Factory) at the level of Plaine Commune to strengthen the action of stakeholders in ecological and solidarity-based transitions, accelerate the area’s resilience and open up to the public: raising awareness of the SSE, support for committed residents, workshops for young people from priority urban neighbourhoods, etc.

The role of local authorities and the economic model

PHARES has maintained close links with local authorities since its creation. Today, L’Ile-Saint-Denis and Plaine Commune support the Fabrique locale de Transitions project through financial and political backing. PHARES is supported by the Ile-de-France Region as a PTCE and by the Department of Seine-Saint-Denis as a « tiers-lieu ».

The PHARES business model is also based on space rental (the building is owned by the Halage integration structure, an association that grew out of the mobilisation of residents of L’Ile-Saint-Denis in favour of employment and ecology, and which runs integration projects) and on the development of new programmes (management of Plaine Commune’s SSE cluster, provision of studies on participatory democracy and local development, etc.).

The SCIC also benefits from subsidies and support from various public institutions as part of the roll-out of Coopératives de Jeunes Majeurs (Grand Orly Seine Bièvre, Est Ensemble, Hauts-de-Seine, Essonne, Paris and Clichy, CAF, Préfecture, ANCT, DRIEET, etc.). Finally, PHARES has been co-financed by the European Social Fund as part of the national « Employment and Inclusion » 2014-2020 programme.

Key figures

Sources