Background

As other countries France undergoes drastic changes which create serious fractures within its economic, social and democratic fabric, accompanied by a loss of trust in all types of institutions and in the quality of social relationships. In such a crisis of democratic and social representation and regulation , individual commitment to collective endaevours, notably at the local level, constitutes an inevaluable public wealth.

It is therefore essential to rebuild a collective ability to reinvent new ways of participation and regulation within civil society as well as in economic and political institutions. Non-profit organisations (formal and informal) and their dynamics are the arena where new social needs, claims for global solutions as well as innovative answers to immediate problems could emerge. This unique abiltity is the result of the free commitment of millions of volunteers and employees.

The Fonda agenda

Fonda is the only think-tank working on such issues. Created in 1981 by social entrepreneurs involved in various non-profit organisations, it seeks to analyse social change and to identify new relevant citizens’ assets. It takes part in public debates promoting the contribution of volunteering and of an active civil society to the development of a just and democratic society.

Fonda is a voluntary organisation of some 250 members (academics, leaders and activists belonging to various voluntary “associations”, leaders in other organisations of the third sector, political and trade-union leaders, top civil servants…) sharing concerns for the role of an active civil society, interested in debating related issues and in building proposals to develop and promote citizen initiatives in favour of an economic, social and democratic development of our society.

Mains issues for 2008

 New forms of commitment and structure of associational life (connection between commitment and identity, different types of voluntary organisations, formal and informal networks, …)

 Voluntary organisations as economic actors (connection between non-profit organisations and private profit companies, forms of mutualisation within organisations of the third sector, collaboration between voluntary organisations and trade-unions particularly at a local level, governance within voluntary organisations, …)

 Voluntary organisations as public actors (contribution of voluntary organisations to political renewal, voluntary organisations and participative democracy, “compacts”, relationship between the polity and voluntary organisations,…).