As launch coordinator at Solinum, Florie Kerfriden is working on the deployment of Soliguide in Charente-Maritime. Between listing structures, mobilising local actors and tackling access to services in rural areas, she reflects on the challenges and dynamics of a contrasted territory.
My name is Florie Kerfriden and I am the Soliguide launch coordinator for Charente-Maritime at the Solinum association.
My mission is to deploy the platform across the territory, by identifying and listing structures that offer services useful to people in precarious situations: food assistance, healthcare access, social support, access to rights, or mobility solutions, which are particularly important in a fairly wide-ranging territory like Charente-Maritime.
This work is done in close liaison with local actors — associations, local authorities, institutions, social centres — to verify information and build a reliable, comprehensive tool. The aim is for everyone to be able to find the service they genuinely need, sometimes very specific.
We currently list 446 structures in Charente-Maritime, representing more than 2,000 services. The listing work continues to further improve territorial coverage.
Charente-Maritime is a fairly contrasted territory, with dynamic towns like La Rochelle, Saintes, the coastline… but also many rural areas where access to services can be more difficult, as in the Vals de Saintonge.
In some areas, structures exist but sometimes remain little visible to those who could benefit from them, particularly when issues of mobility or isolation come into play.
In this context, the challenge is often to make information more accessible and more readable, both for residents and for social workers who direct people to services.
The needs encountered in the territory are quite varied: access to food, administrative and social support, healthcare access, professional integration or learning French for some newly arrived people.
Charente-Maritime has a very active association network on these issues, with many structures engaged in supporting people, but they can remain difficult to identify when you do not know exactly where to look.
Soliguide contributes to this visibility by bringing this information together in one place, which can be useful both for those concerned and for the professionals supporting them.
At the moment, my work is very focused on listing and structuring information. I started with the main towns in the department to consolidate the database, before progressively expanding this work towards more rural territories.
This involves a lot of exchanges with local structures — associations, social centres, local authorities, social workers — to verify information and ensure that the listings are accurate and genuinely useful for people searching for a service.
In this work, we are fortunate to count on the support of the DDETS and the Departmental Council of Charente-Maritime. Their participation in co-construction bodies, as well as their daily availability and commitment, help sustain this collective dynamic and strengthen links between territorial actors.
The question of access to services in rural areas is a particular focus in this work. In a territory like Charente-Maritime, some areas may be further from support structures, and information about existing services does not always circulate as easily. To address these challenges, operational committees (COOP) with local solidarity actors allow collective reflection on: how to make existing services more accessible, what the barriers faced by residents are — whether related to information, mobility or navigation — and how a tool like Soliguide can help overcome some of these limitations. These working sessions also help better identify services present in the territory and build the tool together with those who know the ground.
Alongside the listing work, outreach actions are progressively developing to raise awareness of Soliguide among the public. We are testing simple, everyday approaches: some schools could share awareness of the tool via children's homework diaries. This is still an experiment, but it could help reach families who do not yet know about Soliguide.
Outreach also involves a presence in the field and proximity relays, particularly in more rural territories: participation in meetings or events bringing together solidarity actors, such as in Montendre, display and distribution of flyers in Maisons France Services, or exchanges with associations present in these territories, such as the Restos du Cœur and their mobile distribution services.
The idea is to embed Soliguide in the practices of the territory, both for residents and for the professionals who support them.
Find out more: soliguide.fr
Get in touch: charentemaritime@solinum.org
