The Linguist

AUTUMN 2023 The Linguist 7 @CIOL_Linguists FEATURES The big idea Q What is ShareAmi in a nutshell? A ShareAmi is a programme to connect elderly French people with young people all over the world who are eager to learn and practise French. They meet online once a week for three months. Q How did you come up with the idea? A Oldyssey, our non-profit, started with a trip to visit old people around the world. In Brazil, we went to a language school which offered students regular calls with a nursing home in Canada. We found this idea so simple yet powerful that when Covid hit and we had to go into lockdown, developing the project in France seemed the right thing to do. Q What was your main aim? A We wanted, first and foremost, to tackle the loneliness that older people faced during the pandemic – but with a twist. Usually you'd find programmes only designed to 'help' them. Our programme is designed to enable two people from different generations and cultures to help each other by simply having a chat! Q What is your background and what new skills did you learn for this initiative? A My co-founders, Juliette Neyran and Julia Mourri, and I graduated from French business schools. We learnt about creating an economic model for a social and solidarity project, building communities, setting up a matchmaking platform, mobilising and retaining volunteers, making funding applications and monitoring outcomes. Q How is ShareAmi funded? A It is 90% funded by grants and donations, with the remaining funds coming from service fees as well as contributions from participants and volunteers. Q Why did you choose a non-profit model? A Because we rely on many volunteers and wanted to establish a participatory governance where the association is managed by its members. As the project is of general interest, this also allows us to be eligible for foundation sponsorship and tax exemptions. Q How many people work for ShareAmi? A We now employ five people (two full-time and three apprentices). A freelancer helps us guarantee that our platform is secure and GDPR compliant. Guillaume and Assa work on developing our network of operational and financial partners, while Ines is focusing on assisting our pairs and volunteers. Clara, who Clément Boxebeld on setting up a platform to tackle loneliness in elderly people using their language skills joined us late last year, is developing a new 'in-person' experience in the French region. Finally Anne-Lou oversees our operations. I have to emphasise that none of this would be possible if it wasn't for our 50+ volunteers. Q What training do you give volunteers? A We have a whole onboarding process, complete with different trainings and a mentorship programme. It was important for us to have a set of guidelines to keep a consistent experience throughout the programme, but also to answer any questions volunteers might have. We're always working on improving those guidelines thanks to regular feedback from our volunteers. Q What plans do you have for the future? A First we want to establish the sustainability of the association model in France, and then work with partners to expand the programme in other languages across Europe. www.shareami.org MAKING PLANS Clément Boxebeld (3rd right) at a planning meeting with ShareAmi's associated board

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