No student left behind !

As it does every spring, ALTRAD Solidarity launched its "Education" call for projects on the theme "No Student Left Behind." After reviewing the many projects submitted by national and international associations, six projects — deployed in France, Europe, and around the world — were selected by the employee committee and approved by ALTRAD Solidarity's Board of Directors. Here is a presentation of the winning associations:

Sătmărel, Romania

Sătmărel, a district on the outskirts of the Romanian city of Satu Mare, is an area marked by systemic marginalization where educational opportunities are deeply unequal. The Roma community there lives in a highly fragile environment, with an adult illiteracy rate above 70%. Within families, support for schooling is almost nonexistent, placing children in an unprecedented situation: they are often the first in their family line to master reading and writing, becoming the family's go-to person for everyday administrative tasks. Added to this social precarity is a double discrimination from the moment children start school. Roma children in Sătmărel face a major language barrier, since instruction is given exclusively in Romanian, while the language spoken at home is Hungarian. Without any support system to help them catch up, they enter a segregated, low-quality school environment. This structural injustice explains why, when the association Stea arrived in 2014, 80% of school-age children lacked basic literacy and numeracy skills, and not a single young person continued their education past age 14. Faced with this alarming situation, ALTRAD Solidarity has decided to support the association Action Education in order to provide the best possible assistance to these children and teenagers.

Bekaa Valley, Lebanon

The association Les Baroudeurs de l'Espoir works to guarantee the fundamental right to education by providing inclusive, quality access to the most marginalized children, particularly in Lebanon's West Bekaa region. The country is currently going through a "complex emergency," marked by a war ongoing since October 2024, the total collapse of its economic, political, and social systems, and, in regions like the Bekaa, the deterioration of public services: electricity shortages, high fuel costs, and difficulties accessing water, healthcare, and school transportation. Against this backdrop of deep crisis affecting the Lebanese population, Baroudeurs de l'Espoir set up a school bus program in 2018 together with Amel Association International, traveling to informal camps; in 2022 it extended its work to Lebanese children living in villages along the bus route, giving them access to an educational center. In 2026, forty children aged 6 to 13, living amid war and severe hardship, are benefiting from the program. This project, called "UME – Lebanese classes," aims to keep these children on a stable educational path by funding the classes and activities essential to their cognitive, social, and emotional development. ALTRAD Solidarity is pleased to help sustain the work of Les Baroudeurs de l'Espoir and support Lebanese children in their schooling.

France — Combating Bullying (the 3018 hotline)

In 2026, 10 children in every class are affected by bullying. In the schoolyard, the locker room, on public transport, but also in WhatsApp groups and comments — at school as well as behind a screen — the effects leave lasting marks: isolation, loss of self-worth, anxiety, and sometimes even suicidal thoughts. While in the past this kind of abuse was confined to school, it now follows victims into the privacy of their own homes. It is to meet this urgent need that the association e-Enfance operates the 3018, a national, free, and confidential number dedicated to young victims of bullying in all its forms. Available seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. by phone, chat, and via the 3018 app, it serves as an accessible, fast, and human safety net: listening first, then support and guidance. Each year, more than 100,000 victims, their families, and professionals who work with young people are supported by the association. In 2025, the 3018 received more than 125,000 requests for help. Behind each one was a young person who found the courage to pick up the phone, type a message, or look for a way out. Yet, due to a shortage of call handlers, only 40% of these calls could be answered. That means more than 75,000 young people in distress went without a response that year. At a time when this kind of abuse is on the rise and the demand for help shows no sign of slowing, ALTRAD Solidarity is proud to support the Association e-Enfance / 3018 in strengthening its team of call handlers.

Madagascar — School Canteen

In one of the poorest regions of Madagascar, the association IMAG'IN, with the involvement of its partners (notably the Lions Club of Fort Dauphin), fully rebuilt the Vohibrandika school in 2017. Since then, the students have had a roof over their heads to study under, but they still face major challenges in accessing a varied diet. Teachers and school leadership have observed a significant drop in enrollment, directly linked to the absence of a canteen: given the extent of poverty in Madagascar, a daily school meal is, for most children, the only meal they will get all day — making it, for many parents, an essential condition for sending their children to school at all. To fight this exclusion and ensure that no child is left behind, ALTRAD Solidarity is supporting the association's project to build a canteen kitchen, as well as a vegetable garden, with the following goals:

• Building a kitchen and storage space for the school canteen.
• Creating and managing a vegetable garden.
• Raising awareness about a varied diet suited to the local area.

France — Supporting Children with Cognitive Disabilities

The association Prête-moi tes ailes works to fight the exclusion of people with disabilities in society and to help families affected by cognitive disabilities out of isolation. Through its "Respire!" program, the association combats the widespread lack of schooling among young people with Down syndrome or intellectual development disorders. It works directly for equal opportunity and civic inclusion by offering tailored support. This support is aimed at children and young adults aged 4 to 25, whether they are partially in school, entirely excluded from school, or transitioning into working life, and is built around several complementary areas:

• Specialized academic support: led by a special-education teacher, this component maintains fundamental learning (reading, writing, numeracy) through adapted methods, helping to prevent the cognitive regression often linked to fragmented schooling.
• Development of social skills: for younger children, the focus is on learning to function in a group and manage emotions. For older participants, the goal is building concrete independence.
• An evolving pathway: the balance between academic and educational modules is reassessed as the young person progresses.
• Public speaking programs: through dedicated workshops, participants build self-confidence. By working on posture and public speaking, they gain tools to express themselves and actively prepare for social and professional integration.

Through this wonderful project, ALTRAD Solidarity reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that no student is left behind, and supports the inclusion of young people with cognitive disabilities in society.

France — Higher Education Access for Refugees

The project run by the association UniR, supported by ALTRAD Solidarity, aims to help refugees and asylum seekers pursue their future plans in France through access to higher education. These individuals face numerous obstacles — language barriers, difficulty finding their way through the system, complex administrative procedures, social isolation — that prevent them from continuing their studies despite their motivation, and that hinder their integration and professional ambitions. Through its personalized support program, UniR addresses each person's individual needs to help remove these barriers, taking into account their own experiences and circumstances. To help refugees and asylum seekers access higher education in France, UniR offers a four-step support program (needs assessment, finding training programs and applying, help with enrollment, and post-enrollment follow-up). Alongside this individual support, group workshops are organized to work on CVs, cover letters, interviews, using AI in the job search, and other topics useful for academic and professional integration. These full-day workshops are run with volunteers or expert providers and take place twice a month.