As head of the nature department at the Domaine des Courmettes, Charlotte is responsible for scientific monitoring and conservation initiatives, as well as for supporting interns, volunteers and those on civic service placements. She supports them over a period of several months as they carry out their tasks and helps to develop their environmental awareness. This role involves taking their individual profiles and specific circumstances into account.
A diverse range of people who already have a keen interest in the environment
Charlotte acts as a mentor for civic service volunteers, European volunteers (CES) and trainees. The support she provides varies depending on each person’s role, as their status differs. For example, civic service volunteers are young French people aged between 16 and 25, who can come for a period of 8–12 months. The profiles vary, but these young people are generally there for the professional experience. They are usually nature enthusiasts, with a strong environmental awareness already firmly established.
European volunteers, on the other hand, are aged between 18 and 30 and have different backgrounds, experiences and expectations. For some, this gap year is their first experience abroad. Others use the opportunity to take a break and think about what they want to do later on. Although they have an interest in ecology, European volunteers are not always biologists. We encounter a wide variety of backgrounds: artists, vets, law students, anthropology students, and so on.
Finally, the trainees are generally 18 or 19 years old; they come for a shorter period as part of their training (often a BTS in Nature Management and Conservation). They are involved in conservation and environmental protection initiatives. They are therefore very focused on acquiring professional skills.
Supporting, promoting and developing environmental awareness
Charlotte sees herself as a mentor to the volunteers, a sort of ‘facilitator’. Whilst her role involves organising projects and assigning tasks to everyone, she maintains a collaborative relationship with them. It is worth noting that volunteers cannot be placed in positions of responsibility and are not required to achieve specific results.
There is a degree of flexibility in how they can contribute to the life of the association. Charlotte suggests a theme, gives them some ideas, and then the volunteers work out how to develop that theme.
Thus, our nature programme manager at Les Courmettes keeps the needs in mind but does not ‘force’ the process. She draws on each person’s interests and skills. She encourages them to experiment and see their ideas through to the end. Sometimes, she draws up a detailed plan to help the person achieve their goal. At other times, the volunteer manages their own work. Each volunteer therefore has a project linked to conservation and a more personal project, which might not necessarily have existed without their involvement.
With this highly flexible approach, Charlotte aims to break down the elitism of science and show that nature is accessible to everyone.
« To understand what we do at the Nature Centre, you have to experience it for yourself. To protect nature more effectively, you need to understand it. »
In terms of its impact on raising environmental awareness, it’s all positive: people who knew very little about it now want to protect nature. What’s more, they’ve had a taste of community life at Les Courmettes. They’ve come away changed.
The joy of sharing
In her role as a mentor, Charlotte particularly appreciates the diversity of the people she meets, which helps to create a rich and varied team. She gets to know each person, understands their strengths and weaknesses, and considers how each individual can best contribute to A Rocha France’s vision.
Generally, she sets tasks for everyone to do together, adapting them to suit individual profiles. European volunteers and those on civic service placements can thus work on conservation, but also help with garden management, running the centre and welcoming groups. Interns, meanwhile, focus mainly on the theme of their placement.
She also enjoys setting them challenges. The young people leave having enjoyed the variety of activities they were able to undertake. Some develop new interests, or explore ones they hadn’t had time to look into before. As she puts it, “anyone can learn something here”. A case in point is the young man who took advantage of the vast grounds to learn to be at one with himself.
Finally, there is the importance of Christian witness, which is lived out in daily life: several people left thinking that Christians aren’t actually that strange after all!