Convergence France

What Convergence France does

Convergence France is a non-profit association (Association loi 1901) founded in 2019 and headquartered in Paris, dedicated to the social and professional integration of people in situations of great exclusion (grands exclus). It operates two principal programs: the CVG (Convergence) pathway, which has supported 1,000+ beneficiaries into employment, and the Premières Heures en Chantier (PHC) program, deployed in 75+ instances. The organization was co-founded by three institutional actors in the French social-solidarity economy — Emmaüs Défi, Emmaüs France, and the Fédération des Acteurs de la Solidarité (FAS) — and is anchored in a founding convention with the French Ministry of Labour (July 2019), embedding it within the formal Insertion par l'Activité Économique (IAE) regime.

The organization's operating model is coordination rather than technology. Convergence France acts as a national orchestrator linking insertion companies (Ateliers et Chantiers d'Insertion, ACI), territorial coordinators, FAS regional branches, employers (notably Franprix, with extensions to other corporate partners such as Hôtel Léonor), and housing providers into structured pathways for excluded individuals. It holds 56 employees supporting a network spanning 13+ French territories plus La Réunion, having scaled from 6 territories in 2021 to 13+ by 2024 (Isère in June 2024; Pas-de-Calais in September 2025). Governance is led by President Guillaume Blanc (since June 2024, succeeding Jacques Desproges), with Director Rémi Tricart, Deputy Director Sophie Roche, and PHC Program Director Cyril Dupouy.

Convergence France generates no commercial revenue in the traditional sense. Its "business model" is institutional: it is funded through a combination of French government support (Ministry of Labour convention, Pacte des solidarités), corporate foundations (Fondation Sanofi Espoir, Fondation Vinci, AG2R, Crédit Coopératif, Fondation de France), and corporate employer partnerships. Its strategic assets are regulatory influence (notably co-shaping the 2021 ministerial decrees on cumulative insertion contracts) and a national coordination role that is difficult to disintermediate. The expansion model is replicative: each new territory requires federation-building with local insertion companies, employers, and territorial authorities, but once established is sustained by recurring public-sector commitments.

Name

Convergence France

Legal name

Convergence France

Website

https://convergence-france.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Convergence France is a Paris-based non-profit association (Association loi 1901), founded in 2019, that coordinates the social and professional integration of people in great exclusion across 13+ French territories plus La Réunion, operating the CVG employment pathway and the Premières Heures en Chantier program.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Integration Services

NAICS

Individual and Family Services (6241), Vocational Rehabilitation Services (6243)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Workforce Reentry Programs (Justice-Involved) (EDAAAOAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Refugee & Migrant Integration Enterprises (Livelihoods, Services) (BPAGALAN)

Keywords

• Social integration programs
• Work-based reintegration
• Insertion workshops
• Social accompaniment
• Professional reintegration

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Convergence France coordinates two social reintegration programs — CVG (Convergence), which provides reinforced accompaniment across employment, housing, and health for people in great exclusion, and PHC (Premières Heures en Chantier), which enables gradual return to work through insertion workshops for people living on the street or in emergency shelters. Programs are deployed nationally through a federation of partner insertion companies (ACI) coordinated by territorial teams and dedicated partnership officers.

Product overview

Convergence France is a non-profit association (Association loi 1901) founded by Emmaüs Défi, Emmaüs France, and the Fédération des Acteurs de la Solidarité. It operates two interconnected social programs — CVG (Convergence) and PHC (Premières Heures en Chantier) — designed to support the professional and social reintegration of people experiencing great exclusion in France. The CVG program provides sustained, reinforced accompaniment across employment, housing, and health through a network of insertion workshops, while the PHC program serves as a progressive entry-point bridge, allowing people living on the street to resume work activity at their own pace. The two programs are coordinated across more than 14 territories in France, supported by thematic partnership officers and socio-professional educators.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CVG (Convergence): Program aimed at sustainably improving the situation of people in great exclusion through work-based integration
• PHC (Premières Heures en Chantier)

Products and services

• Programme CVG (Convergence) Reinforced accompaniment program for people in great exclusion, providing sustained social-professional support across employment, housing, and health through a network of insertion workshops (ACI). Operates with extended CDDI pathways (up to 5 years) and dedicated thematic partnership officers deployed across territories.
• Programme PHC (Premières Heures en Chantier) Progressive return-to-work program enabling people living on the street or in emergency shelters to gradually resume work activity through insertion workshops, starting with a few hours per week and progressively increasing. Serves as the entry-level bridge to the CVG pathway, with dedicated socio-professional educators accompanying each participant.
• Coordination Territoriale des Programmes Territorial coordination service managing the deployment and oversight of CVG and PHC programs across multiple French territories, including local teams of partnership officers covering employment, housing, and health themes, and educational and support functions for insertion workshops.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1000 employees in active CVG insertion pathways
• +2 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Ministry of Labour (Ministère du Travail)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 July 2019The Ministry of Labour signed a convention with Convergence France in July 2019 to support the national scaling of the Convergence program. This partnership provided institutional backing for the organization's expansion to 6 new territories under the Poverty Strategy (Stratégie Pauvreté).
• Emmaüs DéficoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEmmaüs Défi is the founding organization behind Convergence France. It is the original site where the Convergence program was first developed and tested, and it remains the primary operational partner for the Paris territory.
• Emmaüs FrancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAs a co-founder of Convergence France, Emmaüs France supports the scaling of the Convergence and PHC programs across its network of insertion companies in France.
• Fédération des Acteurs de la Solidarité (FAS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe FAS is a co-founder of Convergence France and plays a key role in representing and connecting insertion companies across the network. FAS regional branches (e.g., FAS AURA, FAS Bretagne) support local deployment of programs.
• Métropole de LyoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMétropole de Lyon was the first territory for national scaling of Convergence programs, providing institutional and financial support. President Bruno Bernard visited Convergence sites and reaffirmed the Métropoles commitment.
• FranprixflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerFranprix has partnered with Convergence Paris since 2018 on a progressive hiring model (CDI Progressif) allowing CDDI employees from Convergence insertion companies to transition gradually to standard CDI employment without preconditions. The model has been extended to Lyon. 28 employees had been integrated by 2022.
• CaracolminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCaracol, an association proposing temporary, multicultural, and solidarity-based co-living arrangements, partners with Convergence Lyon to support the housing dimension of accompaniment for insertion employees.
• CDC HabitatminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCDC Habitat partnered with Convergence Strasbourg on housing accompaniment, helping insertion employees access stable housing solutions.
• Hôtel Léonor (SOGEHO)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe 4-star Hôtel Léonor in Strasbourg, managed by SOGEHO, formed an unprecedented partnership with Convergence Strasbourg, offering work placement opportunities for insertion employees.
• EPOC (Établissement Public d'Orientation et de Conversion)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEPOC provided psychological support including conference-debates on the effects of confinement for Convergence employees during the COVID-19 crisis.
• ORSPERE-SAMDARRA (CH Le Vinatier)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerORSPERE-SAMDARRA, a psychiatric observatory, partnered with Convergence France to facilitate psychological support groups and mental health accompaniment for insertion employees.
• MUSIC CAREminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMUSIC CARE trained Convergence staff to independently run music therapy sessions within their structures, offering alternative relaxation and self-esteem support for insertion employees.
• ICF (International Coach Federation)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerICF-affiliated coaches provided flash coaching sessions to insertion employees and permanent staff as part of post-COVID psychological support.
• Bureaux du CœurminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBureaux du Cœur provides temporary housing solutions (3-6 months) within company office spaces for people in severe precarity. A partnership with Convergence Marseille enables additional housing support for insertion employees.
• FAS OccitanieminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFAS Occitanie supports the development of PHC programs in new insertion companies across the Occitanie region, including Haute-Garonne.
• Fédération des Acteurs de la Solidarité BretagneminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFAS Bretagne hosts the territorial animator position for PHC programs, animating the collective of social-professional educators (ESP) across Brittany insertion companies.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves14 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Emmaüs France: Co-founder and national federation of Emmaüs organizations. Supports scaling of Convergence and PHC programs across its member insertion companies, operating a parallel solidarity and insertion model for excluded populations.
• ATD Quart Monde: International movement co-founded in France to combat extreme poverty, with work-integration initiatives for very excluded populations. Operates a similar accompaniment-and-employment approach for the 'grands exclus' segment.
• Fondation Abbé Pierre: Leading French organization addressing housing exclusion and homelessness, with advocacy and field programs. Overlaps with Convergence France's housing accompaniment pillar but does not focus on work insertion.
• Coallia: Large French social-work association operating accommodation, refugee support, and insertion-by-work programs for vulnerable populations. Comparable target population and AHI/IAE positioning to Convergence France.
• Fédération des Acteurs de la Solidarité (FAS): Co-founder of Convergence France and the national federation of social-actor organizations running insertion and emergency accommodation programs. Operates the regional branches (e.g., FAS AURA, FAS Bretagne) that host Convergence animators.
• Emmaüs Défi: Founding organization of Convergence France and original site of the Convergence program. Operates insertion workshops for people in great exclusion in Paris using a closely related accompaniment model.
• Aurore: Major French NGO operator of insertion workshops, emergency shelters, and social accompaniment programs. Listed among Convergence France's ACI partners (e.g., Aurore) with overlapping work-integration offerings for excluded populations.

Broad incumbents

• France Travail (formerly Pôle Emploi): France's national public employment agency, which Convergence France's CVG pathway ultimately feeds into via standard CDI transitions. Operates at vastly larger scale with a broader (not exclusively excluded) target population.
• Secours Catholique: Major French caritative organization supporting people in poverty through accompaniment, housing, and economic inclusion programs. Comparable beneficiary population but operates through a broader welfare lens than Convergence France's insertion focus.
• Croix-Rouge française: National humanitarian organization operating insertion workshops, social accommodation, and health programs. Listed as a Convergence France ACI partner, with broader scope that includes emergency relief and healthcare beyond work insertion.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/convergence-france

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Convergence France