The Reunion Island Popular Education Association (WILL) celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, thus marking six decades of dedication to the people of Reunion to promote individual autonomy and collective solidarity. Since its creation, AREP supported several tens of thousands of Reunion Islanders, with the support of its partners, in their personal and professional development journey.
To commemorate this important anniversary, AREP organized a day of celebration and discussion on Saturday May 13 in Saint-Pierre. This event provided the opportunity for Reunion Islanders to discover the activities of AREP and to discuss its actions and values.. On the program of the festivities, round tables to encourage exchanges, entertainment for young and old, including traditional Reunionese games to bring together different generations. This day was of course an opportunity to meet the members of the association and to interact with them.. AREP is a unique association of its kind, often compared to a Swiss army knife by its president, Stéphane Nicaise. It offers a modern vision of popular education, based on four main lines of action : to welcome, former, accompany and animate. The association aims for a common objective for each of its audiences : gain confidence and autonomy, mobilize to realize a personal and collective project. Its areas of intervention are varied and complementary. They range from the fight against exclusion to the acquisition of essential skills through professional integration, language training and the social and solidarity economy.
Every decade, his priorities
Since its creation in 1962, AREP has continued to adapt its actions to the priority needs of the Reunion population. She contributed to initiatives such as literacy and family planning in the 1960s., the structuring of associative and union life in the 1970s, professional integration in the 1980s, as well as the learning of basic knowledge and the integration of foreign people in the 1990s. The association has always been able to rely on the support of its public partners, but also many private companies which are part of a CSR approach. In 2022, more than 20,000 people were supported by the association, which has an annual operating budget of three million euros.
