The tiny conserve factory operates in a complex context where food insecurity is combined with social isolation, particularly in rural areas. In 2015, about eight million people in France were facing food insecurity, of whom 4.8 million received food aid, including a third of all children under 15. The French National Food Council defines food insecurity as a lack of access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food, and it is an issue which poses a major challenge for French society.

This mobile project with a focus on solidarity addresses multiple social and environmental issues while fostering community engagement and sustainable practices. La petite conserverie primarily aims to combat food insecurity, fight against food waste and promote healthy and local food.

The added benefits include facilitating social connections among local people, restoring the lost art of certain cooking and food preservation methods, discovering and using environmentally friendly gardening techniques and developing participants' skills, which are then recognised with badges.

The project as a whole aims to rebuild connections between farmers and local inhabitants and support volunteer engagement.

As such, the project can be considered an excellent example of networking, as it fostered collaboration among partners from diverse social and professional backgrounds who might not have interacted otherwise. It has created a virtuous cycle, connecting farmers, local grocery stores, local communities, social centres and facilitators throughout its production timeline. Farmers and market gardeners donated their surplus to social centres, which then passed it on to the truck facilitators. Food is also collected during solidarity gleanings (in case of overproduction) and donations include vegetables or fruit that are 'not beautiful', too ripe or can no longer be sold.

The facilitators used the crops to cook food in glass jars while demonstrating preservation techniques to local people. Additionally, volunteer farmers were involved in the project to showcase various farming and gardening techniques.

To achieve this, the project holders had to reach out to various stakeholders. They set up non-commercial partnership with farmers, solidarity partnerships with grocery stores, got involved in activities with social organisations and worked on communications with financial partners and also the CAF 76 (family social allowance) organisation and the local Federation of Social Centres to highlight food-related actions carried out by social centres in this area.

In concrete terms regarding the issue of those in need, 357 families were able to increase their autonomy and food security, while six social centres increased their activity by 13% thanks to the project. 78% of the project beneficiaries were women, many of them socially isolated and/or single mothers, from disadvantaged neighbourhoods and rural areas.

In social terms, the project helped to maintain social connections by providing people in precarious situations with access to healthy and environmentally friendly food, taking a dynamic approach to maintaining and developing social bonds. It also increased the number of beneficiaries actively participating in various social centres’ activities.

More generally, it brought about a shift in perception of the use of vegetables and fruits in people’s diets and contributed to reducing food waste through harvests with volunteers, fostering better eating habits and enhanced gardening practices among local people. It also improved the local social fabric via the workshops and helped overcome accessibility barriers for people in rural areas by the very nature of the project and its focus on mobility.

Eighteen people were associated with the project design: six in management activities, seven in facilitation activities and five volunteers. Twenty different partners were also involved in the project on a variety of levels. Many women were part of the project team and all benefited from learning workshop facilitation skills,  logistics, relationships with other organisations and partners, communication activities, project promotion and involvement in festivals and events.

The project led to a successful, very rich and diverse cooperation among a real diversity of partners on the local territory, encompassing both rural and urban areas, shops and farmers, local communities and social centres.

The project holders also have a beautiful truck, a high-quality and efficient tool that serves multiple purposes. They are proud of having this unique truck in their region, both as a vehicle and as a means of hosting workshops with local people and farmers.

On a different level, the project has been able to highlight hidden social skills and abilities, enhancing the participants’ self-esteem through social interactions.