Jean-Guy HENCKEL

Studied sociology. He has devoted himself to placing people in great social difficulty into the workplace. At the end of the 1980s, he looked for solutions to help the less fortunate who had been overlooked by social services after the RMI (minimum benefit paid to those who had no other source of income) had been established. He drew inspiration from the concept of co-operative gardens in Switzerland, and decided to use organic farming methods. He gave the whole enterprise a strong social character and conscience. The first Jardin de Cocagne was created in Besançon in 1991. Today, there are nearly one hundred in France, employing more than three thousand employees for a maximum period of two years. Once they leave the Jardin, more than half are then able to find work or suitable professional training.