Launched over 20 years ago, the Festival of Solidarity is an international event designed to promote and celebrate solidarity with the world and with others.
Every year in November, charities, local authorities, schools, socio-cultural organisations, social enterprise organisations, citizens’ groups, etc. organise more than 4,400 friendly and engaging events to inspire people of all ages to take action for a fair, inclusive and sustainable world.
The 2025 event will take place from Friday 14 to Sunday 30 November!
Events are held throughout France, as well as in other countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Niger, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Senegal, Togo…
The Festival of Solidarity is a project organised by the CRID (Centre for Research and Information on Development).
An event with many facets
The strength of this event lies in its ability to adapt to the region in which it is held. Festisol provides a shared framework, which each organisation or group of organisations is free to adopt and adapt to suit its own themes, types of events and target audiences, within the framework of a charter that safeguards the values it upholds.
The fight against poverty, food security, health, education, the fight against inequality, climate and environmental protection, peace… These themes are all global challenges set out in the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda. We champion a vision of global solidarity, both locally and internationally.
Read the position statement by the members of the Festival of Solidarity
As for the events on offer, they are varied: activities in public spaces, theatre performances, awareness-raising games, film screenings and discussions, exhibitions, communal meals, charity markets, concerts, dance performances…
Showing solidarity means choosing to defend human rights and to promote the values of openness, mutual support, justice and peace wherever we go.
Solidarity Festival
A project with a global outlook
A birth marked by international solidarity
This major campaign was launched in 1998 under the name ‘International Solidarity Week’. In 2017, following two years of collective reflection and consultation, the event was renamed the Festival of Solidarity. This change highlights the necessary continuity between the local and international levels, and the desire to emphasise the convivial and festive nature of the various forms of solidarity.
A festival with a strong educational focus
At the heart of our work lies education for citizenship and international solidarity (ECSI), an educational approach that enables us to better understand the world around us, to recognise our interdependence, and to choose to take action to help societies move towards greater solidarity, whilst protecting the environment. You’re never too young to show solidarity!
ECSI helps to equip everyone with the tools to develop critical thinking in the face of a dominant development model that breeds inequality and exclusion. It aims to bring about social transformation and the collective development of alternative models of development that respect human rights and the environment. It promotes alternatives currently being developed around the world. It fosters social cohesion and personal fulfilment.
Extract from the charter of Educasol, the ECSI’s platform in France
Talking about Festisol
Would you like to talk about the Festival of Solidarity with stakeholders and potential partners?
- Download the brochure.
Previous editions
- Read the review of Festisol 2025
- Read the Festisol International 2024 review
- Read the Festisol France 2024 report
- Read the review of Festisol 2023
- Read the review of Festisol 2022
- Read the review of Festisol 2021
- Read the review of Festisol 2020
- Read the review of Festisol 2019
- Discover the Festival of Solidarity through photos
- Find out about the key elements of the Festisol 2022–2024 strategy
Photo credits: (c) Remi Deprez – Festisol