Our history

An emerging idea

During the Gulf War in Iraq, Hervé Dubois was a logistics officer at Medecins du Monde. He noticed that some skills could be useful for international solidarity and would help meet the many needs not covered by normal cooperation models.
A new type of involvement needed to be created to meet the needs of international solidarity stakeholders on the ground and the desire of citizens wanting to get involved.

Hervé Dubois made that concept a reality by founding an association called Congé Solidaire®.

The creation of the association

Creation by Hervé Dubois and Pierre Levy of the « Congé Solidaire » association.

A desire to provide a complete solution for people and the environment

Following the earthquake in the Indian Ocean which caused a tsunami in 2004 on the Indonesian coast, the association decided to offer a complete response to the challenges of development by combining the provision of skills and environmental and development programmes. It then changed its name to Planète Urgence!

Integration with the SOS Group

In 2017 Planète Urgence joined the SOS Group led by Jean-Marc Borello, becoming the sixth association in this international solidarity hub alongside Ginkgo – Volunteers in Action, Santé Sud, Djantoli, Afghanistan Libre and Play International.

Collaborating with GINKGO

Planète Urgence started working closer with Ginkgo – Volunteers in Action, another NGO member of SOS Group. Over the years, our teams have merged and restructured

A new President

In June, Patrice Papet became the new Planète Urgence President.