Behind the scenes of research

In 2017, Anthony Marque, national secretary of Secours Populaire at the time, embarked on a two-year journey that took him through much of Africa and then South America. His goal was to meet the men and women who cultivate the land using traditional methods, and find out about their eating and farming habits. The initiative caught the attention of Amina Béji-Bécheur, Professor of Management Science at Université Gustave Eiffel and Deputy Director of the IRG, who, after working on the development of fair trade in France and then on Collective or Participative Interest Cooperative Companies (SCIC or SCoP), is now studying the operational models by which citizens succeed in developing an innovative project for social transformation through economic means. She suggested that Anthony Marque join her in the Master’s course in Management of Social and Solidarity Enterprises, in which she teaches, but the COVID health crisis put a stop to this project.

When Anthony Marque contacted her again a few years later, it was as spokesman for the Narse de Nouvialle collective. The association was looking to work on citizen mobilisation and propose an alternative and sustainable economic model for the preservation of a wetland coveted by an industrial group, and needed advice and support. Amina Béji-Bécheur was not in a position to give advice, but a partnership was envisaged as part of the OAC-NS project that she coordinates alongside Audrey Bonnemaizon. This project takes a multidisciplinary approach combining management, urban planning and technical and social sciences to study citizen experiments set up collectively and locally to respond to environmental and social problems, in order to understand what conditions their success. The actions of the Narse de Nouvialle collective correspond in every respect to this field of investigation.

Collaboration requires active and balanced participation by the parties involved. In this case, the task may seem difficult because the two worlds coming together are very different: on the one hand, researchers who observe and analyse; on the other, activists who feel and react. They are united in a protest to preserve the land where they live and work on a daily basis, and their commitment is driven by ideological, if not political, principles to which researchers can only adhere on an individual and private basis, under no circumstances in the context of their work. The first goal is to find the right distance, the right approach and the right words to talk to each other. During the first six months of the OAC-La Narse project, the researchers and association members got to know each other and to understand each other’s expectations. The first meeting was scheduled for November 2021. After this, the exchanges were regular and fruitful, and Gilbert Kientega, a doctoral student, maintained a direct link with the association, making numerous field visits and taking part in the various meetings organised.

Once the objectives had been defined and the logic of the interactions identified, the support phase began. This involved training workshops to develop the communication methods and tools needed to extend the collective’s network and strengthen its legitimacy. Communication with residents  took place at annual gatherings such as the Marche Pour la Narse walk, organised in February as part of World Wetlands Day, the Fête de la Narse or one-off events such as discovering the Narse on foot or by bike, concerts, etc. The support offered by the researchers focused on consolidating the alternative economic project led by the collective and on approaching the economic players likely to be involved. Around thirty interviews with players in various sectors (agriculture, agri-food, logistics, forestry, tourism) were carried out by the members of the collective, initially accompanied by the researchers, then independently.

The OAC-La Narse project is the perfect example of collaboration between an association and a team of researchers, and enabled the scientists to develop their ideas both in terms of the knowledge they acquired and their experimental methodology. At the same time, it provided the Narse de Nouvialle collective with new tools for its current and future activities: model questionnaires, evaluation grids and, more generally, methods developed collaboratively to refine a project based on a sustainable economic vision of the area, and then to share it as widely as possible. The desire to share is undoubtedly the key to the success of this initiative, because for everyone involved, the benefits are just as important as the human adventure. The final decision on the future of the wetland lies with the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion.