The "Co-construction of knowledge" (CO3) programme is a French experimental scheme supported by five donors (ADEME, the Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation, the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, the Fondation de France, and Agropolis Fondation). It aims to promote participatory research and publicize the robustness of its results, to capitalize on methods and approaches for co-constructing research between actors from different spheres and, finally, to disseminate the lessons of this type of research.
One Call for proposals, three themes, two types of projects
The programme has launched a first call for proposals in 2018 targeting three thematic areas:
- Agro-ecological transition for sustainable agriculture and food;
- integrated environmental management;
- environmental quality and human well-being.
Two categories of projects were eligible:
- Emerging projects, for an amount of around 10-15 k€;
- consolidated projects with a maximum amount of 150 k€.
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For this first wave, the Foundation is co-financing one of the 17 selected projects for a total amount of 45 k€.
A second wave in July 2019
A second call for proposals, under the CO3 programme, was launched in July 2019. It takes up the main lines of the previous call, namely:
- Three themes of particular interest, but not exhaustive: Agroecological transition for sustainable agriculture and food; Integrated management of environments; Environmental quality and human well-being.
- Two types of projects: Emerging project (up to 15 k€, 12 months): support for setting up a participatory research project / Consolidated project (up to 150 k€, 36 months): support for the implementation of a participatory research project.
Agroecology and peer certification, SAGITERRE and COMPAIRS projects funded
Seventy-nine projects were submitted, including 33 on the agroecology axis. Four projects from the AGRO community were selected, of which two will be funded:
- The SAGITERRE project "Collective strategies for an agro-ecological transition of the territory", led by UMR Innovation (INRAE). This emerging project will be co-financed by the Carasso Foundation (€6,500) and Agropolis Fondation (€8,500). The project aims to produce knowledge and identify avenues of research on collective strategies for agro-ecology. It is based on the initiative of the Graines Equitables cooperative, led by the BioCivam de l’Aude, which aims to produce crops in organic farming in recultivated fallow vineyards, in conjunction with livestock farmers to enhance the value of the fodder produced and the grazing areas. The aim of the project is to collectively build a problematization and development scenarios to lay the foundations of a consolidated project.
- The COMPAIRS project "Peer certification for eco-solidarity quality: co-construction of an intellectual commons", led by UMR Moisa (CIRAD). This consolidated project will be co-financed by ADEME (€87,000) and Agropolis Fondation (€58,000) and focuses on "Participatory Guarantee Systems" (SPG), which are participatory certification systems aimed at guaranteeing buyers or users compliance with recognized sustainable production practices through a quality sign or label. These systems are little known in France. The project, which follows on from an emerging CO3 project (REPAIRS), aims to study (framework of the Ostrom and Hess intellectual commons, 2007), publicize and develop these systems in France through partnerships between CIRAD and INRAE on the research side and Nature & Progrès, Envirobat, Simples, Miramap and Certipaq on the field side.
