France
Nomad RSI’s activities in France include research on local nature knowledge and a public education project on subjects relating to health, the environment and North-South inequalities. These activities have three specific objectives:
- To raise awareness of therapeutic and cultural diversity
- To familiarise the public with the world of research and international cooperation
- To share the international partnership approach developed by Nomad RSI
Research into local knowledge and medicinal plants
Go to the research page to find details of current and previous work on the question of local knowledge, medicinal plants and traditional medicines in France. This research group has recently been launched and has two main objectives: firstly to document knowledge relating to nature, particularly medicinal plants, in certain regions of France, and secondly to develop an active project to preserve and transmit local knowledge.
Botanical walks
Botanical walking tours in town and in the mountains, guided by Boris Presseq, a botanist at the Museum of Natural History, Toulouse.
Organisation of festivals, concerts and other public events
- Nomad Festival 2007 to celebrate the organisation’s 10-year anniversary. Nomad RSI and project team members from Cambodia and Ladakh organised a wide range of events across France during October (seminars, conferences, exhibitions, concerts, film projections...)
- Nomad Festival 2004. Story telling, public debates, various animations, concerts of jazz, hip-hop, "ginguette"... at Toulouse.
- Festival Nomad 1999. Artist from various backgrounds came together in Toulouse for the first Nomad Festival: conferences, danses, workshops, street circus, three stages with electro, hip-hop, reggae, world…
- Other one-evening concerts et public events are regularly organised.
“Nomad on a plateau”: Discussion groups and radio broadcasts
Nomad RSI, in partnership with Radio Radio and Terra Nova (Toulouse), holds regular discussion groups at a cafe in Toulouse, bringing together actors and activists from the fields of social economy, international solidarity and sustainable development. These meetings provide a lively forum for the discussion of contemporary issues, and through radio broadcasts, enrich the general public’s awareness of issues such as:
| Date | Programme |
|---|---|
| 22nd Oct. 2007 | Medicinal Plants: Local production and importation Elisabeth Dodinet (EHESS / Nomad RSI) and Thierry Thévenin (Syndicat des SIMPLES) |
| 20th June 2007 | International Solidarity: What action in Midi-Pyrenees? - Associated with Global Earth Festival. Gérard Poujade (Mayor of Séquestre Commune, Tarn), Un Etai pour le Vietnam association and Students for International Solidarity, and Eric Austruy, Greenpeace Toulouse - “Forest” group. Download the flyer |
| 21st May 2007 | Gender and Solidarity: The current situation. Anne Marie Granie (Professor of Sociology and Director of the Laboratory of Research and Rural Dynamics), Hélène Guetat Bernard (Assistant Professor in Geography and vice-director of the Laboratory of Research and Rural Dynamics); and Marie Christine Thircuir (Information Centre on Women’s Rights). |
| 19th Feb. 2007 | Sharing public space: Social mobility and modes of governance? Association Bleu comme une orange and Dominique Platon (planning a car-share project). Download the flyer |
| 15th Jan. 2007 | The hopes and despairs of microfinance Isabelle Guérin (Institute of Research for Development, IRD) and Lise Duval. Download the flyer |
| 19th Dec. 2006 | Plants of urban Toulouse and individual relations to the wild Boris Presseq (Botanist, Museum of Natural History, Toulouse) and Catherine Espiasse (landscape expert, Conseil de l’Etat, DDE46). Download the flyer |
| 20th Nov. 2006 | Globablisation: the role of civil society action and international laws Jacques Prades (Lecturer at the University of Toulouse 2 - Le Mirail, founder and convener of the Master of Research in Social Economy) and François Morin (Professor of Economics, University of Toulouse 1, and researcher at LEREPS). Download the flyer |
| 16th Oct. 2006 | Sustainable Tourism Anne Chauvard (Association Mondovelo) and the Association Echoway. Download the flyer |
Nomad RSI today
In 2007, while celebrating 10 years of Nomad RSI’s existence, we took the difficult decision to close our head office in Toulouse, where formerly one or two staff members had always been based. The mounting difficulty of financing paid posts in non-profit associations has, sadly, not only affected Nomad RSI in recent years. It rather reflects the current state of the non-profit sector in France, where both local and international organisations face an increasingly precarious situation of reduced state support and impossible costs for salaried administrators and coordinators. Like many small non-profit organisations in contemporary France, Nomad RSI is fighting for survival and for the ability to continue with its programmes. Our Head Office today relies upon a single salaried post, responsible for overall direction, and the volunteers who form the Administrative Council.