In the Old Nice, on Benoît Bunico street, hides an atypical place. La Falabrac Fabrik is an association with multiple hats: shop, library, canteen, café… It is one of the microprojects funded by the region, through the CLAIE. Explanations.
La Falabrac Fabrik and the CLAIE
Under this whimsical name (as our former president would say), lies a multitude of projects. And a desire from volunteers that has materialized, the desire for a different place that allows low-cost activities or purchases for members, or the exchange of books. Organic products from non-industrial and local agriculture are found here, objects are restored, and the materials used in this place are recycled or eco-friendly… “It’s a laboratory of ideas,” according to Léonard Verhaeghe, president of the CLAIE (Local Coordination of Actors for Economic Integration). This essential operator chooses the associations and approves the structure, conducting an expertise to determine the viability of projects. It allows the region to have a preferred referent.
Funding
The European Social Fund (ESF) sends funds to the Region, which then redistributes them among various projects. Most of the staff is volunteer, there are a few supported contracts. Therefore, La Falabrac Fabrik is just one component, merely a facet of the CLAIE’s work, to which it is accountable. The members (currently there are 300) also help to pay the salaried employees through annual and monthly contributions, which gives access to a basket of vegetables from producers. La Falabrac Fabrik makes no margin; it simply serves as an intermediary, a storage place.
The region, from one end of the chain to the other
The region has thus committed to this “proactive policy” because “it conveys many values to which we are attached,” says Patrick Allemand, who recently opened a biological educational farm. From the product to its distribution, the region subsidizes this alternative trade. The Falabrac Fabrik association receives €173,000 in subsidies, “the social and solidarity economic sector is even more important because it does not follow the same logic,” with a maximum of €23,000 to be allocated per project. All this by submitting the microproject ideas to Thibaut Dingreville, who helps to formulate or clarify them, while respecting a very specific set of specifications by Thibault Dingreville. A presence sheet had to be signed by the participants at the end, including the 1st vice-president of the Region “we must justify our pay for this hour,” jokes Thibault Dingreville. That’s also modern associative work.
