International Cooperation

The Rhone Mediterranean Corsica Water Agency, like all water agencies in France, has developed an international intervention policy in the areas of water access, sanitation and hygiene. This action is fully consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) developed by the United Nations.

A STRONG WATER AGENCY AMBITION

The agency’s international action is founded on the Oudin-Santini law of 9 February 2005 and the commitment made at the World Water Forum in Marseille (2012) by the Chairs of the Basin committees, to mobilize all of the 1% of their resources that the law authorizes.

As a logical consequence of French foreign policy, water agencies may, exactly like local and regional authorities, devote up to 1% of their income to international cooperation and solidarity actions.

For more than 10 years now, the agency has mobilized human and financial resources, in collaboration with international cooperation and solidarity stakeholders in the basins, in order to facilitate access to drinking water and appropriate sewage treatment for all. In practice, this is expressed by the financing of infrastructures, but also by training users and technicians, from maintenance procedures to Integrated Water Resource Management. 

79 projectswere financed by the agency in 2018, for an envelope of 4.4 million euros

51 countrieshave hosted projects supported by the agency over the past five years

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ACHIEVEMENT OF SDG

In 2015, the United Nations launched the 2030 Agenda, which sets 17 Sustainable Development Goals. SDG are declining into 169 targets mesurable with 232 indicators. SDG number 6 is specific to water and aims to "ensure access to water and sanitation for all". Through his international intervention, the water agency contributes to achieving SDG 6 by participating in the improvement and development of water and sanitation services worldwide and the dissemination water management know-how.

Beyond SDG 6, water is an issue that can be found in other development issues such as the fight against inequalities, health, education, climate… In total, twenty targets are directly linked to water. For example, SDG 3, which addresses the health issue, shows the importance of fighting water-borne diseases, which are responsible for many deaths worldwide

844

million people have no access to drinking water

1/3

of the world's population doesn't have access to basic sanitation

 

1000

children die due to preventable water and sanitation-related diarrheal diseases

SDG

Copyright : UN

STRUCTURED ACTION IN 3 AREAS:

International Cooperation and Solidarity

The agency invites all the local authorities in the Rhone-Mediterranean and Corsica basins to get mobilized, developing water access and sewage treatment projects with partners in emerging countries. The agency is able to provide financial and technical support to carry out these projects successfully.
Solidarity associations and NGOs are also able to benefit from aid, if at least one project manager from the Rhone-Mediterranean and Corsica basins participates in the project (see eligibility criteria). 
Mobilization of new financial resources, even if this is modest, and exploiting the local authorities’ and associations’ experience and expertise on water management and access to sewage treatment is of great value.

Institutional cooperation

The agency creates institutional partnerships with institutions in foreign or European Member State basins. In partner countries, these cooperations aim to promote concerted water management with partners at drainage basin level.

Its ambition is also to share technical and economic know-how and a method of governance of water that has been tried and tested in France.

Institutional cooperation must serve the cause of decentralized cooperation, fostering the emergence and strengthening of smaller scale international solidarity projects.

Emergency aid

If a major natural disaster with high humanitarian impact should occur, water agencies may also activate a system of emergency aid. This aid is allocated to NGOs that are specialized in emergency intervention. In recent years, this system has been activated after the passage of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines (2013) or during earthquakes in Haiti (2010 and 2016) and Nepal (2015).

Tanks La Réunion (picture)Picture : Copyright Jean Faure-Brac

Access to water (picture)Picture : Copyright pseau