Context - France and Burkina Faso What is decentralised cooperation? The Oudin Santini Law Burkina Faso PASEP – Programme to improve water services Introduction Implementation Results Scaling up Decentralised Cooperation Sustainability and Scaling-up

1. Decentralised Cooperation as an alternative
model for financing rural water:
Eau Vive’s experience in Burkina Faso
Juste Hermann NANSI / Eau Vive
IRC International Symposium on Sustainable Rural Water Services
Financing Sustainability
Kampala, 13-15 April 2010

2. Contents
• Context - France and Burkina Faso
o What is decentralised cooperation?
o The Oudin Santini Law
o Burkina Faso
• PASEP – Programme to improve water services
o Introduction
o Implementation
o Results
o Scaling up
• Decentralised Cooperation
o Sustainability and Scaling-up
Rural water sustainable financing: Case of
Decentralised cooperation in Burkina Faso

3. Context: Decentralised
Cooperation
• After WWII, twinning to rebuild relations
• After independence in Africa, twinning for cultural
exchange and development
• Decentralisation and law of 1992 – Official framework for
decentralised cooperation
• Features of Decentralised Cooperation projects in brief:
o Builds lasting ties – strong relationships of trust built over more
than 20 years
o Exchange of experience, sharing of skills, building of capacities –
not just financing
• Oudin Santini Law, 2005 – focus on Water and Sanitation
Rural water sustainable financing: Case of
Decentralised cooperation in Burkina Faso

4. Context: Oudin Santini Law – 1%
for Solidarity
Local Authorities :
International
WatSan budget
WatSan
1% development
Water Agencies and
actions
Public water syndicats:
Operating budget
Decentralised cooperation
Local Authority partnership Local Authority
in France in Burkina Faso
General Budget for cooperation Local contribution
Up to 1% of WatSan Budget
Water Agency (up to 1%)
WatSan Project
Public water syndicat (up to 1%)

5. Context: Burkina Faso
Decentralisation PN-AEPA: national
context – laws framework for
governing water reaching MDG for
management Watsan
Local authorities are
responsible for water and
sanitation services
Rural water sustainable financing: Case of
Decentralised cooperation in Burkina Faso

6. PASEP: Improving Water Services
in 9 Communes of Burkina Faso
• Water supply networks: poor technical and financial performances
• Local authorities: lack of skills and capacities to manage services
SEDIF and Reims Métropole – more than just financing
• Able to bring different perspectives and approaches
o Reims Métropole manages its own public water supply services
o Local authorities within SEDIF contract with a private operator
• Experience with water management realities
o Flexibility in project planning
• Responsibility for water lies with the local authorities (Fr and BF)
o Sharing of experience and expertise for equivalent roles and
responsibilities – both governance and technical aspects
ONEA - Technical expertise as national operator and project partner
Eau Vive and CIEDEL - Technical expertise, understanding of both contexts
for facilitation and implementation

7. PASEP: Implementation
Creation of Communal Water
Commissions as a
consultative body and to
represent all stakeholders
Visits, training and exchanges
on water supply service issues
Infrastructure investments to
strengthen network
capacities

8. PASEP: Results
• Local authorities – real capacity to manage water supply service
• Local stakeholders – better appropriation of issues and
improved dialogue
• French partners – better understanding of local water service
issues (at political, financial and social levels)
• Water supply networks – financially viable
• Future prospects – Opportunities to scale up actions

9. PASEP: Scaling up
• Focus on main
centers, local Main center
43% of population
authorities want to
scale up to cover other Other villages
57% of population
villages
• Commune of Zorgho
chose to seek financing
by contacting French
twinning partners.
• Project of €450 000 currently being set up thanks to
decentralised cooperation financing mechanism
• Similar scaling up initiatives are currently running
Rural water sustainable financing: Case of
Decentralised cooperation in Burkina Faso

10. PASEP: Scaling up
• Lessons learned from project implementation are
being used to design further training sessions to
build local authorities’ capacities in water supply
service management
• 30 local authorities from Bam region in Burkina
Faso trained thanks to their French partners
(Seine-Normandy Water Agency - AESN)
• Similar training initiatives are currently running
Rural water sustainable financing: Case of
Decentralised cooperation in Burkina Faso

11. Decentralised Cooperation :
Sustainability and scaling up
POTENTIAL FOR SUSTAINABLE SERVICE DELIVERY
• Strong and lasting ties - relationship and trust built
by working together:
o Helps ensure continued financial support
o Potential to shift focus from a project approach to on-
going service support
• Sharing of experiences and capacity building:
o Helps to ensure technical sustainability
• Stable source of financing for water – potentially
up to 1% of resource consumption in France
Rural water sustainable financing: Case of
Decentralised cooperation in Burkina Faso

12. Decentralised Cooperation :
Sustainability and scaling up
POTENTIAL FOR SCALING UP
• Existing partnerships: relationship of trust already
in place that can be built on
o Expand actions together
• Mobilise further partners
o Bring in other local authorities who wish to get involved
in decentralised cooperation
o Potential of the Oudin Santini Law
• Favourable institutional context
o Historical context
o Legislative framework for decentralised cooperation
o Equivalence of responsibilities at local authority level

13. Thank you for your
attention
Juste Hermann NANSI
For more information:
www.pseau.org
www.eau-vive.org
www.ciedel.org