What is the “Oudin-Santini” law ?

The Oudin Santini law was introduced in 2005, allowing local authorities to devote 1% of their water and sanitation budget to finance international solidarity programs. The application of this measure is an essential lever because it allows to benefit from subsidies from water agencies and to complete the financing of development programs.

To do this, two ways are possible:

Either the project is carried out by an NGO, which receives funds from a French local authority and the corresponding water agency to then carry out the international solidarity project.

Or, it is the French local authority that carries out the project in partnership with a local authority and that takes the necessary steps with the sectoral water agency. This is called decentralized cooperation. In this case, the contribution of the water agency can be higher, thus allowing to benefit from a larger budget and a greater involvement in the implementation of the cooperation program. The NGO then acts as an assistant to the project owner.