From 3 to 8 November 2017, Mayor Christophe Lubac of the town of Ramonville-Saint-Agne travelled to Benin to launch a new decentralised cooperation on the theme of access to water and sanitation for all.
Improving the drinking water supply and sanitation for the population is a major issue for Benin. As part of the fight against poverty and the drive to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a first institutional mission to the Republic of Benin was carried out by Mayor Christophe Lubac in partnership with the NGO HAMAP-Humanitaire in November 2017. The decentralised cooperation project between Ramonville-Saint-Agne and Aplahoue aims to help the local municipality reach its goal of 80% of residents having access to an improved water point by 2021. The process will run over 3 to 4 years and will promote concrete and relevant exchanges between each of the actors through a transfer of skills between the two institutions.
The three-year Ramonville-Aplahoue cooperation focuses on developing water and sanitation infrastructure in the municipality of Aplahoue. The project is built around essential pillars of the SDGs, such as:
- Improving people's living conditions through the construction and refurbishment of drinking water facilities.
- Promoting the right to education for all regardless of gender, by installing latrines in schools.
- Building local capacity to manage the facilities, with a view to making the development work last.
This project is jointly funded by the town of Ramonville-Saint-Agne, the town of Aplahoue and the Adour-Garonne Water Agency.
During Mayor Christophe Lubac's mission to Benin, we visited villages and schools in 7 districts of the municipality of Aplahoue. That allowed us to get as close as possible to conditions on the ground and to see the scale of the needs in terms of access to drinking water, sanitation and education. We also had the opportunity to speak with the Secretary General of the Association of Mayors of Benin about making the facilities last and the management arrangements to put in place. Finally, we were received by the Cooperation and Cultural Affairs Counsellor and the Cooperation Attache at a meeting held at the French Embassy in Cotonou.
Sealed by the signing of the partnership agreement, this mission marked the official launch of the cooperation between Ramonville-Saint-Agne and Aplahoue, on the basis of the outline programme of activities for 2017-2018. That outline programme is the fruit of joint work begun in July 2017 by the technical services of Aplahoue town hall, Mr Sebastien Rostan for the town of Ramonville, and the NGO HAMAP-Humanitaire.