An example of these meetings was the event organized by the Platform of Public-Community Agreements of the Americas (PAPC), together with other networks such as Reclaming Public Water; Trasnational Institute; Food and Water Watch, among others.

The PAPC was launched in 2009 in Montevido, capital city of Uruguay, aiming to ensure the implementation of the Human Right to Water. Delegates from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Uruguay, also members of RED VIDA, are part of it.

Among other things, the Platform enables the exchange of
experiences with water suppliers and communities organized to supply the resource. In Marseille, the PAPC organized an event about the public-community agreements to exchange experiences from different parts of the world.

Our correspondent Danilo Urrea, of CENSAT – Agua Viva Colombia, interviewed Eloi Badia, member of Engineers without Borders and facilitator of the event where over 150 people participated.

Badia said that, contrary to what many people think, the alliances between public and community suppliers are challenging the hegemony of the public-private alliances.

Now, the main challenge is that these issues are not dealt with from a technical perspective only or are used by political parties in their electoral campaigns. “These issues have to be on the agenda of citizens”, the activist said. He added that the community model “is not as conflictive” as the state model, and it has “more consensus”.

“This has been a forum full of life, full of soul, which will enable us to arrive to Rio+20 mobilized”, said Badia.