The leader of the organization is the French Institute of Public Private Partnership (IGD)
The co-organizers of the side-event are:
- The French Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs
- Veolia Environnement

Johannesburg, 2002, IGD, with the support of UNITAR, has presented the Charter of essential services, which is the first step of a worldwide movement for the recognition of a right of access for all to basic services.

The matter of access to basic services (water, sanitation, waste management, energy, transport, telecommunications, education, health, safety) is closely related to issues of sustainable development and poverty reduction. Indeed, these services are a prerequisite for a decent life and a healthy habitat, they condition the urban and economic development and they must be organized by preserving natural resources.

If water and sanitation had been highlighted into the Millennium Development Goals and through the recognition of a right to water, strong efforts must be done for other services in a perspective of continuous improvement.

Rio+20 is an opportunity to review both normative and operational point of view and to suggest some ways for the future in advancing the improvement of access to all services.

The Charter of essential services presented in 2002 was based on three pillars:
? recognition of rights for all to access to essential services: the political impact would have boost consequences;
? A guide for governance of essential services, offering directions on the responsibilities of each actor to organize and deliver these services;
? A call for a local integration of the rights and the guide to facilitate the implementation of services in an adapted way to each country and context.

Strong commitment of many partners, including UN-Habitat, the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MAEE), Veolia Environment and IGD, has led to significant progresses over the past ten years. Indeed, an important reflection was led by UN-Habitat and succeed to the adoption of, on one side, the International Guidelines on decentralization and strengthening of local authorities in 2007 and on the other side, the Guidelines on access to basic services for all (LDI) in 2009. These two sets of LDI were merged and have since been implemented with support from international donors and technical service providers.

Alioune Badiane, Director of Regional and technical cooperation within UN-Habitat, will be the moderator of this side event and will make recommendations at the end.

A theoretical presentation of the LDI and the process of implementation will be made by a representant (name to be confirmed) of the Directorate General of Global affairs, Development and Partnerships at MAEE.

Then, four speeches will focus on the presentation of operational solutions making effective LDI?s recommendations.
1. Joachim Hunlede, Secretary General of the Union of Municipalities of Togo, will present the procedure "quadrilogue" as a tool for multi-stakeholder consultation, leading on one hand, to a reform of legal and operational framework for the provision of basic services and on the other hand, to the emergence of local development projects with support from international donors.
2. Ricardo Fernandez, Director of CCAPAMA to Aguascalientes in Mexico will reflect the role of a controlling entity and governance of water services for the municipality of Aguascalientes, including the control of the respect of these contractual commitments, both those of operator than the government.
3. George Fety, mayor of the town of Ampasimbe Onibe on the east coast of Madagascar (to be confirmed), will present the experience of the program rHYvière: hydroelectricity networks in rural area: energy and respect of environmental. He will hightlight on the issue of tarification, through the experience of the establishment of a payment for environmental services;
4. Mrs. Ortega, general Secretary of Citynet, will deal with the issues of urban services face to matters of sustainable development.

Universal text and unanimously adopted, the LDI are proving to be an effective way to organize basic services. In this sense, they must be a reference for the support of international institutions and contributing countries to the official development assistance.
Zoudiba Allaoua, Director Finance, Economics and Urban Development
Sustainable Development Network of Word Bank (subject to availability) will explain how these recommendations of the LDI are a useful reference for donors in the implementation of their projects.

However, we need to go on the efforts. If we can welcome the recognition by the United Nations General Assembly of the right to water, it now seems appropriate, in the current financial and economic crisis, to increase our efforts in the improvement of access to all basic services. Pierre-Emeric Chabanne, General Delegate of the IGD, propose to define a roadmap with realistic steps including financial plan, taking into account the diversity of regions and contexts.

The moderator will close the side event with useful recommendations that could be integrated in the Final Declaration of Rio +20.