The importance of water

Questions answered by Jean-François Donzier, International Office for Water’s Managing Director.

 

Non Profit ID card: present your project/organisation/campaign

–       Where are you based? Paris.

–       What are you called? Office International de l’Eau/International Office for Water.

–       What are you doing and why? We campaign to strengthen the necessary competences to better manage water in France, in Europe and everywhere else in the world encouraging professional training, the development of information services on water and the management of institutional reforms necessary to modernize water management.

–       Do you have a website/email? www.oieau.org or www.iowater.org  

dg@oieau.fr  

–       What makes you so special? For the past 15 years, we have been in charge of the Permanent Technical Secretariat of the International Network of the Organisms of the Basin –RIOB – INBO, which brings together more than 189 Organizations in 68 countries. 

We have also been leading the International Network of Training Centres for water jobs – RICFME SINCE December 2008.

 

The turning point

–       How did you start? Little by little, with some motivated partners who have helped us start up, investing in particular in our training centre in France which now hosts more than 6,000 trainees every year.

–       What keeps you going every day? The problems of fresh water in the world are serious enough that our job is huge and stimulating. Also, our partners everywhere in the world refer to us which gives us confidence in the quality of our activities and in the pertinence of our standpoints on the international scene.

–       Who is your target? Answering the call of countries seeking our help to better manage water in a modern and efficient way.

–       How are you financed? Through bi-and multilateral finance organizations’ help and selling non profit training, study and expertise services. 

 

The challenge

–       What is your main challenge? Recognizing the importance of a rapid adaptation of water management to cope with climate change which will lead to increased flooding and drought risks in the next few decades everywhere in the world. 

–       A proud moment? Our appointment as advisory body at the United Nations’s ECOSOC and the success of the side event organized during the UN’s CDD 13 in New York on the financing of water management and the success of our official five sessions on the management of the basin and the cross-border cooperation which we organized with UNESCO during the last World Water Forum in Istanbul in March 2009. 

–       A problem you face? Adaptation to climate change’s challenges. 

–       Your personal motto when things get hard? When one is competent and serious, it is never too difficult to persuade people.

–       What do you think still needs to be done?

Strengthening the professional training of drinkable water services employees, as well as that of water sanitation and irrigation employees, in order to improve management, exploitation and maintenance of collective installations and guarantee investments.

www.oieau.org

www.iowater.org

Go to Vita Europe Non Profit ID card on Evpa.