Following the work of the Camdessus Panel at the international workshop in Nemours and in light of reflection on the matter over the past few years, the ISW continues to believe that we need to mobilise much greater financial, human and technical resources much more rapidly than is currently the case in rural areas, small and medium-sized towns and in peri-urban areas.

Otherwise, access for all to food, drinking water, sanitation and hygiene will just not be possible. For the ISW, resources could be channeled to the people who live in these non-priority areas and who are often the most impoverished, through the establishing of a «guarantee platform» at country level.  This «guarantee platform» would provide information on the needs of the populations and on the different sources of financing available. It would develop innovative mechanisms for access to international financing and access to training to strengthen both institutions and governance.

The «guarantee platform» would gather the requests for financing and project proposals, in order to achieve a critical mass that would enable unprofitable projects to be integrated into those that could be profitable and to respond to the consumers’ needs, even those who have a limited capacity to pay. During 2007, we defined the outline of the platform. Now we are ready to implement one or two pilot projects.