Ashleigh Thompson

Thesis project

A comparative look at the translation of the global 2030 Agenda into local water
initiatives through decentralised development cooperation in France and the
Netherlands.

Under the supervision of Marc Smyrl (CEPEL, Université de Montpellier) and Jenniver
Sehring (IHE Delft Institute for Water Education)

In the current environmental and climatic context, water has come to the fore as a concern of urgent and global proportion. Within the framework of the 2030 Agenda, it stands as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This monumental document guiding international development cooperation calls for a shift toward more integrated, multilevel governance approaches upon implementing the latter. This is manifest in numerous institutional discourses espousing the « localisation of the 2030 Agenda », a concept that valorises subnational governments as agents of development. On this basis, decentralised development cooperation, simplistically defined as local or regional public policy on international development cooperation, has emerged as an increasingly popular means through which to achieve this localisation.

This study aims to understand how subnational governments, as international development actors, translate global agendas into local water projects. More specifically, how do the actors in two countries renowned for their expertise in water, like France and the Netherlands, operationalise SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) through the vehicle of decentralised development cooperation? What mechanisms of policy translation and multilevel governance are at play in their efforts? To what extent do the projects implemented on the ground uphold or respect the declarations signed in international forums?

Key words: development cooperation / water policy / comparative studies / policy translation / multilevel governance