(Re)sources was born in 2004 in Libreville during a founding symposium on the right to water and energy. The participants formed this think tank with the aim of mobilising the attention of decision-makers and the media on the problems of access to essential services in African and Middle Eastern countries, in order to raise awareness and push them to take concrete action.
A place for free debate and a force for proposals, (Re)sources strives, through regular meetings (conferences, debates, mornings, webinars...) and research and analysis work, to propose solutions in the field of access to essential services for those who are deprived of them. The think tank has thus produced recommendations to be disseminated to the water, energy and waste management communities. (Re)sources also supports concepts that contribute to the defence of human rights and integrates urbanisation, health and climate change as aggravating accelerating factors for access to essential services for all in its awareness-raising work with decision-makers.
Faced with this context, businesses have a crucial role to play in access to essential services, firstly because they cannot ensure their own production without the good availability and sustainability of these services, but also because no business can envisage sustainable development in these regions without taking into account the share of the population whose income is both very low and fluctuating.
As a result, many companies have evolved part of their business model towards a "Bottom of the Pyramid" model. Their objective is to develop inclusive and economically profitable models that meet the aspirations and are accessible to the incomes of all segments of the population.
However, for this bet to work, relying on essential services remains fundamental. (Re)sources is a think tank with no political affiliation or economic or ideological dependence, working on conditions and solutions to ensure that everyone has access to these services, particularly in African and Middle Eastern countries where a large section of the population is still marginalized.
This is why a certain number of companies supporting (Re)sources, and aware of the need to act together, wish to take part in the debates, in order to share and build projects and alternatives around these issues, with personalities from very diverse backgrounds, united in their common commitment for access to essential services.
(Re)sources now brings together more than thirty members: academics, politicians, humanitarian professionals, economic and social development activists, professionals from industry and service companies, and members of international institutions.