La coordination inter-organisationnelle, levier de la gouvernance territoriale : quelles leçons tirer de la gestion de l'eau interbassin ?

The notion of ?territorial governance? usually focuses on how to involve the public or the stakeholders in decision-making processes related to public issues. In more complex situations, when the problem to be solved goes beyond the area of responsibilities of a single public actor, ?territorial governance? relies on the coordination of the different organizations involved in the problem resolution, or impacted by that problem. This study was carried out in an intervention-research project about water governance. Our paper analyses the case of an inter-organizational coordination between the water managers of two river basins from South of France, which share the same resources. By using a multi-dimensional analytical framework, we identify constraints related to local public actions which hamper such coordination. This study, confirmed by previous experiences of consulting services in the public sector, allows us to propose a participatory methodology that promotes inter-organizational coordination. Thus, we intent to outline an engineering of ?territorial governance? for which procedures largely remain to be developed.