The entities of AFD Group are public institutions. Their task is to help fulfill France's commitments to sustainable investment and international solidarity, both in its overseas territories and internationally. The three components of AFD Group are Agence Française de Développement (AFD), which is responsible for financing the public sector and civil society organizations (CSOs), research, and training on sustainable development; Proparco, which is dedicated to financing the private sector; and Expertise France, a technical cooperation agency.
AFD Group operates in over 160 countries and 11 French overseas territories, investing in and co-developing shared solutions with and for local people. It supports more than 4,000 projects that reconcile economic and social development with the preservation of common goods such as climate, biodiversity, gender equality, education, health, and peace. In this way, it works to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Find out more about the Group and its holistic approach
Find out more about development assistance
In 2023, AFD Group invested €938 million in French overseas territories, but it’s true that most of its sustainable investments target foreign countries.
Global challenges like climate change, migration crises, and biodiversity loss know no borders: their impacts are also felt in France. In this way, the solidarity-driven and sustainable investments made internationally by AFD Group, which come in addition to those made by other public entities, benefit France in return.
Indeed, to ensure our own prosperity and security, we must prevent crises at their source, in the most vulnerable regions of the world. Moreover, 73% of the projects we financed in 2023 involved French actors, thereby boosting their innovation and competitiveness. A development policy makes it possible to form bonds of friendship and cooperation with partner countries, thereby providing concrete responses to global challenges.
For example, in 2023, AFD Group actions helped provide access to drinking water for 12.6 million people and supported the conservation of 33 million hectares of vital ecosystems.
In short, investing abroad means taking action for a more sustainable future, in France and elsewhere.
AFD Group takes action in countries where the French government gives it a mandate to focus on meeting the needs of vulnerable people and improve structural challenges over the long term, regardless of the regimes in place. Fighting poverty, improving access to healthcare, strengthening education, and promoting sustainable energy solutions are crucial actions that must be addressed over the long term. In 2023, AFD Group enabled access to healthcare for 70 million people, including in unstable areas in the Middle East and the Sahel.
In such complex situations, where relations with States can be strained, AFD Group works with NGOs, local businesses, and local governments to support the social and economic fabric, thus helping to avoid new crises.
Above all, AFD Group mainstreams respect for human rights into all its actions. In partnership with local stakeholders, we carry out projects focused on health, education, and equality. These initiatives are part of our vision of solidarity-driven and equitable development.
Finally, AFD forms alliances for France, by forging relationships based on mutual respect and common interest. Our work rounds out that of diplomats, by maintaining channels of dialog and strengthening France's credibility as a responsible global player.
AFD Group does contribute to France's international influence. It embodies a national effort to ensure a more secure and prosperous future despite short-term geopolitical uncertainties. Among AFD's projects in 2023, 73% saw participation by a French economic stakeholder, but always within a framework of “untied” support, i.e., without favoritism, so as to promote local stakeholders as much as possible.
AFD Group actions are guided by sustainable development criteria and carried out in partnership with local companies and organizations selected through transparent international calls for tenders. For example, in the Jet-P program in Vietnam, AFD mobilized French expertise to support the energy transition, without imposing predefined solutions.
Official development assistance (ODA) and solidarity-driven and sustainable investment are two complementary frameworks in international development. ODA was created in 1969 as a form of public financing committed by OECD member countries considered at the time to have developed economies. The aim was to support the least developed countries through grants, preferential loans, and structuring projects in areas such as health and education. However, ODA is showing limits both in its capacity to address the global challenges of today (climate change, biodiversity, energy transitions) and in including private initiatives.
In response, solidarity-driven and sustainable investment is emerging as a more inclusive model that’s open to all countries of the world and that includes both public and private financing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It facilitates innovative and global solutions that take into account climate, social, and economic interdependencies.
- Responses adapted to local realities
- Hybrid mobilization of public and private capital
- Impact assessment to optimize the use of resources
By combining solidarity and sustainability, solidarity-driven and sustainable investment is redefining the shape of international cooperation by focusing on not only the needs of beneficiary countries, but also their ability to contribute to sustainable global trajectories.
AFD Group contributes €2 billion to France's ODA commitment. We can also consider that 100% of its €12 billion in annual commitments fall under solidarity-driven and sustainable investment.
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