Our priorities

Our strategy rests on a vision of "world in common" and five foundational commitments that underpin all actions: 100% Paris Agreement, 100% social link, 3D development thinking, non-sovereign first and partnership design.
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Zagtouli, Burkina Faso's photovoltaic power plant
Zagtouli, Burkina Faso's photovoltaic power plant © Anne Mimault / AFD
AFD Group has a mission to help construct a world in common, a world that preserves and protects five important “common goods”: people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership. As an accelerator and facilitator, publicly-funded development finance proves essential for the collective preservation of common goods. When focused on mutual interests, it also creates ties between France and its Southern partners.

We have made five foundational commitments to promote these five global common goods.

100% Paris Agreement

Ashegoda windfarm, Ethiopia

The Paris Agreement now stands at the heart of the AFD Group mandate. The Agency will draw on public and private resources to fund capital investments that protect the Earth from climate change and biodiversity loss: all project funding will finance resilient low-carbon development in keeping with the Paris Agreement.

100% social link

pupils, kids, primary school, Angira, Kenya, education

AFD Group will base its actions on their capacity to reinforce social cohesion within populations and between territories, reducing inequalities — particularly gender inequality — and increasing access to education.

3D development thinking

seller, woman, Mopti, Mali

In fragile and crises-afflicted situations, sustainable development requires peace and stability, which in turn require resolutions for the social, political, and environmental causes of conflict.

AFD Group pledges to uphold the third “D” in France’s Defense, Diplomacy and Development trinity. Promoting a 3D vision for conflict prevention, the Group will work alongside other development professionals, complementing the work of humanitarian organizations and the French diplomatic and military corps.

Non-sovereign first

factory Transpaper, Kampala, Uganda, worker

Alongside sovereign central governments, non-sovereign entities must also direct their investments toward attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Local governments, public enterprises, civil society organizations, foundations, companies, and financial institutions all have a vital role to play. AFD Group will thus dedicate more funding to all of them in countries where it operates. 

Partnership by design

vocational training, Lebanon, youth

The fifth AFD Group commitment to working with partners will affect all Agency commitments and operating modes. The Group will apply a very simple principle: a project conducted with a third party is always better than one undertaken alone.

The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate — in their comprehensiveness, geographic universality, and relevance at every level from central governments to civil society – require a collective response made stronger through partnerships. The new AFD Group strategy therefore features a systematic openness to all potential partners.