Our social responsibility

The AFD Group “Strategy 2025-2030” document has unveiled our new CSR ambition: to (i) contribute to aligning the Group to the SDGs through the quality of our operations and (ii) bring our internal functioning into line with our mandate. 

To provide accountability on our approach and our results, and to improve dialogue on this topic with our partners, AFD Group publishes an annual social responsibility report. This report falls within the technical frameworks of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), ISO 26000, of the Global Compact and the French law on corporate transparency obligations in social, environmental, and societal matters.

AFD Group is also backed up by a charter of professional ethics. It sets out the key references that provide inspiration for the action of our Group and our employees, as well as shared values, collective ambitions and recommended behaviors (e.g., working for the public interest, commitment, integrity, openness, adaptability). 

Supporting sustainable projects with strong impacts for populations involves submitting results to the judgments and opinions of all stakeholders. Informing, conducting dialogue and providing responses are consequently among the pillars of the AFD Group.

AFD’s adoption of a transparency policy aims to meet the increasing demand expressed by public opinion and civil society actors to be better informed about the strategy, objectives and results of French Official Development Assistance. As an institution with a public service mission, AFD has committed to being accountable for its activities by making institutional, strategic and operational information available on its website. It also involves raising awareness and giving an understanding of our vision, our mandates and our actions. 

Furthermore, AFD sets an environmental and social complaints mechanism in order to strengthen the transparency and accountability of AFD-funded projects and operations.

Find out more about our transparency and dialogue policy

Any person or group of persons affected by an AFD-funded project from an environmental or social perspective can submit a complaint via the Complaints Mechanism.

Once the complaint has been submitted, it is registered by the mechanism’s Secretariat, under the supervision of AFD’s Ethics Advisor. A panel of independent experts decides whether it is eligible and, if so, deals with the complaint.

Thanks to this mechanism, AFD has strengthened the environmental and social monitoring of the projects it finances, with the aim of enhancing transparency and accountability towards its partners.

Find out more about the complaints mechanism