AFD is a major partner for public actors in French Guiana for the implementation of an investment policy to match needs. It is responsive to its local partners and offers local authorities a range of financing solutions tailored to the context of French Guiana and support missions for the implementation of their development projects.

Our support to local authorities in French Guiana:

• Strengthens priority sectors for French Guiana’s development, in particular through the construction of schools and urban facilities, territorial development and by improving waste management.
• Assists the implementation of the investment programs of local authorities.
• Improves the management and organization of local authorities: training for territorial officers and support-advice missions, and expertise in the field of the organization, management and finances of local authorities.

Health plays a major role in AFD’s action in French Guiana. Indeed, it is faced with a lack of infrastructure and equipment, medical-social facilities and services and qualified staff. There is unequal access to healthcare in the territory. In addition to this situation, rapid population growth increases pressure on health and medical-social services.

Developing healthcare provision…

In the health sector, AFD contributes to financing French Guiana’s main hospital centers: for example, it has cofinanced the new mother-child unit and, more recently, the partial refurbishment of the Cayenne hospital center, as well as the construction of the new West French Guiana hospital center in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni. 

and medical-social facilities

Since 2012, we have been contributing to improving care and healthcare services for disabled children and adults.

AFD has financed the construction of the “Yépi Kaz” Medical-Social Institute in Rémire-Montjoly, of the association APAJH, which receives children with multiple disabilities, and the Physical Education Institute in Roura, with the association PEP Guyane, which will soon be receiving 60 children and adolescents suffering from mobility disabilities. More recently, AFD has been involved in addiction treatment for women by supporting the association AKATIJ for its therapeutic community project in Awala-Yalimapo.
 

AFD has contributed to financing the first eco-neighborhood in French Guiana, with the French Guiana Public Land and Development Institution (EPFAG). It has also been involved in the forward-looking work launched in late 2015/early 2016 by the Ateliers de Cergy design office to contribute to imagining how the city of Saint-Laurent du Maroni will be in 2060.

Access to housing poses a major social and economic challenge. Indeed, French Guiana is experiencing particularly strong demand related to the rapid population growth. Housing needs remain high, despite a sustained public policy and financing mechanisms for social, intermediate and open market housing. AFD has been supporting the main housing actors for many years, such as the Société Immobilière de Kourou (SIMKO) and Société Immobilière de Guyane (SIGUY). It also manages a guarantee fund to facilitate access to housing for low-income households (FGLES). 

AFD supports the private sector to help job-creating activities and boost the economic base. For example, in French Guiana, in recent years it has contributed to financing the renewable energies sector (photovoltaics, biomass) and telecommunications sector. It operates via:

• Direct financing offered to companies since 2013 (investment loans), as a complement to banks 
• The marketing of all the products of Bpifrance (guarantees and loans), with AFD acting as a service provider
• The Guarantee Fund for Agriculture and Fishing (FOGAP), which facilitates access to bank loans for companies in the agriculture, fishing, timber and aquaculture sectors. 

We also promote and facilitate the establishment of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the French overseas territories via our support to ADIE at central level.

AFD supports and finances regional cooperation projects between French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Amapà State in Brazil. It provides its financial support and its expertise, particularly in the sectors of health and biodiversity. AFD French Guiana also attends the meetings of the River Panel and takes part in Transboundary Commissions.