About Expertise France – who we are

Our role as an international cooperation agency extends well beyond what we traditionally know as “development aid”. The projects we carry out are first and foremost about people and fair cooperation. Our role is to build bridges and to strengthen the sovereignty of our international partners. With them, we work to defend our shared interests – health, peace, security, and prosperity for people and the planet.

To reach our goals, we design and implement projects that durably strengthen public policy in our partner countries. We work in a number of geographic regions. These include, but are not limited to, developing and emerging nations as well as countries in and around Europe. Our work revolves around an array of focus areas, including gender equality; climate adaptation; strengthening of public institutions; a sustainable, inclusive economy; peace, stability and security; sustainable development; health; and human development.

We specialise in implementing tailored international partnerships (what used to be called “development aid”). Our role is to bring together and coordinate experts from multiple fields. As our agency operates under the aegis of French government ministries, we also actively contribute to achieving Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

We are equally attentive to the impact and spillover effects of our work. For this reason, we measure the impact of our projects using specific indicators that we have developed.

Our remit is determined by the strategic priorities of the French government in foreign policy and development cooperation. These priorities come from, among others, the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs as well as the Ministry for the Economy, Finance, and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty. As a result, our agency is organised and operates based on frameworks laid down by the legislative and executive branches of the French government, which determines our strategic goals.

In accordance with French Law 2021-1031 of 4 August 2021 on development policy and the fight against poverty, Expertise France became a subsidiary of the AFD group in January 2022. We now support the AFD group in their work by developing bilateral cooperation and implementing economic and technical cooperation projects.

Expertise France also contributes to European development cooperation, working closely with European institutions and European counterparts and actively participating in coordination groups and the Team Europe initiatives.

We also play an active role in the Practitioners’ Network for European Development Cooperation, of which we have held the presidency since 2023 (in collaboration with the Austrian Development Agency since May 2024).

Expertise France was founded as an international cooperation agency in January 2015 in accordance with French Law 2014-773 of 7 July 2024. It was set up to represent the French government in international cooperation, and merged six existing development cooperation agencies (each with its own focus areas). These were France Expertise Internationale, previously France Coopération Internationale (democratic governance, crises and security), as well as the public-private partnerships Esther (HIV, hospital hygiene, maternal and newborn health), Inter (employment and training), SPSI (health and social protection), ADECRI (international relations), and ADETEF (economic and technological exchange).