French public actors: key expertise for development
Mobilizing public expertise is essential in helping partner countries strengthen their policies. To that end, Expertise France works in close association with French public institutions (ministries, local authorities, public bodies, etc.) to source short- or long-term experts.
As part of Agence Française de Développement group (AFD group), that Expertise France will incorporate in July 2021, the agency will be empowered as a platform for public expertise in the service of partner institutions.
For further reading: Statistical cooperation in the spotlight: an interview with Jean-Luc Tavernier, Director-General of INSEE
Ministries, essential partners
Among public institutions, French ministries are prime partners for Expertise France, which harnesses their know-how in the technical cooperation projects it leads. In the field of culture and heritage for instance, Expertise France is working closely with the French Ministry of Culture.
For further reading: Agnès Saal: “Offer French know-how to countries with a cultural project”
As sources of expertise, the ministries are also associated with project design, which helps to ensure that lessons learned from the public policy implemented in various sectors in France are taken into account. Expertise France signed conventions with all ministries – such as the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and the Recovery and the Ministry for the Ecological Transition (account available below).
Read the report “Public actors, integral to cooperation”
Strong added value for States duties
Public expertise is particularly valuable in such key areas of State intervention as public finance, health, security and justice.
To this end, on December 31st, 2020, Expertise France absorbed Justice Coopération Internationale (JCI), the operator of the Ministry of Justice for international judicial and legal cooperation. Expertise France is now directly responsible for the implementation of these actions. This integration has facilitated its access to the specific expertise of the judicial and legal world, in particular the expertise of the Ministry of Justice, law schools and legal professions. Partnership agreements were signed in December 2020 to unite Expertise France and the former members of JCI group: École nationale de la magistrature (ENM), École nationale d'administration pénitentiaire (ENAP), Conseil national des Barreaux, Conseil supérieur du notariat and Chambre nationale des commissaires de justice.
Furthermore, some projects deploy public personnel exclusively. This is the case, for example, with European institutional twinning projects, in which the European Union entrusts a Member State to support a neighbouring European State’s administration with the strengthening of a given public policy area.
Fuelling the debate on development
Specialized in assembling complementary skills, Expertise France helps to advance dialogue between the public sector and other elements of society—the private sector, civil society and the realm of research.
To foster exchanges between these actors, the agency organizes the “Rendez-vous de l’Expertise”, discussion conferences on questions related to international technical cooperation and official development assistance. In 2020, conferences (all still available online) were organized on access to quality medicines in Africa, solutions to the socio-economic consequences of Covid-19 and culture as a lever of stability and development.
Find out more about Expertise France’s action: At a glance 2019-2020