Our commitments

Expertise France’s core values are commitment, integrity, openness, adaptability and respect:

• Commitment (both individual and collective) to sustainable and inclusive growth
• Integrity through honesty and decency
• Openness through active listening and respect for people as individuals
• Adaptability through innovation and proactivity
• Respect for the diversity of institutional and socio-cultural contexts

Expertise France and its entire staff are committed to upholding the AFD group’s commitments, which are the following:

• Legal and regulatory compliance: full respect for all laws, regulations, conventions and texts that govern our work in France and abroad.
• Social and environmental impact: a conscious effort to promote sustainable development operations aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and good governance practices.
• Fight against money laundering, terrorist financing, corruption and fraud: strict and unwavering application of rules and procedures to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, corruption and fraud.
• Other commitments:
  • Fair competition and procurement processes
  • Participation in collective institutional efforts to ensure durable, coherent and effective official development assistance
  • Active engagement in development dialogue and contribution to global, lasting development efforts;
  • Transparent, equitable, lawful, high-quality project procedures.

Expertise France strives to lead by example in pursuing a low-carbon and environmentally responsible operational model. This includes contributing to national greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets in line with the European Union’s Paris Agreement objectives.

A carbon footprint assessment is planned for 2024–2026. This will assess GHG emissions from Expertise France’s headquarters in Paris, in-country offices, and project-related travel.

Gender inequality remains a core obstacle to sustainable development. As such, Expertise France is committed to internal policies that promote gender equality.

Gender equality is a key component of Expertise France’s identity. It is not only a national priority, but also one of our staff’s most valued principles. We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards harassment and achieved a 94/100 score on the Gender Equality Index for the second consecutive year in 2025. This index measures progress in gender equality in the workplace, by assessing:

• Pay gaps
• Disparities in the distribution of individual pay raises
• Promotion disparities
• Pay raises following maternity leave
• Gender parity in top 10 salaries

Our inclusive and responsible investment strategy is built on a principle of shared responsibility with our donors, and in line with leading development organisations at national (e.g., GIZ, FIAP), regional (e.g., EU, ECOWAS) and international (e.g., UN, OECD) levels. This is why we work to ensure stronger project accountability and to reinforce our environmental responsibility.

In line with the decisions of the April 2025 Presidential Council for International Partnerships, our accountability policy aims to maximise the return on investment of every euro of French development aid.

This new accountability policy includes our commitments to transparency, project management and assessment. This may include training in project management, methodological support and better assessment tools. Since 2023 we have also incorporated measures to analyse and measure the SDG impact of our projects. This enables us to take account of our SDG impact in a more cross-cutting manner. 

Expertise France is committed to both external and internal stakeholders. Our management charter sets out our management commitments:

• Promote the agency’s vision and help staff embody it at every level
• Ensure staff development
• Foster team cohesion
• Monitor performance
• Support wellbeing at work
• Innovate and remain agile (as managers)