Share the page
Our governance
Expertise France is the French international development cooperation agency. It was set up on 1 January 2015, and became a subsidiary of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) on 1 January 2022.
We work on projects that are in the public interest. Our role is to serve France’s foreign policy, development policy and economic diplomacy. Specifically, we implement cooperation projects backed by bilateral and multilateral funding. We also aid in developing international technical expertise.
Read on to discover more about our legal form, share ownership, Administrative Board, and Executive Committee.
Legal form and share ownership
Expertise France is a limited liability company. In accordance with a ministerial decree of 30 December 2021 approving our constitution, the AFD group is the sole shareholder in our company.
Our agency was created on 1 January 2015 to merge six existing French development cooperation agencies. These were France Expertise Internationale (previously France Coopération Internationale) along with the public-private partnerships Esther, Inter, SPSI, ADECRI, and Adetef.
The reason for this merger was to create a French interministerial development cooperation agency with an international remit. Our role has been to implement and coordinate technical cooperation projects initiated by the French government.
2022 Integration into the AFD Group
Our French international development cooperation agency became a subsidiary of the AFD group in accordance with French Law 2021-1031 of 4 August 2021 prioritising the protection of global public goods, fight against poverty and promotion of human rights.
Our governance is regulated by a strict legal framework :
- Law 2014-773 of 7 July 2014: this law paved the way for the creation of Expertise France on 1 January 2015. Our agency first operated as a state-owned enterprise. The rules governing our organisation and operation were stipulated in Ministerial Decree 2014-1656 of 29 December 2014.
- Law 2021-1031 of 4 August 2021: This law on development cooperation and the fight against inequality consolidated France’s existing official development assistance (ODA) apparatus. It provided that France’s ODA budget reach 0.55% of French gross national income by 2022. It also laid down a legal framework for Expertise France to become a subsidiary of the AFD group.
- Ministerial Decree of 30 December 2021: This decree approved the constitution of Expertise France as a limited liability company.
Expertise France as an interministerial agency
As a public body, we follow the policy decisions made by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs as well as the Ministry for the Economy, Finance, and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty. Our role is determined by France’s strategic priorities in foreign policy, development cooperation, foreign influence and economic diplomacy.
Our Administrative Board and Executive Committee
Our Administrative Board decides on how the agency is run. For example, it makes decisions relating to our overall strategy, organisation and operations. It also makes decisions regarding our forecasted budget and strategic priorities as agreed in our Contract of Objectives and Means (COM) with the French government. The Administrative Board also decides on our budgetary and financial management.
Chair of the Board of Expertise France
The Chair of the Administrative Board verifies that our agency is meeting its goals. They also coordinate between our agency and the government ministries, national bodies, and foreign organisations that work in the same fields. The Chair organises at least three annual meetings of the Administrative Board. Rémy Rioux, the CEO of the AFD group, has been the chair of the Board since January 2022.
Members of the Administrative Board
Besides the Chair, the Administrative Board of Expertise France comprises 18 members representing:
- the French Parliament (two deputies and two senators)
- the French government (four representatives appointed by the ministries responsible for development and the economy)
- the AFD group (four representatives)
- local government (one representative)
- charities and civil society organisations (one representative)
Two qualified persons and two staff representatives from Expertise France are also full members of the Administrative Board.
“With a network of around 4,500 employees working in more than 150 countries and 11 French overseas departments and territories, our Group is engaging in a dialogue around local public policies with all our partners and clients. Our aim is to meet the development strategies of France’s overseas provinces and the countries in which we operate. Staff in each entity coordinate their efforts to ensure that our work fosters connections between the public and private sectors and takes the institutional contexts into account.”
- CEO of the AFD group and chair of the Administrative Board of Expertise France
The Executive Committee of Expertise France
The Executive Committee of Expertise France is the body that oversees the general management of our agency. It helps the CEO to run the agency and ensure that we are meeting the priorities and budget in our Contract of Objectives and Means. The Executive Committee handles issues relating to our internal organisation. This includes our strategic framework, the implementation of decisions by the Administrative Board, and the monitoring of performance indicators. Lastly, it oversees the interdepartmental re-organisation of our agency. The Executive Committee comprises the following members:
- The CEO
- The Deputy CEO in charge of Operations
- The Secretary
- The Director of Human Resources
- The Director of Finance
- The Deputy Directors of Operations
- The Head of the Office of the CEO
Jérémie Pellet, CEO of Expertise France
Jérémie Pellet was the deputy CEO of the AFD group before he joined Expertise France in December 2018. He started his career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, moved to the Ministry for the Economy and Finance, then became the director of investments at CDC Enterprises (now the investments division of Bpifrance).
Next, he became deputy chair of the board of directors of Proparco, the private sector subsidiary of the AFD group. He was also the chair of that subsidiary’s investment committee, as well as a member of the boards of directors of Expertise France and of the funding division of Bpifrance. Jérémie Pellet is now the CEO of Expertise France, where he works daily to promote the agency and its technical expertise.
© Xavier Renauld
Ressources
