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Our development cooperation in the Middle East

Expertise France works across the Middle East, a region marked by numerous conflicts, to support local authorities in achieving greater stability through institutional strengthening and private sector development. We also deliver essential public services and address challenges in governance and social cohesion.
€111.5 million in projects in the Middle East, 23 of which are ongoing. 7 ITEs were deployed to the region in 2025.
In 2025, we implemented twenty national projects worth €87 million in funding from the European Union (EU) and Agence Française de Développement (AFD). We also carried out three multi-country projects worth €24.5 million in funding from the EU. Our objectives included combatting terrorist financing, strengthening partner capacity, promoting social protection, and developing green and circular economies. We did this through our in-country office in Lebanon/Jordan, a Syria programme coordinator and a representative in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. We also deploy high-level expertise through the International Technical Experts (ITE) programme.
Our work in the Middle East
We work on a range of issues in the region: public finance, the governance of strategic infrastructure, the fight against corruption, justice, defence and civil defence, digital economy, women’s entrepreneurship, water management, local agricultural development, and healthcare services, among others. Our work centres around the following focus areas:
- Support reform and good governance: We help stabilise economic and financial institutions by fostering budgetary transparency, promoting gender-inclusive national policies, and building internal capacity in public administrations through training, all of which improves financial governance.
- Promote early recovery and resilience in crisis-affected or fragile areas: We operate in crisis-affected or fragile zones to improve access to healthcare and rehabilitate essential infrastructure and basic services such as water, electricity, irrigation and schools.
- Strengthen social cohesion via government, civil society and youth dialogue: We support civil society organisations to foster local governance and facilitate long-term public policy dialogue.
- Prevent and manage natural and industrial disaster risks: We help improve the anticipation and response to disasters through support for civil defence and CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear) risk preparedness.
- Support the culture and film sectors: We help preserve and promote the region’s cultural heritage, particularly in cinema, by cataloguing, restoring and safeguarding the audiovisual archives of our partner countries and organisations.
A decades-long partnership with the Middle East
The Middle East is one of Expertise France’s historic operation zones. We have been active in the region for several decades. Nearly 100 staff currently deliver 23 projects across six countries.
In response to growing project portfolios in Lebanon (5 projects) and Jordan (4), we made our presence official with the opening of a Lebanon/Jordan in-country office in December 2024, operational since January 2025. The country director is based in Amman, with approximately 70 personnel deployed on the ground.
In Iraq, our Erbil office oversees activities in Northeast and Northwest Syria, and we have personnel in shared offices in Baghdad, where we work on projects for peace, security and stability. In Palestine, our project offices are located in Ramallah and Jerusalem.
Seven ITEs are currently deployed in the region, with five additional posts being added to strengthen our technical capacity.
Our framework for action
Our operations fully align with key French goals as set by the Presidential Council for Development (5 May 2023) and the Interministerial Committee for International Cooperation and Development (18 July 2023). Our work also adheres to the principles laid down by the Presidential Council for International Partnerships (CPPI) with fragile countries.
Our projects in the Middle East

SECFRON 2
Closed
2022 - 2024
Funders : Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France

Our news in the Middle East



Key figures 2024
- 23 projects worth €111.5 million in funding
- +120k people received support in accessing basic social services
- 12k people engaged in social cohesion work in Syria
- 26 civil society organisations received support in delivering basic social services in Lebanon