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Our project implementation partners
To ensure a consistent response to the needs of our partner countries and organisations, our agency teams up with the most relevant French, European and international stakeholders. This partnership-based approach allows us to comprehensively meet the needs of public and private sectors as well as civil society in our partner countries.
We work in close coordination with the development aid community, particularly other members of Team France and Team Europe. This enhances project synergy. We maintain nearly 100 partnership agreements and framework conventions with our main institutional partners, especially French organisations that provide us with public experts.
French ministries
As an interministerial agency, we work closely with French public administrations and institutions. French public experts – be they on short- or long-term assignments – are essential to delivering the technical cooperation projects we carry out. Our network includes a wide range of partners:
- Ministries
- Local authorities
- Public institutions
- University hospitals
French ministries not only provide experts but contribute to project design, ensuring lessons learned from French public policy contribute to the project. They may also offer institutional support in the field through their diplomatic network. Our relationships are governed by partnership agreements and framework conventions.
Operational advisory committees
Our strategic and operational coordination with public partners is managed by operational advisory committees, co-chaired by the respective ministries and Expertise France. As of early 2025, nine such committees are in place. They handle our projects in the fields of health, social protection, education, vocational training/access to employment, higher education, the green transition, defence cooperation, justice, and economic and financial governance.
These committees regularly review our active and developing project portfolio and identify available expertise and potential synergies within Team France to propose joint solutions.
Local authorities
We have worked with local authorities for many years. This is in accordance with French Law 2021-1031 of 4 August 2021 on inclusive development and combating global inequalities, which states that Expertise France shall "support local authorities and their associations in the implementation of their development and inclusion policies, in close collaboration with the AFD Group."
The ability to implement public policy requires skills and knowledge that can be found within local authorities in France. Because it is important to share this knowledge with our partner countries, we increasingly collaborate with French local authorities, especially Île-de-France, the South region, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, with whom we have formal framework agreements. These partnerships include:
- Hosting delegations to showcase local stakeholders
- Deploying local experts on a temporary basis
- Harnessing the expertise of the local authority itself
Private sector, civil society, and research
Based on the specific needs and activities of each project, our agency can draw on the expertise of the private sector, civil society, and the research community – both in France and internationally. In line with our role as a coordinator, we help the public sector to engage with other spheres of society.
Team Europe
Within the European development community, our agency has extensive experience in implementing large-scale, multi-country projects in a Team Europe approach. We regularly collaborate with major European development cooperation agencies, including:
- Enabel: Belgian Development Agency
- GIZ: German Development Agency
- FIAP: Spanish Development Agency
- CPMA: Lithuanian Development Agency
- EDUFI: Finnish National Agency for Education
“Our impact can be truly transformative when we unite our efforts and pool our resources and our expertise. By implementing the Global Gateway as part of a Team Europe approach, we bring together the institutions and Member States of the European Union, public development banks, development financing institutions and implementing bodies, the European Investment Bank, the private sector, and civil society.”
- European Commissioner for International Partnerships
As an active member of the Practitioners’ Network for European Development Cooperation, we work alongside fifteen other member agencies to promote the effective implementation of European development assistance. We have held the presidency of the Network since 2023 (as co-presidents with the Austrian Development Agency since May 2024).
Through this network, we foster operational dialogue and collaboration among members, as well as partnerships with the European Commission.
Key figures
- 100 partnership conventions
- 9 operational advisory committees
- 24 member agencies of the Practitioners’ Network
