French expertise in sub-Saharan Africa

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
In accordance with the guidelines of France's development aid policy, sub-Saharan Africa is the priority area for Expertise France intervention.
Expertise France is committed to African administrations to enable a better growth trajectory, and by giving priority to the strengthening of good democratic economic and financial governance, to the security and stabilization of countries in fragile or post-conflict situations. (Mali, Guinea, Central African Republic), developing innovative solutions for sustainable development and supporting the strengthening of health systems, social cohesion, education and youth employability.

The agency mobilizes all of its teams, at headquarters and in the field, to support the development and implementation of innovative projects that are vectors of change favorable to African populations.

At the continental level, Expertise France, European public leader in the field of statistical cooperation, ensures, since February 2016, the implementation of the Pan African Statistics program, which aims to strengthen integration at the continental level in through the improvement of the quality and availability of statistical information, as well as the establishment of the Pan-African Institute of Statistics under the aegis of the African Union.

A recognized operator on migration issues, Expertise France supports all migration stakeholders in their response to political, economic and societal challenges. The agency intervenes both in the implementation of quick impact projects, in particular through European Union trust funds (Bêkou Fund, Emergency Trust Fund for Africa), and develops projects of more long term, within the framework of established political dialogues. In East Africa, Expertise France contributes to improving cooperation between countries of origin, transit and destination on the migratory route between the Horn of Africa and the European Union, with the AMMI project .

Expertise France is also a major European player in maritime safety. As part of the GoGIN program, Expertise France works closely with the countries of the Gulf of Guinea to ensure the establishment of a regional network for sharing information as well as the strengthening of regional capacities for dialogue, coordination and strategic management in the maritime domain.

Expertise France places its action in the fight against climate change and sustainable development: the agency leads the Africa4Climate project which supports the authorities of Benin, Gabon, Kenya and Uganda in the development and implementation public policies for mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Support for health systems, the implementation of national and regional strategies for social protection, education and vocational training are at the heart of Expertise France's action in Africa. In response to the needs of partner countries in terms of education and youth employability, the agency mobilizes expertise to support the strengthening of human capital (RETFOP in Angola, PAEQ in Niger). Finally, the agency has an international reputation in terms of health: it intervenes with financing from the Global Fund, UNAIDS, the European Union and French credits, in the fight against major pandemics, in support of the strengthening of reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health as well as hospital hygiene and the safety of care, in particularthrough the 5% Initiative.

Our missions
Expertise France is the French public international cooperation agency. It designs and implements projects which aim to contribute to the balanced development of partner countries, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda and the priorities of France’s external action.
The development policy has undergone profound changes in recent years. Significant strides have been achieved in the fight against poverty and in access to health and education. However, inequalities do remain and are exacerbated by climate change and the emergence of new conflicts.

In this context, public policies play an essential role by establishing a framework for sustainable development and reducing inequalities.

Building an inclusive, sustainable world
As the French public agency for international technical cooperation, Expertise France is committed to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Accord. As a complement to financial resources for development, technical cooperation is integral to France’s response to the environmental, health, social, economic and security challenges faced by governments today.

Expertise France works in close collaboration with French public institutions, as well as with the European Union, in order to respond to the needs of partner countries that wish to improve public policies that tackle these challenges. To do so, the agency coordinates and implements national- or regional-scale projects in major areas of public action:
• Democratic, economic and financial governance
• Peace, stability and security
• Climate, biodiversity and sustainable development
• Health and human development

Expertise France promotes the mainstreaming of gender issues in a cross-cutting manner in these four areas, at all the levels and stages of development projects. The agency thereby works for gender equality, a prerequisite for sustainable development.

To find out more: Taking action for gender equality in development projects

Cooperation, a tool for solidarity
By prioritizing skill transfer in its projects, Expertise France helps to promote proven working methods, established legal and technical norms, and a vision of economic development and governance that respects the rule of law and human rights.

The agency also prioritizes peer dialogue. In doing so, Expertise France helps to establish lasting partnerships among actors in the international community who are committed to building a world in common.

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Our activity
Entrusted with the design and implementation of international technical cooperation projects, Expertise France works in the field to develop innovative solutions that meet partners’ needs and donors’ expectations. Built upon skill transfer and peer dialogue, our interventions have one goal: to advise and support partner countries in strengthening their public policies.
Technical cooperation in practice
Whether occurring through ad hoc or more long-term projects, technical cooperation is a component of official development assistance. Its primary objectives are to strengthen the institutions of partner States and to support transformation in organizations and skills-building in their personnel.

Within a given technical cooperation project, Expertise France supports its partner institutions – primarily central government administrations, but also regional organizations, local governments and civil society organizations – from determining their needs to the final evaluation of the actions conducted.

Capacity building, which depends on the transmission of knowledge and know-how as well as on change management, is integral to these technical cooperation activities.

A toolbox for development
Expertise France is an implementing agency, a field actor able to come up with innovative solutions which meet the needs of its partners and the expectations of donors. The agency’s means of providing support are varied. Complementary to one another, they may facilitate responses to short-term needs or allow for the design of longer-term assistance.

In addition to implementing the different activities, Expertise France monitors the technical cooperation project, managing administrative and financial components while remaining in close contact with the donor and partners. The project team also monitors and evaluates activities, which are essential to determining the effectiveness of our actions and identifying good practices.

Find our more about our teams and our partners

Expertise France's offer of services by area:
• Democratic Governance and Human Rights (French / English)
• Economic and Financial Governance (French / English)
• Climate, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development (French / English)
• Peace, Stability, Security (French / English)
• Health (French / English)
• Human Capital and Social Development (French / English)

Our teams
To bring our projects to fruition, Expertise France relies on complementary skills – human capital shared between headquarters and the field, operational and crosscutting functions, collaborators and sector-specific experts, all of which the agency is committed to deploying with increasing effectiveness.
Teams in Paris and in the field
Expertise France has more than 400 employees at headquarters and over 600 collaborators in the field. In addition to the teams at headquarters in Paris, Expertise France mobilises project teams in countries where it operates. This extensive field presence allows Expertise France to identify more clearly the needs of partner institutions, gain a better understanding of their constraints and build a relationship of trust with them. The agency actively involves them in the implementation of activities, a prerequisite for the success and sustainability of projects.

In addition to the diversity of their expertise and responsibilities, the teams of Expertise France also share the same commitment: to develop, implement and supervise meaningful projects and work to ensure their success in the field.

Mobilising and combining the best know-how
Expertise France mobilises the best know-how for each project, thanks to a pool of experts and partners from France’s civil service and the main public policy actors from the North and South. The aim is to work efficiently and share and exchange development solutions.

As an agency aiming at strengthening public policies, Expertise France often relies on the knowledge and know-how of French public experts, whose expertise is recognised and very much in demand for public policy reforms. For example, at the request of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Expertise France manages long-term technical assistance missions, thus deploying French expertise abroad.

Depending on the needs of projects, the agency may also call on expertise from the private sector, civil society and the research community.

By working with partners with complementary expertise, Expertise France is capable of implementing technical cooperation projects that cover overlapping sectors. This allows the agency to find lasting solutions, adapted to populations’ needs.

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Professional equality at Expertise France
To work for gender equality, which is a prerequisite for sustainable development and is in line with France’s commitments, Expertise France has made gender a priority in both its projects and internally.

What is the Gender Equality Index?
Every year, French companies with more than 50 employees must measure pay equality between women and men using a legal methodology and indicators. The company develops an Index combined with a score out of 100. The higher the score, the lower the pay gap is.

In 2021, Expertise France obtained a score of 99 out of 100 in the 2020 Gender Equality Index (the same score as in 2019, while in 2018 its results reached the score of 79 points out of 100). This good result reflects an ongoing commitment to promoting professional equality in the agency. Indeed, as in 2019, Expertise France has scored the maximum number of points for almost all of the five measurement indicators which make up the Index:
• Measurement indicator for the pay gap between women and men: 39 points out of 40;
• Indicator to compare the respective rates of individual increases: 20 points out of 20, Expertise France keeps the highest score;
• Indicator to compare the respective rates of promotion: 15 points out of 15, Expertise France also attains the highest score;
• Number of employees with an increase following their return from maternity leave: 15 points out of 15;
• Number of women among the 10 highest salaries: 10 points out of 10.

The score reached this year (99 points out of 100) is significantly higher than the 75 points required by law and demonstrates the agency’s exemplarity in terms of equal pay between women and men. This positive result encourages the agency to pursue its efforts for gender equality.

While equal pay is one of the cornerstones, gender equality involves other issues that are just as important, such as combatting sexist behaviour and preventing the impacts of gender stereotypes. Expertise France applies a zero tolerance policy in this respect and has set up a process to report these situations.

The agency also carries out continuous prevention and awareness-raising actions among its employees and organises training sessions for its managers on the fight against sexual harassment and sexist behaviour at work and the prevention of psychosocial risks.

Our partners
To ensure cohesive action in the field, Expertise France collaborates with the best-suited French, European and international experts. It’s a partner-based approach that ensures a global response to countries’ needs.
In France and in the field, Expertise France works and coordinates with other development actors, especially with the « Team France » and the « Team Europe », in order to increase synergies between projects.

Bringing French skills together
As an interministerial operator, Expertise France works closely with all the French public administrations and institutions.

The agency involves administrations in the design of development projects and benefits from privileged access to the pools of public expertise. Associating ministries from the stage of project design helps to ensure that lessons learned from the public policy implemented in various sectors in France are taken into account. These administrations can subsequently provide institutional support in the field via the diplomatic network and mobilise their technical expertise in the context of projects.

Read also: Public actors: key expertise for development

Expertise France also collaborates with other public institutions and the French diplomatic network. Agence française de développement (AFD) is a key partner for Expertise France. The two French agencies, in their respective roles of project funder for AFD and technical expertise operator for Expertise France, seek to strengthen their synergies in order to provide more effective and ambitious support to France’s development cooperation policy. The integration of Expertise France into AFD Group will embody the ambition of greater and more effective French cooperation.

#TeamEurope: the strength of the European network
The European Union is a major partner for Expertise France. The agency e is particularly mobilised in European regional cooperation programmes, such as EL PAcCTO, EUROsociAL+, EUROCLIMA+, SOCIEUX+ and Rethinking Plastics. Funded by the EU, these regional programmes encourage the sharing of good practices and the development of tools that can be shared among countries, in order to ensure effective responses to transnational issues.

To implement those cooperation programmes, Expertise France works in close cooperation with other EU Member States cooperation agencies, such as Enabel (Belgium), GIZ (Germany) and FIIAPP (Spain).

Expertise France is also actively involved in various networks of European operators. As a member of the Practitioners’ Network, the agency is mobilised alongside 17 other agencies to promote the effective implementation of European development aid.

Involving the private sector and civil society
According to needs and activities to be implemented, Expertise France can mobilise the private sector, civil society and the research community.

For example, Expertise France signed a partnership agreement with the Groupe Initiatives, a collective of 10 international solidarity NGOs, as well as with Coordination SUD. To mobilise individual expertise or consultancy firms, a charter has been signed with Syntec Ingénierie, a professional federation including France’s 300 main engineering firms. In the case of integrated services, Expertise France represents international donors or partner countries. It can also co-contract with companies for an activity for the provision of goods or services or an expertise activity.

Our thematics
The agency meets the expertise requirements of partner countries in the main areas of public action: democratic, economic and financial governance; peace, stability and security; climate, biodiversity and sustainable development; health and human development.

Climate, biodiversity and sustainable development

Democratic, economic and financial governance

Health and human development

Peace, stability and security