DEVELOPMENT

5 A host of questions for AFD
Questions for AFD
AFD’s sectoral and thematic mandates have been continually expanding particularly since
1992, the year that it was authorized to mobilize grants in addition to loans. Since then,
the Agency’s mandates have broadened and diversified, the most recent change being
the transfer of governance issues in August 2015. Today, the competence of AFD covers
all areas of sustainable development financing and supporting expertise, except for matters
relating to security and justice. The Agency’s geographical scope and type of interlocutor
have also broadened and diversified. Will this trend continue or, on the contrary, will it
refocus its activities within a narrower compass in the coming years? In fact, although all
four scenarios seem to have some common overarching trends, they do not come up with
the same anwers. Indeed, far from it.
Impacts with respect to development partners
AFD typically works with a broad diversity of project owners and partners. Traditionally
a financier of States and public enterprises, the Agency also has close ties with the private
sector, notably since the creation of its subsidiary, Proparco. Its activity thus extends to
public and private banks, investment funds, and more recently to local government in
foreign countries (a longstanding activity in overseas France). The development of
“non-sovereign” and “sub-sovereign” financing along with lines of credit for local financing
actors are major trends in AFD’s evolution. Finally, NGOs (mostly French) have been
full-fledged partners since the mid-2000s, with a growing amount of funding.
It is of course crucial to take account of the changing nature and role of counterparties
in the development processes (i.e., the actors that formulate and follow through the
needs), in order to envision how the demands that AFD can or must meet in the future
will evolve. One general trend found across all four scenarios is that financing needs will
remain significant in a market that is fragmented on both the supply and demand sides
(new financing actors, new resources to be mobilized, new project owners…).
Foresighting for Development
Development agencies, steering through future worlds. Afd2025
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