DEVELOPMENT

5 A host of questions for AFD
lead AFD to approach non-state actors in order to marshal and use resources. It could
even lead the Agency to modify its governance by opening it up to private actors. AFD’s
traditional intervention model, which relies heavily on territorial logics, could also be
called into question given that territorial entities would no longer necessarily be the
only source of collective action in this scenario characterized by hyper-connectivity.
Even in the more optimistic “Aligning Aspirations” scenario, the shift towards more
participatory modes of governance, coupled with the fact that power and decision-making
centers are fragmented and spread among a large number of actors, could lead to reform
either internally or at the level of the public system within which it operates. For example,
AFD’s governance might well be opened up to a broader-based panel of actors, including
non-state actors. The Agency’s professional competencies and skills could evolve to integrate
increasingly multidisciplinary approaches. These would be needed to support the complex
socio-economic phenomena that promote more sustainable development paths, and
would stretch beyond the now prevailing engineering sciences and economic disciplines.
Yet in the face of these multiple futures, AFD still has some margins of maneuver. It has
the means to strengthen its long-term sustainability, resilience, but also relevance, and to
tailor these to changing contexts. This requires that the Agency show itself to be open
and proactive vis-à-vis activities, partnerships and working methods that are not currently
embedded in its core practices. AFD would then be well positioned to anticipate future
changes and take action for futures that are chosen rather than imposed (cf. “Meta-AFD”
shown at the bottom of the figure below).
The long history of AFD has shown the Agency’s ability to adapt and transform, despite
the many unanticipated developments of the past. AFD in 2015 has little in common with
the Caisse Centrale de la France Libre of 1941. But there are persistent trends, particularly
the values of resistance in the face of yesterday’s occupying forces and the poverty,
crises and disorders of today’s globalized world, and thanks to which the Agency has
always managed to make the necessary changes.
These values of resistance, coupled with openness (to others, to elsewhere, to the long
term), with the ability to take a step back and question, and with a relentless forwardlooking
attitude ever watchful of possible futures, seem to be decisive. They can make
AFD resilient and flexible to undesirable changes and proactive in its support of
co-constructing more sustainable futures.
Foresighting for Development
Development agencies, steering through future worlds. Afd2025
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