FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does AFD work with NGOs and civil society organisations?
2. Does AFD finance NGOs and civil society organisations ?
3. Can NGOs present projects to AFD ? What are the eligibility criteria?
4. Is there a minimum amount for projects financed by AFD?
5. Can my association receive funding from AFD ?
6. What are AFD’s intervention areas ?
7. How are relations between AFD and NGOs organised ? Who can I contact ?
8. Can local agencies finance NGOs ?
9. Does AFD work with international NGOs ?
10. How can I be informed of AFD news relating to NGOs and civil society organisations ?
11. Is it possible to address suggestions to AFD ?
12. What are the procedures for participating to the consultation meetings ?
Question 1 :
- Does AFD work with NGOs and civil society organisations?
AFD’s collaboration with NGOs and civil society organisations takes a plurality of forms.
The Agency maintains regular dialogue with these organisations by means of various sectoral or thematic meetings. These meetings are occasions for consultation between the different actors and for knowledge capitalisation. The themes approached during these reunions are various (environment, microfinance, infrastructures and urban development, desertification…). The reports of these meetings are available.
Moreover, NGOs intervene since over twenty years in the implementation of projects financed by Agence Française de Développement in developing countries. In the stages preceding and following the implementation of projects, AFD contracts NGOs to carry out feasibility studies and impact studies.
NGOs can also be the operators of AFD projects, after a competitive bidding process led by the local employer, beneficiary of AFD funding. The NGO thus becomes a partner, involved in the project’s implementation. Furthermore, the Agency and NGOs can co-finance projects. With certain specialised NGOs, AFD can settle strategic framework agreements, which may subsequently evolve into special conventions. This enables the construction of a joint and comprehensive sectoral reflection.
Finally, via its Centre for Financial, Economic and Banking Studies (CEFEB), AFD is also putting into place professional training schemes dedicated to NGOs.
Top of page
Question 2 :
- Does AFD finance NGOs and civil society organisations ?
AFD does not finance NGO projects directly, but NGOs may indirectly benefit from loans and subsidies that the Agency grants to developing countries.
As a public donor establishment, Agence Française de Développement finances development projects on demand of national authorities. It is with local employers located in foreign states that the Agency signs funding agreements. Local employers may then call on NGOs as project contractors, through a competitive bidding or a private contract.
AFD can also call on NGOs itself, through a competitive bidding procedure (or, in specific cases, a private contract) to carry out feasibility studies and impact studies.
Question 3 :
Can NGOs present projects to AFD ? What are the eligibility criteria?
NGOs can address AFD’s operational departments directly in order to propose projects.
To be eligible, a project must:
- Be in agreement with the framework of sectoral strategies defined by the Agency.
- Enhance the economic and social development of the country and of beneficiary populations, or have a significant impact on global environment.
- Be coherent with the priorities of France’s co-operation and development policy and with AFD’s strategic orientations.
- Be innovative and create a demonstrative and reproducible effect.
- Guarantee social, institutional and economic sustainability after the project.
- Be carried out by an efficient organisation.
Question 4 :
- Is there a minimum amount for projects financed by AFD ?
There is no minimum threshold concerning the financial amount of projects financed by AFD. Nevertheless, the medium amount of projects that AFD finances through grants is approximately 6 million euros. All the same, this average does not exclude the financing of projects of an inferior size.
Question 5 :
- Can my association receive funding from AFD
Agence Française de Développement principally works with professional development organisations. This collaboration is established through competitive bidding or private contracts. It is, moreover, necessary to note that AFD’s mandate does not allow it to directly finance individual projects of small amounts.
There exist other financing possibilities, more suited to small and medium-sized civil society organisations wishing to present their projects. These organisations can enquire at :
Mission for Non-Governmental Co-operation (MCNG) of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- The European Office for Co-operation (EuropeAid)
- The Micro-Projects Agency of the Guilde Européenne du Raid
- And the Small Initiatives Programme, a fund for small projects based on a call for proposals currently being put into place by the French Global Environment Facility (FFEM).
Top of page
Question 6 :
- What are AFD’s intervention areas ?
AFD carries out its interventions within the framework of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, at the crossroads of objectives of economic growth, poverty reduction and preservation of the environment.
The Agency’s fields of intervention are urban development and infrastructures, rural development, industry, financial systems, as well as education and health. Sustainable development steers the Agency’s strategy.
Human rights, emergency relief and post-conflict intervention are not part of AFD’s attributions. These sectors remain within the intervention field of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Question 7 :
How are relations between AFD and NGOs organised ? Who can I contact ?
AFD’s Communciation Department supervises and organises AFD-NGO relations, namely by facilitating contacts and by organising events which allow different actors to meet. This department is also in charge of editing the Newsletter for NGOs and civil society organisations and of updating the web site.
The various sectoral departments also have direct and more operational relations with NGOs. They meet with various representatives of civil society invested in the same field as them at least once a year during the sectoral consultation meetings. Operational departments can also call on certain NGOs for carrying studies that demand a particular expertise.
Finally, AFD’s local agencies maintain relations in the field with civil society organisations from developed and developing countries. Local agencies can inform NGOs when States, beneficiary of AFD credits for development projects, open competitive biddings. These agencies do not, however, have funds for NGO projects.
Top of page
Question 8 :
- Can local agencies finance NGOs ?
No. Local agencies do not possess budgets for this purpose.
Question 9 :
- Does AFD work with international NGOs ?
AFD operates according to a principle of untied aid and, therefore, works with French and foreign NGOs alike.
Question 10 :
- How can I be informed of news at AFD relating to NGOs and civil society organisations ?
Important means are being deployed by AFD in order to deliver maximum information to NGOs and to communicate all news concerning them. Information relating to dialogue and consultation modalities or to operational relations between AFD and NGOs are available on the “NGOs and Civil Society” pages of the web site. The agenda for coming meetings between AFD and NGOs can also be found on the web site.
A Newsletter is now specially dedicated to information for NGOs and civil society organisations. It aims at presenting all AFD information on a monthly basis. It is possible to consult the Newsletter on the Agency’s web site or to subscribe on line.
Other web sites and organisations indicated in the Useful Links section also give information on news concerning international development co-operation.
Top of page
Question 11 :
- Is it possible to address suggestions to AFD ?
Important means are being deployed in order to facilitate relations between AFD and NGOs. AFD is convinced of the importance of these relations and is conscious that improvements are possible.
You may send comments to the following e-mail address : ong@afd.fr
Question 12 :
What are the procedures for participating to the consultation meetings ?
There are three main types of AFD-NGO meetings. The procedures for participating vary according to the different meetings.
To participate to the annual plenary reunion, NGOs are invited to contact Coordination SUD, federation of French NGOs, which deals with the selection of participating NGOs.
Contact Clémence Pajot: pajot@coordinationsud.org.
The dates of coming sectoral meetings are availbale on http://www.coordinationsud.org/ and in the Events and News section of this web site.
The consultation and capitalisation workshops are determined and initiated by AFD’s operational departments following the sectoral consultation meetings.
There are no absolute selection criteria for NGOs participating to these meetings. The selection is carried out by Corodination SUD in accordance to characteristics relating to the size, intervention area, expertise or the motivation of NGO’s wishing to participate.