OECD Development Co‑operation Peer Reviews: France 2024

Annex A. Progress since the 2018 DAC Peer Review recommendations

Efforts to support global sustainable development

 

2018 Peer Review recommendations

Progress

France should set up a governance mechanism to foster policy coherence. It should ensure that its efforts support, rather than restrain, the sustainable development of its partner countries, especially priority countries.

Implemented The Presidential Council and the CICID need to strengthen policy coherence, especially as France has a roadmap for the 2030 Agenda and 98 regularly updated performance indicators to measure policy coherence. In practice, this coherence seems to be improving. France has risen from 14th place in the Centre for Global Development’s Commitment to Development Index in 2003 to 5th place in 2023. Nevertheless, France still rarely looks at the cross-border impacts of its policies, even though they are the subject of independent studies.

Policy vision and framework

 

2018 Peer Review recommendations	Progress
To facilitate the management of its development co-operation, France should prepare country strategies covering all of its co-operation activities with its priority partner countries, preferably within the framework of EU joint programming.	Implemented Since 2021, the ambassador, via the local development council, has been bringing together all French stakeholders to put in place a single solidarity and sustainable investment strategy for Team France, appended to the embassy's action plan, and to co-ordinate the various players. These strategies do not yet systematically include shared objectives across institutions.

ODA volume and allocations

 

2018 Peer Review recommendations	Progress
France should set out a strategy for achieving an ODA/GNI ratio of 0.55% by 2022—and 0.7% by 2030—in order to meet its international commitments. By 2020 at the latest, the country should authorise the commitments required to achieve this target.	Partially implemented France not only reached but exceeded its target of devoting 0.55% of GNI to ODA by 2022, allocating 0.56% of GNI, or EUR 15.3 billion). Nevertheless, France has no clear roadmap for reaching its target of 0.7% by 2030.
The financial resources earmarked for gender equality in French ODA programming should be increased to demonstrate its commitment to the implementation of this policy.	Implemented ODA earmarked for gender equality has risen sharply from 32.8% of bilateral ODA in 2018-19 to 46.8% in 2021-22. (Note that the contribution to this objective was not examined for 36% of allocable bilateral aid in 2021-22, compared with 0.4% in 2018-19). Nevertheless, France has not yet reached its own targets (75% of financing with gender equality as a main or significant objective and 20% with gender equality as a main objective). AFD believes that it can only achieve these targets with an increase in grant contributions.
In line with its commitments, France should concentrate its aid on a limited number of sectors - where it has – in its partner countries.	Not implemented Priority sectors account for only a minority of bilateral allocations, and country portfolios remain multisector.
France should increase the volume of ODA provided as grants to priority countries (which are all LDCs, including a large number of fragile countries). At the same time, France should ensure that the financial effort indicator that guide its geographic allocations reflect its strategic co-operation priorities, including LDCs, fragile countries and the Sahel.	Not implemented The proportion of aid allocated to priority countries remained stable over the review period. However, the list of priority countries expired in 2023. The priority given to LDCs is beginning to show in the allocations, with the volume of aid allocated to these countries rising steadily since 2019 even though the targets that France has set itself are not being met.

Structure and systems

 

2018 Peer Review recommendations	Progress
AFD should continue to adjust its procedures in the interest of greater efficiency. It should create shorter procedures between the design of a project and the first release of funds, whether for LDCs or for stabilisation and crisis prevention in fragile states.	Partially implemented In 2020, AFD launched the CAP Efficiency programme, which aims to improve and simplify work processes. The average time to the first release of funds remains 12 months, however, as was observed in the previous review.
As Expertise France integrates into the AFD Group, France should clearly state its economic model and its position in the French co-operation system, both in Paris and in the field.	Implemented Expertise France, after converting into a simplified joint stock company (SAS) under the Act of 4 August 2021 (with AFD as its sole shareholder), was officially integrated into the AFD Group on 1 January 2022 and is financially stable. Implementation accounts for a growing but still relatively small share of AFD's revenue.
France should improve the strategic management and oversight of its co-operation, with clearly defined mandates backed up by the necessary human resources.	Partially implemented France has strengthened its management system at headquarters and in partner countries and increased human resources within the MEAE. The reforms have strengthened political leadership, but strategic and balanced management among the various co-operation stakeholders remains an issue.

Delivery modalities and partnerships

 

2018 Peer Review recommendations	Progress
France should strengthen its strategic dialogue with its multilateral partners while ensuring the coherence of its national policies and the effectiveness of its partnerships. It should also improve its internal co-ordination, base its contributions on clear criteria and share indicative multi-annual financial frameworks for better predictability of its multilateral aid.	Partially implemented France is in the process of defining a new strategy for its engagement with the multilateral sector. Its partners emphasise the coherence of its strategic discourse, its involvement in decision-making bodies and the quality of its funding. Involving teams in the field more systematically could help provide France with useful information for governance bodies.
France should increase the proportion of bilateral aid it channels to and through local and international NGOs.	Implemented France has more than doubled the volume of aid allocated to CSOs over the review period. It was envisaged that funding allocated to CSOs would reach 15% of France's bilateral ODA, but such funding is not expected to increase until 2026 and will stabilise at around 8%.

Results, evaluation and learning

 

2018 Peer Review recommendations	Progress
France should develop results-based management and integrate it across its entire development co-operation programme, so as to ensure that the findings (at project and corporate level) are used to improve accountability, steering, communication and learning.	Partially implemented While political priorities and “contracts of objectives and means” come with indicators of resources and results, it is not easy to analyse the outcomes of France’s actions or the impacts on development. AFD Group has also launched initiatives to improve internal results monitoring.

Humanitarian aid and fragility

 

2018 Peer Review recommendations	Progress
France should adopt a holistic, balanced approach to crises, while maintaining the fight against poverty as its primary ODA objective, alongside the principle of humanitarian action.	Implemented France has developed and continues to favour a holistic approach to crises, as clearly articulated by the MEAE, AFD and the Ministry of Armed Forces. The objective of fighting poverty as a means of combating crises is also clearly defined. Preserving humanitarian space is a major part of France's humanitarian strategy.