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Aid to education
Responsibility for defining French ODA policy is shared between the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
The Agence Française de Développement (AFD), a bilateral development finance institution, is technically an executing agency, but it has increasingly provided intellectual leadership on development issues.
In the context of development cooperation and implementing Agenda 2030, education is a high priority for France. Within the OECD, France is the fourth largest donor country to education. In 2016, France disbursed US$1.3 billion in education, which represents 11% of its total ODA. OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) member countries spend 8% on education on average.
In 2017, the top recipients of basic education ODA disbursement were: Lebanon, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger and Wallis and Futuna.
France developed a new strategy for its external action on education, vocational training and integration covering 2017-2021.
In February 2018, the French Inter-Ministerial Committee for International Cooperation and Development (CICID) re-emphasized these strategic goals and decided that France’s development policy with regards to education will focus on:
- Universal basic education
- Integration of youth in the market place
- Women and girl’s empowerment
- Democratization of higher education, research, and innovation
- Support for French-speaking countries in promoting the French language
France sees education as a key sector to improve employability and security in partner countries. In the context of the Sahel Alliance, which is pursuing development and security in the G5 Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger), France is a leading donor on education and youth employment.
France and GPE
France chairs the Performance, Impact and Learning Committee and is a member of the Finance and Risk Committee.
President Emmanuel Macron, alongside President Macky Sall of Senegal, co-hosted GPE’s Financing Conference in Dakar in February 2018.
France is an international leader on global education. In the context of its G7 Presidency in 2019, France chose “fighting inequality of opportunity, promoting in particular gender equality, access to education and high-quality health services” as one of the G7 program’s five goals for fighting inequality.