AFD // 2021 Universal Registration Document

STATEMENT OF NON-FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE Ameaningful work environment

2.8 Ameaningful work environment

worldwide each year (outside the current health context). He meets regularly with Executive Management and the members of the Executive Committee. He can be contacted directly by all Group employees. The Adviser welcomes, listens and gives confidential advice to all head office and network employees who wish to talk about a problem or have a question about ethics (44 ɸ consultations in 2021, 18 of which from the network compared to 112 consultations in 2020). Following the establishment, in January 2021, of a newprocedure for managing conflicts of interest, the Ethics Adviser is no longer the point of reception for these files, which are now the responsibility of the compliance team at the Risk Department. This transfer largely explains the decrease in the number of ethics consultations observed in 2021. The health situation also led to a reduction of the number of ethics awareness-raising sessions, as well as to shifting communication around the ethics system. While protecting the anonymity of people interviewed, the Ethics Advisor has regular exchanges with the Executive Management and reports on his activities to the Boards of Directors of AFD and Proparco, as well as to their specialised committees, as necessary. In addition, the Ethics Adviser supervises the AFD system for managing environmental and social complaints. Lastly, since January ɸ 2019, it has been the point of entry for AFD group’s professional whistleblowing system. Through its positive and constructive educational methodology, the ethics approach strives to be attractive and engaging, and seeks to sharpen individual and collective questioning as well as everyone’s responsibility in understanding and implementing the Group’s values. 2.8.2 Skills development, employability, training After the considerable impact of the health crisis on training in 2020, results in 2021 clearly show a dynamic of upturn. A transition period now seems to be starting, with training practices being sustainably transformed by two years of remote work and the search for a measured return to face-to-face interactions, and whose specific educational objectives are being re-examined. In 2021, the total number of training hours completed by employees increased by 65%, from 29,636 hours to 48,932 hours (2) . This significant increase is the result of several factors. The first is the extension of the remote methodology to almost all of the training provided by the Group. This extension is itself the result of the development of the skills of internal and external stakeholders in remote management, the engineering carried out on topics hitherto partially covered, and the gradual acculturation of employees to this method. Another factor also explains this increase: the roll-out of the first large-scale mandatory training campaign at the Group; the hourly volume of these “Must” training courses, which address various recommendations and regulations, amounted to a total of 8,228 ɸ hours.

2.8.1 The ethics system The AFD Group is well aware of the strong demands associated with its public service mission in French Overseas Departments and Collectivities and Foreign Countries, and in 2004 decided to put in place an ethics system. In the summer of 2020, Executive Management decided to appoint the internal mediator, also, as the Ethics Adviser, and to entrust her with a task of reflecting on the AFD group’s ethics system, as well on the synergies between the two functions. This mission resulted in policy proposals that were validated in 2021 and will be implemented in 2022. These new guidelines focus on the links between ethics and individual and collective questioning around the group’s values, and on appointing a representative Ethics Adviser, who is independent and invited to clarify some sensitive issues for all employees during “Ethics dialogues”. The group’s ethics system is based on three pillars: a charter, an ethics committee and an adviser. The Ethics Charter (1) was written in 2004 and updated in 2012. It defines a common ambition for the Group and its employees, guidelines for behaviour and commitments consistent with its triple status as a development agency, a financial institution and a public body. The Charter “aims to reinforce the identity, unity and performance of the institution […] and also to protect the Group and its employees against any reputational risk” (Article ɸ 1). It applies to every employee, regardless of their business line, hierarchical position or duties. It promotes commitment, integrity, openness and adaptability which are the Group’s four key values (Articles ɸ 11 to 15). A copy of the Charter is given to new recruits when they sign their employment contract. An update of the Charter is being drawn up, integrating Expertise France, and providing a single Ethics Charter for the Group. From May ɸ 2017 to May ɸ 2021, the ethics committee has met at least six times a year. It was chaired by AFD’s Chief Operating Officer and comprised members representing each of AFD’s executive directorates, Proparco, the staff (social and economic council) and the Ethics Adviser. On the strength of the many business lines it represented, it shared with Executive Management and the Group its discussions and recommendations on operational ethical subjects that it identified or that were submitted to it. The committee will be replaced by an ethics council, with a different role and composition, as part of the new guidelines for the ethics system decided at the end of 2021. The Ethics Adviser runs training/awareness-raising sessions for newcomers or staff soon to be posted abroad. Following the pooling of the ethics and mediation functions, the information, awareness-raising and training sessions cover both subjects, with some exceptions. As such, 26 ɸ sessions on ethics and mediation (including three in the network) were conducted in 2021, reaching 477 ɸ employees. The Ethics Adviser participates in regular exchanges on ethics with all the head office teams and visits several offices

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(1) https://www.afd.fr/en/ressources/ethics-charter-afd-group (2) Overall training effort (including mandatory training), for all types of employee (general managers, local managers, international volunteers, interns and staff seconded to AFD).

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2021 UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT