AFD - Universal Registration Document 2020

PRESENTATION OF AFD Activities of the Agence Française de Développement Group in 2020

1.6.6 Intellectual production 1.6.6.1 Research, assessment and publication activities In April Ǿ 2019, AFD’s Board of Directors adopted the research, innovation and knowledge strategy for the 2019-2022 period. It introduces two major changes to studies and research: (i) Ǿ increasing the number of collaborations with local research partners in the AFD Group’s regions of operation, (ii) Ǿ focusing the research agenda on the following areas: French policy priorities by focusing on a few key themes: climate/biodiversity, inequalities and social ties, growth. In 2020, research activities were impacted by the Covid 19 crisis with a slowdown in current research programmes and the identification of studies dedicated to the health crisis. On this last point, research focused on surveys of perceptions in Africa and in the French Overseas Departments and Collectivities, an analysis of the knowledge and attitudes of populations and caregivers in a differentiated manner in six African countries, a study on Covid and the resilience of health systems in Africa, and lastly on the impact of Covid on the labour market in Tunisia. AFD’s research on the Climate/biodiversity theme focuses on an analysis of the interactions between economic development/ prosperity on the one hand, and the environment on the other, with the introduction of tools for the measurement and the quantification of these interactions. Work on financial climate risks was extended in 2021 in Colombia, China, India, Indonesia and Morocco. With regard to adapting to climate change, the work focuses on small insular states and the development of weather and climate services with the aim of reducing the risk of natural disasters. A research and knowledge programme on biodiversity aims to promote the development of a pro-nature economy based on research findings. The development of a strong environmental sustainability indicator, ESGAP, also continued in 2020 with initial applications in New Caledonia, Vietnam and Kenya. AFD continued to develop GEMMES macroeconomic models, with six models (Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Colombia, Vietnam, Tunisia and Morocco). In 2020, the development of models focused on the inclusion of biophysical dynamics through coupling with hydro-agricultural (Morocco, Tunisia, Vietnam), technical-economic (Côte d’Ivoire) models or via theoretical discussions on macroeconomic-biodiversity links. For cohesion/social ties and human development, work focuses on four main themes: inequalities, social protection - notably through integration into the labour market - training/employment match and demographic transition insisting on gender. This work falls within the prospect of fair transition, by studying the different aspects of sustainable structural change induced by development. The studies carried out propose recommendations on public policies. From 2017 to 2020, AFD has ensured the coordination and set-up of a facility for a research programme on inequalities in the form of a delegation of DG DEVCO funds.

In 2020, this facility was renewed for a period of five years to develop the public policy dialogue on the issue of inequality in Indonesia, Colombia, South Africa and Mexico. On the Governance, Common goods and Regions theme, AFD focuses its work on several themes: (i) Ǿ the sector deployment of the common goods approach (medicine, water, oceans and biodiversity, urban and rural land, access to energy), (ii) Ǿ the analysis of their economic model and relationship with States, notably in a context of fragility, (iii) Ǿ the study of how public policies are made in Africa, (iv) Ǿ issues of security-development, notably in the Sahel. Studies on structural changes in Africa are also being conducted: (i) Ǿ trajectory of late industrialisation, (ii) Ǿ integration of the pharmaceutical industry into the global value chain. Grounded in a partnership process, all research programmes will promote the national research networks of our partner countries. With the signature of a memorandum of partnership with Côte d’Ivoire (2016) and Tunisia (2018), the approach of strategic dialogue was extended to Morocco and Mali in 2019, and with the UNECA, and will be formalised in Lebanon in 2021. Priority is given to work on Africa. Granted in January Ǿ 2019, the “Savoirs Sahel” (Sahel knowledge) project has enabled financing for several research programmes entrusted to Sahel teams on key themes to understand the transformations and challenges in the Sahel in crisis and to contribute to steering the Agency’s portfolio: regional governance and local legitimacy, Arab-Islamic education, resilience of agro-pastoral systems to climate constraints, social integration of young people. These research programmes delivered their first results in 2020. In addition, in January Ǿ 2021, AFD published the second annual edition of the series on African economies, started in 2020, which was published in Repères La Découverte. The department managed four theses under the CIFRE system in 2020 and the first thesis was presented in December Ǿ 2020 on the topic Reading and Writing in an Untied World: African Poetics of Ecological Governance . It will be published. In support of the Agency’s operations and risk management, ten countries macroeconomic assessments were carried out, despite the suspension of international travel for part of the year. These assessments focused primarily on (i) Ǿ regions with high AFD exposure (Egypt, Senegal, Kenya, Turkey, Mexico), and (ii) Ǿ regions in which an initial macroeconomic framework is useful for the establishment of an AFD intervention strategy (Rwanda, Azerbaijan, Georgia). In addition, cross-cutting macroeconomic analyses were conducted on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the regions where we operate. Assessments AFD commissioned ex-post evaluations of the projects and programmes it finances and also broader assessments of its sector and cross-sector strategies (set out in its intervention frameworks), on particular topics, countries and/or funding instruments. It also conducts joint assessments with other departments responsible for assessing France’s development

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2020 UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT