knowledge production at afd - issues and orientations

Agence Française de Développement5 rue Roland Barthes75012 Paris - Francewww.afd.fr

Knowledge Production at AFDStakes and Orientations

Working paper

Age

nce

Fran

çais

e de

Dév

elop

pem

ent

Age

nce

Fran

çais

e de

Dév

elop

pem

ent

December 2014 140

Studies and Research

© AFD Working Paper n°140 • Knowledge Production at AFD - Stakes and Orientations • December 2014 2

This strategy paper was presented to AFD’s Board of Directors on 10th July 2014. It was produced through collective work led

by Alain HENRY and the Research Department.

Publications Director: Anne PAUGAM

Editorial Director: Alain HENRY

ISSN: 1958-539X

Copyright: 4th quarter 2014

Translation: Warren O'CONNELL

Layout: Elsa MURAT


Contents

Introduction 5

1. The stakes of knowledge 71.1 Questions of development 71.2 A relatively homogeneous international corpus 10

2. An array of knowledge resources produced by AFD 142.1 A body of practical knowledge 142.2 A decade of broad-ranging, studies and research 172.3 Applicable and cumulative knowledge 20

3. Activities, partnerships and products 233.1 Activities and organisation 233.2 Research partnerships 253.3 AFD's knowledge products 26 4. Pooling research centred on innovative paradigms 294.1 Multidisciplinary and contextualised research 294.2 Priority areas and themes 314.3 Greater clarity and accessibility 36

Conclusion 37

Appendices 38

Acronyms and abbreviations 42

References 45


Introduction

The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has a

dual mandate to finance sustainable development and

produce knowledge. The second aspect of this mandate

aims to enhance strategies and provide concrete responses

to the challenges of poverty and sustainable development.

This means learning from experience, anticipating future

challenges, proposing innovative solutions, and promoting

exchanges between actors and geographies. This mandate

enables AFD to contribute to international debates and

further France’s influence. This knowledge production is

systematically conducted in partnership with the academic

world, to which AFD brings its specific knowledge of

concrete development issues as well as privileged access

to the fields involved.

This paper presents the stakes and orientations for AFD

in terms of knowledge production for the next five years

(2014 - 2018).

The first part of this paper recalls the main global challenges,

their number and scale, as well as the complexity of the

questions raised. Yet, the corpus of knowledge developed by

the international community is still relatively homogeneous

and normative, underpinned by some basic principles that

crucially need to be discussed. The second part briefly

reviews AFD’s intellectual production over the past ten

years. Overall, AFD develops a vision of development

strategies that is pragmatic, systemic and contextualised,

particularly due to its dual experience as a project funder

and bilateral aid operator. And the visibility of AFD’s

knowledge production has been gaining ground. However,

this paper proposes some far-reaching changes to its

study and research activities: (i) a more specific focus on

operational issues, (ii) greater readability of its knowledge

inputs and how these can be applied to programmes, (iii)

a grounding in multidisciplinary and more contextualised

analyses that make the link between the economy and

society and, finally, (iv) furthering the influence of French

aid in international debates. The third part of the paper

describes how these orientations will be implemented – by

creating new outputs that break away from the mainstream.

AFD’s knowledge production will be structured around six

main areas. This will entail strengthening partnerships with

French research for development, as well as research with

partner countries.

AFD will more effectively disseminate and promote the

knowledge it produces vis-à-vis international aid actors. It will

contribute to the pooling of research focused on innovative

paradigms that afford fresh solutions and knowledge for

sustainable and solidarity-based development.


1. The stakes of knowledge

Globalisation is ambivalent. It leads to greater uncertainty

and complexity as well as greater interdependence among

societies. It raises a whole host of critical questions involving

as much the balance of natural resources as the difficulty of

crafting rules for living together.

Although the past twenty-five years of globalisation have

gone hand in hand with significant progress – the proportion

of people living under the poverty line has halved from 43%

to 21% – global developments clearly pose formidable

threats. This has been shown by the tight succession of

crises – ecological, financial, economic, social, political,

health, food, etc. The world is now a riskier place, buffeted

by what seems to be an increasing number of shocks. These

changes incite us to review our ways of thinking.

The stakes of the green transition (including climate change),

increasing food requirements and the aggravation of certain

inequalities call on us to envisage “different” growth models

in which the economy accords better with the vision that

societies have of themselves (their idea of the “social

contract”). In fact, globalisation is characterised more by

a greater interdependence among societies than by an

increase in international trade. The share of trade in the

world economy is certainly much lower than is commonly

believed.1 Some consider that the future ecological transition

will rely at least as much on regional economies as on

international trade. Yet, global interdependence is already

making itself felt when it comes to accessing strategic

resources – energy, rare earths, information, patents, etc.

This trend is accompanied by increasing vulnerability and

unpredictability.

In this setting, global research today plays a critical role.

It necessarily focuses on a vast number of questions that

are related as much to environmental management as to

poverty reduction, and it targets both the local and global

levels. Aid actors and donors, for their part, are more directly

concerned with public policy management and therefore

more with economic and social sciences than natural

sciences. However, the knowledge developed to date is

still too far removed from local realities and is implicitly

underpinned by beliefs that can be called into question.

1.1 Questions of development

The central issue of sustainable and shared development

can be summed up as follows: How can we reduce extreme

poverty and enable the middle classes in emerging societies

to access greater well-being, while safeguarding the planet

from consumption that destroys natural balances… and this

under the constraint of predictable population growth?

1 According to Ghemawat (2011), international phone calls account for only 2% of the total number of calls, first-generation immigrants account for only 3% of the world’s population, and exports make up only 20% of the global economy.



Today, no one has the solution to this equation, which will

only be solved by taking into account the need for a balance

between territories. The question does, however, call for

urgent responses, which we can break down into three main

groups (for the sake of convenience, but they are closely

interrelated).

A first group of questions concerns the equilibria of natural

systems and the constraints on resources, be it the carbon

impact of human activities on climate, the destruction of living

species, ocean acidity, chemical pollution, the preservation

of agricultural land, water resources and energy, or the

development of urban centres.2 Today, the amount of non-

recycled waste is constantly increasing. For example, the

density of plastic particles in the North Pacific is now higher

than that of plankton. Almost a third of the world’s food

production goes to waste. Human food supply looms as

one of the critical challenges for 2050. According to the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), sea

levels are expected to rise by between 50 centimetres and

1 metre by 2100. The transition to a low-carbon economy can

no longer be postponed. The “green economy” is not simply

the current economy corrected by a “greening coefficient”,

but necessarily one based on choices that are assessed for

the long term. It has yet to be defined, both in terms of its

incentive and equilibrium models and new sectoral policies.

The questions are only very partially technical and call,

above all, for new forms of economy and governance.

A second group of questions concerns living together and

the future of the world’s seven billion human beings (some

nine billion by 2050). Lévi-Strauss (1971) underlined the risk

that population explosion poses to human progress, or even

to the survival of the species. The question of living together

on a global scale comes up against diverse obstacles. A first

issue, at local level, is to give each human being access

to basic capabilities (in Amartya Sen’s sense, i.e. access

for all to healthcare, education, networks, etc.) and to

improve social and economic well-being. Although poverty

has declined markedly (measured solely on the indicator

of daily income), a large proportion of the population is still

deprived of access to a minimum level of well-being (low

life expectancy, poor access to basic services, absence of

modern energy). While inequality between countries has

decreased in recent decades, it has continued to rise within

countries.3 Extreme poverty persists, particularly in the least

developed countries and Sub-Saharan Africa, and one of the

major challenges lies in the capacity to guarantee a minimum

social safety net and access to basic services for all.4

At the global level, new forms of coordination are slowly being

developed. Progress is being made with the enactment of

harmonised rules – as with process of the Paris Declaration

on Aid Effectiveness – but this nevertheless falls short of

the challenges. It will require nations to look beyond their

own legitimate interests and particularisms for the sake of

common challenges. However, new divides are opening up.

The large emerging countries have been both actors and

beneficiaries of globalisation, while growth in Sub-Saharan

Africa remains highly concentrated in the primary sectors,

and Europe is seeking new openings to counter its economic

slowdown. Aside from the economic aspects, international

relations carry major political stakes: what stances will China

adopt given its latent rivalry with the USA? What will the

situation be like in ten years’ time in an Arab world where

ongoing political transformations are riddled with powerful

Islamic movements divided among themselves?

Another major challenge lies in the cultural and political

heterogeneity of societies. Although the State model is

the only one to be recognised by the international system,

tribal and community attachments are still a powerful force

across the world. At the same time, the rights of individuals

and communities raise questions. The dissemination of

education contributes to the expansion of the “modern”

ideals of democracy, freedom of expression, reduced

2 Cf. Rockström et al. (2009). 3 Cf. Giraud (1996) and Bourguignon (2012). 4 Cf. Severino and Ray (2011).



inequality, gender equality, shared access to public goods,

etc. Yet, paradoxically, there is a simultaneous rise in

identity-based demands and irredentism. Religion is taking

on a growing importance, regardless of countries’ levels of

economic development. The universality of “modern” ideals

is being challenged,5 and putting them into practice requires

compromises specific to each context (d’Iribarne, 2012).

The challenges and questions are thus many, and on a vast

scale. The responses will be at the same time environmental,

social (or rather societal) and economic. It is estimated,

for instance, that food needs in 2050 can be adequately

met provided the solutions are not only agricultural, but

also environmental, institutional and economic (Guillou and

Matheron, 2011). Questions relating to the environment

and development must give rise to unified doctrines. Future

climate agreements will therefore need to be included in an

agenda for development.

Finally, in this context, donors and aid actors must reconsider

their role. Today’s world is not the one that the architects of

Bretton Woods knew, in terms of its political, technological,

monetary, financial and commercial aspects. In 1990 – the

year that the Internet was introduced – developing countries

accounted for a fifth of global output. Nowadays, the six

emerging economies account for half of global output and

the trend is expected to increase. Towards 2030, when the

average income in China is forecast to reach USD 16,000

(up from USD 4,000 today), the current weight of fifteen

South Koreas is likely to be added to the global economy.

Emerging countries have demonstrated their ability to come

up with solutions that had not been anticipated by donors. The

aid landscape is changing fast and includes new partners:

emerging countries, non-governmental organisations

(NGOs), vertical funds, foundations, international firms –

sometimes with more funds than those of the Organisation

for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

member countries. Against a backdrop of strengthened

commitments and a fast growing number of actors, the

role of traditional donors is being increasingly challenged.

The concepts on which aid was built are a thing of the past

(First World/Third World, North/South, donors/beneficiaries,

rich and poor countries, etc.; cf. Zoellick, 2011). And the

multilateralisation of international relations has reshuffled the

former hierarchies that underpinned aid.

Donor effectiveness has become a pivotal issue. Donors

are asked to increase the impact of the programmes and

public policies that they finance. Yet, a number of projects

due for mainstreaming into public policies all too often

remain at the “pilot” stage. At the same time, the competition

created between donors gives rise to fashion trends:

solutions dominate the debate… until a new watchword

ousts the previous one. Donors need to open up to other

contributors, propose new instruments, support economic

and social change, and provide practical expertise and

innovation capacities (economic, institutional and social).

Donors’ intellectual production must imperatively learn from

experience – the reasons for failure, for success and the

unresolved questions. They need to analyse the mainsprings

of innovation and change: What conditions are necessary for

scaling-up? How can innovation be moved from the “pilot”

stage into generalised policy?

Each society must produce knowledge for itself. All the

scientific disciplines are involved. Donors, however, focus

their knowledge production primarily on public management.

They are less concerned with “hard” sciences, except

to ensure that technical innovations become embedded

in development processes. Generally speaking, donors

contribute to the production of a public good consisting

of knowledge that is open and available for development

purposes.

5 The Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, adopted in 1990 by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to the UN, aims to differentiate itself from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.



1.2 A relatively homogeneous international corpus

Knowledge production for development is now part and

parcel of donor activity. It plays a role in public policy

formulation, in the dissemination of “good practice” or as a

decision-making tool, and contributes to the development

of common global governance. First initiated by multilateral

institutions – the first World Bank Chief Economist was

appointed in 1972 – this activity dates back about ten

years for regional banks and bilateral donors (Department

for International Development [DFID], Gesellschaft für

Internationale Zusammenarbeit [GIZ], Japan International

Cooperation Agency [JICA] and AFD).

The body of knowledge shared by donors is abundant and

diversified. It is constantly evolving. However, given its

multilateral roots, it retains a strongly universal scope based

on normative definitions and framed at the necessary level

of abstraction to ensure its validity – this normative role is

advocated by the OECD and UN institutions. It is often far-

removed from the field, couched in a discourse disconnected

from reality and relatively uniform (Jullien, 2008), which

means that it needs to be discussed and completed with

reference to specific situations. In the economic sphere –

and even though analyses are constantly evolving – the

prevailing discourse of the major financial institutions vaguely

intimates that priority is given to opening up markets,

deregulation and countervailing actions. It has not made

it possible to anticipate actual development trajectories.

Several authors who criticise the mainstream economic

discourse (cf. Severino and Ray, op. cit.) have shown that

emerging economies have not followed the prescribed

models and that the State has played a determining role. Yet,

they placed less emphasis on the specific character of their

institutional models and the related political cultures, as the

following simplified illustrations show.

China’s growth, its rapidity and its capacity for reform

challenge the familiar patterns. It is based on a form of State

capitalism (control of resources is under the Party’s authority)

managed separately from the opening up of markets in

goods and protected from world financial markets. The

“Chinese path” (Aglietta and Bai, 2012) has been led by

State bureaucracy, imbued with a culture of family devotion

and friendship networks rooted in the Empire’s distant past.

The Party has retained its role as a guardian of harmony

(in a sense close to the notion of order). Growth has come

about following an experimental, pragmatic path that was not

planned in advance. The controlled opening of the market

was seen simply as a means, a choice aimed at effectiveness

and adaptable to constantly readjusted objectives.

It would be an understatement to say that India is at the

antipodes of the Chinese example. Firstly, it is based on

a formal democracy, secondly, it tolerates disorder and,

lastly, it is highly fragmented along multiple ethnic, linguistic,

religious, cultural and regional lines. The 1980s economic

take-off arrived well ahead of liberalisation measures, which

were integrated ten years later into the existing framework.

It was driven by the ambivalence of the heirs of Indian

socialism, who initiated a policy favouring large family groups

(financial support, preferential access to public procurement,

precedence for certain infrastructures, the reining in of trade

unions; cf. Kohli, 2006). Social tolerance for contradictions,

the social imaginary and creativity are all ingredients that

have fostered growth as a priority over the reduction of

inequalities (Pattanaik, 2013).6

Brazil is yet another example of State intervention, reflecting

a different representation of the State’s role. The need to

build structural coalitions among national actors (political

parties, landed oligarchy, private business owners, state-

owned companies, the military, civil servants, trade unionists,

churches, social movements) compels the federal State

to devise compromises (Bizberg and Théret, 2012) that

produce a unique blend of the developmental model and

6 Devdutt Pattanaik is Chief Belief Officer of Future Group, a large private retail group.



a liberal economy – Brazil is one of the terrains where the

theory of import substitution has been most fully applied.

On the one hand, the State has supported public-sector

groups, the national development bank, densification of

the inter-industry matrix and deeper development of the

domestic market. On the other hand, it has facilitated private

investment, effective devolution to the federal States and

municipalities, and a low level of supervision of local banks.

Many such examples could be cited to illustrate the diversity

of models: for instance, a comparison between the cases

of Mexico and Argentina, which are mistakenly likened on

account of their apparent similarities (European colonial

past, federal states with a presidential system, constitutions

inspired by that of the USA and high social inequality), but

which in fact have extremely different institutional, societal

and economic forms.

The State has played a significant role the world over, but in

each case this has been based of forms, representations and

imaginaries specific to each country. Mainstream economic

discourse, however, is characterised by implicit common

ground, as evidenced by the 2013 edition of the Human

Development Report (World Bank, 2013): despite all of the

authors’ precautions to respect the diversity of situations and

avoid the “one-size-fits-all” syndrome, the report emphasises

in its conclusion the ultimate primacy of competition and

freedom of enterprise, and that “the need to remedy the

institutional failures and market imperfections […] is common

to all”. There are also other logics: the universal nature of

Western property rights (inherited from Roman law); the

primacy of competition not so much as an optimal means

of allocating resources, but as the sole objective judge of

individual contribution; an instinctive mistrust of any kind

of authority, which by its very nature is tempted to distort

competition and promote unproductive behaviour. In this

vision, social ties result from connecting up individual

interests, as in the model of utilitarian philosophies. “Good

governance” plays a key role in this by setting strict limits

on powers, when the latter cannot be dispensed with. This

vision implies a strong moral role of the group – village, ethnic

group, parish or company – as a framework for community

integration. Here, the idea of a spontaneous manifestation of

the “win-win” principle still has currency.

What we see here is an implicit structure – property

rights, primacy of competition, aversion to authority and

community values – that underpins much of the research

on development economics. This structure develops a

reference. It conveys a particular vision of the relationship

with the world and pilots global thinking like a clandestine

driver (implicitly imposing a doxa).

This reference simply furnishes underlying logics. It can be

utilised to support different theories that may even contradict

each other. It effortlessly managed to materialize in the

“Washington Consensus”, but was not a product of this.

Other studies, inspired by the same logics, predicted that

the world would eventually adopt Anglo-Saxon institutions

(Fukuyama, 1992).7 Although their theory now seems dated,

the attachment to these logics remains intact. Speaking to a

group of academics in 2010,8 the previous President of the

World Bank – after insisting that the Washington Consensus

was no more, that the experience of emerging countries

meant abandoning any “unique and universal framework for

reflection”, and that, as a non-economist, he was agnostic to

8 Cf. Zoellick (2010): “Yes, there are some basic principles we can follow: a belief in property rights; contract rights; the use of markets; getting incen-tives right; the benefits of competition within and across economies; the importance of education; macro-economic stability. … I would maintain that a competitive market should be the economy’s fundamental mechanism for allocating resources. But there are market failures. There are also govern-ment failures – including an inability to correct market failures. There is an important role for good governance, anti-corruption and the rule of law, and governance will go beyond considerations of simple economic efficiency.”

7 A similar proposal, in a more elaborate form, can be found with Douglas NORTH et al. (2009).



all theories and bowed down to no taboo – noted that some

“basic principles” in which “we can believe” did indeed exist

(thus clearly a matter of belief rather than ideology): property

rights; the requirements of the market and competition; the

educational community; government shortcomings… Certain

flagship themes taken up by the international community

in recent years – participative approach, pro-poor growth,

inclusiveness – come across as kinds of softeners to ease

the harsh social realities of this vision.

Real societies are based on more diverse models whose

references include customary or hybrid property rights,

specific representations of the State, figures of social ties

(family, friends…) other than those of a moral community,

etc. Moreover, these models are compatible with widely

diverse economic practices – that can include liberal visions.

They do not necessarily contradict the economic policies of

recent decades, which have served to eliminate a number

of rent effects and invigorate the global economy. They

do, however, imply taking a closer look at the coherence of

institutions at the local level.

Development trajectories are grounded in institutional

arrangements specific to each society’s history and

cultural genius. The State, whatever its perceived or real

shortcomings, embodies a figure that is specific to the

imaginary and representations of each individual society. It is

a producer of collective meaning and organises the network

of institutions – the set of more or less formal cultural, legal

or organisational rules – that shape political, social and

economic interactions (North, 1990).9 Institutions and public

policy strive to reconcile the social contract specific to each

society with the principles of economic effectiveness (e.g.

protect the vulnerable, support certain initiatives, labour law,

etc.).

Elaborating a network of institutions that makes sense – and

is thus relatively effective – is a key issue for development

policy. Each society appropriates the principles and impetus

that it receives from the outside, in matters of markets,

finance or techniques, for example, according to its own

logics.

Regular patterns crosscutting different sectors and fields

of management are generally visible in the way this

appropriation operates. When a given country looks at what

works (in order to replicate it) and what works less well (in

order to correct it), we find a unity of local representations

in areas as diverse as the use of contracts, management,

evaluation, law and even areas that are generally viewed as

encompassing the most intangible dimensions (d’Iribarne,

2013). This regularity makes it possible to understand how

institutional specificities emerge. The hypothesis of each

society having its own model shaped by its history, based on

its own vision of the social contract and embodied in specific

institutions and policies makes it possible to take better

account of the social and economic realities of each.

One of the challenges for knowledge production lies in

developing a body of contextualised analyses that reflect

diverse realities and shed light on the linkages between

the economy, institutions, societies and concrete forms of

governance. A contextualised approach is more universal

than one produced by single reference model: it means

apprehending development models within their own societal

logics. Empirical research, which may sometimes suffer

from a degree of approximation but yet able to highlight

local coherences, can be of more use than seemingly highly

rigorous research that proposes general laws to the entire

planet.

Due to AFD’s dual role as an operational and bilateral donor,

sensitive to the specifics of geography and populations, the

agency is in a vantage position to focus on the logics specific

to each context.

9 In this seminal work, North opens the door to understanding the diversity of societies, but shuts it again in his Violence and Social Orders (2009), where he enshrines the historical supremacy of the American political model.


2. An array of knowledge resources produced by AFD

AFD’s knowledge production is an essential component

of its mandate and complementary to its financial activity.

The three objectives set out in its most recent Strategic

Orientation Plan are: (i) to learn lessons from experience

(learn from the past), (ii) to contribute to debates on aid

by making new proposals (influence ideas), and (iii) to

anticipate future developments (propose future solutions).

The Orientation Plan also defines four priority thrusts: the

first three – environment and development, growth modelling

and social cohesion, and financing aid – correspond to

the three groups of questions outlined above; the fourth

thrust ensures AFD’s contribution to reflection on the

French overseas territories. The report commissioned from

Professor Jean-Louis Reiffers (Reiffers and Vincent, 2013)

has confirmed the quality of the production thus far, as

well as the need for AFD to have an autonomous capacity

for reflection. It points up possible avenues for progress,

including the formulation of a clear strategy, an objective

of influence and more effective promotion of publications.

This paper is the first formalisation of AFD’s knowledge

production strategy.

In a first section, we outline the knowledge gained from

AFD’s experience and its sectoral strategies. We then

offer an overview of the studies and research produced

by the institution in recent years. A third section focuses

on the question of how results are used, based on some

illustrations.

2.1 A body of practical knowledge

AFD’s operational experience is one of its assets in terms of

knowledge of development mechanisms. Over its seventy

years of existence, it has financed no fewer than several

hundred projects in dozens of countries. The economic

analysis of projects, the formulation of sectoral strategies

and the monitoring of macroeconomic situations form the

cornerstone of AFD’s knowledge.

AFD has an expertise recognised by its peers in multiple

domains. The following list is neither exhaustive nor in

any particular order: the fight against climate change, land

tenure, direct seeding mulch-based cropping systems

(DMC), sustainable forest management, the financing of

biodiversity, financing for local authorities, development

macroeconomics, the links between growth and institutional

capacities, public-private partnerships, microfinance,

vocational training, energy efficiency, the economies of

the French overseas territories, fragile states and states

in crisis, and migration. AFD supports an in-depth renewal

of public policies in favour of balanced and sustainable

development. The knowledge associated with each of these

topics represents “nuggets” that can leverage France’s

intellectual influence. Yet, sectoral aspects aside, donors in

general still need to make significant headway in improving

their grasp of societal contexts and recognising that the

groups concerned have their place in decision-making.

In recent years, AFD has formalised its strategic frameworks

by sector, by thematic area, by country or by region. Each of

these strategic documents sets out the ways in which AFD



envisions its contribution to the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs) and to global public goods (GPGs) by

presenting the public policies that AFD wishes to promote.

A cross-cutting reading of these strategic frameworks

reveals the principles that characterise AFD’s approach,

which is generally shared by its partners. The approach is

differentiated according to contexts, sectors and fields. Its

concern is to maintain a balance between territories and

among social groups. It aims to be pragmatic, sustainable

and multi-partnered – associating the private and public

sectors and associations.

A specific feature of this approach is its systemic vision,

which is most likely a French originality. It is interested in

students and teachers, not only in the classrooms that need

to be built; it is interested in the patient and his environment,

not only the disease; it is interested in rural societies and

farmers, not only agricultural products; it is interested in

sectors, not only economic growth, etc. Regarding access

to healthcare, AFD adopts a spatial vision (the territorial

network of health services), whereas others follow an

approach focussed more on the diseases to be combated

(AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria). In education, the emphasis

is on teaching quality and continued training after primary

school. It focuses more on students’ study paths than on

building infrastructure. In vocational training, it is a matter of

matching the labour supply produced by public actors with

the needs of companies and the labour market. Concerning

small-scale farming, AFD helps to structure value chains and

organise producers. It involves improving their production so

as to increase their incomes, create rural employment, better

supply urban areas and strengthen food self-sufficiency.

The systemic approach calls on certain principles: the

importance placed on regulation, the intermediation function of

public authorities, efforts to internalise identified externalities

as far as possible (to reduce market imperfections, for

instance) and the search for institutional and financial

innovation. Lastly, focus on the specificities of contexts must

involve public policy design, within local logics.

Yet, it must be recognised that donors lack in-depth

knowledge of societies. They are unfamiliar with the groups

who “receive the projects” (in itself a problematic expression),

which thus limits project scope and sustainability. Projects are

sometimes terminated prematurely or not continued. By way

of illustration, it is estimated that in Mali’s rural areas 35% of

hand pumps are inoperative, and that in Sub-Saharan Africa,

the operational efficiency of hydro and wind power facilities

rarely exceeds 85% (Douat, 2014). Rationales imposed from

the outside also lead to deep disappointment for populations,

as they see aid slipping away from them or, worse still, they

sometimes experience the destruction of their economic,

social and environmental fabric (Catarini, 2014 and 2005).10

The success of institutional grafting is limited due to the

biases in negotiations between local administrations and

donors, the lack of support for change and inadequate “post-

project” follow-up.

The MDGs have had the merit of raising global awareness

of just how many basic needs remain unmet, whether in the

areas of healthcare, water, sanitation, energy, etc. Yet, they

have also tended to reduce this issue to a financial problem:

what is lacking, what affordable technical solution exists

and so how much do we need – without forgetting to add

training costs? This type of approach does not adequately

reflect the task at hand, which is a great deal more complex

than installing taps or distributing vaccines. In reality, it

involves organising – or reorganising – local sectors, bringing

together trained and competent staff, who need to agree on

rules, prices, incentives and controls, in order to create an

efficient and viable service.

While the private sector plays an important role in the

infrastructure sectors and the management of basic

services, delegation can only be defined by a public

10 The fact that a public policy escapes the beneficiaries that were ini-tially targeted and benefits more affluent populations is nothing new and is something that has to be constantly monitored in all aid policies (cf. the housing assistance policies in France).



authority. The latter is responsible for defining the sectoral

framework stipulating service obligations, for sharing out

responsibilities and balancing finances. It is also responsible

for ensuring that these arrangements are implemented.

French experience shows that many diverse solutions

exist in this field, and not simply a single one-size-fits-all

solution. AFD supports a wide variety of arrangements,

but reality dictates that the objectives be adapted to the

means. To establish basic services in less-favoured areas

(health and education, water and sanitation, energy for

all), participatory approaches are particularly necessary.

Fundamental environmental issues must also be taken

into account (this is particularly the case for the use of

renewable energies). Tariff conditions must allow universal

access to networks, while at the same time promoting

efficient use.

Conurbation growth is one of the major silent transformations

of the planet: cities accelerate economic, social and cultural

exchanges, but their densification and congestion also lead

to opposite results. This crucially calls for a spatial approach

to the urban structure and its flows (transport, sanitation,

services, energy, etc.). The wave of decentralisation that

is continuously spreading across many countries raises

management issues and requires support tailored to the

partners’ contexts. AFD therefore contributes to financing

local authorities, which often have no access to other

sources of external public financing.

The same approaches are applied to the French overseas

territories, taking account of their geographical singularities

(Caribbean, South America, Indian Ocean and Pacific).

Their economic integration into the regional environment is

one of AFD’s areas of intervention. Trade with neighbouring

countries, most of which are also AFD partners, offers

a way of supporting joint development and the regional

production of global public goods (climate, biodiversity,

energy efficiency, healthcare).

AFD, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the

Technological Research and Exchange Group (GRET),

supports the Land and Development Committee,11 which

includes diverse and multidisciplinary actors. Its purpose

is to obtain recognition of property rights and secure them

for populations in developing countries. The Committee

supports the definition and application of land policies

adapted to their specific context, with a view to giving as

many people as possible access to land and ensuring

more effective management. The Committee has driven

a better understanding at the international level regarding

the diversity of rights and the need for a multi-stakeholder

dialogue on land issues. Over the past fifteen years, it has

addressed several critical issues concerning land policies

and land markets, which typically involve large-scale land

grabbing.

AFD is one of the few donors to have concrete experience

in support to local contracting authorities. In fact, the

agency stands out from most bilateral donors, who manage

projects themselves using their own procedures (as is the

case of European Union, for example). AFD, on the other

hand, systematically operates through the structures and

procedures of its partners.

Its approach is comparable to that used by multilateral

banks, although the latter tend to impose their own

procedures and documents. The support that AFD gives to

strengthening local contracting authorities constitutes per

se one of the main added values of its operations. At the

same time, it gives the Agency a concrete understanding of

local institutional capacities.

Developing financial solutions and new products is also an

important area for AFD. Reducing barriers to development

funding is one of the mandates of donors. AFD seeks

to offer a wide range of products tailored to its partners’

demand. The aim is not to select the good risks (which

is the norm for commercial banks), but to offer innovative

11 http://www.foncier-developpement.fr

http://www.foncier-developpement.fr/%20



solutions in terms of risk-hedging. Risk analysis is part of

AFD’s expertise and is constantly evolving (for example,

to take political or energy risks into account). Donors have

an international regulatory role: they must seek to amplify

the benefits of globalisation (expanded commercial outlets,

financing for change, dissemination of knowledge and

techniques) and try to limit its harmful effects (polarised

production capacity, widening inequality, unequal distribution

of jobs and income, environmental destruction).

AFD’s experience-based knowledge represents a substantial

capital, but is not sufficient in itself. The agency also

supports research in order to enhance its comprehension

of development matters, resolve unanswered questions and

offer its partners more appropriate solutions.

2.2 A decade of wide-ranging studies and research

Over the past ten years, AFD has supported and produced a

large number of studies and research, which have given rise

to publications and conferences (see below). It is impossible

to summarise all of this research and its results, but we can

offer an overview of recent and ongoing research.

The studies and research conducted by AFD cover a

diversified field calling for a variety of competencies. The

studies, applied research and theoretical research should

not be placed in opposition. Research can alternate between

empirical stages and conceptual phases that sometimes

overlap. Some purely theoretical discoveries may well have

far-reaching practical applications (even in mathematics),12

and the idea of setting them in opposition derives from a

sociological logic rather than a scientific reality.

The studies supported by AFD are divided into four priority

areas set out in the Strategic Orientation Plan: (i) environment

and sustainable development, (ii) growth models and social

cohesion, (iii) economies in the French overseas territories,

(iv) architecture of aid and financial innovations (see the

summary of recent and ongoing research in Appendix 1).

- Environment and sustainable development: the issues

of climate change, biodiversity preservation and green

transition (what this term acutally encompasses needs

clarifying) are crucial. Public officials require support

for decision-making: what structural changes should

be targeted in priority, depending on the countries and

sectors? Fossil fuel prices are not sufficient means of

regulation. At the same time, CO2 emissions remain

above the levels judged to be acceptable in relation

to the ceiling for climate change. But what types of

regulation should be given priority and on what scale?

What other incentives need to be introduced in terms of

income or job creation to promote increased production

of environmental goods?

- Growth models and social cohesion: this theme brings

together various questions. How can the world’s food

requirements be met over the next thirty years and new

rural balances enabled? How can access to education

and training be improved and employment increased?

How can we better understand the links between

governance, institutional capacities and long-term

growth? What are the drivers of the demographic and

migration trends? What social protection floors need

to be built? How can we further the modernisation of

societies, gender mainstreaming or the understanding of

cultures and religions? The issue of governance, which

is frequently discussed among donors, is many-sided. It

covers diverse realities relating to economic, financial,

territorial, administrative, legal and political governance.

Governance and development are seen as being

12 Like Newton’s convergence sequence; cf. Cédric Villani (2012), Théorème vivant, Grasset.



interconnected, although no simple correlation has been

found, even if there are clear linkages with the dynamics

of long-term growth. Governance is also considered to

be critical factor in resolving the world food challenge.

It is synonymous with sound public management and

also dominates basic services management (education,

health, etc.). The shortcomings in basic service and

infrastructure management are critical barriers to the

growth of the formal economy, particularly in the least

developed countries and Sub-Saharan Africa.

- Economies in the French overseas territories: in the

context of France’s protracted economic crisis, the

overseas territories need to find their own specific new

models. They are driven by different demographic, social

and economic dynamics specific to each individual

territory and which strongly impact policies on health,

education, housing, energy and the environment.

They each face the key challenge of developing

comparative advantages which they can leverage vis-

à-vis international competition and in their regional

environment.

- Architecture of aid and financial innovations: the

financing needs for the fight against poverty and

the green transition are substantial. Donor-supplied

funding will continue to fall short. It can play only a

catalytic role. A fresh analysis of the systemic risks and

development objectives must spur proposals of new

financial tools. Intermediation via bank credit lines is

a way to leverage incentives but it nonetheless raises

questions as to the level of interest subsidies to be

granted. AFD has also demonstrated the feasibility of

devising countercyclical financing, with amortisation

being adjusted in response to market fluctuations. At

different levels, financial innovation is a decisive factor

for attracting new investments. At the same time, an

understanding of the current changes caused by the

arrival of new actors in the world of aid is also needed.

Macroeconomic assessment also occupies a central place

at AFD, both for defining its financing strategies and for

managing risks. As a development actor, AFD must indeed

build its strategies on an analysis of macroeconomic

situations and trajectories, and gather information on

each country regarding the composition of its production

factors, its productivity potential, its sectoral and regional

issues, its commercial and financial position, the state of

its public finances, and its economic financing needs. For

example, in the Mediterranean, the low productivity gains

of recent years indicate that there are significant needs for

vocational training that do not appear to have been met by

the efforts already deployed. In the Sahel, the low level of

access to modern energy and the energy dependence of

some countries result in actions to boost power generation

facilities. In the French overseas territories, structural

deficits in the long-term resources of local banks justify

putting in place an additional range of financing.

AFD itself monitors the macroeconomic risk in its countries

of operation and the global economic situation. It has its

own dedicated macroeconomic assessment tool, which is

adapted to its activity and enables it to form an independent

opinion. It also relies on its network of local agencies. The

methodology used breaks down risk assessment into five

“pillars” – the socio-political context, the growth regime, the

financial system and stability (banks and financial markets),

public finances and solvency, and external financing and

solvency.

The recent financial crises have shown that markets

continue to be imbued with beliefs that lead actors to

reason along similar lines and which prove a posteriori to

haven been unfounded (Valerian, 2011). AFD’s capacity for

macroeconomic analysis must enable it to address certain

critical questions about its geographical areas of operation:

What are the links between growth and employment in the

Mediterranean? What are the current growth fundamentals

in African countries? What impact does the monetary



anchor of the Franc zone have on its competitiveness? How

can the export diversification be supported in countries that

are sensitive to commodity market conditions?

Finally, AFD’s evaluation function meets a dual and

essential requirement of accountability and capitalisation.

Both aim to learn lessons from experience and inform

practices. Evaluation is grounded on a set of rules, in line

with the standards recommended by the OECD: relevance,

effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact. The

evaluation process draws some its approach from research

methods: a review of the literature, an empirical field study,

rigorous quantitative measurements, development of a

theory of action and a model for understanding. Evaluation

is one of the main sources of learning and knowledge

building. It must be able to shed light on the paradoxes

observed in projects and provide solutions regarding

“what works”. Finally, it serves as one of the sources for

formulating research questions, on the basis of difficulties

that are observed recurrently.

AFD has taken a particular interest in impact measurements

based on experimental methods (randomized control trial,

or RCT) and quasi-experimental methods. Using a rigorous

approach, the purpose is to identify “what works” and

“what does not work”. These methods rely on defining a

without-project situation – constructing what is called a

“counterfactual” group – in order to measure the impacts

that can be strictly attributed to the project. These impact

evaluations have come to be considered as a knowledge

production tool for donors. They do, however, give rise to

heated debates that nonetheless converge on the need to

improve causality tree analysis and set out the conditions

for validation of impacts and their contextual character.

They also advocate for a better articulation between

quantitative and qualitative approaches and for a focus on

the uncertain aspects of knowledge. The costliness of these

studies means that efforts are made to share the financing.

AFD will, however, continue to use these tools and to

strengthen the scientific approach to evaluation.

The production of economic data is an essential need.

It conditions economic decision-making and the validity

of public policy. It also meets a fundamental need for

economic research. AFD must contribute to the production

of economic data and information, which are a public

good. The weakness of national statistics systems in Sub-

Saharan Africa is a particularly critical issue for the analysis

and monitoring of economic policies. AFD works with its

partners (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Institute for Research

and Development [IRD], Agricultural Research Centre for

International Development [CIRAD], National Institute for

Statistics and Economic Studies [INSEE] and multilaterals)

to promote the strengthening of local statistical capacities. It

also provides input for several studies (Migrations-Families-

Ageing with the National Institute for Demographic Studies

[INED] and Migrations-Diasporas-Development with the

OECD and World Bank).

AFD also co-produces the Institutional Profiles Database

(IPD) with the Ministry of the Economy and Finance. Its

aim is to analyse the role of institutions in development and

stimulate research in these areas. This database presents

132 institutional indicators for 143 countries and covers

a wide range of institutional characteristics. The data are

provided by the perceptions of experts. They are subjective

by nature and may under no circumstances be used as

an aid allocation tool. However, they do provide a clearer

understanding of the role of institutions and governance in

development mechanisms.

It remains difficult to give a full picture of all the work

produced in recent years. Its importance can be measured

by the sheer number of conferences and publications

realised and the echoes that these have given rise

to (see below). Yet to better promote this production

and more effectively determine future content, AFD now

systematically publishes a synthesis of each of its research

works in an accessible four-page format (A Question of

Development).13

13 http://librairie.afd.fr/filtres/?terms=1085

http://www.afd.fr/question-developpement%20

http://librairie.afd.fr/filtres/%3Fterms%3D1085



2.3 Applicable and cumulative knowledge

Here, we need to address the question of the utility of this

research and its impact on AFD’s operations: What has it

taught us and where does it lead us?

There are commonly three main types of use for social

science and economic research (Delarue et al., 2009). The

first type is dubbed “instrumental” and includes research

that delivers rational responses to the issues raised by

actors. This model is based on natural sciences and is what

public decision-makers are most eager for. Unfortunately, it

is more rarely applicable to the social sciences. The second

so-called “cumulative” model considers that research

gradually produces conceptual knowledge that modifies the

actors’ views and their way of formulating questions and

solutions. This is the model that most closely corresponds

to the social and economic sciences: research gives

an in-depth understanding of individual and collective

behaviour, and improves the understanding of informed

decision-makers and audiences. Finally, for the third model,

called “political” or “interactive”, research is a way of

documenting public policies and their impacts, in order to

improve their feasibility and support change, but warns

against the risk of using the research as a tool.

The studies supported by AFD fit these different models, as

can be seen in the following examples:

- In the first group of “instrumental” research, we

can mention the analysis conducted in Kenya on

natural protected areas. Given the increasing threats

to flora and fauna, an analysis grid was developed

making it possible to characterise the different types

of management (private, public or community-based)

and to support their complementarities. This typology

facilitated a review of public policies. It has also served

as a model in other geographical areas.14

• Following the failure of the first renewable energy

projects in the Sahel in the 2000s (individual solar

kits), AFD redefined its programmes for a project in

Mauritania during the consultation with the communities

involved, with the assistance of an anthropologist

(Caratini, 2012). This approach made it possible to

review the initial design for equipment distribution and

maintenance and integrate the way the project was

organised into the concrete social context.

In another field, the development of computable general

equilibrium (CGE) models is a fine example of research that

has operational use. AFD, in partnership with international

teams, supports the development of macroeconomic

models to measure the impacts of climate mitigation and

energy transition policies, notably in China, Mexico and

South Africa. The standard CGE models do not currently

incorporate the specific issues of developing economies,

particularly the share of the informal sector and the impact

of debt. Very few of them are able to produce a quantitative

analysis of the inter-sectoral links that characterise the

economy of each country, or analyse the impacts that

policy choices have on their ecological structure. The

available tools, as well as the tendency to measure

carbon impact only for infrastructure projects, carry the

embedded risk of short-termism: in other words, favouring

actions that produce an immediate effect to the detriment

of orientations that could significantly change long-term

balances. The climate/energy CGE models used by AFD

aim to go beyond these these limits, proposing models that

capture the multiple sources of imperfection in transition

and developing economies. These tools reap the benefits

of direct collaboration with local experts and ministerial

departments in charge of decarbonisation policies. The

approach thus goes beyond a purely scientific exercise and

enables support for public policies.

14 Cf. Elliott et al. (2014).



- The second group of “conceptual” or “cumulative”

studies encompasses a larger share of the research.

Mention can be made of recent contributions in various

fields relating to the informal economy (the hidden part of

developing economies), vocational training for informal

sector beneficiaries, barriers to setting up public-

private partnerships for water services, diversification

of employment in rural areas, reconstruction methods

in fragile States and post-crisis situations, the global

dynamics of migration, etc.

• There is also research on the links between “good

governance” and long-term growth. The idea had

gained ground among donors that good governance

was all that was needed to ensure rapid and

strong growth. AFD successfully demonstrated that

there was no obvious cause-effect relationship.

What is now required is closer investigation of the

relationships between political configurations, the

quality of institutions and growth, laying emphasis

on the dimensions of equitable human development.

The question of the linkage between institutional

capacities and growth is one of the major issues in

Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Another case study: the analysis of the mechanisms

for payment for environmental services (PES). The

idea of establishing an economic link between the

actors who contribute to preserving resources and

those who benefit from them can be illustrated by

the Vittel Water model: the company pays farmers

to help preserve the quality of the resource. This

mechanism could be applied to other situations,

such as controlling reservoir silting, protecting soil

or biodiversity, etc. There are, however, many social

apprehensions and institutional barriers. Research

should inform the conditions for using this mechanism

in other situations.

• Along the same lines of cumulative knowledge, we

could cite the approach that gathered together a

group of European researchers and senior public

officials under the “Chatham House Rule”15 in order

to shed light on the social, political and economic

causes of the crisis in Mali.

- Finally, a third group of “interactive” research includes

studies in which researchers intervene alongside

actors (sometimes called action-research), as well as

macroeconomic and risk supervision analyses, and

evaluations. Three examples can be given of this: (i) the

evaluation of the sustainable management strategy for

Congo Basin forests, (ii) the impact evaluation of rural

microfinance in Morocco, (iii) the link between sectoral

growth and job creation in the Mediterranean.

• The first study, which focused on twenty years of

experiments by AFD with forest development plans

(Samyn et al., 2011), evidenced the substantial

changes brought about by these plans; it also

proposed improving aspects related to biodiversity

and social responsibility and adapting them to the

constraints of small- and medium-sized enterprises

(SMEs). Following discussions with all the partners

(private, public and associations), these proposals

were published as a White Paper for tropical forest

management, which is disseminated at regional

and international conferences (Brazzaville and Paris,

2012). A large number of these proposals have been

taken up by other countries and donors.

• Another example is the experimental evaluation of the

introduction of microfinance services in rural areas

(already developed in urban centres by Al Amana

15 According to this rule, participants express themselves in a personal and not institutional capacity: nothing is quoted and there is no attribution of comments.



in Morocco; cf. Crépon et al., 2012). The impact

measurement showed that the project had not led to

new activities, although at an economic level it had

enabled families to diversify into livestock farming

and food production. The increase in incomes did,

however, come at the price of a reduction in families’

wage incomes. After two years, the project had

brought little change to the village economy. Neither

had it impacted poverty reduction, the economic

empowerment of women and schooling for children.

As a result, the study led to an in-depth reorganisation

of service provision in rural areas.

• Finally, the production of economic data and

information also falls within this category.

These few examples illustrate the impacts of a knowledge

production that is above all intended to inform strategies

and resolve concrete development questions.


3. Activities, partnerships and products

In a number of countries, AFD plays a central role in

development. Consequently, it has the capacity to produce

knowledge drawn from its experience and facilitate access

to the field for researchers.

AFD’s knowledge production is partly achieved in-house,

using its own expertise, and partly by external partners

(researchers and consultants), who are mandated and

cofinanced by AFD. In addition to the Research teams’

own production, it mobilises all the in-house teams. It

further relies on a number of partnerships with French and

international research institutes, also in collaboration with

other international donors and institutions.

The research advances in response to international meetings

and publications in which researchers discuss their results.

AFD’s production takes the form of publications, seminars

and conferences. More generally, it is intended for the

development community (researchers, donors, decision-

makers from the North and South). It also serves for the

preparation of AFD’s strategy papers (thematic reviews,

doctrine notes, policy notes), for training activities, and to

support project design and implementation.

The organisation of activities and partnerships is outlined

below. After a period of gradual adaptation over the past

ten years, it is overall in line with the proposed strategy and

can evolve if necessary.

3.1. Activities and organisation

AFD’s corporate university, the Centre for Economic,

Financial and Banking Studies (CEFEB), which celebrated its

fiftieth anniversary in 2013 was, in the early 1960s, the main

body for AFD’s knowledge production and dissemination.

In the 1980s, the ex post evaluation of projects and

macroeconomic monitoring of countries were added.

In 2002, knowledge production made further progress:

capitalisation of sectoral strategies and evaluation were

systematised, and AFD engaged in research partnerships.

The first research papers were published in 2003. Following

strong growth between 2002 and 2010, the activity has

stabilised in recent years. It now enjoys good visibility and

is implemented through several practical modalities that are

complementary and sometimes overlap:

- Capitalisation of AFD’s experience of project financing

and supporting public policies. This is mainly achieved

through the mechanism to evaluate projects, sectors and

strategies;

- The production of studies and research on development

issues that are identified and formulated either with the

operational teams or in connection with the international

debate on development;

- Macroeconomic analyses and risk rating (“country risk”

and “sovereign risk”), mainly for in-house use, but some

non-confidential elements are published;



- Training and support for countries that benefit from

AFD financing and French partners. These activities

are conducted via CEFEB, but also in collaboration with

external academic institutions (Sciences Po, Centre for

Studies and Research on International Development

[CERDI], University Paris I, etc.), or via “customised”

programmes;

- Direct contributions to in-house reflection and to the

definition of strategies (sectoral, geographic, cross-

cutting);

- The organisation of and participation in national and

international seminars and conferences in order to

promote and disseminate the knowledge produced and

stimulate debate on present and future issues.

The work on studies, research and capitalisation is generally

conducted with external partners (consulting firms or

research institutes). This work is led by steering committees,

involving operational departments (geographical or

sectoral), the committees of the Research and Knowledge

Department and the Strategic Steering and Accountability

Department, and sometimes external personalities. The

research produced outside is carried out either under

partnerships (generally between six months and three

years) with research institutes that are selected for their

approach to the issue addressed, or in the form of ad hoc

studies attributed through calls for tenders (the research

work lasts between three and six months).

AFD conducts a good deal of the research itself:

macroeconomic analyses and country risk rating,

a significant part of the intervention frameworks that

summarise AFD’s knowledge of a sector or cross-cutting

theme, certain meta-evaluations and, finally, studies and

research authored or co-authored by AFD. While AFD has

neither the mandate nor the means to run a research unit,

some of its staff contribute, sometimes directly, to research

work. Indeed, some of them remain on secondment to

research institutes and regularly publish in national and

international journals.

Everyone at AFD contributes to knowledge production: it

involves both the Strategy Department and the Financing

and Operations Department. They each have a budget

earmarked for knowledge production, and the capacity to

initiate and manage studies and formalise partnerships.

Knowledge production comprises several types of activities,

which are generally led by specifically dedicated teams:

- In the Strategy Department, the divisions in charge

of evaluations, macroeconomic analyses and country

risk benefit from the necessary independence from

teams in charge of operations. The division in charge

of economic and social research has a more direct

vocation for research work. They also have a role of

cross-cutting coordination for AFD’s other activities.

The research planning is established together with the

operational and strategy units. For two years now, the

focus has systematically been on the operational and

strategic impact of the studies and research;

- In the Operations Department, the geographical and

sectoral departments have their own capacity for

studies and research. The respective budget and

coordination are provided by the department for cross-

cutting support;

- At PROPARCO, a team coordinates a network of

practitioners, academics and private sector players via the

Private Sector and Development publication.16

16 http://www.proparco.fr/Accueil_PROPARCO/Publications-Proparco/sec-teur-prive-et-developpement

http://www.proparco.fr/Accueil_PROPARCO/Publications-Proparco/secteur-prive-et-developpement%20

http://www.proparco.fr/Accueil_PROPARCO/Publications-Proparco/secteur-prive-et-developpement%20



3.2. Research partnerships

AFD’s knowledge production is based on high-level

international partnerships with universities, research

institutes and think tanks. These partnerships contribute

to both the production of research and its dissemination in

international fora, and have a decisive effect on the quality

and outreach of the studies that are conducted.

AFD has established a number of partnerships with the

main French research institutes, first and foremost CIRAD

and IRD, but also the Foundation for Studies and Research

on International Development (FERDI), the Institute for

Sustainable Development and International Relations

(IDDRI), Paris School of Economics (PSE), Toulouse

School of Economics (TSE), the French School of Asian

Studies (EFEO), the Foundation for the Analysis of Political

Societies (FASOPO), Sciences Po, INSEE, INED, the

University of Burgundy’s Institute for Research in the

Sociology and Economics of Education (IREDU), GRET,

etc. The collaboration with CIRAD and IRD is notably

subject to concerted annual programming. In particular,

it takes the form of joint publications (the 2013 launch of

an annual AFD-CIRAD publication). In France, one of the

objectives would be to achieve a formalisation of influential

topics that give rise to innovative paradigms compared to

the mainstream (see below).

AFD is also associated with prestigious research institutes

in the North (Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT],

Oxford, School of Oriental and African Studies [SOAS],

European Centre for Development Policy Management

[ECDPM], Overseas Development Institute [ODI], etc.) and

in the South (Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada

[IPEA] in Brazil, Instituto Nacional de Ecología y Cambio

Climático [INECC] in Mexico, Laboratory for the Study

and Research on Social Dynamics [LASDEL] in Niger,

African Centre for Cities in South Africa, Vietnam Academy

of Social Sciences [ASSV]). These partnerships take

various forms, ranging from ad hoc studies to multi-annual

agreements. Through these partnerships, AFD benefits

from a state of knowledge and advanced expertise in a

variety of disciplinary fields. It also wishes to encourage the

academic community to address subjects and fields that

hold an interest for the development community.

AFD will continue to develop its collaborations with the study

and research centres of its partner countries. Certainly, the

latter have privileged knowledge of their situations, and

the strengthening of local capacities is also a development

objective. These research teams are also an essential

vector for the dissemination of results to national actors.

In the same spirit, partnerships are beginning to be

established with French research institutes abroad (Joint

Entity of French Research Institutes Abroad – UMIFRE).

The ex post evaluations are an example of the intellectual

collaboration between AFD and its partners. This feedback

makes it possible to enhance the dialogue with partner

countries. In return, it validates the results.



Map 1. AFD’s research partnerships

Source: AFD.

Finally, in order to finance more ambitious research

projects and improve its visibility in the international

debate, AFD has established partnerships with donors

and international institutions (World Bank, OECD, United

Nations Development Programme [UNDP], JICA, Aga

Khan University). These collaborations will be scaled up.

In particular, AFD must have an active role with the World

Bank and multilateral donors in order to promote the

research based on innovative paradigms, and contribute to

a greater dissemination of French research. For example,

AFD is planning to contribute each year to the World Bank’s

World Development Report.

3.3. AFD’s knowledge products

A large part of the research is promoted via publications

and specific events. Some knowledge production work does

not give rise to a publication, as it involves contributions

to in-house programming processes or analyses of a

confidential nature.

French

CERDI/FERDI

PSE

TSE

IDDRI

IRD

CIRAD

Aix-en-Provence

CIRED

CODEV

French

OFCE

IEDES/Paris I

CEPREMAP

Politique Africaine

FASOPO

Sciences Po

INSEE

INED

CEPII

EHESS

ENPC

International

EUDN

GDN

MIT

CGDEV

IPEA

Oxford

SOAS

IDS

Maastricht (UNU-Merit)

International

IPEA

EDRI

WITS

INEQ

IPAR

BAPENAS

LASDEL

EFEO

Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences

Global/donors

World Bank

OECD

UNDP

ILO

AsDB

JICA



AFD publishes about fifty titles a year in several collections:

Working Papers (results of specific research), A Savoir

(state of knowledge on a topic), Focales (case studies or

research related to a specific context), Recherches (body

of research on a major issue), Conférences et Séminaires

(conferences), Ex Post (evaluations and capitalisation),

MacroDev (macroeconomic note). All the research works

supported by AFD now give rise to a synthesis in the form of

a four-page Policy Note targeting a broad public (A Question

of Development).

These publications are intended for the scientific community

and development professionals (international institutions,

donors, NGOs, policymakers, consultants, experts and

students). They can be downloaded on AFD’s website.17

Since 2007, AFD has been co-publishing, with IDDRI and

the TERI Institute (based in India), a reference annual on

sustainable development (Regards sur la Terre). With CIRAD,

it co-publishes an annual publication (Agricultures et défis du

monde), and with the World Bank, the Africa Development

Forum collection (about two publications a year). It publishes

a quarterly review on Africa, Afrique Contemporaine (a

recent analysis by the authors shows the international

dimension of the review and that it is well-anchored in Africa).

These are priced publications and produced with commercial

publishers. PROPARCO publishes the magazine Private

Sector and Development, with each issue addressing a

specific topic (African banking sector, forest exploitation,

waste, healthcare, power generation, etc.).

AFD also publishes Kaléidoscope (a periodic review of

publications on development) and Produitdoc (quarterly

review of commodity markets).18 Finally, AFD periodically

works with reviews and book publishers for the publication of

specific works, in order to diversify its distribution.

Since 2002, AFD has published over 450 titles. In the past

two years, the number of downloads has almost tripled (from

107,000 a year in 2011, to 292,000 a year in 2013) and their

monthly average currently exceeds 24,000 downloads.

AFD hosts or organises over a hundred events a year, such

as conferences or seminars, which are open to the public and

address major development issues. The two most important

are the AFD-European Development Network (EUDN)

annual conference and the biennial conference AFD-Rapid

Economic Account for Overseas France (CEROM).

Each year, AFD co-organises, with the World Bank and

Center for Global Development (CGDEV), the academic

conference “Migration and Development”. The conference

cycle “Ideas for Development” (iD4D; about fifteen a year)

now brings in a regular public.

The EUDN conference gathers high-level researchers and

a public composed of researchers and public policymakers

from AFD’s partner countries. It is held alongside the annual

meeting of the EUDN European network (which is affiliated

with the Global Development Network). Ten sessions have

been held since 2003; the themes for the last two were:

“Evaluation and its discontents: do we learn from experience

in development?” and “Development and the financial sector”

(2013). The objective is to make this event into the leading

annual European meeting on development.

The CEROM conference gathers business leaders, elected

officials, representatives of regional and local authorities,

researchers and experts. Four sessions have been held

since 2007. The themes for the last two were “Creating

added value and employment in the French overseas

territories” (2011) and “The French overseas territories in the

international competition” (2013).

17 http://www.afd.fr/lang/en/home/publications/travaux-de-recherche 18 http://www.afd.fr/lang/en/home/publications/travaux-de-recherche/publi-cations-documentaires

http://www.afd.fr/home/publications/travaux-de-recherche%20

http://www.afd.fr/home/publications/travaux-de-recherche/publications-documentaires

http://www.afd.fr/home/publications/travaux-de-recherche/publications-documentaires



CEFEB, AFD’s corporate university, contributes to initial

and further training for students and decision-makers from

the South, as well as to the organisation of short training

programmes (40 seminars a year) in response to requests.

It participates in knowledge production and dissemination.

AFD staff also benefit from these training programmes.

Training seminars have been created as part of the

research partnerships, such as the African Programme on

Rethinking Development Economies (APORDE), which is

intended for African decision-makers in South Africa, and

the Tam Dao Summer School (Vietnam) for researchers

from Southeast Asia. These seminars stand as regional

references. The APORDE programme has inspired similar

sessions in Ethiopia (in 2013, a half-day session was

organised and led by the Prime Minister, in the presence of

the entire government).

AFD has systematised the evaluation of projects after

completion. These evaluations are mostly managed in a

decentralised manner by the network of local agencies. They

are conducted by external evaluators, in partnership with

the local contracting authorities. They are consistent with

the principles and standards of the OECD’s Development

Assistance Committee (DAC). Evaluation has been carried

out for approximately 85% of projects (70% of amounts)

that reached completion between 2010 and 2012 and fall

within the scope of evaluation19 (i.e. a total of 128 projects

worth EUR 1.8 billion).

Twice a year, AFD reassesses the risk of over a hundred

countries. It specifically analyses the situation of 25

countries that account for 80% of its sovereign risks.

Cross-cutting research is also conducted, for example, on

the Franc zone.

19 “Specific” financing does not fall within this scope: global budget support, Study and Capacity Building Fund, projects from the Priority Solidarity Fund transferred to AFD and PROPARCO sub-participations.


4. Pooling research centred on innovative paradigms

AFD’s knowledge production goes hand in hand with its

financing activity. Its overarching objective is to enhance

the effectiveness of the development strategies and

projects that it finances. As a result of this, a second aim is

to formulate research questions drawn from its operational

practices.

The Reiffers Report confirmed the overall quality of AFD’s

production. It criticises the excessive number of subjects

addressed and the lack of clear directions. It suggests

that AFD put forward original proposals that break away

from the dominant doxa. It also highlights the need to set

strategic priorities, clarify the programming processes,

raise the academic standard and clarity of publications, and

involve AFD staff more in this aspect of its mission.

This final section sets out the principles and directions

for AFD’s knowledge production for the next five years.

Development economics has made significant strides due

to advances in modelling and quantitative methods. At the

same time, the programmes financed by donors continue

to be based on a limited number of evidence-based

arguments. An increased and effective multidisciplinarity

should enable a more contextualised vision of development

policies.

More specifically, we propose that AFD’s knowledge

production be centred on six main areas. Overarching these

is the objective of generating innovative and actionable

knowledge, both in developing countries and in the French

overseas territories.

4.1. Multidisciplinary and contextualised research

For AFD, there is nothing new in the view that “development

trajectories [are] widely idiosyncratic” and that development

economics must evolve using “tools that are likely to

inform the interpretation [of facts]” and “give priority to

interdisciplinarity”.20 However, much remains to be done to

translate these principles into practice.

Over the past fifty years, economic sciences have shown

great dynamism. They have benefited from mathematical

modelling efforts and from the introduction of new

hypotheses that have supplemented the neo-classical

framework. New information technologies have facilitated

the development of empirical and econometric studies. Yet,

in recent years, the discipline has been facing a number

of questions from both within and without. Internally, even

if this should be seen as a sign of scientific dynamism,

several titles alone point to the scale of the questioning:

“Rethink the economy” (Orléan, 2011), “Get out of

economystification” (Dupuy, 2012), «Homo economicus,

lost prophet» (Cohen, 2012) and «Poor Economics» (Duflo

and Banerjee, 2011). Externally, the discipline is criticised

for its abstract vision of human societies and its hegemonic

attitude. Economics is closely related to the principles of

methodological individualism and has not escaped from

20 Pierre Jacquet, “Does economic research serve development?”, roundtable for the 20th anniversary of the joint research unit Development, Institutions and Globalisation (DIAL), Paris Dauphine University, November 2010.



the risk of producing “abstract beings” (Dumez, 2013),21

which are kinds of absolute causal entities detached from

concrete societies (like the all-purpose concept of “inclusive

growth”). Another risk of research – whatever the discipline

– is its subordination to the “law of the instrument” (Kaplan,

1964),22 which would have any problem encountered

dealt with using the tool at hand. In economics, this type

of deviation has been accompanied by a “fascination for

mathematical models” (Zoellick, 2010),23 as illustrated by

certain research work that seeks to model the genocides

in the form of an economic optimum (cf., among others,

Esteban et al., 2010).

Economics and engineering and environmental sciences

remain the dominant development disciplines. While the

idea of multidisciplinarity may be relatively consensual, it

would still need strong determination to materialise this into

procedures and put it into practice.

Development factors are multidimensional. It is thus

particularly necessary to guard against a causalist and

linear vision of the evolution of societies. Demography,

geography, political science, law, management science,

history, sociology, anthropology and philosophy need to

be mobilised more often. Indeed, each of these disciplines,

with its distinct viewpoint, provides a capacity to see aspects

of human action that are not sufficiently considered: in the

long term, the force of population flows and migration; the

spatial inclusion of human organisations and production

systems; the role of institutions and power strategies; the

consistency of laws and the context of their application;

the coordination and decision-making processes within an

organisation; the historicity of societies, their changes and

their cultural permanence over the long term; collective

strengths that are not merely the sum of individual play;

the social representations that give meaning to social

relationships, etc. Each discipline has its own approach,

they each have their own limits.

What is needed is a better understanding of the

internal borders of disciplines, for instance, between

microeconomics, macroeconomics, institutional economics,

economic history and economic theory. Certain notions

remain at the borders of the discipline as, for example,

the human development indicators, the meaning of equity,

uncertainty, the meaning of time and quantification of the

long term, perceptions, irrationality and the exploitation

of natural resources. Major crises, such as the sub-prime

crisis, are today prompting economists to step out of their

framework (Giraud and Renouard, 2009).

AFD needs to promote the utilisation of tools that are still

relatively unused, such as participant observation methods,

and open up to neglected issues as, for example, traditional

knowledge of biodiversity.

This multidimensional approach to development applies

to developing and emerging countries and to the French

overseas territories alike. Furthermore, under the single

category of the French overseas territories, generalisations

are made regarding very different institutional, economic,

demographic, social and anthropological contexts. The

specific trajectories of these territories are not just about

their relationship with mainland France, but also relate to

their regional specificities and their own positioning within

globalisation.

21 The author quotes Tocqueville’s self-criticism: “I have frequently used the word ‘equality’ in an absolute sense – nay, I have personified equality in several places; thus I have said that equality does such and such things, or refrains from doing others … These abstract terms … enlarge and obscure the thoughts.”22 “I call it the law of the instrument, and it may be formulated as follows: Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding.” 23 “According to its risk model, one investment bank suffered a loss on several consecutive days that should only have occurred once in 14 life-spans of our universe”.



AFD will set out to foster multidisciplinary and comparative

thinking that offers a comprehensive and contextualised

understanding of actors, their motives, their intentions

and their actions. A multidisciplinary and internationally

recognised approach can pave the way for contextualised

analyses and new paradigms.

It also involves supporting and pooling research based

on alternative hypotheses stretching beyond the

French perimeter. This approach meets the objective of

strengthening France’s economic influence. It sheds a

critical light on the “essential, but hardly visible” standards

that underlie international regulations and “determine market

rules and governance methods” (Revel, 2013).24 It paves

the way for other visions, free of the beliefs and “abstract

beings” (see above) that prevail in the economic doxa (the

universal right to property, the primacy of competition,

the innate shortcomings of power and a limited vision of

governance, communitarianism, the spontaneous existence

of win-win, the leitmotif of inclusiveness, etc., which are

often the vectors of Anglo-Saxon economic influence).25

The creation of a multidisciplinary scientific committee

dedicated to AFD’s knowledge production would make it

possible to interest the research community in development

issues. Its composition will reinforce the multidisciplinarity

and quality of research. Its consultative role will provide

AFD with a forum for reflection and exchange on the

quality of its knowledge production, on developments within

disciplines and on priority thematic areas.

AFD’s experience in project financing, its proximity to local

partners, its position as a bilateral actor with a concern for

geographical specificities, as well as its multidisciplinary

approach, should constitute its comparative advantages.

4.2. Priority areas and themes

Based on its experience and in light of recent scientific

research, AFD must help to identify concrete questions

and clearly formulate them. It will participate in shaping and

disseminating innovative responses that are of interest for

the development agenda. It will help to pool international

research, in addition to French research, on innovative

research concepts that offer an interesting alternative to

those that dominate the knowledge “market”.

The number and scale of research topics are considerable.

They form an open-ended list of global public themes,

as evidenced by the conferences that are repeatedly

dedicated to them: climate (adaptation and mitigation),

biodiversity, water, natural resources, energy, sustainable

cities, agricultural land, emerging diseases, extractive

industries, the fight against corruption, governance,

institutional capacities, employment, productive systems,

gender equality, human capital, training, migration,

trade, healthcare, food crises, social protection, essential

services… These topics are all compulsory figures for the

knowledge production to which donors must contribute.

They all relate to the programmes financed by aid. None of

them escape the agenda of harmonisation among donors.

The knowledge “market” is fiercely competitive. As AFD has

operational experience and regularly takes part in donor

coordination initiatives, it must contribute to the exchange of

good practice on these topics. By doing so, it can contribute

to French influence. It can valorise its advantage as an

operational donor. If AFD did no more than follow the topics

24 This report calls for “technical cooperation and development assistance to contribute to promoting French rules and standards at international level.”

25 French aid is itself often faced with this type of conceptual opposition. By way of example, we can mention the opposition in the 1970s between the “effects method” and “Shadow Prices”, in the 1980s, the antagonistic conceptions of “agricultural extension” and “Training and Visit”, or recently, the unreconcilable processes of “geographical indications” and “Branding”.



in vogue, it would consign itself to offering a pale reflection

of what other donors produce, especially the World Bank,

which has considerable means both in terms of quantity

and quality. AFD must nonetheless feed its input into the

debates. It must thus work with the World Bank, and the

other leading international donors and institutions, by

promoting different and innovative approaches (cf. Revel

2013, op. cit.).

AFD cannot, however, support research on all of these

topics. It must focus on the practical questions that it faces

in its activities as a donor, in line with the political priorities

assigned to it, particularly by the Interministerial Committee

on International Cooperation and Development of July

2013 (CICID, 2013). Six areas are considered as priorities.

They remain quite broad since, research-wise, it is difficult

to exclude certain fields (many discoveries actually derive

from research work produced with a different purpose). It

above all provides a framework that serves as a basis for

annual programming.

Box 1. Research: AFD’s six priority areas

• Natural resources and green transitions

• Social cohesion and growth

• Urban growth

• Innovations

• Accountability and indicators

• New financing tools

Natural resources and green transitions

Climate is a priority as it responds to an urgent need and

the ongoing preparation for the COP 21 in Paris. Emerging

countries have an interest in the research into green

transition models, as these can be adapted to their specific

contexts. AFD will also provide specific support for issues

related to climate change, with a heightened focus on Sub-

Saharan Africa, agri-food production and the sustainable

development of cities.

The topic of biodiversity is one of the subjects that receives

little donor financing. AFD’s experience in this area should

feed into proposals at international level.

The issue of natural balances requires taking a closer

look at unpaid environmental costs (ecological debt).

Human needs for 2050 will require addressing the energy-

water-food nexus. This means bolstering innovation and

introducing new regulations that enable needs to be

satisfied.

Agroecological intensification can be considered as the

future of the world’s agricultural modernisation, an area in

which French expertise and research play a leading role.

This can be conceived as a process whereby innovation

gains social recognition (in other words, it crosscuts other

areas dealing with issues of employment, innovation and

social cohesion).



The concept of resilience (the capacity to withstand internal

and external shocks) establishes a structural link between

this first area and the following two, social inclusion

and urban growth. Multidisciplinary reflection on socio-

environmental resilience, in which AFD participates with its

scientific partners, is ongoing and regards environmental

issues as inseparable from societal issues. Experience

shows that effective management of climate risk requires the

participation of local societies, which involves understanding

their situations and specificities. Traditional knowledge of

the natural environment is inseparable from social practices

and relations. Conversely, support for the resilient aspects

of societies and States in crisis can have a major impact

on the environment and rural development (agriculture,

livestock raising), just as the design of a sustainable city

needs to enhance resilience to natural disasters.

Social cohesion and growth

The success of the notion of “inclusiveness” reveals many

forms of social exclusion that today impede the reduction of

inequalities. Moreover, the realities of these exclusions are

as diverse as gender inequality, corruption, lack of social

protection, regulatory shortcomings or crisis situations – the

list is not exhaustive. The aggregation of these exclusions

into a single concept bears no relation to reality, unless

we take the view that their common denominator is that

they are difficult to surmount and have a determining

effect. Efforts to reduce them have often been to no avail.

Research must address each of these exclusions in their

concrete forms.

Although there have been several attempts to implement

pro-gender policies, they continue to have little impact.

It is, however, recognised that country-level social and

economic progress is historically correlated with women’s

level of education (Todd, 1984). The causes of gender

inequality involve cultural contexts, discriminations and the

reproduction of behaviour patterns, as well as the economic

level of individuals. The research undertaken will aim to

clarify possible avenues for social change, depending on

the context.

Corruption is an area in which France often appears to be

little involved at international level. Knowledge of these

phenomena would be of practical use in order to put

forward solutions and enhance the effectiveness of aid.

This knowledge supposes an understanding of the different

types of concrete situations.

The issue of social cohesion more broadly covers the

necessary coherence between social and economic logics.

Rather than setting these at odds, as is often the case, the

point is to show how some forms of social coherence can

contribute to economic efficiency (legitimacy of regulations,

mutual obligations, etc.). Building institutions takes time

and their effectiveness largely depends on how they are

able to make sense within a political culture. Time can

be gained by observing, within a given context, those

organisations that function effectively. Such observations

show that the solutions applicable to one sector can often

be transposed to another sector. In the poorest countries,

particularly in Africa, building institutions that make sense

and are effective remains a major challenge. The weakness

of contracting authorities is a critical issue and is likely

to remain so for many years. AFD has a head start

when it comes to improving management and institutional

capacities and its research in this area will continue.26 This

line of research is consonant with the nascent interest

that economics is showing in cultural issues. It opens up

horizons regarding the idiosyncrasies of development

trajectories and the complex links between governance and

institutions.

The emergence of middle classes at the global level

provides the underpinnings for a movement in favour of

26 The first research produced by AFD on the adjustments of modern management to cultural frameworks of interpretation dates back to 1991. Cf. Henry (1991).



social protection systems. In many countries, the younger

generations represent both a force for change and a

source of challenges that need to be anticipated. AFD will

develop research on the issue of social protection and social

transformation.

Urban growth

The uninterrupted growth of cities over the course of

several decades has brought on profound changes in social,

economic, political and institutional models. The sustainable

city will be a theme for research and innovation for many

years to come. French expertise and research in this field is

held up as a reference.

Urban morphology – resulting from both social forms and

urban governance – has major consequences on the

economy of flows and the use of natural resources (energy,

transport, sanitation, etc.). It is currently the subject of

innovative research.

The city is also the product of its essential services and

infrastructure networks (energy, water, sanitation, health,

etc.). Research work will cast light on the diversity of French

experience in managing services in developing countries.

The governance of cities is another major issue, particularly

in terms of improving their financial governance and meeting

their investment financing needs. The reality of municipalities,

and how they actually function, will be considered in the light

of their geographical, social, historical and political contexts.

Innovations

Innovation is one of the wellsprings of economic development.

Current or anticipated technological and social innovations

hold major potential for development in the South. Certain

sectors are witnessing the emergence of many discoveries

for which the full extent of possible applications has not

yet been assessed – renewable energies, digital and

networks (also called new information and communications

technology – NICT) and agroecology. At the same time,

some companies are innovating by developing on “bottom of

the pyramid” (BoP) markets.

Mobile telephony, for example, provides a platform that can

accommodate a whole host of applications for education,

healthcare, markets or finance. Forward-looking research

that is close to both research and demand will help to identify

those developments in need of support.

The social ownership of innovations rarely follows linear

paths and needs to be better understood. Many projects that

are supposed to be disseminated in public policies remain at

the pilot stage. It is important, therefore, to understand how

to move from an innovative pilot project to broad collective

dissemination. Special attention will be given to innovations

and their potential impacts, including their financing.

NGOs play an essential role as initiators of experimental

projects that can serve as a basis for broader applications.

Large private companies are also vectors of innovation,

management skills and initiatives to reduce poverty.

Consequently, partnerships with companies will be scaled

up in several areas: new technologies, management training

programmes for the elites and knowledge input in order to

build basic projects.

Accountability and indicators

The increasing demand for transparency requires assessing

and measuring public action. This question involves

measuring not only its effectiveness but also its human

progress.

The MDGs have popularised the issues of less unequal

and more sustainable human development. The ongoing

reflection on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),

which are to constitute the next global indicators, is at the

centre of a number of debates and gives rise to a great deal

of research.



Several research programmes are already focussing on the

need to go beyond the universal indicator of gross domestic

product (GDP) and propose new human development

indicators (e.g. new UNDP human development indicator,

indicators of well-being and relational capacities, etc.). These

new indicators will also need to integrate measurements of

sustainable development (physical and immaterial capital,

natural resources, social capital, etc.).

The demand for indicators is a response to the increasing

demand for transparency and effectiveness in public action.

This demand sometimes appears to have no limits, at the

risk of losing its validity and causing unexpected effects.

Indeed, all statistical indicators lose their meaning when

they are used as management indicators (Goodhart’s Law;

cf. Goodhart, 1975).27

New financing tools

Development finance is at the core of AFD’s activity. The

financing needs are considerable. Donors can only meet

a tiny fraction of these needs, but they must be a force for

innovation and proposals.

AFD has two means of operating: either via financial

intermediation or by directly financing projects. A balance

between these two approaches requires having a better

knowledge of the expected impacts of each one.

AFD will further investigate the opportunities for

countercyclical financing that it has experimented with,

as well as other windows for financial innovation. The

rapid changes in the aid landscape and the constant

reinforcement of international rules call for new analyses of

the effectiveness of concessionality.

In addition to these needs, the global financial crises

prompt us to look at market regulation and evolution.

Global financial stability is a public good. As a financial

institution with the dual role of financial actor and economic

actor, AFD must propose new ways of expanding financial

markets for developing countries. Generally speaking,

in-depth knowledge of aid actors represents a strategic

requirement for AFD. More particularly, we will examine the

issue of increasing the effectiveness of vertical funds.

The six main areas put forward correspond to general

issues rather than sectoral fields. An area concerning the

French overseas territories needs to be added. These

themes provide the general framework for a two-year

programming cycle that will be reviewed annually.

Furthermore, one of the challenges for AFD’s knowledge

production – in addition to developing its partnerships

– will be to pool research on influential topics. The goal

is to promote living economic concepts (Reiffers and

Vincent, 2013) based on alternative paradigms, free from

the beliefs and rigidities of the international doxa and

with the potential to feed into development policies. The

formulation of unifying themes goes beyond the scope of

this paper. It can only come out of a dialogue with national

and international research communities. AFD will seek to

promote flagship topics that are markedly different from

“inclusive growth”, the “participative approach”, “output-

based aid”, etc. by foregrounding other international topics,

such as agroecological intensification, the sustainable

city, family farming, public management efficiency, the

specificity of institutions, innovative instruments, etc.28

27 The author was Chief Economist for the Bank of England. This law was established independently in France by researchers from the Ecole polytech-nique. Cf. Berry et al., 1979.

28 Cf. Revel, op. cit. The first two themes (ecological transition and sustai-nable cities) are two of the priorities for France’s economic influence. The themes of institutional specificities are the very foundation of the approach to economic intelligence.



4.3 Greater clarity and accessibility

This strategy involves enhancing the literary and scientific

quality of AFD’s publications, as well as their accessibility.

The publications are part of an ensemble of structured

collections. The knowledge market is highly competitive.

Efforts need to be made to ensure the clarity of questions

raised, and the scientific quality and legibility of the

published results.

A diverse public is targeted, including AFD’s partners, the

scientific community, the world of development experts,

operational actors and donor staff. Each audience has

specific requirements. For public policy makers, research

conclusions need to be concise and, as far as possible,

free of critical academic arguments. For researchers, there

is a need to satisfy minimum requirements in terms of a

review of the literature and the demonstration of results.

We will thus ensure that a balance is struck between these

expectations.

Several components meet the objectives of quality and

accessibility. AFD’s publications are now reviewed by

an editorial committee, following a procedure that calls

on independent and anonymous referees, in line with

international standards. These objectives are also furthered

as summaries of results are systematically published (A

Question of Development), collections have been simplified

(Ex Post), an annual catalogue is published, and analytical

criteria have been enhanced (Working Papers). AFD will

continue to develop its joint publications with research

institutes and universities. Finally, CEFEB will promote

its training programmes by systematically publishing its

education materials. The knowledge production website

pages will be revamped.

Knowledge production and dissemination also needs to

include innovative formats. Producing video narratives and

documentaries is an ideal way that is widely used by social

networks, sometimes as training tools.29 AFD has several

community portals (iD4D, Solidaires du monde, etc.)30 that

can be promoted. On top of data production, the creation

of databases with input from actors will be explored (wiki,

crowdsourcing). Finally, AFD will develop visualisation

tools to disseminate data that are useful to researchers

and operational actors – such as Statplanet and Google

Motion Chart.

Measuring the impact of knowledge production remains

a difficult exercise. Discussions on this topic within the

research community are heated and not very conclusive.

Contrary to natural sciences, economic and social sciences

do not progress on the basis of demonstration, but through

the gradual accumulation of concepts that are likely to

change actors’ views. The production of ideas, which is by

nature immaterial, is difficult to gauge. It can be measured

up to a point using a set of indicators, which reflect more a

level of activity than actual results. AFD will publish its main

indicators for knowledge production every year. In addition,

perceptions surveys may be conducted on the impact of

the new concepts that AFD and its partners are seeking to

promote.

The capacity to disseminate innovative concepts depends

on the quality of publications, in line with standards that

will be simplified, completed and upgraded. Debates,

conferences, education and training will continue to play a

key role for knowledge production and dissemination.

29 For example, the film by Christian Lallier (1999) is one of the most dis-seminated on the Internet and the most used for training, including at AFD. 30 http://ideas4development.org/ et http://www.solidairesdumonde.org/

http://ideas4development.org/%20et%20http://www.solidairesdumonde.org/%20

http://www.solidairesdumonde.org/%20


5. Conclusion

Twelve years after the creation of the Research Department,

knowledge production has become a fully fledged mandate

for AFD. It contributes to the mobilisation of French and

international research on shared and innovative sustainable

development issues. A strategy aiming to promote new

paradigms in the international debate is an ambitious goal.

It will need to be a long-term effort.

AFD as a whole must be a knowledge producer. The aim

is to contribute to knowledge production that nourishes the

operational activity and to mobilise research on new ideas.

The studies and research initiated or supported by AFD

must meet concrete objectives connected to its operational

activities. In so doing, AFD, alongside other partners, can

play a role as a “formulator” of research questions.

AFD contributes to debates on all of the topics on the

international agenda. In order to focus on the priorities

of French aid and adapt its production to its capacities,

the agency will orient its research around six cross-

cutting themes (see above: natural resources and green

transitions; social cohesion and growth; urban growth;

innovation; accountability and development indicators; new

financing tools). In addition to partnership building, the

broader objective is to pool international research centred

on alternative paradigms that are free of certain common

ground that characterises an international doxa. This ability

to promote innovative hypotheses will be grounded in an

effective multidisciplinarity that will notably afford insights

on the link between economy and societal contexts.

This strategy will involve strengthening partnerships with

the scientific community and the other donors.


Appendix 1. Summary of themes addressed (2010-2013)

Environment and sustainable development

Climate change: How can the requirement be met for all

nations to make equitable efforts to combat climate change,

albeit at different paces? How can production methods

and energy consumption be made more sustainable in

a context of increasing insecurity, in terms of accessing

and pricing fossil fuels? How can the “climate” and

environmental services rendered to the international

community be enhanced by more effective management of

countries’ natural resources? How can the vulnerability of

populations and goods to climate change impacts be taken

into account? What should the new financial architecture to

meet climate issues be?

Transition towards a green economy: The expression

“green growth” links economic growth and environmental

conservation. Yet, what meaning should be given to this

concept and what structural changes should be promoted,

particularly in developing countries? Is there not a risk that

the oft-mentioned, long-term growth opportunities (energy

saving, job creation) will remain a dead letter due to the

short-term cost of the transition of production models? This

is a sensitive issue in Northern countries and is even more

critical in Southern countries, which face greater resource

constraints and have other short-term priorities.

Biodiversity, the foundations of change: While natural

resources and biodiversity are a pillar of development,

they suffer from its negative impact due to production

and consumption patterns and demographic pressure

(60% of ecosystems that enable life on Earth are already

deteriorated). The services rendered by ecosystems are

essential to human well-being. To what extent can donors

promote development that respects the ecological balances

of our planet?

Growth models and social cohesion

Food security and agriculture: To deal with world population

growth, without causing irreversible destruction to the

environment (rising demand in the face of increasingly

constrained supply), agricultural and food systems will

need to see a radical change, otherwise there is a

risk of triggering chronic price surges leading to social

destabilisation. How can these issues be integrated by

Southern countries, which generally have a development

strategy oriented towards growth and price stability (for

example, using the weapon of subsidies on imports of food

products)? Sustainable models, relating to widely differing

geographical areas, are yet to be developed, taking into

account the representations specific to each society. What

changes will farming systems and agricultural and agri-food

systems undergo in the future? What financial tools should

be offered on agricultural markets with a view to providing a

more effective response to risk management? How are the

interactions between agriculture and global goods (climate,

biodiversity, etc.) to be understood and how can managing

the agriculture-water-food triptych be envisaged? What

tools can support the development of rural areas? How can

priority food-producing sectors be financed?

Education, training and employment: With just a few

months to go before the 2015 deadline, and despite

substantial progress, the MDGs in the field of education

(access to school for all and gender parity) will not be



reached, with 60 million children who are still not in school.

What priorities must be set in this sector post-2015? The

progress made in terms of schooling has often been

achieved to the detriment of the quality of education.

What has been planned for the generations of children

who are completing primary school today? This difficulty

in achieving the initial objectives again raises the question

of the role assigned to schooling and the priorities chosen

(integrated or compartmentalised vision of education

levels), as well as the question of how these are funded. On

these questions, each country necessarily adopts different

strategies in line with their own representations. Beyond

basic education, what training systems need to be devised

to meet the needs of a fragmented and unproductive

informal sector, which nonetheless continues to play a

predominant role in the economy and employment? How

can sectors be professionalised and graduates better

integrated into the labour market? What financing systems

should be promoted in order to open up access to higher

education? The issue of job creation now has a vital place,

specific to each geographical area. In the Mediterranean,

understanding the link between growth and employment is

today of critical and political importance.

Governance and long-term growth: The term “governance”

covers various notions of political, financial, administrative,

territorial, legal governance, etc. Currently, there is a

widespread consensus among international donors that

“good governance” stands as a prerequisite for the economic

take-off of developing countries and yet no distinction is

drawn between the areas mentioned above. However, no

empirical evidence exists to support or demonstrate the

causal link between “good governance” and long-term

economic growth. No one has ever seen the case of a

country establishing “good governance” and subsequently

starting its economic take-off. Conversely, observation

shows that emerging countries with rapid and sustainable

growth in no way exhibit all the characteristics of this “good

governance”. Understanding the links between governance

and growth implies understanding the relationships linking

governance, growth-enhancing institutional configurations

and public policies, and cultural representations. This

means substituting an omnipresent discourse that serves

as a reference in the international doxa for a more open

universal approach, free of its prerequisites. Development

assistance could thus more effectively involve the economic

and political elites in productive strategies.

Demographics, migration and social protection: Is it possible

to help countries to create the conditions for a demographic

dividend, and help them to make the most of it? How can

migrations (internal and international) be taken into account

in Official Development Assistance (ODA) projects? How

can donors support public policies on migration? How

can the diaspora be mobilised so that it contributes to the

development of countries of origin? The issue of social

protection has now appeared with the emergence of a

global middle class. A key question involves the bases to

be taken into account when defining such social protection

schemes, so that these contribute to the well-being of

populations and provide access to some essential services

such as education and healthcare. What bases should

be proposed for social protection and how could these

schemes –, which are not only vectors for social justice but

also reducers of economic shocks – be financed to ensure

that they benefit a population that earns most of their income

in the informal sector? What strategies could be put in place

to promote family planning in Sub-Saharan Africa, or how

could systems be adapted to cover risks related to disease

and old age in the Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Africa?

Pilot projects do exist, but they need to be scaled up if they

are to bring about real social transformation. How can these

social protection strategies be coordinated with the action

of religious movements, which themselves often elaborate

reproductive health policies, educational activities or even

have their own vision of progress and social development?

Economies in the French overseas territories

New models for the overseas territories: Despite their

specific trajectories, the growth dynamics observed in

the economies of the overseas territories over the last



three decades came to a halt in 2008 as a result of

several crises (economic, social, public finances), leading

to a rise in unemployment and recurrent social tensions.

What sociodemographic dynamics are at work in these

territories and what are their impacts on economic

and social prospects, as well as their implications for

health, education, housing, energy and environmental

policies? What comparative advantages can the Overseas

Departments and Local Authorities (DCOM) promote in

view of international competition and, first and foremost,

in trade with countries in their immediate neighbourhood?

What strategy should AFD put in place to foster the

development of sectors and niches that have real potential

in terms of activities and job creation?

Aid architecture and new financing tools

Aid Architecture and emerging donors: The increasing

importance of emerging donors outside the framework

of the DAC – primarily China, Brazil, India and Russia

– is a cause for concern for traditional donors, who

view these new actors as insufficiently aligned with the

principles of effectiveness, transparency, social and

environmental responsibility, and debt sustainability. A new

aid architecture involving greater South-South cooperation

is now taking shape before our eyes. However, this raises

fears among Northern donors that sustainable development

concerns in recipient countries will be undermined. What

actually underpins the practices of these new donors? What

strategy should AFD adopt towards them?

Financial innovations: The analysis of risks and the ways to

limit and finance them without straying from the development

objective need further research, experimentation and

exchange between development banks. The tendency

to transpose microeconomic risk methodologies to

macroeconomic risks may conceal systemic risks greater

than the sum of the microeconomic risks avoided. Hence,

the importance of increasing the use of countercyclical

tools and taking into account the structural impact of high

rates, long-term rationales and, particularly for insurers,

the specific legal form of contracts between entities under

public law.


Appendix 2. Logical framework

Knowledge in support of sustainable development

APPLY TO PRACTICE Inform public policies of partner

countries and the contexts of AFD’s operations

INFLUENCE DEBATES Contribute to international debates

on development and feed into French positions

INNOVATE (“thinking out of the box”) Promote innovation and

multidisciplinary in development research

Enhance the clarity and accessibility of research, which is

conceived as a public good

Influence international research topics in addition to our

partnerships

Widely disseminate via publications, conferences,

workshops and training

Make AFD a learning organisation based on research and evaluation

Formulate research questions based on operational needs

Search for new models by promoting the plurality of disciplines and theoretical

frameworks

Perfo

rman

ce an

d pr

ogre

ss in

dica

tors

Ne

w fi

nanc

ing t

ools

Natu

ral r

esou

rces

and

gree

n tr

ansit

ion

New

socia

l coh

esio

n

Urba

n ex

pans

ion

Inno

vatio

ns

Goal Objectives Activities

Establish academic partnerships with French and international

institutions

POOL Involve AFD and partners in the production of new knowledge

More effectively model the reality of the situation and

provide tools tailored to needs (studies, evaluations, training)

Deve

lopp

ing

coun

trie

s Fr

ench

ove

rsea

s te

rrito

ries

Glob

al is

sues

and

in

terd

epen

cies


Acronyms and abbreviations

AFD Agence Française de Développement

APORDE African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics

ASSV Académie des sciences sociales du Vietnam

BOP Bottom of the pyramid

CEROM Comptes économiques rapides pour l’Outre-mer

CGDEV Center for Global Development

CGE Computable general equilibrium

CICID Comité interministériel de la coopération internationale et du développement

CIRAD Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement

DAC Development Assistance Committee

DCOM Départements et Collectivités d’Outre-mer

DFID Department for International Development

DIAL Développement, institutions et mondialisation

DMC Direct seeding mulch-based cropping systems (agriculture)

ECDPM European Centre for Development Policy Management

EFEO Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient

EUDN European Development Network



FASOPO Fonds d’analyse des sociétés politiques

FERDI Fondation pour les études et recherches sur le développement international

GDP Gross domestic product

GIZ Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit

GPGs Global public goods

GRET Groupe de recherches et d’échanges technologiques

IDDRI Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales

INECC Instituto Nacional de Ecología y Cambio Climático

INED Institut national d’études démographiques

INSEE Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques

IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

IPD Institutional Profiles Database

IPEA Instituto de Investigación Económica Aplicada

IRD Institut de recherche pour le développement

IREDU Institut de recherche sur l’éducation

JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency

LASDEL Laboratoire d’études et de recherche sur les dynamiques sociales et le développement local

MDGs Millennium Development Goals

MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology

NGO Non-Governmental Organisation

NICT New information and communications technology



ODI Overseas Development Institute

OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

PES Payment for environmental services

POS Strategic Orientation Plan

PSE Paris School of Economics

RCT Randomized control trial

SDGs Sustainable Development Goals

SMEs Small- and medium-sized enterprises

SOAS School of Oriental and African Studies

TSE Toulouse School of Economics

UMIFRE Unités mixtes des instituts français de recherche à l’étranger


References

Aglietta, M. and G. Bai (2012), La Voie chinoise, capitalisme et empire, Odile Jacob, Paris.

Berry, M., J.C. Moisdon and C. Riveline (1979), « Qu’est-ce que la recherche en gestion ? », Informatique et gestion, No. 108

and 109, Paris.

Bizberg, I. and B. Théret (2012), « La diversité des capitalismes latino-américains : les cas de l’Argentine, du Brésil et du

Mexique », Revue de la Régulation, No. 11, 1st half 2012, Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris.

Bourguignon, F. (2012), La mondialisation de l’inégalité, Seuil, Paris, pp. 17-27, 61-68.

Caratini, S. (2005), « Le projet ‘Alizés-Electrique’ ou les paradoxes du rapport de développement », Autrepart No. 35: « Les

ONG à l’heure de la bonne gouvernance », IRD, Armand Colin.

Caratini, S. (2012), Les non-dits de l’anthropologie – Suivi de Dialogue avec Maurice Godelier, Editions Thierry Marchaisse,

Vincennes.

Caratini, S. (2015), Les sept cercles: une odyssée noire, Editions Thierry Marchaisse, Vincennes.

Cohen, D. (2012), Homo economicus prophète (égaré) des temps nouveaux, Albin Michel, Paris.

Comité interministériel de la coopération internationale et du développement (CICID) (2013), Record of Decisions, 31

July 2013, Paris. (http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/IMG/pdf/07-31_Releve_de_decisions_du_Comite_interministeriel_de_la_

cooperation_internationale_et_du_developpement_CICID__cle0e5e79.pdf)

Crépon, B., F. Devoto, E. Duflo and W. Parienté (2012), “Impact of Microcredit in Rural Areas of Morocco: Evidence from

a Randomized Evaluation”, Ex Post Impact Analyses series, No. 7, AFD, Paris (http://www.afd.fr/webdav/site/afd/shared/

PUBLICATIONS/RECHERCHE/ Evaluations/Analyses-impact/07-analyse-impact.pdf)

Delarue, J., J.D. Naudet and V. Sauvat (2009), “Are Evaluations Useful? A Review of the Literature on “Knowledge and

Decision-making”, Methodological Notes Ex Post, No. 3, AFD, Paris (http://www.afd.fr/webdav/site/afd/shared/PUBLICATIONS/

RECHERCHE/Evaluations/Notes-methodologiques/03-notes-methodologiques.pdf)

Douat, J. (2014), « Innovations et entreprises au Mali », Groupe Vergnet, Ecole de Paris du management, session of 4 March.


References

Duflo, E. and A. Banerjee (2011), Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, Public Affairs,

New York.

Dumez, H. (2013), Méthodologie de la recherche qualitative, Vuibert, Paris.

Dupuy, J.P. (2012), L’Avenir de l’économie, sortir de l’économystification, Flammarion, Paris.

Elliott, J., H. Gibbons, D. King, A. King and T. Leménager (2014), “Exploring Environmental Complementarity between

Types of Protected Areas in Kenya”, Focales No. 19, AFD, Paris (http://www.afd.fr/webdav/site/afd/shared/PUBLICATIONS/

RECHERCHE/Scientifiques/Focales/19-VA-Focales.pdf)

Esteban, J., M. Morelli and D. Rohner (2010), “Strategic Mass Killings”, Political Economy and Development Seminar, Ecole

d’économie de Paris, June.

Fukuyama, F. (1992), The End of History and the Last Man, Avon Books.

Ghemawat, P. (2011), World 3.0: Global Prosperity and How to Achieve It, Harvard Business Review Press

Giraud, G. and C. Renouard (eds) (2009), Vingt propositions pour réformer le capitalisme, Flammarion, Paris.

Giraud, P.N. (1996), L’inégalité du monde, économie du monde contemporain, Gallimard, Paris, pp. 264-281.

Goodhart, C.A.E. (1975), “Monetary Relationships: A view from Threadneedle Street”, Papers in Monetary Economics, Vol. 1,

Reserve Bank of Australia.

Guillou, M. and G. Matheron (2011), 9 milliards d’hommes à nourrir, un défi pour demain, Bourin éditeur.

Henry, A. (1991), « Vers un modèle du management africain », Cahiers d’Etudes africaines, 124, XXXI-4, Ecole des hautes

études en sciences sociales, Paris.

Iribarne (d’), P. (2012), L’envers du moderne, conversations avec Julien Charnay, CNRS éditions, pp.144-154.

Iribarne (d’), P. (2013), “National Cultures and Evaluation, an Interpretative Approach”, Opening plenary session, European

Accounting Association, 36th Annual Congress, Paris-Dauphine, May.

Jullien, F. (2008), De l’universel, de l’uniforme, du commun et du dialogue entre les cultures, Fayard, Paris, pp. 31-38.

Kaplan, A. (1964), The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science, Chandler Publishing, San Francisco.

Kohli, A. (2006), “Politics of Economic Growth in India, 1980-2005, Part 1 & Part 2’’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol-XCI

No. 13, April 1, Vol-XCI No. 14, Mumbai, April 8.


References

Lévi-Strauss, C. (1971), « Race et culture », Revue internationale des sciences sociales, vol. 23, pp. 647-666.

North, D.C. (1990), Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, Cambridge University Press.

North, D.C., J.J. Wallis and B.R. Weingast (2009), Violence and Social Orders, A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting

Recorded Human History, Cambridge University Press.

Orléan, A. (2011), L’empire de la valeur, refonder l’économie, Seuil, Paris.

Pattanaik, D. (2013), Business Sutra, A Very Indian Approach to Management, Aleph Book Company.

Reiffers, J.L and N. Vincent (2013), « Mission sur la valorisation de la production de connaissances à l’AFD », Rapport à la

Direction générale de l’AFD, March.

Revel, C. (2013), « Développer une influence normative internationale stratégique pour la France », Report submitted to N.

Bricq, Minister for Foreign Trade, Paris, January (http://www.intelligence-economique.gouv.fr/)

Rockström, J., W. Steffen, K. Noone, A. Persson, F.S. Chapin, E.F. Lambin, T.M. Lenton, M. Scheffer, C. Folke, H.J.

Schellnhuber, B. Nykvist, C.A. de Wit, T. Hughes, S. van der Leeuw, H. Rodhe, S. Sörlin, P.K. Snyder, R. Costanza, U. Svedin,

M. Falkenmark, L. Karlberg, R.W. Corell, V.J. Fabry, J. Hansen, B. Walker, D. Liverman, K. Richardson, P. Crutzen and J.A.

Foley (2009), “A Safe Operating Space for Humanity”, Nature 461, 472-475.

Samyn, J.M., J. Gasana, E. Pousse and F. Pousse (2011), « Secteur forestier dans les pays du Bassin du Congo : 20

ans d’interventions de l’AFD », Ex Post Evaluation, AFD, Paris (http://www.afd.fr/webdav/site/afd/shared/PUBLICATIONS/

RECHERCHE/Evaluations/Evaluations-conjointes/Congo-forets-evaluation-conjointe.pdf)

Severino, J.M. and O. Ray (2011), Le grand basculement, la question sociale à l’échelle mondiale, Odile Jacob, Paris.

Todd, E. (1984), L’enfance du monde, Seuil, Paris.

Valerian, F. (2011), Crise dans la gouvernance, éthique des affaires et recherche du profit, Eska, Paris.

Villani, C. (2012), Théorème vivant, Grasset, Paris.

World Bank (2013), World Development Report 2013: Jobs, Washington, D.C.

Zoellick, R.B. (2010), “Democratizing Development Economics”, speech at George Washington University, World Bank,

September, (http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/speech/2010/09/29/democratizing-development-economics)

Zoellick, R.B. (2011), “Beyond Aid’’, speech at George Washington University, World Bank.

(http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:23000133~pagePK:34370~piPK:42770~theSite

PK:4607,00.html)


References

Film

Lallier, C. (1999), Nioro du Sahel, une ville sous tension, Europimages (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdx0mm_nioro-du-

sahel-une-ville-sous-tensi_school)


Série Documents de travail / Working Papers Series

N° 78 « L’itinéraire professionnel du jeune Africain » - Les résultats d’une enquête auprès de jeunes leaders Africains sur

les dispositifs de formation professionnelle post-primaire

Richard Walther, consultant ITG, Marie Tamoifo, porte-parole de la jeunesse africaine et de la diaspora

Contact : Nicolas Lejosne, AFD - janvier 2009.

N° 79 Le ciblage des politiques de lutte contre la pauvreté : quel bilan des expériences dans les pays en développement ?

Emmanuelle Lavallée, Anne Olivier, Laure Pasquier-Doumer, Anne-Sophie Robilliard, DIAL - février 2009.

N° 80 Les nouveaux dispositifs de formation professionnelle post-primaire. Les résultats d’une enquête terrain au

Cameroun, Mali et Maroc

Richard Walther, Consultant ITG

Contact : Nicolas Lejosne, AFD - mars 2009.

N° 81 Economic Integration and Investment Incentives in Regulated Industries

Emmanuelle Auriol, Toulouse School of Economics, Sara Biancini, Université de Cergy-Pontoise, THEMA,

Comments by : Yannick Perez and Vincent Rious - April 2009.

N° 82 Capital naturel et développement durable en Nouvelle-Calédonie - Etude 1. Mesures de la « richesse totale »

et soutenabilité du développement de la Nouvelle-Calédonie

Clément Brelaud, Cécile Couharde, Vincent Géronimi, Elodie Maître d’Hôtel, Katia Radja, Patrick Schembri,

Armand Taranco, Université de Versailles - Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, GEMDEV

Contact : Valérie Reboud, AFD - juin 2009.

N° 83 The Global Discourse on “Participation” and its Emergence in Biodiversity Protection

Olivier Charnoz, AFD - July 2009.

N° 84 Community Participation in Biodiversity Protection: an Enhanced Analytical Framework for Practitioners

Olivier Charnoz, AFD - August 2009.

N° 85 Les Petits opérateurs privés de la distribution d’eau à Maputo : d’un problème à une solution ?

Aymeric Blanc, Jérémie Cavé, LATTS, Emmanuel Chaponnière, Hydroconseil

Contact : Aymeric Blanc, AFD - août 2009.

N° 86 Les transports face aux défis de l’énergie et du climat

Benjamin Dessus, Global Chance.

Contact : Nils Devernois, département de la Recherche, AFD - septembre 2009.

N° 87 Fiscalité locale : une grille de lecture économique

Guy Gilbert, professeur des universités à l’Ecole normale supérieure (ENS) de Cachan

Contact : Réjane Hugounenq, AFD - septembre 2009.

N° 88 Les coûts de formation et d’insertion professionnelles - Conclusions d’une enquête terrain en Côte d’Ivoire

Richard Walther, expert AFD avec la collaboration de Boubakar Savadogo (Akilia) et de Borel Foko (Pôle de Dakar)

Contact : Nicolas Lejosne, AFD - octobre 2009.

Publiés depuis janvier 2009 / published since January 2009

Les numéros antérieurs sont consultables sur le site : http://recherche.afd.fr

Previous publications can be accessed online at: http://recherche.afd.fr



N° 89 Présentation de la base de données. Institutional Profiles Database 2009 (IPD 2009)

Institutional Profiles Database III - Presentation of the Institutional Profiles Database 2009 (IPD 2009)

Denis de Crombrugghe, Kristine Farla, Nicolas Meisel, Chris de Neubourg, Jacques Ould Aoudia, Adam Szirmai

Contact : Nicolas Meisel, département de la Recherche, AFD - décembre 2009.

N° 90 Migration, santé et soins médicaux à Mayotte

Sophie Florence, Jacques Lebas, Pierre Chauvin, Equipe de recherche sur les déterminants sociaux de la santé

et du recours aux soins UMRS 707 (Inserm - UPMC)

Contact : Christophe Paquet, AFD - janvier 2010.

N° 91 Capital naturel et developpement durable en Nouvelle-Calédonie - Etude 2. Soutenabilité de la croissance néo-

calédonienne : un enjeu de politiques publiques

Cécile Couharde, Vincent Géronimi, Elodie Maître d’Hôtel, Katia Radja, Patrick Schembri, Armand Taranco

Université de Versailles – Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, GEMDEV

Contact : Valérie Reboud, AFD - janvier 2010.

N° 92 Community Participation Beyond Idealisation and Demonisation: Biodiversity Protection in Soufrière, St. Lucia

Olivier Charnoz, AFD - January 2010.

N° 93 Community Participation in the Pantanal, Brazil: Containment Games and Learning Processes

Participation communautaire dans le Pantanal au Brésil : stratégies d’endiguement et processus d’apprentissage

Olivier Charnoz, AFD - février 2010.

N° 94 Développer le premier cycle secondaire : enjeu rural et défis pour l’Afrique subsaharienne

Alain Mingat et Francis Ndem, IREDU, CNRS et université de Bourgogne

Contact : Jean-Claude Balmès, département Education et formation professionnelle, AFD - avril 2010

N° 95 Prévenir les crises alimentaires au Sahel : des indicateurs basés sur les prix de marché

Catherine Araujo Bonjean, Stéphanie Brunelin, Catherine Simonet, CERDI - mai 2010.

N° 96 La Thaïlande : premier exportateur de caoutchouc naturel grâce à ses agriculteurs familiaux

Jocelyne Delarue, AFD - mai 2010.

N° 97 Les réformes curriculaires par l’approche par compétences en Afrique

Francoise Cros, Jean-Marie de Ketele, Martial Dembélé, Michel Develay, Roger-François Gauthier, Najoua

Ghriss, Yves Lenoir, Augustin Murayi, Bruno Suchaut, Valérie Tehio - juin 2010.

N° 98 Les coûts de formation et d’insertion professionnelles - Les conclusions d’une enquête terrain au Burkina Faso

Richard Walther, Boubakar Savadogo, consultants en partenariat avec le Pôle de Dakar/UNESCO-BREDA.

Contact : Nicolas Lejosne, AFD - juin 2010.

N° 99 Private Sector Participation in the Indian Power Sector and Climate Change

Shashanka Bhide, Payal Malik, S.K.N. Nair, Consultants, NCAER

Contact: Aymeric Blanc, AFD - June 2010.

N° 100 Normes sanitaires et phytosanitaires : accès des pays de l’Afrique de l’Ouest au marché européen -

Une étude empirique

Abdelhakim Hammoudi, Fathi Fakhfakh, Cristina Grazia, Marie-Pierre Merlateau.

Contact : Marie-Cécile Thirion, AFD - juillet 2010.

N° 101 Hétérogénéité internationale des standards de sécurité sanitaire des aliments : Quelles stratégies pour les filières

d’exportation des PED ? - Une analyse normative

Abdelhakim Hammoudi, Cristina Grazia, Eric Giraud-Héraud, Oualid Hamza.

Contact : Marie-Cécile Thirion, AFD - juillet 2010.



N° 102 Développement touristique de l’outre-mer et dépendance au carbone

Jean-Paul Ceron, Ghislain Dubois et Louise de Torcy.

Contact : Valérie Reboud, AFD - octobre 2010.

N° 103 Les approches de la pauvreté en Polynésie française : résultats et apports de l’enquête sur les conditions de vie en 2009

Javier Herrera, IRD-DIAL, Sébastien Merceron, Insee.

Contact : Cécile Valadier, AFD - novembre 2010.

N° 104 La gestion des déchets à Coimbatore (Inde) : frictions entre politique publique et initiatives privées

Jérémie Cavé, Laboratoire Techniques, Territoires et Sociétés (LATTS), CNRS - décembre 2010.

N° 105 Migrations et soins en Guyane - Rapport final à l’Agence Française de Développement dans le cadre du contrat

AFD-Inserm

Anne Jolivet, Emmanuelle Cadot, Estelle Carde, Sophie Florence, Sophie Lesieur, Jacques Lebas, Pierre Chauvin

Contact : Christophe Paquet, AFD - décembre 2010.

N° 106 Les enjeux d’un bon usage de l’électricité : Chine, Etats-Unis, Inde et Union européenne

Benjamin Dessus et Bernard Laponche avec la collaboration de Sophie Attali (Topten International Services),

Robert Angioletti (Ademe), Michel Raoust (Terao)

Contact : Nils Devernois, département de la Recherche, AFD - février 2011.

N° 107 Hospitalisation des patients des pays de l’Océan indien - Prises en charges spécialisées dans les hôpitaux de la Réunion

Catherine Dupilet, Dr Roland Cash, Dr Olivier Weil et Dr Georges Maguerez (cabinet AGEAL)

En partenariat avec le Centre Hospitalier Régional de la Réunion et le Fonds de coopération régionale de la Réunion

Contact : Philippe Renault, AFD - février 2011.

N° 108 Peasants against Private Property Rights: A Review of the Literature

Thomas Vendryes, Paris School of Economics - February 2011.

N° 109 Le mécanisme REDD+ de l’échelle mondiale à l’échelle locale - Enjeux et conditions de mise en oeuvre ONF International

Contact : Tiphaine Leménager, département de la Recherche, AFD - mars 2011.

N° 110 L’aide au Commerce : état des lieux et analyse

Aid for Trade: A Survey

Mariana Vijil, Marilyne Huchet-Bourdon et Chantal Le Mouël, Agrocampus Ouest, INRA, Rennes.

Contact : Marie-Cécile Thirion, AFD - avril 2011.

N° 111 Métiers porteurs : le rôle de l’entrepreneuriat, de la formation et de l’insertion professionnelle

Sandra Barlet et Christian Baron, GRET

Contact : Nicolas Lejosne, AFD - avril 2011.

N° 112 Charbon de bois et sidérurgie en Amazonie brésilienne : quelles pistes d’améliorations environnementales ?

L’exemple du pôle de Carajas

Ouvrage collectif sous la direction de Marie-Gabrielle Piketty, Cirad, UMR Marchés

Contact : Tiphaine Leménager, département de la Recherche, AFD - avril 2011.

N° 113 Gestion des risques agricoles par les petits producteurs Focus sur l’assurance-récolte indicielle et le warrantage

Guillaume Horréard, Bastien Oggeri, Ilan Rozenkopf sous l’encadrement de : Anne Chetaille, Aurore Duffau,

Damien Lagandré

Contact : Bruno Vindel, département des Politiques alimentaires, AFD - mai 2011.

N° 114 Analyse de la cohérence des politiques commerciales en Afrique de l’Ouest

Jean-Pierre Rolland, Arlène Alpha, GRET

Contact : Jean-René Cuzon, AFD - juin 2011



N° 115 L’accès à l’eau et à l’assainissement pour les populations en situation de crise : comment passer de l’urgence à

la reconstruction et au développement ?

Julie Patinet (Groupe URD) et Martina Rama (Académie de l’eau),

sous la direction de François Grünewald (Groupe URD) Contact : Thierry Liscia, AFD- septembre 2011

N° 116 Formation et emploi au Maroc : état des lieux et recommandations

Jean-Christophe Maurin et Thomas Melonio, AFD - septembre 2011.

N° 117 Student Loans: Liquidity Constraint and Higher Education in South Africa

Marc Gurgand, Adrien Lorenceau, Paris School of Economics

Contact: Thomas Melonio, AFD - September 2011.

N° 118 Quelles(s) classe(s) moyenne(s) en Afrique ? Une revue de littérature

Dominique Darbon, IEP Bordeaux, Comi Toulabor, LAM Bordeaux

Contacts : Virginie Diaz et Thomas Melonio, AFD - décembre 2011.

N° 119 Les réformes de l’aide au développement en perspective de la nouvelle gestion publique

Development Aid Reforms in the Context of New Public Management

Jean-David Naudet, AFD - février 2012.

N° 120 Fostering Low-Carbon Growth Initiatives in Thailand

Contact: Cécile Valadier, AFD - February 2012

N° 121 Interventionnisme public et handicaps de compétitivité : analyse du cas polynésien

Florent Venayre, Maître de conférences en sciences économiques, université de la Polynésie française et

LAMETA, université de Montpellier

Contacts : Cécile Valadier et Virginie Olive, AFD - mars 2012.

N° 122 Accès à l’électricité en Afrique subsaharienne : retours d’expérience et approches innovantes

Anjali Shanker (IED) avec les contributions de Patrick Clément (Axenne), Daniel Tapin et Martin Buchsenschutz

(Nodalis Conseil)

Contact : Valérie Reboud, AFD - avril 2012.

N° 123 Assessing Credit Guarantee Schemes for SME Finance in Africa: Evidence from Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and

Tanzania

Angela Hansen, Ciku Kimeria, Bilha Ndirangu, Nadia Oshry and Jason Wendle, Dalberg Global Development Advisors

Contact: Cécile Valadier, AFD - April 2012.

N° 124 Méthodologie PEFA et collectivités infranationales : quels enseignements pour l’AFD ?

Contacts : Frédéric Audras et Jean-François Almanza, AFD - juillet 2012

N° 125 High Returns, Low Attention, Slow Implementation: The Policy Paradoxes of India’s Clean Energy Development

Ashwini Swain, University of York,

Contact : Olivier Charnoz, PhD, AFD - July 2012

N° 126 In Pursuit of Energy Efficiency in India’s Agriculture: Fighting ‘Free Power’ or Working with it?

Ashwini Swain, University of York,

Contact : Olivier Charnoz, AFD - August 2012

N° 127 L’empreinte écologique et l’utilisation des sols comme indicateur environnemental : quel intérêt pour les politiques

publiques ?

Jeroen van den Bergh, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona,

Contact : Fabio Grazi, AFD - octobre 2012

N° 128 China’s Coal Methane: Actors, Structures, Strategies and their Global Impacts

Ke Chen, Research consultant & Olivier Charnoz, AFD - November 2012



N° 129 Quel niveau de développement des départements et collectivités d’outre-mer ?

Une approche par l’indice de développement humain

Olivier Sudrie (cabinet DME)

Contact : Vincent Joguet, AFD - novembre 2012

N° 130 Taille des villes, urbanisation et spécialisations économiques

Une analyse sur micro-données exhaustives des 10 000 localités maliennes

Claire Bernard, Sandrine Mesplé-Somps, Gilles Spielvogel, IRD, UMR DIAL,

Contact : Réjane Hugounenq, AFD - novembre 2012

N° 131 Approche comparée des évolutions économiques des Outre-mer français sur la période 1998-2010

Croissance économique stoppée par la crise de 2008

Claude Parain, INSEE, La Réunion, Sébastien Merceron, ISPF, Polynésie française

Contacts : Virginie Olive et Françoise Rivière, économistes, AFD - mars 2013

N° 132 Equilibre budgétaire et solvabilité des collectivités locales dans un environnement décentralisé

Quelles leçons tirer des expériences nationales ?

Guy Gilbert, Professeur émerite ENS Cachan, CES-PSE, François Vaillancourt, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada

Contact : Réjane Hugounenq, AFD - avril 2013

N° 133 Les politiques d’efficacité énergétique en Chine, Inde, Indonésie, Thaïlande et Vietnam

Loïc Chappoz et Bernard Laponche, Global Chance

Contact : Nils Devernois, AFD - avril 2013

N° 134 South-South cooperation and new agricultural development aid actors in western and southern Africa

China and Brazil - Case studies

Jean-Jacques Gabas (CIRAD, UMR ARTDev) et Frédéric Goulet (CIRAD, UMR Innovation)

N° 135 L’économie politique et la gestion territoriale des services environnementaux

Bernard Dafflon, université de Fribourg (Suisse)

Contact : Réjane Hugounenq, AFD - juin 2013

N° 136 Séminaire AFD, Mali : une contribution de la recherche française et européenne, vendredi 12 avril 2013

Contact : François Gaulme, AFD - janvier 2014

N° 137 Evaluer l’impact des instruments financiers en faveur des entreprises

Olivier Cadot, Université de Lausanne, FERDI et CEPREMAP, Anne-Célia Disdier et Akiko Suwa-Eisenmannn,

Paris School of Economics, INRA et CEPREMAP, Julien Gourdon, CEPII et CEPREMAP, Jérôme Héricourt,

EQUIPPE-Universités de Lille, CES-Université de Paris 1 et CEPII

Contact : Bertrand Savoye, AFD - mars 2014

N° 138 Une réévaluation de l'objectif de scolarisation primaire universelle sous l'angle des acquis scolaires

Nadir Altinok1, 2, Jean Bourdon1 1 IREDU (Institut de recherche sur l’éducation) - université de Bourgogne, CNRS 2 BETA (Bureau d’économie théorique et appliquée) - université de Lorraine, CNRS

Contact : Véronique Sauvat, AFD - juillet 2014

N° 139 Indicateurs d’impact des projets de gestion durable des terres, de lutte contre la dégradation des terres et la

désertification, Partie 1

Isabelle Amsallem, Agropolis Productions, Marc Bied-Charreton, Centre d’études des territoires, de la

mondialisation et des vulnérabilités de l’Université de Versailles Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines (CEMOTEV/UVSQ),

Comité Scientifique Français de la Désertification (CSFD)

Contact : Constance Corbier-Barthaux, AFD - mai 2014



N° 140 La production de connaissances à l'AFD

Enjeux et orientations

Contact : Alain Henry, AFD - septembre 2014

N° 141 L'information sur les prix agricoles par la téléphonie mobile : le cas du Ghana

Julie Subervie (Inra) et Franck Galtier (Cirad)

Contact : Stéphanie Pamiès et Marie-Cécile Thirion, AFD - novembre 2014

N° 142 Les gaz de schiste : enjeux et questions pour le développement

Benjamin Dessus (Global Chance)

Contact : Cyrille Bellier, AFD - décembre 2014

N° 143 L’agroécologie et son potentiel environnemental en Zambie : de l’utilité d’une réflexion sociotechnique pour l’aide

au développement.

Véra Ehrenstein (CSI) et Tiphaine Leménager (AFD)

Contact : Tiphaine Leménager, AFD - décembre 2014

N° 144 La présence de la Chine dans la Caraïbe

Carlos Quenan, Éric Dubesset, Viktor Sukup, Romain Cruse, Juan Carlos Diaz Mendoza, Laneydi Martinez

Alfonso, Antonio Romero (Institut des Amériques)

Contact : Éric Jourcin et Quentin Lajus, AFD - février 2015