Assessment of ten years of AFD’s action in New Caledonia
Publication date: 19 July 2021 | Report language: FR
The French Overseas Communities are one of the French Development Agency’s (AFD) historical intervention areas. AFD has been present in New Caledonia since 1947 and operates to improve populations’ access to basic services, strengthen the territorial and social cohesion dynamic and support economic activity. Following the Matignon Agreement and the 1998 Nouméa Agreement, New Caledonia gradually gained political autonomy and a certain number of powers were transferred to it, thus differentiating it from the other Overseas Territories in which AFD operates. AFD is the leading bank financier of local authorities and has participated in the capital of key actors in the territory.
AFD is the leading bank financier of local authorities and has participated in the capital of key players in the region. It sits on the boards of several semi-public companies and has taken over the management of the Société de Gestion de Fonds de Garantie d’Outre-Mer (SOGEFOM). Since 2018, the Noumea branch has also been the Regional Office for the Pacific Ocean (DROP) with a mandate for the overseas countries and territories of the Pacific basin.
The evaluation of AFD’s 10 years of action in New Caledonia has three main objectives:
- To feed the public policy dialogue between AFD and its New Caledonian counterparts;
- To provide input for AFD’s strategic reflection on its future action in New Caledonia, its positioning and the instruments it can deploy there;
- To provide input for AFD’s reflection on its regional positioning and its modes of intervention overseas.
The evaluation has both a retrospective and a prospective dimension, as well as an aim to capitalise on AFD’s modes of operation in French Overseas Communities. It answers questions that allow lessons to be learned from the past, with a view to feeding AFD’s internal and strategic reflection and dialogue with its counterparts and partners.
