The French Cooperation is the umbrella organization under which French official development assistance is managed. The main agency that comes under this umbrella is the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

Sustainable development is a high priority for the AFD and other ODA agencies in France. Its commitment to human development in tangible terms is concentrated in three areas: economic and social development, the fight against poverty and the structuring of legally constituted states. Within these three areas are five main issues: heath, cities, water, tropical forests, and desertification.

In all areas of its ODA the French agencies refer heavily to the respective UN conferences. These conferences seem to provide a set of consistent guidelines in the process of determining which areas of public aid need emphasis and in what fashion.

In all five issues of emphasis, the ODA agencies of the French emphasize that the people of Africa, or other states need the knowledge and the training to be empowered to make the decisions for themselves.

In many of the countries to which France provides ODA, there is very little safe water. The French donor agencies place tremendous importance on this issue. Between 1993 and 1997, an average of 60% of the environment assistance given by France went into the "water sector". The French Cooperation links water resource management to the organization of a society.

Monetarily speaking, the AFD has a diverse "portfolio" of third world investment. It boasts the highest percentage of contribution (.63% of GNP) of the seven most industrialized nations. The contribution figures from 1997 total French public aid at 5.138 million francs. This figure was divided into two types of aid: grants given to the poorest countries (993 million francs) and loans (4.145 million francs).

The distribution of this aid is divided into eight sectors, the most important of which (according to dollar figures) is rural development (25%), followed by energy and urban development (15% each). The other sectors are: (in order of contribution percentage) Transport, Industry, Mines, Hotels and Tourism and Telecommunications.

Geographically, the AFD contributes public aid to 80 different countries. The most ambitious policies are towards the countries with which France has colonial ties. Most of the countries that are recipients of AFD project aid (1997) are African, 51.8% are in Sub-Sahara Africa and 30.3% are in Africa north of the Sahara. Small amounts go to countries in Asia, Central America and the Caribbean and Oceania.

The AFD highlights that most of Sub-Saharan Africa will live in towns and cities in 2025. Because of this, urban and rural planning are emphasized. Its theory is that if these populations are involved with the decisions that effect the management of the natural resources on which they must heavily depend, the objective of sustainable growth will be met.

In 1990, there was a Franco-African summit in La Baule at which France officially announced its intentions to link the amount of bilateral aid to a country’s progress in the areas of democracy and human rights. Relatively speaking, I don’t know how "progressive" France’s bilateral aid and emphases are, but reading the developmentese on their official websites made me want to personally write a check to the AFD.

The projects of the AFD, which are lined out in their website, seem to be in line with the goals that they are trying to achieve. They are helping people to use their natural resources for growth and economic development. For example, in the Ivory Coast, the two main sectors to which aid is given are Agro-Industries/Rural Development and Hotel/Tourism. The former is concentrated in the area of cacao exportation, which is the main cash crop of the Ivory Coast. The latter has done several projects in the last few years, including the renovation of the airport at Abidjan, and a transport structural adjustment program to fix the roads.

I feel as if I do not know enough about either the French record for their development projects or the countries to which they are giving aid to comment intelligently. At first blush, it seems to be as if their projects are realistic and in line with their goal of sustainable development. However, I do not know if in Martinique the funding to build an incinerator to convert waste to energy was built by residents of that state or French people who essentially had jobs created for them. I would venture a guess that based on the trends in the development aid scene that the first scenario is more likely. Projects do not tend to be carried out for the sake of donor country jobs as much.

I also do not know if the emphasis on tourism and travel is being promoted as a new market for French goods, as a complement to their own tourism and travel market. If they give this aid to renovate the airport, then they will land Air France planes on the runway, infusing the area with capital and western values.

In Cameroon, there is a recently approved project to rebuild the border road so as to facilitate regional economic integration, is this to assist the countries being integrated, or creating a lager market for French goods than a single country could offer? I don’t know. I looked for critical analyses of these, or any AFD project, but they were not to be found.

I however, being and idealist, am going to take the high road. I think that the UN conferences in Cairo and Beijing and Stockholm have provided guidelines for the world. The UN has obviously put an emphasis on certain areas of social and human development; the bilateral agencies of the world are following by example. It is not as obvious anymore what is being funded by whom and why. Maybe that is a positive step for the developing and the developed.

The discussion on globalization rings true for donor countries as well, if you are funding certain kinds of governments are certain types of projects, it is bad for business.

UNIFEM is a multilateral donor agency that falls under the umbrella of the UNDP. UNIFEM promotes the empowerment of women in all aspects of their lives. It also promotes gender equality and ensures the participation of women in planning and participation in economics, government and society.

The current priorities of UNIFEM are focused into three areas: strengthening women’s economic capacity, engendering governance and leadership, and promoting women’s human rights. I will look at each of these individually.

UNIFEM believes that women need to be empowered to make choices and have control over their income and resources. They have the potential to shape market forces and become key economic players. The Fund supports programs that reach large numbers of women who lack economic opportunities.

The second area of emphasis for the Fund is engendering governance and leadership. The belief is held that unless women are put into positions of leadership in states and civil society they will not be able to shape market forces in the favor of women and gender equality. The Fund works in conjunction with many partners to increase the capacity of women to participate in political institutions. This is essential to promote the participation of women in policy making and goes full circle back to core idea of empowerment.

UNIFEM’s third area of importance is that of promoting women’s human rights. The Fund concentrates on the strengthening groups to advocate for women’s human rights on both the state and international level, developing systems for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls, and mainstreaming the experts at UNIFEM to be able to improve UN accountability for implementation of women’s human rights issues.

UNIFEM has set up a fund called "The Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women". Associations apply for the aid to help fund their programs for the eradication of violence against women. The primary goal of the trust fund is to "identify and support innovative projects aimed specifically at preventing and eliminating violence against women".

There have been three waves of grants given to projects in dozens of countries. For example, in the Ivory Coast, the Association Ivoirienne de Defense des Droits de Femmes was a recipient of one of the first grants. This project was to launch a sensitization campaign on a national level to draw attention to the issues of forced marriage, domestic violence and female genital mutilation.

This along with many other projects fall directly in line with the primary goal of the trust fund and UNIFEM in general. UNIFEM is funding many social development projects that help attain its goal of eradicating violence against women. Many of the projects have to do with education. Many of the men in these cultures have no conscience in regard to women; the message of anti-violence is a new one. This is, however, not a case of the Western values infiltrating indigenous cultures. Violence directed at women is a worldwide disease that needs a cure. The cure for such ailments is often education. If it is understood, as a man, that your wife has the same rights that you do, that she is a person like you are, and violence against her is illegal, the cycle will eventually break.

Because the UNIFEM with the trust fund, is an ongoing project, I would assume its success. There has been a lot of international attention on women’s human rights in the last six years. UNIFEM and its sister branches’ donor countries and projects will be watched. I am sure there will successes, failures, and lessons learned in the quest for the elimination of violence against women, and all womankind should be watching and praying for each other.