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Published 21 July 2021 in Analysis , Updated 21 October 2024
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the crucial role of development financing that wealthier economies must take on if we are to collectively achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
France is the seventh richest country on the planet in terms of gross domestic product (GDP). As such, it contributes to official development assistance (ODA), which is defined by the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) as “aid provided by states for the express purpose of promoting economic development and improving living conditions in developing countries.”
According to DAC figures for 2023, France allocated 14.3 billion euros to official development assistance, or 6.9% of the total ODA of the 31 DAC member countries. This sum corresponds to 0.50% of France’s gross national income, above the DAC average (0.37%) but below the international commitment of 0.7%.
On August 4, 2021, France enacted a new law framing its development aid policy: the Programming Act on inclusive development and combating global inequalities, or “Solidarity Development Act”, scheduling the achievement of 0.7% of GNI devoted to ODA by 2025.
However, the French government reneged on this commitment in the summer of 2023, pushing back the target to 2030 at the CICID (Interministerial Committee for International Cooperation and Development). In addition, budget cuts of 742 million euros in official development assistance (ODA) were decreed in February 2024, a trend that continues in the draft finance law for 2025, which provides for a further ODA reduction of 1.3 billion euros. Analysis.
The objectives and orientations of France’s ODA had been set since 2014 by the Programming Act on inclusive development and combating global inequalities. This law was due to be reviewed after five years, which finally happened in 2021 by a unanimous vote of Parliament.
The Solidarity Development Act, enacted in August 2021, is central not only to development cooperation and international solidarity, but also to the fight against global poverty and inequality, as called for in the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals. It sets a symbolic target of 0.7% of gross national income allocated to ODA by 2025, which was eagerly awaited. However, the government reneged on this commitment in the summer of 2023, pushing the target back to 2030.
The Interministerial Committee on International Cooperation and Development (CICID) is the main coordinating body of the French ODA ecosystem. Under the authority of the Prime Minister, it sets its strategic orientations. The CICID last met in July 2023.
During its 2018 meeting, the CICID established the Presidential Council for Development to consolidate the institutional framework. Chaired by the President of the Republic, the Council makes strategic decisions regarding the implementation of French ODA. It met for the first time in December 2020 and for the second time in May 2023.
Finally, the National Council for Development and International Solidarity (CNDSI) is the central forum for dialogue between the government and civil society players on the objectives and orientations of the French development policy. It is chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and brings together elected representatives and civil society actors involved in development and international solidarity. The CNDSI has only consultative powers, but meets several times a year.
French ODA is channelled through 24 distinct budgetary programs, managed by 10 ministries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy and Finance oversee the implementation of the "ODA mission", which represented 45% of France’s total ODA in 2022 (6,9 billion euros).
The budget appropriations grouped under the ODA mission, commonly referred to as the “aid core”, fund France’s bilateral cooperation (including project aid, support for civil society organizations and technical cooperation), its contribution to aid implemented by the European Commission, and its support for the work of international organizations.
Since 2017, France’s official development assistance has entered a period of growth highly anticipated, not only by stakeholders in development aid and by parliamentarians, but especially by its beneficiaries. However, the upward trajectory of France’s ODA (+36% in real terms between 2018 and 2022) has been reversed from 2023 onwards.
Indeed, in 2023, according to OECD/DAC preliminary data, France provided EUR 14.3 billion in ODA, or 6.9% of total ODA from the 30 DAC member countries. Between 2022 and 2023, France’s ODA dropped by 11%, or 1.8 billion euros in real terms. This places France 5th among donors in volume after the United States, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom, but 11th in terms of percentage of GNI allocated to ODA, at 0.50%, above the DAC average (0.37%) but below the international commitment of 0.7%.
The Solidarity Development Act introduced financial programming for France’s ODA until 2022, to reach 0.55% of GNI allocated to ODA by that date. This programming was absent from the previous 2014 law. However, to give it its full scope, this programming should naturally extend to 2025. This is all the more necessary as actions implemented in the field require predictability in terms of the resources allocated.
The mention in the text that France “will strive to reach 0.7% of gross national income by 2025” for ODA was an important step forward, setting, for the first time, a date for reaching the target of 0.7% of GNI for ODA. However, at its last meeting in July 2023, the CICID postponed the achievement of this target, stating that France “will strive to reach the objective of devoting 0.7% of GNI to ODA by 2030”.
Furthermore, in 2024, the government proceeded to drastically reduce France’s official development assistance, beginning in February 2024 with a 742 million euro cut to the ODA mission (-13%), and continuing in the 2025 Finance Bill, which envisages a further 1.3 billion euro reduction in French ODA (-23.3%).
According to Focus 2030 estimates, the postponement of the 0.7% target to 2030, combined with these two budget cuts, could result in a shortfall of over 21.2 billion euros for international solidarity between 2025 and 2030.
In addition, for the period 2022-2025, the French Development Solidarity Act set the target of allocating 70% of ODA in the form of grants, a target already achieved when the Act was passed and which has since been largely exceeded (they represented 88% of total ODA in 2023, a proportion nevertheless lower than the average for OECD DAC members). The CICID 2023 endorsed the strengthening of ODA in the form of grants, without setting a quantified target, as well as experimenting with highly concessional loans.
France adopted its previous law on development in 2014. The year after, in 2015, the international community adopted new frameworks, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development.
The new law places France’s ODA within these frameworks. For example, it contains 30 references to the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs. It also introduces a results framework with indicators aligned on official SDG targets.
The 2023 CICID set new objectives for France’s ODA:
In addition, the 2021 law enshrined gender equality as a transversal objective, in line with France’s "feminist foreign policy".
The 2023 CICID decided the removal of a list of priority countries for France’s bilateral aid (previously 19 countries) in favor of a target set at 50% of its bilateral financial effort towards the least developed countries (LDCs).
The 2021 development law gives a greater place to civil society organizations, recognizing their right of initiative and doubling the amount of ODA channeled through them. It also opens France’s volunteering programs to foreign nationals wishing to work in France.
The 2021 law establishes gender equality as a cross-cutting objective of French ODA. The global partnership framework annexed to the law provides that 75% of programs (compared to 50% since 2013) financed by French ODA should have gender equality (according to the OECD’s gender marker) as a main or significant objective by 2025, 20% of which should have gender equality as their main objective.
In 2021-2022, 41% of French ODA had gender equality as a significant objective and 6% had it as its main objective.
According to current economic growth projections and overall ODA financial programming, this new commitment could represent EUR 17,3 billion of France’s ODA invested in the promotion of gender equality in 2026, with EUR 7 billion as a main objective.
The bill should reinforce the accountability of France’s ODA, through the introduction of an ODA evaluation commission, an annual Parliamentary review of implementation, and an open database providing information on the implementation and results of projects and programs.
The bill enshrines the creation of the Fund for Innovation in Development, established to support innovation in the fight against poverty and inequality. The Fund launched its first call for proposals in 2021.
French people are increasingly supportive of official development assistance: more than half of citizens say they are in favor of increasing or maintaining international aid to the poorest countries. At the same time, the proportion of those in favor of reducing France’s international aid has fallen considerably, from 43% in 2013 to24% in January 2024.
More specifically, in 2017, 46% of French people considered that allocating 0.7% of the national budget to official development assistance constituted only a modest effort.
Modernization of the French international solidarity policy: where are we at?
Understanding development aid (an overview)
Increase of development aid in 2020
Modernization of the French international solidarity policy: where are we at?
Understanding development aid (an overview)
Increase of development aid in 2020
