Education is a major priority for French development aid and constitutes one of the key pillars of development. The States with which France cooperates have also made this choice: nineteen out of thirty-two Partnership Framework Papers signed in 2008 have made education a priority sector, while the promotion of French as both a written and spoken language is a cross-cutting sector for cooperation. This is a choice in favor of solidarity, allowing individuals to exercise their rights while benefitting from access to knowledge, languages, know-how and ideas. It is also a strategic choice in support of sustainable growth and the fight against all forms of poverty, a condition for the demographic transition of developing countries and a factor contributing to the improvement of populations’ health. This choice, based on diagnostics and priorities shared with partner countries, increases the effectiveness of French aid (in the spirit of the 2005 Paris Declaration and the 2008 Accra Agenda).

In light of this, France has decided to promote two major goals between now and 2015:
 Significantly contribute to universal primary education and to the goal of achieving equal access to education for girls and boys;

 Promote an integrated vision of education, including primary and secondary education, vocational training and tertiary education, to meet the challenges relating to youths’ future through a new strategy encompassing the entire educational sector.

The achievement of these goals goes hand in hand with policies to promote French, a language that enables access to knowledge, particularly in French-speaking Africa where French is the language of instruction. France is therefore updating and renovating current educational instruments and methods and is building capacities in the countries that receive aid to steer their educational system.

French external action for education in developing countries 2010-2015 - (PDF, 912.7 ko)

DGM/Global Public Goods Directorate
Health and Human Development Department

Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs
Directorate General of Global Affairs, Development and Partnerships
27 rue de la Convention
CS 91533 - 75732 Paris Cedex 15