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Overseas France
For more than 80 years, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has supported the sustainable development of local authorities and businesses across the French overseas territories. In 2025, AFD Group invested a total of €1.683 billion in these territories, with 81% of financing benefiting the public sector. In total, 163 projects were financed to address environmental, climate, and social challenges while delivering tangible improvements to residents’ daily lives.
Our approach
Beyond financing projects for public and private stakeholders, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) provides engineering expertise and capacity-building support to public actors across the French overseas territories. Funded by the French Ministry for Overseas Territories, the Overseas Territories Fund (FOM), with a budget of €9.4 million in 2025, helps launch investment projects and strengthen the capacities of local authorities through technical assistance, including recruitment support provided by Expertise France.
AFD’s work in the French overseas territories is guided by a unique strategic approach that promotes the integration of the 12 territories within their regional environments while supporting their resilience and sustainable development. In 2025, AFD financed 13 regional projects benefiting the French overseas territories, strengthening ties between these territories and neighboring countries across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Ocean regions. This regional approach and commitment to cooperation are at the heart of the "Three Oceans" strategy, positioning the French overseas territories as hubs for sharing experience and solutions to common challenges, including climate change, health, and biodiversity conservation.
AFD Group also helps strengthen the resilience of the French overseas territories to environmental and social crises. In 2025, 39% of projects financed in the territories generated climate co-benefits. AFD also works alongside the French government to respond rapidly to crises. In Mayotte, following the devastating impact of Cyclone Chido, AFD quickly mobilized to support damage assessments and assist local authorities with reconstruction efforts. In New Caledonia, AFD became a key partner of the French government in supporting structural reforms, mobilizing its full range of tools, from technical assistance to financial expertise, to support economic recovery and the restoration of social cohesion.
Financing local authorities lies at the heart of AFD’s long-term partnership with stakeholders across the three ocean basins. AFD supports territories in defining and implementing development pathways tailored to their specific needs and contexts. This approach places particular emphasis on the ecological, energy, and social transitions. Beyond financing, AFD also mobilizes its expertise through capacity-building and technical assistance initiatives, notably through its subsidiary, Expertise France.
AFD’s private sector activities in the French overseas territories focus on three areas: credit lines for banks and financial institutions, financing for renewable energy and infrastructure projects led by private companies, and guarantees. Beyond financing, AFD supports the development and structuring of projects involving complex or innovative technologies by mobilizing its in-house technical expertise. AFD also provides expertise to help ensure that environmental considerations are fully integrated into project design and implementation.
Since 2019, through its Three Oceans strategy, AFD has supported stakeholders in the French overseas territories in strengthening their integration within their regional environments. More than 60 projects have helped build links between the French overseas territories and neighboring countries across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Ocean regions. Building on this momentum, the COREOM program was launched in 2025 to help strengthen and structure civil society organizations in the French overseas territories and enhance their capacity to engage in regional cooperation.
Projects financed
Latest news
A groundbreaking partnership in Mayotte to support the lagoon and coastal communities and ecosystems
Published on June 8, 2026
Key figures
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12 French overseas territories across three ocean regions: the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean (the Caribbean and the Guiana Shield).
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€556 million committed to support the public sector and local authorities in the French overseas territoriessupport the public sector and local authorities in the French overseas territories
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€326 million invested in the private sector in the French overseas territories, with a strong focus on the energy transition