France is known as a country of croissants, wine, and protests. But it is one of the world’s most generous donors, contributing nearly half a percent of its gross national income to official development assistance, or ODA, in 2024. Even so, France’s ODA has declined, slipping from $17.3 billion in 2022 to $15.4 billion in 2024.
The French aid model is different from English-speaking countries, and is focused much more on loan capital. So, how did France allocate its cash — and what does it prioritize when it comes to foreign aid?
Also in this edition: A new financing tool for global education, a look inside the $500 million Moore Foundation, and how one organization is emphasizing trust-based philanthropy
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In 2024, France was the world’s fifth largest bilateral donor. Despite its recent drop in official development aid, the country remains one of the most generous donors across the globe, contributing 0.48% of its gross national income to foreign aid in 2024. That’s more than double the ratio of the United States, which gave just 0.22% of its GNI the same year.
At the center of Paris’ development push is the French Development Agency, AFD, which uses government subsidies to borrow from other sources and lend on, according to our data reporter Miguel Antonio Tamonan. Just 15% of AFD’s annual €25 billion capacity comes from public money, while the rest is borrowed or cofinanced.
Sub-Saharan Africa remains the top destination for AFD’s loans and grants, while India leads among country recipients, with €1.8 billion largely focused on transport. Energy, water and sanitation, and climate action dominate AFD’s sectoral portfolio — with 427 active projects accounting for €20.7 billion ($24.4 billion) across the world.
Read more: The state of French aid — a look into AFD's €21 billion portfolio (Pro)
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It’s the high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly, and all eyes in the development sector turn to New York, where an even-more-consequential-than-usual session has gotten under way. The United Nations faces an existential crisis: The United States — which historically has paid for around a quarter of all U.N. work — has zeroed out much of its funding, and may not even pay what it owes from prior years. Meanwhile, unresolved crises in Gaza and Ukraine dominate international discourse, and long-standing and vital issues such as climate and debt have been shoved to the sidelines.
My colleague Colum Lynch sat down last week with the experts to talk about the implications in a briefing exclusively available to our Pro members. And you can hear more on our regular podcast, This Week in Global Development.
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As bilateral aid declines, others are attempting to fill the gap. In the world of education, that’s come in the form of a new, Switzerland-based “finance facility” — a public-private partnership 10 years in the making.
“When you’re aiming for a moonshot, it always takes longer than expected,” says Karthik Krishnan, the head of the International Finance Facility for Education. “And IFFEd is a moonshot — it’s about shifting mindsets on how to do aid differently — and more efficiently.”
IFFEd works by using a mixture of grants and guarantees, with the latter acting as a form of insurance that protects lenders if a borrower defaults. Donors pay only a small fraction of cash up-front, Devex contributor Sophie Edwards writes, and if a loan defaults, the donor fills the shortfall.
It’s an approach that Krishnan claims turns $1 into $7 — though for others, IFFEd is more a cause for concern. ActionAid’s David Archer says that in a world where so many countries are spending more on serving their debts than on education, “offering new loans to finance education makes little sense.” Archer calls the partnership a “distraction,” and one that gives power to bankers instead of national governments.
Read: ‘Moonshot’ education finance facility aims to turn $1 into $7 in LMICs
Of course, there’s also the steady stream of philanthropy — including that of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which gives away around $500 million per year.
The Silicon Valley-based organization is one of the world’s largest, and is focused on environmental conservation and science initiatives across the world. Aileen Lee, the foundation’s chief of programs, explained how the organization thinks through whether to fund a project — not through open calls for proposals, but through its own research.
“One unusual grant that we made recently, in response to the shifts in the funding environment was basically made because the leads of several of our long-term partners all came to me and said, you need to support this organization,” Lee told our Business Editor David Ainsworth at a recent Devex Pro Funding Briefing. “Nothing gets my attention like a bunch of our grantees saying, you know, we really need this organization in the mix right now.”
Read: What the Moore Foundation plans to do next (Pro)
By now, anyone interested in philanthropy is familiar with the idea of trust-based giving, a model that gives grantees the freedom to spend funds where they see fit.
The approach was popularized by MacKenzie Scott and echoed by Melinda French Gates — and it’s how the Mighty Arrow Family Foundation, a small philanthropy based in the United States, governs its giving.
For over a decade, the foundation has focused on climate, food, conservation, and social justice in the American West. Jordana Barrack, Mighty Arrow’s executive director, emphasized the foundation’s focus on unrestricted funding in a recent Devex Pro Funding event — stating that for years, the foundation has worked hard to understand its grantees, and shape itself around their needs.
“When you trust grantees, they deliver more than you could have imagined,” she said. “Our role is to get out of the way — and support them in doing what they do best.”
Watch: What one foundation found when it listened to its grantees (Pro)
Related: MacKenzie Scott has lessons for philanthropists. Are they listening? (Pro)
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