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Promoting international solidarity
In today’s interconnected world, young people face unprecedented challenges related to international solidarity, with issues ranging from climate change to economic instability, persistent inequality, poverty, and more. One of AFD’s core missions is to help young people gain a deeper understanding of these challenges.
AFD is no longer just a development bank – it is a public institution serving citizens. This is why the Interministerial Committee for International Cooperation and Development (CICID) asked AFD in 2016 to raise awareness among young people about key issues relating to sustainable development and international solidarity, in connection with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). AFD develops programs, content, and educational tools to help young people gain a deeper understanding of these complex problems and get involved in solving them to make a difference in the world.
AFD’s initiatives in this area follow two strategic approaches: educator mobilization and direct efforts to raise awareness among young people between the ages of 15 and 30.
Mobilizing the education sector
Through a partnership with the French Ministry of National Education and Youth and the Agency for French Education Abroad (AEFE), AFD provides educators with the tools they need to teach young people about international solidarity issues. Education is key to solving these challenges in a fair and equitable way. By putting our resources in the hands of teachers, we can considerably increase the impact of our awareness-raising actions, with every teacher passing on their knowledge to class after class of students, ultimately reaching several generations. As part of this approach, AFD designs educational tools and resources that are tailored to school curricula.
Since 2009, AFD has also supported projects by civil society organizations that focus on international solidarity issues in schools. These organizations play a key role in reaching as many young people as possible to provide education for citizenship and international solidarity.
Raising awareness outside schools
To reach as broad an audience as possible across France, AFD also supports initiatives to raise awareness about the 17 SDGs in non-educational contexts, such as in prisons. These efforts help raise awareness of international solidarity issues among a wider audience.
Promoting youth engagement
In addition to its tools for educators, AFD also provides resources for the general public that shed light on global challenges and make the SDGs easier to understand.
To this end, AFD has created Tilt, a general-interest media outlet for 15-to-30-year-olds. Tilt’s three-part approach – “Captivate, interpret, inspire” – has a clear intention: capture young people’s attention, help them understand major global issues (both current and future), and inspire them to take action. Videos, articles, first-hand accounts, interactive deep dives on special themes, comic strips, and podcasts all feature on Tilt’s Instagram and YouTube accounts and website. For this project and beyond, AFD is working with influential content creators to bring this content to as large an audience as possible.
AFD also attends a variety of cultural events – exhibitions, conferences, debates, and festivals – as part of its sustainable development outreach with the general public. In keeping with these efforts, AFD participates every year in the Solidays festival organized by the nonprofit organization Solidarité sida. AFD also works with content creator Manon Bril and Culture Fest, a festival for digital content creators and influential figures, to bring these messages to young people.
Key figures
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4 million young people reached by our Tilt! content in 2024
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170,000 students involved in our projects
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€18 M funding for the Education for Citizenship and International Solidarity and Structuration of the voluntary sector projects
