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Indian Ocean Regional office
Acting together to build solutions to benefit each person is a challenge shared by territories in the Indian Ocean area, which are conscious of belonging to a community with economical, cultural and societal futures. To support regional cooperation dynamics in the Indian Ocean, the AFD group has bolstered its support capabilities by being at the heart of local and regional partnerships.
Strategy
The Indian Ocean Regional Office (DROI), the head office of which is in Saint-Denis on Réunion, manages a network of five offices: Comores, Madagascar, Mauritius (also applicable for the Seychelles and regional organizations with a head office on Mauritius), Mayotte and Réunion (also responsible for monitoring TAAFs). The Proparco regional office in South Africa also covers private sector actions in the foreign states in the region.
France in the Indian Ocean can act for an economical, social and societal transition towards a more inclusive model for communities, which better resists the effects of climate change, pollutes less and respects nature and biological diversity more.
The French islands are a laboratory in which propositions for a new regional model for society can emerge and develop, oriented towards communities thriving and protecting the natural capital. In each of the States in the area where it is located, the AFD Group acts with the France Team to direct French solidarity investment towards improving communities' living conditions, preserving natural resources, and actions to adapt to and reduce the effects of climate change.
The AFD Group sets the following objectives for itself and its subsidiaries Proparco and Expertise France:
Contributing to bringing forth a "blue, green and circular economy"
Impacts of climate change can be seen in the islands of the Indian Ocean, which is why AFD supports territories and communities so that they can face these changes on a stronger footing through several key focus areas for action:
- Adapting to climate change, with an accent on managing water sustainably: modernizing infrastructures in Madagascar, improving access to potable water and sanitation on Rodrigues and Mauritius, rebuilding dikes, modernizing infrastructures and drawing up overall strategies on Réunion, supporting emergency operations on Mayotte faced with the water crisis in 2023, the Adduction en Eau Potable (AEP) (drinking water supply) project at Domoni in the Comoros…
- The ecological and energy transition: photovoltaic panels and public transport on Mayotte, urban cable car in Saint-Denis on Réunion, SUNREF program…
- Reducing natural disaster risks: funding the PIROI Center on Réunion (regional center for expertise, training and innovation in managing climate risks)
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Supporting sectors in the blue economy: support for the IORA Secretariat for sustainable management of fishing, EXPLOI project with the IOC to combat plastic pollution in the oceans…
Preserving the biodiversityhotspot the Indian Ocean represents: support for Mohéli National Park and the territory development plan in the Comoros, the Madagascar Protected Areas and Biodiversity Foundation (FAPBM), support for public and citizen policy discussion on Mauritius, a partnership between SANParks (South Africa) and Réunion National Park, and at VARUNA regional level, support for OSC (via the CEPF), RECI (with the TAAFs), or SIOMPA (with the Agence nationale de recherche (French National Research Agency)
Improving inter-island connectivity, both physically and digitally
TAAF NEWS FOCUS
Nature's Laboratories for Climate change: How the EU and AFD are protecting the Planet’s Poles
CEPF FOCUS PROJECT
Building inclusive societies to serve communities
AFD Group means to contribute to improving communities' living conditions and reinforce solidarity between societies in the region by taking demographic dynamics into account.
It funds projects that aim to reduce health inequalities and combat transmissible diseases via the One Health approach: reinforcing, building or renovating public health establishments, improving access to quality care, reinforcing preparation for and response to epidemics…
The Group also funds improvement of the continuum of education (pre-)school, higher education and professional training, to develop high-performance education sectors which foster professional insertion in a process of provision in territories being complementary.
NEWS FOCUS
Building and renovating schools: a challenge for local authorities in Mayotte
In all the projects it funds, AFD looks to reinforce social connection and intergenerational solidarity through acceptable employment, access to quality basic services, promoting cultural and sporting activities and gender equality.
Many projects are thereby supported to reduce gender inequality: improving access to care and raising awareness of staff to the specific needs of women in the Comoros, a gender pillar included in public water policy on Mauritius, support to combat malnutrition (which mainly affects women, and children under 5) on Madagascar, and at regional level, reinforcing women's financial independence, reducing gender inequalities in jobs, improving women's place in cultural and creative industries…
In terms of financial inclusion, Proparco and AFD work with banks in the region to make access to financial services for vulnerable micro-entrepreneurs easier, open up new funding opportunities for reduction measures and climate adaptation measures, to structure the financial sector, or promote green finance through the SUNREF program.
Foster a more protectivepublic governance framework
The AFD Group supports implementing a regional public governance framework dealing with security, improving living conditions, circulation of goods and people, and the migration and mobility question.
The Group is also reinforcing the capacities of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) in their role of the authority guiding discussion between the territories.
Facilitate inclusion of the Indian Ocean islands in their region in a balanced way
In order to foster better inclusion of overseas territories in their regional environment, AFD Group aims to align regional cooperation strategies and actions between French public stakeholders to facilitate including the two Overseas departments in the Indian Ocean in their ocean region.
Since 2015 AFD has also been involved with the Union des chambres de commerce des îles de l’océan Indien (now Cap Business OI), a regional organization representing private sectors in the South-West of the Indian Ocean. Its objective: to strengthen economic discussion between the islands.
Countries covered
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