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Indian Ocean Regional office
Working together to build solutions that benefit all is a shared priority across the territories of the Indian Ocean region, which see themselves as part of a community united by economic, cultural, and social destinies. To support regional cooperation dynamics in the Indian Ocean, AFD has strengthened its capacity for engagement by positioning itself at the heart of local and regional partnerships.
Strategy
The Indian Ocean Regional Directorate (DROI), headquartered in Saint-Denis, Réunion, oversees a network of five agencies: Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius (also covering Seychelles and regional organizations based in Mauritius), Mayotte, and Réunion (which also monitors the French Southern and Antarctic Lands – Terres australes et antarctiques françaises, TAAF). Proparco’s regional office in South Africa also supports private sector development in foreign states across the region.
France’s territories in the Indian Ocean are positioned to contribute to an economic, social, and societal transition toward a more inclusive model, one that is more resilient to the impacts of climate change, less polluting, and more respectful of nature and biodiversity.
The French islands serve as a laboratory for developing and scaling proposals for a new regional model of society, focused on human well-being and the protection of natural capital. In each country in the region where it operates, AFD, working as part of Team France, helps direct French solidarity-based investment toward improving living conditions, preserving natural resources, and supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Together with its subsidiaries Proparco and Expertise France, AFD has set the following goals:
Contributing to the emergence of a blue, green, and circular economy
The impacts of climate change are already a reality for the islands of the Indian Ocean. This is why AFD supports territories and communities in strengthening their resilience to these changes through several areas of intervention:
- Climate change adaptation, with a focus on sustainable water management: modernizing infrastructure in Madagascar, improving access to drinking water and sanitation in Rodrigues and Mauritius, rehabilitating dikes, upgrading infrastructure and defining master plans in Réunion, supporting emergency operations in Mayotte during the 2023 water crisis, and implementing a drinking water supply project in Domoni, Comoros.
- Ecological and energy transition: solar power and public transport in Mayotte, the urban cable car in Saint-Denis, Réunion, and the SUNREF green finance program.
- Disaster risk reduction: financing of the PIROI Center in Réunion, a regional hub for expertise, training, and innovation in climate risk management.
- Support for blue economy sectors: assistance to the IORA Secretariat for sustainable fisheries management, and the EXPLOI project with the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) to combat plastic pollution in the oceans.
- Preservation of the Indian Ocean region’s biodiversity hotspot: support for Mohéli National Park and land-use planning in Comoros, the Madagascar Biodiversity Fund (FAPBM), public and citizen policy dialogue in Mauritius, and partnerships such as SANParks (South Africa) with Réunion National Park. At the regional level, AFD also supports initiatives such as VARUNA, civil society organizations through the CEPF, RECI (with the French Southern and Antarctic Lands), and SIOMPA (with the French National Research Agency).
- Improving inter-island connectivity, both physical and digital.
News focus
Nature's laboratories for climate change: How the EU and AFD are protecting the planet’s poles
Building inclusive societies to serve communities
AFD aims to contribute to improving living conditions and strengthening social cohesion in the region, while taking demographic dynamics into account.
It finances projects that seek to reduce health inequalities and combat communicable diseases through the One Health approach. This includes strengthening, constructing, or renovating public health facilities, improving access to quality care, and enhancing epidemic preparedness and response.
AFD also finances improvements across the full education continuum, including pre-primary and primary education, higher education, and vocational training. The aim is to develop high-quality learning pathways that promote professional integration, while ensuring complementarity in the educational offer across territories.
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 decent employment, access to quality basic services, culture and sport, and gender equality.
Numerous projects are supported to help reduce gender inequalities. These include improving access to healthcare and raising awareness among medical staff of women’s specific needs in Comoros, integrating a gender pillar into water policy in Mauritius, and supporting efforts to combat malnutrition in Madagascar, which primarily affects women and children under the age of five. At the regional level, AFD also supports initiatives that strengthen women’s economic independence, reduce gender disparities in employment, and enhance the role of women in the 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 protective public 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.
AFD also strengthens the capacity of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) in their role as platforms for dialogue among territories.
Facilitating the balanced integration of Indian Ocean islands into their regional environment
To promote stronger integration of French overseas territories into their regional context, AFD aims to align the strategies and actions of French public stakeholders engaged in regional cooperation. The objective is to support the integration of the two French overseas departments in the Indian Ocean into their wider oceanic basin.
Since 2015, AFD has also partnered with the Union of Chambers of Commerce of the Indian Ocean Islands (now Cap Business OI) a regional association representing the private sector in the southwest Indian Ocean. The goal is to strengthen economic exchanges between the islands.
Countries covered
In the field
Key figures
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550 projects financed since 2020
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€2.9 million committed by AFD since 2020
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50% of committments since 2021 have a climate co-benefit
