The French Development Agency: 25 years of cooperation with Tanzania
A technician at the Magu drinking water treatment plant on the outskirts of Mwanza. AFD finances, together with the European Investment Bank (EIB), development projects in the towns of Mwanza, Bukoba and Musoma, aimed at improving access to drinking water by developing water purification system. A total of 64,000 people in Misungwi will have access to an improved sanitation system, and 200,000 people to an improved drinking water supply system. © Kibuuka Mukisa Oscar / AFD.
TanzaniaMs. Stéphanie Mouen, Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) in Tanzania since 2018, gave The Citizen a special interview where she went back over the history of the Agency in Tanzania since 2008.
Could you explain to Tanzanians what AFD stands for?
S.M.: “The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) is the French bilateral financial institution – or public bank - in charge of implementing the French government’s official development aid policy, in developing and emerging countries.
For this purpose, AFD Group has been financing, supporting and accelerating the transitions towards a more resilient and sustainable world, together with its partners from 115 countries, with the objective to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. Our goals: improving access to basic infrastructures and supporting human development; protecting natural resources, biodiversity and a stable climate; striving for gender equality and health.
In order to reach these goals, AFD provides concessional loans to government, public entities, and grants for financing technical assistance or feasibility studies. The Group is also financing the private sector through its subsidiary Proparco and providing technical assistance through Expertise France.”
What is AFD concretely doing in Tanzania?
S.M: “We have been working with Tanzania for 25 years, first from Nairobi, then directly from Dar es Salaam, where we opened our office in 2008. AFD in Tanzania has historically focused on financing infrastructure. Since 2009, we have responded to the priority areas identified by the Government, hence we worked mainly on the energy sector (47% of our activity), the water (28%) and transport sectors (19%).
Some concrete outcomes of our activities in the country are: - improvement of access to electricity with 150,000 more users from rural areas benefiting from a significant improvement in electricity service; 750 km of new transmission lines countrywide;- in the Lake Victoria region, 4 million people are now benefiting from an improved access to drinking water and almost 1 million people accessing sustainable sanitation service in Bukoba, Musoma and Mwanza;- the expansion of Aga Khan Hospital (Aga Khan Hospital Services) in Dar es-Salaam and the establishment of 30 new health centers all over the country.
And the list does not stop here! AFD’s activities in Tanzania are also very much focused on trying to mitigate climate change: more than half of the projects we have financed since 2008 had a positive impact on climate change. These programs are also providing capacity buildings for implementing agencies on the ground to ensure sustainability of projects in the long run.”
What are the next priorities for the agency in Tanzania?
S.M: “We have more than doubled the volume of support to Tanzania between 2017 and 2021 to an average of 420 billion TZS ($178 M) yearly over the last 3 years. And we intend to continue on this path as Tanzania is a strategic country and partner for France/AFD.
For the years to come, our strategy is to remain focused on Water and Sanitation, Energy and Transport, in line with Tanzania’s priorities of course. But we are also aiming at diversifying our financings towards other sectors such as climate resilient and sustainable agriculture, preservation of environments, conservation and national parks, Blue Economy and information communication technology (ICT).”
