Proparco

Proparco, the private sector financing arm of Agence Française de Développement (AFD), has been working to support development in Southern countries for 40 years. It plays a key role in AFD Group and the French cooperation mechanism: financing and support for projects led by companies and financial institutions in developing and emerging countries – from SMEs to regional banking groups, including microfinance institutions.

Proparco’s action focuses on key development sectors: infrastructure, especially renewable energies, agriculture and agroindustry, finance, health, education…

Its operations contribute to building sustainable economic growth, job creation, the provision of essential goods and services and, more generally, to poverty reduction and the fight against climate change.

In addition to financing, Proparco’s role – and added value – involves encouraging companies and financial institutions in the South to act in a responsible manner in the countries where they are established.

To help them achieve this, Proparco assists its clients in managing the impacts of their activity on society and rural areas and, more generally, in improving their environmental practices (reducing greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy development), social practices (improving working conditions, fight against discriminations…) and governance (fight against corruption, transparency of information…).

All the operations financed by Proparco are themselves subject to some of the most rigorous selectivity criteria among bilateral donors.

Proparco is today one of the leading European Development Finance Institutions, which are members of the EDFI association. It has close partnership relations with them and conducts a number of cofinanced operations.

Proparco