Agencies for International Cooperation in TVET:
A Guide to Sources of Information
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For an overview of France's Official Development Assistance, please click here.   

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   Agencies:  <back to top>
  The Direction Générale de la Coopération Internationale et du Développement (DGCID) is part of the foreign ministry.

French development cooperation has two main instruments, the Comité d'Orientation, de Coordination et de Project (COCOP) and the Fonds de Solidarité Prioritaire (FSP). COCOP is an inter-ministerial committee responsible for the French cooperation with Eastern Europe. The Fonds de solidarité prioritaire (FSP) by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs is dedicated to the institutional, social, cultural development and research of selected countries.

http://www.cooperation.gouv.fr/cooperation > Les instruments de la DGCID > COCOP: Comité d'Orientation de Coordination et de Projet;

http://www.cooperation.gouv.fr/cooperation > Les instruments de la DGCID > Fonds de Solidarité Prioritaire. [1]

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   Target Countries:  <back to top>
  DGCID has defined target countries related to its two instruments, COCOP and FSP.

Comité d'Orientation, de Coordination et de Project (COCOP) target countries

Central and Eastern European accession countries:
Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia;

South Eastern European countries:
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Croatia, Republic of Moldova, Serbia and Montenegro;

Newly Independent States:
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine.

COCOP projects can target one or various countries.

Fonds de Solidarité Prioritaire (FSP) target countries
France has defined priority countries and areas for partnership which are available for the Fonds de Solidarité Prioritaire.

These are the priority countries:
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kenya, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Palestinian Authority, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Suriname, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zimbabwe.[2]

Strategic country documents
DGCID produces strategic country documents informing to inform about the French assistance for the following countries:
Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, India, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Senegal, United Republic of Tanzania, Thailand, Viet Nam.

http://www.cooperation.gouv.fr/cooperation (Français) > Les Documents Stratégiques Pays

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   Development priorities:  <back to top>
  In view of its commitment to human development, French cooperation concentrates on poverty reduction and basic human needs, economic and social development and the promotion of democracy. Other priorities of French cooperation are urban development and the support of decentralization, development on the regional level and natural resources management.

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   Priority sectors:  <back to top>
  The priority sectors of French cooperation are the improvement of agricultural productivity, capacity building for the state and its units, land and natural resources management, basic health and basic education.

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   Donors' Approaches:  <back to top>
  In French development cooperation the term SWAp is being used.

French assistance to SWAps takes in most cases the form of project support. This is because France considers projects to be more efficient in many cases compared to programme aid, in case that government channels cannot be used due to tyranny or political disturbances. French cooperation considers financial transparency and ownership as the basic requirements to approach a SWAp. In case theses prerequisites should not be present, the focus would lie on capacity building to achieve them.

French cooperation considers the project approach to be more efficient than general budget support, but still France agrees potentially to provide budget support. The recipient country's agreement to ownership of the development activity and financial transparency are the prior conditions for receiving general budget support by French cooperation.

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   TVET:  <back to top>
  The promotion of TVET is considered an important component in reducing povery. Priorities of French cooperation concerning TVET are the following: Support to develop education policies that are sensitive to sectoral requirements and economically sustainable; building partnerships with civil society (employer and employee associations), favouring the creation of continuing education fonds.[3]

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   Technical assistance:  <back to top>
  The French Foreign Ministry administers a Technical Assistance program. The personnel has sector-specific specializations, including education, economic and financial sector, employment, health, and agriculture, livestock and rural technologies. Only French professionals are sent out in the TA programme.

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   NGOs:  <back to top>
  France favours the role of the government in development assistance. According to this the volume of assistance through NGOs in French official aid is very small, it lies around 0.6% of total Official Development Assistance (on the DAC basis). Embassies may execute some projects through NGOs.[4]

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   Submission:  <back to top>
  COCOP framework
Please find the submission schemes and procedures as well as information concerning project eligibility here: http://www.cooperation.gouv.fr/cooperation > Les instruments de la DGCID > COCOP Procedures > Soumission des projets;
http://www.cooperation.gouv.fr/cooperation > Les instruments de la DGCID > COCOP Procedures > Constitution d'un projet;
http://www.cooperation.gouv.fr/cooperation > Les instruments de la DGCID > COCOP Éligibilité;
http://www.cooperation.gouv.fr/cooperation > Les instruments de la DGCID > COCOP Suivi et nouveaux projets.

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   Documents:  <back to top>
 

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   Contact:  <back to top>
 
Name Direction Générale de la Coopération Internationale et du Développement (DGCID)
Saint-Germain Office
Street Address   244, Boulevard Saint-Germain
75303 Paris 07SP
Phone [+33] (1) 43 17 90 00
Invalides Office
Street Address 20, rue Monsieur ou 57, boulevard des Invalides
75700 Paris 07SP
Phone [+33] (1) 53 69 30 00
E-Mail cooperation.dgcid@diplomatie.gouv.fr
Website (languages) http://www.cooperation.gouv.fr/mae > The Ministry's mission and organisation > The Directorate general for international cooperation and development (main information in French, limited information in English, German, Spanish).

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   Footnotes:  <back to top>
 
[1] Information concerning the French budget for development cooperation can be found here:
http://www.cooperation.gouv.fr/cooperation > Le budget de la DGCID.		 <back>
[2] http://www.cooperation.gouv.fr/cooperation (Français) > Les instruments de la DGCID > Fonds de Solidarité Prioritaire > Zone de solidarité prioritaire (ZSP). <back>
[3] DGCID, "La formation professionelle en France. Une réponse à vos questions", p. 1. <back>
[4] http://www.cooperation.gouv.fr/cooperation > La coopération non-gouvernementale. <back>

  Unless indicated otherwise information concerning this chapter is taken from the following sources:
DGCID's website: http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr;
Hasegawa 2002, pp. 26-29;
Riddell 2002, pp. 24/25.

 
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