{"id":12962,"date":"2026-05-10T20:59:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T18:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/afd-and-african-soft-power\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T12:38:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T10:38:27","slug":"afd-and-african-soft-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/afd-and-african-soft-power\/","title":{"rendered":"AFD and African soft power"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Deciphering a 565 million euro ambition<\/h2>\n<p>The year 2024 marked a historic turning point for Agence Fran\u00e7aise de D\u00e9veloppement (AFD). This year alone saw the commitment of <strong>130 million euros<\/strong> through 24 new projects, confirming that the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) are no longer a niche but a priority for sustainable development and a real Soft Power. <\/p>\n<p>This acceleration is a strong signal that Africa, which accounts for 30% of AFD&#8217;s total commitments in this sector (i.e. some 284 million euros), is asserting its cultural sovereignty. Nearly <strong>7.5 million people<\/strong> now have better access to the cultural sector thanks to these operations. <\/p>\n<h2>The four pillars of creative sovereignty<\/h2>\n<p>AFD&#8217;s approach is not limited to philanthropy. It aims to structure the entire value chain through four rigorous areas of intervention. <\/p>\n<h3>1. Governance and public policy<\/h3>\n<p>Talent is not enough without a protective legal framework. AFD engages in direct dialogue with governments to secure copyright and the status of the artist. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Benin model:<\/strong> With funding of <strong>60 million euros<\/strong> (including 55 million in loans), Benin has become the laboratory for this ambition. This budgetary support accompanies a far-reaching reform designed to increase the contribution of culture to national GDP, while ensuring a fair redistribution of income. <\/li>\n<li><strong>Expansion in Ghana:<\/strong> AFD is also supporting the Ghanaian <em>Creative Arts Agency<\/em> to structure music publishing and performance infrastructures, mobilizing the French expertise of SACEM and the Centre National de la Musique.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>2. The new temples of modernity<\/h3>\n<p>Quality venues are essential if local people are to reclaim their own stories.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Guinea (Sandervalia Museum):<\/strong> A <strong>16 million euro<\/strong> loan is financing the rehabilitation and bioclimatic extension of the national museum in Conakry, with the aim of attracting young Guineans to its heritage.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Benin (MACC):<\/strong> The construction of the Cotonou Museum of Contemporary Art (30 million euros) positions the country as a major regional hub for contemporary art.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Zimbabwe:<\/strong> Additional funding to complete the interpretation center at the UNESCO-listed <em>Great Zimbabwe<\/em> site, to stimulate sustainable cultural tourism.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-12954\" src=\"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/bilan-afd-icc.pdf-722x1024.png\" alt=\"AFD ICC balance sheet\" width=\"722\" height=\"1024\"><\/p>\n<h3>3. Excellence as standard<\/h3>\n<p>To export African fashion or cinema, technical skills are essential. AFD is banking on long-term training courses leading to a diploma. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Senegal:<\/strong> The &#8220;FIT ICC&#8221; project (2.8 million euros) provides high-quality training in the audiovisual and performing arts sectors, promoting the direct integration of young people.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Campus AFD:<\/strong> Through programs such as <em>KreAfrica<\/em> (in partnership with Trace Media) and the <em>Djowamon<\/em> platform dedicated to museum professionals, the Group uses digital technology to democratize technical knowledge.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>4. Breaking the financial glass ceiling<\/h3>\n<p>Access to capital remains the major challenge. The Group deploys innovative financial tools to support the transition to scale. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Afrique Cr\u00e9ative:<\/strong> This emblematic incubation program has already supported 170 microprojects in 35 countries. Winners receive technical and financial support (up to \u20ac90,000) to structure their business model. <\/li>\n<li><strong>CREAFUND:<\/strong> Implemented by <strong>Proparco<\/strong> with the European Union, this 6.5 million euro guarantee mechanism encourages banks and private equity funds to lend to cultural enterprises by covering part of their risk.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>The strength of French expertise and research<\/h2>\n<p>AFD doesn&#8217;t work alone. It&#8217;s mobilizing<strong>Team France<\/strong>: the Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, the Gobelins and Rubika schools, and even the INA are being called upon to transfer cutting-edge skills. <\/p>\n<p>At the same time, scientific research is being carried out to change people&#8217;s perception of risk. The 2024 study on <strong>&#8220;Imagined Communities&#8221;<\/strong> shows how CCIs, through the prism of digital technology, are helping to build nations and social cohesion. The concept of<strong>Edutainment<\/strong> (education through entertainment) is also being examined as a powerful lever for raising awareness of climate issues and gender equality.  <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Cultural industries are not just a vector of emotion, they are an infrastructure of the mind necessary for any sustainable development.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Towards Nairobi 2026<\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>Africa Forward 2026<\/strong> summit in Nairobi will be the high point of this decade of investment. By making culture a pillar of bilateral cooperation, AFD is proving that Africa is no longer a passive land of influence, but the center of gravity of a new global creative economy. <\/p>\n<p>This assessment is proof. The sector is ripe, the funding is there, and the infrastructure of the African imagination is finally under construction. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources :<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>ICC 2024 Activity Report &#8211; AFD Group<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Culture and Heritage&#8221; strategy brochure &#8211; May 2026 edition<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Imagined communities and digital transformations&#8221; report (2024)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p>Read also<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/e-commerce-lessons-from-industrie-africa\/\">E-commerce lessons from Industrie Africa<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/creative-cash-flow-when-finance-meets-african-creativity\/\">Creative Cash Flow, when finance meets African creativity<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/blessing-ebere-achu-founder-of-360-creative-hub\/\">Blessing Ebere Achu, founder of 360 Creative Hub<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Culture has become the linchpin of economic diplomacy and social ties in Africa. With a total commitment of 565 million euros, Agence Fran\u00e7aise de D\u00e9veloppement has established itself as the first donor to have made Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) an explicit mandate. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12976,"href":"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12962\/revisions\/12976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafashiontour.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}