Africa Forward 2026: A Shift in the Narrative, a Challenge for Action

The Africa Forward Summit undoubtedly marked a turning point in the evolution of the partnership between Africa and its international partners, particularly France. Throughout the discussions, one message emerged with particular force: the era of aid as the primary driver of development must give way to an approach based on investment, co-construction and economic partnership between equals.

In this context, FERDI made concrete contributions:

• By taking part in the Social Pavilion day held prior to the Summit. This participation provided an opportunity to comment, during the dedicated panel discussion, on the chapter devoted to international solidarity in the White Paper drafted by the Foundation for Democracy led by Achille Mbembe.
• By making a concrete contribution to the debate on the future of African agri-food systems. Invited to the round table of Heads of State and Government on agriculture, moderated by Jean-Michel Severino, the Foundation presented the leaders in attendance with a note identifying three priorities: strengthening agricultural value chains, further mobilising private investment, and accelerating African regional integration. The announcements made following the Summit show that these priorities are now gaining increasing traction. The mobilisation of African public banks and donors in support of sustainable agriculture, the expansion of the FASA fund for African agricultural SMEs, and the launch of the FARM+ initiative are all based precisely on this logic of leveraging resources, engaging the private sector and structuring agricultural value chains.

The Summit thus confirms a profound shift in development paradigms. Productive investment, economic sovereignty, industrial and agricultural transformation, and job creation are now at the heart of the narrative shared by many African and European leaders. The idea of an Africa on the rise, strongly championed during the debates, reflects both a reality and a growing aspiration. The promotion of sport and the cultural and creative industries combines new drivers of development with pride in the continent’s identity.

The idea that aid may perpetuate dependency and unequal power dynamics was strongly emphasised, alongside the need for a genuine partnership of equals between France and African countries. Such a partnership is built on mutual respect, attentive listening and a shared ambition to align interests and deliver mutually beneficial outcomes.

The Summit also emphasised the promotion of new partnership instruments, such as guarantees, the de-risking of private investment, and the mobilisation of African private and public savings.

But Africa Forward was also a Summit of silences. Behind the displayed optimism, several African realities remained on the margins of the discussions: countries affected by conflict, the poorest states, health and education challenges, and social and climate vulnerabilities. 

Environmental issues were also barely addressed, as was the fact that a large share of infrastructure needs cannot be financed by private funding alone.

Finally, criticism of aid may have led to the belief that innovative financial mechanisms could achieve similar or better development outcomes at no public cost to industrialised countries. Yet guarantees, first-loss coverage and blended finance — however useful and welcome they may be — also require the mobilisation of significant concessional resources.

In this changing context, FERDI intends to continue speaking with a distinct voice: that of development based on productive investment, sustainability, inclusion and resilience, primarily for the benefit of the poorest countries and populations. To this end, it can draw on many years of research and work on the topics at the heart of this Summit: blending, the mobilisation of domestic and private resources — in the latter case through national financial markets — as well as agricultural modernisation and the maximisation of revenues from extractive industries. These themes build on the guidelines set out at the 2015 Addis Ababa Conference on Financing for Development. The conference had already clearly emphasised private financing for development, particularly in Africa. In particular, it promised an increase in private investment for sustainable development amounting to several billion dollars. Ten years later, the Seville conference highlighted the limitations of the ambitions set out in Addis: despite renewed promises to mobilise the private sector, the question of how to attract investment to countries that are least attractive to investors remains unresolved.

The real challenge, therefore, is less about pitting aid against investment than about designing policies capable of effectively combining public funding with private sector mobilisation, particularly for essential public goods and sustainable, job-rich growth. These policies — and this is perhaps the most novel aspect — must benefit the African continent as well as all its partners, notably France. They will continue to draw on several decades of reflection on development aid, whilst incorporating new and sometimes disruptive approaches.

The Africa Forward Summit marks the beginning of a new chapter. It is now up to us to support innovative thinking and emerging themes, without succumbing either to passing fads or to the cynicism of endlessly repeating the same debates, and to provide decision-makers in both the North and the South with greater coherence, substance and long-term ambition.

As one of the participants at the Social Pavilion put it: “A key challenge is to move from imposed dependencies to chosen interdependencies.”