The French Development Agency (AFD) is a public and solidarity-based development bank whose mission is to support French partners on the path to resilience and sustainable development. It operates in many sectors (energy, health, biodiversity, water, urban planning and training) and offers a wide range of financial and non-financial services.

A central player in French development policy, AFD supports States, businesses, local communities and NGOs. It creates synergies with them to catalyze and disseminate innovative solutions that benefit the population. Through its network of 85 agencies, AFD operates in 108 countries, where it currently finances, monitors and supports more than 2,500 development projects. Thanks to its network of researchers and experts, it also participates in dialogue on public policies, shares its know-how and raises awareness of development issues and international solidarity.

1. Objectives

AFD wishes to further study the theme of mediation in order to better understand it and clarify its position regarding the operational treatment of this concept.

The main objectives of the study are:

- Present (i) an inventory of the different types of mediation supported by development actors, (ii) specific insight into their application in situations of armed conflict, (iii) accompanied by a critical analysis of practices emphasizing so much the benefits drawn from the mediation approach as well as the limits, as well as the difficulties encountered and the means necessary to mitigate them.

Particular attention will be paid to the way in which these different approaches integrate gender issues, in connection with United Nations Security Council resolution 2242, which is based on resolution 1325 and the “Women, Peace and Peace” agenda. security ”.

This study will benefit the entire France Team and will fuel reflection in favor of the emergence of a French strategy for mediation in conflict situations, etc. It will thus contribute to the development of a harmonized framework for the players of the France Team in their respective cooperation and development aid actions.

2. Deliverables

The study will result in the following deliverables:

1) A summary report on the analysis of the existing literature and documentation presenting the different understandings of the concept of mediation by the actors (donors, NGOs, private actors, technical and financial partners) involved in the field of conflict prevention and peacebuilding;

2) A proposal for AFD's strategic positioning note in terms of mediation, accompanied by operational avenues and recommendations for an effective positioning of AFD, including accountability criteria making it possible to count AFD's interventions falling within the scope of this field

3) A restitution of the results in the form of a workshop or a presentation with PowerPoint support, in order to comment and have the deliverables and strategic and operational recommendations validated by AFD