The Agence Française de Développement (AFD), a public institution, belongs to the French system of Public Development Assistance (APD). Under the aegis of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of French Overseas Territories, it is active in over sixty countries in Africa, the Pacific region, Asia, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean and Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in French overseas areas.

Applications for project funding are submitted by the local contracting authorities to the AFD offices that identify the project.