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Agence Française de Développement

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Mission 

The Economic and Social Research Unit conducts a series of research programmes in AFD’s four main areas of knowledge production: development financing and aid effectiveness, growth strategies, sustainable development and human capital.

These programmes are designed and carried out in close conjunction with the academic world (in both the North and the South) and with AFD’s operational departments. Their outputs take the form of research papers and reports, the organisation of seminars and conferences, and partnerships with networks of academics and of development operators.

The programmes analyse the economic, financial, political and social dynamics of both foreign countries and the French overseas departments and territories. They provide more accurate knowledge of the geographical areas where AFD operates in order to inform the national and international debate and help improve the quality of AFD-financed projects.

Véronique Sauvat
Unit Head

Aymeric Blanc 
Research Officer

Aymeric Blanc is an engineer with degrees from the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, seconded from the Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development. From 1997, he worked at the External Economic Relations Department of the Ministry of Finance, including three years as a commercial counsellor in Mexico City. In 2005, he joined the AFD Research Department, where he works on public-private partnerships and the relationships between culture and development.

Olivier Charnoz
Research Officer

Olivier Charnoz is an interdisciplinary scholar in the social sciences. He studied at France’s Ecole Normale Supérieure in Cachan, the University of Chicago and the London School of Economics. On joining AFD in 2002, he worked directly with his Chief Economist, and subsequently the Chief Executive Officer, on a long-term research project leading to a series of publications. He then joined the Research Department, where he studies the interactions between local community practices and global public goods: biodiversity, combating infectious diseases and the fight against global warming.

Research topics: Global public goods 
Publications 

Nils Devernois
Research Officer

Nils Devernois is an architect with a master’s degree in urban sociology. He has many years’ experience of the various aspects of urban development (urban planning consultant, property development, operations planning) and in the preparation and management of large projects. This experience was acquired both in France and abroad, including a stint at France’s Deposit and Consignment Fund (Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations). In late 2005, after nearly ten years in AFD’s operational departments, he joined the Research Department, where he is responsible for research and publications in the field of sustainable urban development. His particular focus is on aspects relating to the energy efficiency of existing buildings, notably in the context of a major partnership with Hubei Province in China.

Research topics: Local authorities –  Sustainable development – Energy efficiency

Virginie Diaz Pedregal
Research Officer

Virginie Diaz Pedregal holds a PhD in political sociology and a master’s degree equivalent in social science from the University Paris 5-Sorbonne. After having carried out research on fair trade in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, she conducted post-doctoral research in expatriation in Vietnam on behalf of Cirad (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development). She went on to work for two years for the scientific department of Gret (French solidarity and international cooperation association). Virginie joined AFD’s Research Department in June 2010 where she is in charge of supervising the Department’s research and training in sociology, anthropology and political science. She also contributes to the Institutions, Governance and Long-term Growth Programme. 

 Research topics: Development sociology, justice of international aid, governance and institutions.

Publications 

Réjane Hugounenq
Research Officer

Réjane Hugounenq has a PhD in public economics from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). After seven years at the French Observatory of Economic Conditions (OFCE), where she worked on a variety of topics including taxation in Europe and wage inequality between men and women, she spent three years at the issuing institutes for the French overseas departments and territories (Instituts d’Emission d’Outre-Mer) and then joined the AFD Research Department in September 2007. She is responsible for the CEROM programme of early estimates of public accounts for the French overseas departments and works as well on topics related to governance: decentralisation and taxation in developing countries.

Research topics: CEROM (Overseas France) - Decentralisation - Taxation

Publications

 

Laureline Krichewsky
Research Officer

Laureline Krichewsky holds a master degree in Development Studies from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, and has studied Indian languages (hindi and tamil) at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales. After working for SEWA (Self Employed Women Association) in India, she joined the Asia Department of AFD in 2006. She then participated to the opening of the AFD office in New Delhi, where she was in charge of projects in the urban public transport sector. In May 2009, she joined the Research Department of AFD, and is currently working with Nils Devernois on sustainable urban development and heritage conservation.

 

 

 

Nicolas Lejosne
Research Officer

Nicolas Lejosne holds an engineering degree from the Ecole des Arts et Métiers in Paris, a doctorate in management from the Ecole Polytechnique and a doctorate in administration from the Haute Ecole de Commerce in Montreal. He worked for GRET (Groupe de Recherche et d’Echanges Technologiques) on issues related to SMEs’ access to vocational training, then did a two-year stint as technical assistant on an agro-industry project in Benin. His research focus then shifted to the issue of managing technology transfer. He joined the AFD Research Department in the fall of 2007 to work specifically on issues of vocational training and support to the private sector (mainly SMEs and the informal sector). His centres of interest include management of innovation, entrepreneurship, apprenticeship and sustainable industrial development.

Research topics: Vocational training

Publications

Nicolas Meisel
Research Officer

Nicolas Meisel graduated from France’s leading business School HEC with a MSc in Management and holds an M.Phil. in institutional economics from the University of Paris-X Nanterre. He worked for six years as a development economist at the OECD Development Centre before joining AFD in late 2005. His research topics include institutions and governance, the functioning of financial systems macroeconomics and development strategies in sub-saharan Africa. His leisure activities are sailing, mountain climbing and martial arts.

Thomas Mélonio
Research Officer

Thomas Mélonio is an economist. He graduated from France’s Haute Ecole de Commerce (2003) and also holds a post-master’s degree (diplôme d’études approfondies, or DEA) in macroeconomics from the Institut de Sciences Politiques-OFCE (2004). After working with Dominique Strauss-Kahn to establish his think tank “A gauche, en Europe” (To the Left in Europe), he joined AFD in early 2005, becoming Assistant Editor-in-Chief of the journal Afrique contemporaine and Editor-in-Chief of the AFD newsletter La Lettre des économistes de l’AFD. In September 2007, he joined the Research Department as an economist to work on the linkages between human capital and development in the countries where AFD operates. He is also the correspondent for sub-Saharan Africa for La Vie des idées (the online journal of the think tank La République des Idées).

Publications

Marie-Cécile Thirion 

Research Officer 

 

Marie-Cécile Thirion is an agronomic engineer. After working on project supervision at the International Labour Organization she managed various programmes within the NGO Solagral. These included food security and food aid, market liberalization and the integration of environmental issues into trade negotiations for associations, the European Commission and French public institutions. Marie-Cécile also worked for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs where she participated in the food aid reform and research on aid for trade. She joined AFD in November 2008 where her activity focuses on Trade and Development and Agriculture and Food Security in developing countries.

Research topics : Trade and development - Agriculture - Sécurité alimentaire
Publications