CEO of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD)
Since 2001, Jean-Michel Severino is the CEO of the AFD. After graduating from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration, he started his career as Inspector of finances in the French administration. He was previously director in charge of international development at the French Ministry of cooperation. At the World Bank, he served as director for Central Europe and then as Vice President for Asia.
Detailed biography:
After graduating from the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris and the Sorbonne University (bachelor of laws) in 1978, Jean-Michel Severino studied advanced economics. He then entered the Institut d’Etudes Politiques and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration, from which he graduated in 1984.
Jean-Michel Severino started his career as Inspector of finances at the French Ministry of economy and finances. In 1988, his interest for development led him to the Cabinet of the Minister of cooperation and development Jacques Pelletier as a technical adviser. In this ministry, he occupied successively the post of Chief of geographic coordination (1990-94) and the post of Director of development (1994-96), where he advised the French government on supporting the democratization processes in Africa, and prepared and managed the devaluation of the CFA franc.
Jean-Michel Severino then joined the World Bank as director for Central Europe (1996-97). He became Vice President for Asia in 1997, shortly before the beginning of the Asian financial crisis, which he managed at the Bank in accompaniment of the IMF programmes.
In 2000, Jean-Michel Severino came back shortly at the Ministry of economy and finances as General inspector of finances and was nominated director general of the AFD in 2001. His tree-year term was renewed in 2004 and 2007. He contributed to the High-Level Expert Panel on the System-Wide Coherence of the United Nations in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and environment, and is part of the Commission on the “White book” on France’s foreign and European policy. Between 2000 and 2005, Jean-Michel Severino was associate professor at the CERDI where he taught theory and political economy of global public goods.
The AFD is a financial institution at the heart of the French system of official development assistance. The AFD supports the public and private spheres as well as associative networks. Its aim is to implement economic and social projects in more than 60 countries on all continents and in overseas France. Its action for development is guided by the millennium development goals of the United Nations and the imperative of environmental sustainability.
To know more on Jean-Michel Severino’s work:
Recent publications
• “A welcome revolution in Africa” article published in Emerging markets on 21 octobre 2007.
• “Feeding Africa”, article by Jean-Michel Severino and Jacques Diouf, published in the International Herald Tribune, on 20 Octobre 2007.
• “Solving the water equation”, article by Jean-Michel Severino and Mikhael Gorbachev, distributed by Project Syndicate in June 2007.
• “There’s much ground to make up, but the reform of EU aid is now under way”, article published in Europe’s World, Septembre 2007
• “Cultivating Energy”, article distributed by Projet Syndicate, December 2006.
Most of Mr. Severino’s publications are posted on the website of the Agence Française de Développement.
Reactions and comments can be sent here
Jean-Michel Severino’s word:
I regularly meet the members of this blog in professional contexts. We often have very rich discussions and exchanges, but they usually seem too short and punctual. This blog is for us an opportunity to carry on our dialogue, to exchange our views and new ideas, and use this technology as a tool to do so despite our professional constraints. I hope that this blog will give us a space for a vivid and constructive dialogue; so that each of us can think out loud and thereby make the daily practice of development evolve.
Show others posts of Jean-Michel SEVERINO :
- 2009/03/30 - From official development assistance to the financing of global public policies
- 2009/02/25 - Dear Friends, let’s promote a Green and Social Recovery
- 2008/12/22 - Cash on delivery aid: changing the incentive mix
- 2008/12/17 - European aid: what for and how?
- 2008/11/03 - Population and natural resources: managing pressure
- 2008/09/26 - An Ethical Framework for Debt Management?
- 2008/07/30 - What consequences in case of a failure of the Doha round ?
- 2008/06/19 - What role for the private sector in development?
- 2008/05/06 - Microfinance, micro-impacts?
- 2008/04/04 - Agriculture and energy in Africa
- 2008/01/18 - Should we impose social and environmental standards to developing countries?
- 2008/01/18 - Interview of Jean-Michel Severino on France 24 TV
- 2007/11/26 - On development and the global environmental crisis
- 2007/10/21 - Development aid and fragile States
- 2007/10/03 - Millennium Development Goals: looking beyond 2015
See the comments of Jean-Michel SEVERINO :
European aid: what for and how?
Author : Jean-Michel Severino, 2008/12/18PS: here is a piece I wrote on this topic last year in Europe’s World. ...
En direct des JED - Comment la crise financière affectera-t-elle le monde en développement ?
Author : ID4D (multi-author), 2008/11/17Bonjour à tous, Je me retrouve à mon tour sur le stand AFD par une merveilleuse journée ensoleillée à Strasbourg. Pas le meilleur moment pour poster un blog, alors que l'on aimerait prof ...
En direct des JED - Comment la crise financière affectera-t-elle le monde en développement ?
Author : ID4D (multi-author), 2008/11/13Bonjour, Nous avons encore peu de recul sur la crise qui secoue le système économique mondial. Ce que nous savons, cependant, c’est que les pays en développement risquent d’être affec ...
Pékin mérite davantage de fair play
Author : Achim Steiner, 2008/09/03Dear Achim, Welcome to our blogger community! I am delighted that you are taking part to our exchanges. Debates will be all the richer. This first post is very interesting. Yes indeed, with a ...
Aide au développement et Etats fragiles
Author : Jean-Michel Severino, 2008/07/24[Traduction française disponible plus bas] Yes, we do often intervene too late. It is the repeated tragedy for those states that accumulate different forms of “fragility”, and which fall ...
Peut-on imposer des règles sociales et environnementales aux pays du Sud ?
Author : Jean-Michel Severino, 2008/07/23[english translation available below] Je suis content que cette question ait suscité un débat si vif. Ce problème soulève d’importantes questions éthiques, puisque les standards de RSE ...
Agriculture et énergie en Afrique
Author : Jean-Michel Severino, 2008/05/28[This text is a translation] Dear Friends, I am happy that we are having this rich debate, on a topic that shows its crucial importance at this moment. I would like to come back on a few points ...
Agriculture et énergie en Afrique
Author : Jean-Michel Severino, 2008/05/28Chers amis je suis heureux de ce débat très riche sur une question dont on perçoit toute l’importance aujourd’hui. Je voudrais revenir sur quelques points abordés dans vos remarques. L ...
Peut-on imposer des règles sociales et environnementales aux pays du Sud ?
Author : Jean-Michel Severino, 2008/05/28I am happy that this question has aroused such a lively debate. This issue does raise important ethical questions, as CSR standards are sometimes perceived as hampering the economic development o ...
Aide au développement et Etats fragiles
Author : Jean-Michel Severino, 2008/05/28Oui, nous intervenons souvent trop tard. C’est bien le drame des Etats qui cumulent différents facteurs de ‘fragilité’, et qui tombent ou retombent dans la conflictualité violente alors ...
Quel développement face à la crise environnementale globale ?
Author : Jean-Michel Severino, 2008/05/28[This text is a translation] Dear Friends, thank you for your comments. Let pursue this fruitful exchange. I think indeed that the issue of shared responsibilities is at the heart of the sub ...
Quel développement face à la crise environnementale globale ?
Author : Jean-Michel Severino, 2008/05/28Chers amis, merci de vos commentaires. Permettez-moi de poursuivre cet échange passionnant. Je crois en effet que la question des responsabilités partagées est au cœur du sujet. Si nous avo ...
Examen global de l'Aide pour le commerce
Author : Pascal Lamy, 2007/12/21Cher Pascal, J’ai lu ton dernier post avec beaucoup d’intérêt. Nous croyons beaucoup, ici à l’AFD, à l’importance du renforcement des capacités commerciales des pays qui s’int ...
Objectifs du millénaire : passer le cap de 2015
Author : Jean-Michel Severino, 2007/11/19Dear Kemal, friends—thank you for your comments. Here are elements as a response… The “global social security safety net” must indeed not be considered as the only justification for dev ...
Author : Donald Kaberuka, 2007/11/06
Dear Donald, A few thoughts on your post, which addresses a crucial question for each of our organisations: 1. Like you, my feeling is that whether we like it or not, this proliferation of ...
Objectifs du millénaire : passer le cap de 2015
Author : Jean-Michel Severino, 2007/11/06[English translation available above] Amis, cher Kemal, merci de vos réactions. Quelques éléments de réponse… Ce « filet de sécurité social à l’échelle planétaire » ne doit p ...
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