Hervé ConanGeneral Director - AFD
Hervé Conan, an engineer by training (INSA Toulouse) and holder of a Master's degree in environment (University of Sherbrooke, Quebec), began his career in 1983 as a sanitary engineer at the Direction des Affaires Sanitaires de Mayotte (VAT then contractual), before creating locally a consulting firm (RéA) in the field of land use and local development.
In 1989, he joined the Vergnet Company (village hydraulics and renewable energies) where he set up the concept of after-sales service for village pumps in Africa, before moving on in 1990 as Deputy General Manager until 1994. As part of his duties, he developed the Asian market and in particular Vietnam (rural hydraulics and wind power).
Based in France and then in Vietnam from 1997 to 2001, he then developed a consulting activity in the field of public utilities management in developing countries (Africa, Asia and overseas), and ensured in particular the piloting of a FASEP on hospital waste management in Vietnam and the support to the national strategy of water supply and sanitation in rural areas on behalf of BURGEAP, and developed wind power projects in New Caledonia. After having created a consulting firm in Cambodia in the field of public aid to development and a start-up in the field of renewable energies in Singapore, he joined BURGEAP in 2001 to develop their activities in Asia.
During these two years at BURGEAP, he develops the activity in particular with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with first significant contracts in Pakistan and in the Pacific.
In 2003, he joined the French Development Agency (AFD) as a project manager for rural water supply and local development within the Agriculture and Rural Development Division. He joined the Phnom Penh agency in 2006 as a rural and private sector project manager, where he strengthened AFD's position in the coordination of donors in the agricultural sector, both with the ADB and the European Union, and supported the implementation of major rice projects and pilot projects for the development of geographical indications.
He joined Jerusalem in 2009 as Agency Director in charge of the Palestinian Territories. Under his leadership, AFD has become an important player in the institutional dialogue for the water and sanitation and municipal development sectors, where he chairs the donor coordination committees.
In 2013, he became Director of the Yaoundé regional agency in charge of Cameroon, Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea. In Cameroon, he revitalized the €800 million C2D (Contrat de désendettement Développement) program and supported the co-construction of the third phase of €600 million. He developed the sovereign loan activity and set up the first non-sovereign loan with a public company. In the Central African Republic, he contributed to France's positioning in the country's stabilization policy, with the implementation of the Trust Fund concept of the Békou Fund implemented by the European Union and the development of projects in response to the crisis.
In May 2016, he was appointed Director of the Latin America and Caribbean Department at AFD headquarters, where he developed a proactive regional strategy and supported the drafting of a "White Paper" on French strategy in Latin America with all state and civil society actors. He developed AFD's regionalization policy on a pilot basis with the creation of three multi-faceted regional departments. Under his impetus, 3 new countries were opened for interventions: Cuba, Argentina and Costa Rica.
As part of the planned integration of Expertise France into the AFD Group, he joined Expertise France in September 2018 as Deputy Director General in charge of operations, with a mandate to reposition Expertise France as an interministerial operator of the French Government, to strengthen the steering of operational activity in line with the priorities of French cooperation policy, to consolidate the positioning with the European Commission -more than 60% of the activity) and to promote operational synergies with AFD. In line with AFD's regionalization policy, a new decentralization policy for Expertise France is being implemented (role of AFD Agency Directors, creation of Regional Coordinator positions and shared offices).
In September 2021, he will join Vietnam as Director of the AFD Agency in Hanoi.
