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Operating agencies
The 4 operating agencies of La Francophonie implement the decisions taken by the Summit according to their areas of expertise. Thus, the OIF relies on four operating agencies:
University Agency of La Francophonie (AUF) (In French only)
The Association of Partly or Wholly French-speaking Universities (AUPELF) was founded in 1961 on the initiative of the Canadian Jean-Marc Léger. Now called the University Agency of La Francophonie (AUF), the organization has its headquarters in Montreal and 686 member institutions in 81 countries, including 33 in Canada.The AUF is a multilateral institution which supports cooperation and solidarity among university institutions operating in French, with priority to the Francophone countries of Africa, the Arab world, Southeast Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean. It also contributes to the development of higher education and research.
The Agency has been La Francophonie's direct operating agency for higher education and research since 1989, thereby contributing, thanks to the support of states and governments using French as a common language, to the construction and consolidation of a French presence in the field of science.
TV5Monde (In French only). The partners involved in TV5, the international French-language television network, are Canada, Quebec, France, Switzerland, the French Community of Belgium, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal. TV5 is one of the three largest television networks in the world and is considered one of the greatest accomplishments of La Francophonie. It is an extraordinary communications medium that can reach more than 160 million households and 24.5 million viewers 24 hours a day, by cable or satellite, in over 203 countries and territories, on every continent.
TV5 is an original instrument of multilateral cooperation and a special tool of communication among people within La Francophonie. It provides an exceptional showcase for distributing Canadian television, film and cultural products. It also gives Canadian television audiences access to unique broadcast programming from partner countries.
Management of TV5 is centralized in Paris; in Canada, that function is served by Montreal-based TV5 Québec Canada.
Senghor University, Alexandria (In French only)
Created in 1990 following the Dakar Summit, Senghor University is a private postgraduate institution that trains managers and high-level trainers in areas that are a priority for development in Francophone Africa.Initially, the university had two departments: health and nutrition, and management and administration. Canada sponsored the establishment of an environmental management department and bore the cost of sending experts and teachers from the University of Quebec at Montreal. A fourth department, cultural heritage management, has since been added to the other three.
The university is financed mainly through contributions from participating member states and governments of La Francophonie. In its early days, it was also financed by international and national development agencies as well as private-sector sponsors, including Power Corporation President Paul Desmarais. A conference room bearing his name was opened in November 1991.
International Association of Francophone Mayors (In French only)
The International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF) is La Francophonie's operating agency for urban development. It has more than 150 members in 47 countries or governments. In Canada, the cities of Gatineau, Moncton, Montreal and Quebec are members of the Association.The goal of the AIMF is to establish close cooperation in all areas of municipal activity. The AIMF has a number of tools available to carry out its projects, including the funds it receives from La Francophonie as an operating agency.
The AIMF develops its programs around two complementary themes: building municipal capacity, and support for populations. This programming focuses on ten sectors of intervention: modernization of municipal management; registry offices; pay and bookkeeping; support for mayors; training; municipal infrastructures; urban development; culture, youth and education; health; and emergency assistance.
The AIMF was created in Quebec City in 1979 on the initiative of Jean Pelletier and Jacques Chirac, then the respective mayors of Quebec City and Paris.
