16/05/2026
On 11 and 12 May, Kenya and France co-hosted the Summit in Nairobi.
Co-chaired by President William Ruto and President Emmanuel Macron, the Summit brought together heads of state, business leaders, innovators and civil society to build partnerships for innovation and growth across the continent.
For more than a century, AKDN has worked with governments and communities in Africa to strengthen institutions, build economic capacity and improve the quality of life.
In Kenya, where AKDN’s engagement spans over 100 years, the Network reaches more than 27 million people with over 14,000 staff working across health, education, economic development and environmental stewardship.
Since the signing of a Partnership Convention in 2008, France – mainly through the AFD - Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Proparco, its private sector financing arm – and AKDN have collaborated on more than 60 projects across 20 countries, with French funding exceeding $584 million and joint investment surpassing $1 billion.
In health, AFD has provided more than $120 million in financing to AKDN in the region, supporting the expansion of the Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam, the upgrading of hospitals in Mombasa and Kisumu and the establishment of the Heart and Cancer Centre in Nairobi.
In 2025, AKDN, AFD and the Gates Foundation launched the East Africa Comprehensive Cancer Project, a $12 million initiative to combat women’s cancers in Tanzania and Kenya expected to benefit approximately 7.4 million people. Beyond health, the partnership extends across education, financial services, tourism and agriculture.
On 10 May, AKDN hosted a reception with the Paris Peace Forum and the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs at the Aga Khan University campus in Nairobi.
On 12 May, AFD, AKF, France and the Ismaili Imamat signed a memorandum of understanding to advance the sustainable management of marine and coastal ecosystems and regenerative agriculture in Tanzania.
As the Africa Forward Summit convened under the theme “Partnerships for Innovation and Growth”, the AKDN-France collaboration showed what sustained, values-driven partnership can achieve.
Full story - https://the.akdn/en/resources-media/whats-new/news-release/shared-values-shared-progress-akdn-and-france-in-partnership-with-africa
