Following a program from Paris provides a global perspective; experiencing it firsthand offers different viewpoints. After a mission to Guadeloupe and Martinique in November 2025, Stéphanie Gaymard shares what she remembers from the deployment of CORÉOM.
Stéphanie Gaymard is the Biodiversity-Environment-Oceans and Overseas Project Manager at the Civil Society Organizations Division has the French Development Agency, where she notably oversees programs supporting civil society and regional cooperation. In this interview, she offers the perspective of one of the financial partners ofu programme, offering a strategic vision on its deployment and prospects for COREOOM, program co-financed by the AFD, in partnership with the Fondation de France.
Following this mission to Guadeloupe and Martinique, what key observations have you made regarding the deployment of CORÉOM on the ground?
This mission allowed me, above all, to "bring to life" a program I had previously followed remotely. From Paris, you receive information, reports, and an overall view—but you don't always grasp the daily realities, the nuances, or what's being said between the lines. Being on the ground gave me a much more complete understanding: the program's value for the associations, how the partners implement it, and what this concretely changes for the winning projects.
What I remember first is CORÉOM's strong alignment with the needs of organizations. The program arrives “at the right time”: it responds to a genuine, existing desire to develop cooperation with neighboring regions. Several associations told me they had long harbored these intentions but lacked the resources to get started. With CORÉOM, the momentum began at the perfect moment, coinciding with the existence of opportunities and connections within these regions.
Finally, I note a collective dynamic already underway, driven by networks: it creates bridges, opportunities for joint action, and a form of collective legitimacy. However, this dynamic remains concentrated within relatively small circles of actors, often the same people mobilized. This is a strength… and already a challenge for the future.
One of the program's hallmarks is support. What kind of support are we talking about exactly, and how does it make a difference for associations?
We're talking about very practical, highly valued, and above all, very tailored support, adapted to individual needs. For some organizations, it helps structure their vision, mission, and sometimes even their operational framework. For others, which already have a solid foundation, it provides more technical and operational support: project engineering, milestones, monitoring, indicators, steering committee meetings, and methodologies. In both cases, the award recipients clearly identified it as a major added value of the program.
What also emerges is that there would likely be gains in efficiency – and added value – by better combining collective and customized approaches. Currently, support has been very much "à la carte," tailored to each association individually. However, it's clear that common needs exist across several regions and among various types of organizations. common core skills development, Sharing would allow for more exchanges between associations, laying common ground, and then supplementing with tailor-made solutions based on the realities of each.
The idea is not to standardize: the life of an association evolves, needs change, and agility must remain a strength of the system. Building a clearer pathway, with a common foundation and in-depth exploration, could make the support even more coherent and efficient.
You mention the issue of visibility and institutional connections. What is currently lacking to broaden the CORÉOM ecosystem and prepare for the next phase of the program?
There is a need to create more structural connections, in particular between ecosystems which play a central role in regional cooperation and solidarity dynamics: institutions, private sector, foundations, support actors, etc.
To amplify CORÉOM, the next step is to «"coming out of the woodwork"» : to make the actions carried out within the program more visible, to better explain them, to better share them, and above all to better connect the different networks and spheres of actors. This requires coordination, communication, and knowledge sharing at a macro level, as well as the establishment of regular meetings on the ground, and the development of lasting and structured links between the Regional Multi-Actor Networks (RRMA) and other local networks, institutional actors, agencies, local authorities, program partners, associations, and other financial actors, particularly foundations. This is what collective and interconnected dynamic which helps to strengthen the impact of the program.
To amplify its impact, CORÉOM now needs to tell its story better.
Stéphanie Gaymard
and better connect the stakeholders with each other.»
I also strongly believe in a more assertive role for award winners as spokespeople for the program. The winning organizations can explain what the program enables, how it provides support, and how it changes their practices. This enhances both the visibility of the projects and the clarity of the system. However, it requires a minimum of structure: a framework, key messages, and sometimes some tools to help organizations promote their work while highlighting the support provided by CORÉOM.
This dynamic would benefit from being more visible in the territories in order to amplify more broadly the participation of actors in the international solidarity and regional cooperation ecosystem, to promote the involvement of new donors and thus to better contribute to the structuring of the local associative fabric and the deployment of their initiatives in citizenship education, international solidarity and cooperation on the scale of the Caribbean basin.
Finally, we are at a point where we must preserve The added value of the scheme lies in: subsidies of an intermediate amount, a financing method that facilitates action (particularly through pre-financing), and support deemed decisive. Looking ahead, one issue clearly emerges: thinking about sustainability and leverage. In other words: how can the momentum generated be sustained, how can we avoid a "one-off" effect, and how can we also support access to other funding – public or private – in addition to CORÉOM? There's a real need to accelerate this process.
Key points to remember:
- A field mission that confirms the strong relevance of the program
- Support perceived as crucial
- A clear need for amplification through visibility, networking, and the structuring of a broader ecosystem
