CONFEMEN

What CONFEMEN does

CONFEMEN (Conférence des Ministres de l'Éducation des États et Gouvernements de la Francophonie) is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1960 and headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, that convenes and represents the education ministries of 44 member states and governments of La Francophonie across five continents. Its mandate is to coordinate francophone educational policy, build ministerial capacity, and generate comparable evidence on education system performance in member countries.

The organization's core programmatic surface consists of two flagship offerings: PASEC (Programme d'Analyse des Systèmes Éducatifs de la CONFEMEN), which designs and administers cross-national student assessments, with its PASEC2024 cycle covering 21 countries and 654,074 respondents; and PACTE, launched in 2022 to support education-system transformation and reform advisory work in member states. Supporting instruments include the Imaginecole digital platform and the PASEC International Summer School (institutionalized in 2025) for capacity-building of assessment practitioners, alongside research partnerships with Université Laval (Canada) and Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD, Senegal).

CONFEMEN operates as a non-profit intergovernmental body funded through assessed contributions from its 44 member states, supplemented by partnerships with multilateral and bilateral donors. It is governed through rotating ministerial conferences (the 61st held in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in April–May 2026) under a designated President — currently Professor Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa of Cameroon — and a Secretary General, Abdel Rahamane BABA-MOUSSA. Headcount is 46 employees. The business model is therefore treaty-based and contribution-funded rather than commercial; there are no disclosed pricing tiers, ARR, or per-user fees.

Name

CONFEMEN

Legal name

Conférence des ministros de l'Éducation des États et Gouvernements de la francophonie

Website

https://confemen.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1960

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CONFEMEN is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1960 in Dakar that coordinates education policy for 44 member states of La Francophonie, operating two flagship programs: PASEC cross-national student assessments and PACTE education-system transformation support.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Intergovernmental Education Policy Coordination

NAICS

Administration of Education Programs (923110)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDADALAA

Intergovernmental Education Cooperation & Bilateral/Multilateral Programs

Education/Education Administration, Accreditation & Policy/Education Partnerships, Intergovernmental & NGO Programs

Keywords

• Intergovernmental education cooperation
• Educational policy dialogue
• Educational assessment programs
• Education system transformation
• Teacher professional development

Headquarters

HQ city

Dakar

HQ country

Senegal

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Member State Contributions: CONFEMEN is funded primarily through contributions from its 44 member states and governments, as well as partnerships with international organizations and development agencies that support its programs including PASEC and PACTE.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

CONFEMEN is an intergovernmental organization that convenes education ministers from 44 member states and governments of La Francophonie to drive education policy dialogue, produce comparative educational data through PASEC, and support educational system transformation through PACTE across the francophone world. The organization coordinates member states' education policies, runs comparative learning assessments, supports education reform design and implementation, and hosts biennial ministerial conferences.

Product overview

CONFEMEN (Conférence des ministros de l'Éducation des États et Gouvernements de la francophonie) is an international intergovernmental organization headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, established in 1960 with 44 member states and governments. The organization operates two flagship programs: PASEC (Programme d'Analyse des Systèmes Éducatifs) for large-scale educational assessments and PACTE (Programme d'Appui au Changement et à la Transformation de l'Éducation) for educational transformation support. These programs work in conjunction with a documentation center (CID'Confemen), international summer schools, and biennial ministerial conferences. CONFEMEN's portfolio includes assessment frameworks like PASEC2024 (covering 654,074 respondents in 21 countries), the Imaginecole digital platform for teacher collaboration, and strategic policy documents (DRO). The organization functions as a policy coordination body rather than a commercial software product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• PASEC: Programme d'Analyse des Systèmes Éducatifs - International comparative evaluation programme for francophone education systems
• PACTE
• CID'Confemen
• STP
• Imaginecole

Products and services

• PASEC (Programme d'Analyse des Systèmes Éducatifs)

Quantifiable outcome

• PASEC2024 evaluated nearly 293,000 students, 59,372 teachers, 8,654 school directors across 21 countries
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (UCAD)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025UCAD co-organizes the PASEC International Summer School with CONFEMEN and Université Laval, hosting the event in Dakar from August 25 to September 5, 2025 on the theme 'Impulser la recherche scientifique par une meilleure exploitation des données PASEC'.
• Université LavalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Université Laval co-organizes the PASEC International Summer School with CONFEMEN and UCAD, contributing academic expertise in educational research and data analysis.
• UNESCOcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCONFEMEN collaborates with UNESCO on educational initiatives including the International Literacy Day celebration (Journée internationale de l'alphabétisation). UNESCO serves as a key partner in global education advocacy and policy alignment, with CONFEMEN participating in high-level panels at UNESCO headquarters.
• Fédération Wallonie-BruxellescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFédération Wallonie-Bruxelles provides support to the CID'Confemen (Centre d'Information et de Documentation), contributing to the organization's documentation and knowledge management infrastructure.
• UNESCO Institute for StatisticsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUNESCO Institute for Statistics participates in high-level panels at CONFEMEN ministerial conferences, contributing expertise on teacher statistics and educational data frameworks.
• France Éducation internationalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrance Éducation international participates in CONFEMEN expert panels on the teaching profession, sharing French and international expertise on teacher policy and professional development.
• EDUCOminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEDUCO participates in high-level panels organized by CONFEMEN focused on the valorization of the teaching profession and educational transformation.
• Librairie LDEminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLibrairie LDE participates in CONFEMEN expert panels on educational resources and the teaching profession.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA): ADEA is a pan-African intergovernmental forum based in Côte d'Ivoire that convenes education ministers and partners. It is the closest functional analogue to CONFEMEN across Africa, pursuing overlapping objectives (policy dialogue, knowledge production, ministerial convening) for a broader (anglophone + francophone) membership.
• Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF): OIF is the parent francophone intergovernmental body of which CONFEMEN is the oldest operative institution. It overlaps with CONFEMEN's convening of francophone governments and member-state coordination, though it operates across sectors (culture, politics, language) rather than specializing in education.
• SEAMEO (Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization): SEAMEO is a regional intergovernmental organization of education ministers in Southeast Asia, structurally similar to CONFEMEN's model of ministers convening around shared programs and assessment work. It serves as a regional analogue rather than a direct competitor.
• SACMEQ (Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality): SACMEQ is the principal anglophone counterpart to PASEC, running comparable large-scale comparative learning assessments across Southern and Eastern Africa. It is the most natural direct peer on the measurement side, though it operates regionally rather than across the francophone space.

Broad incumbents

• UNESCO: UNESCO is the global intergovernmental agency for education (SDG 4, Education 2030). CONFEMEN partners with UNESCO and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, but UNESCO operates at far greater global scale and across all languages.
• World Bank Education Global Practice: The World Bank Education GP is a major funder and producer of education analytics (e.g., Learning Poverty) that overlap with PASEC's measurement remit. It engages the same francophone African ministries on system reform alongside CONFEMEN's PACTE program.
• OECD Directorate for Education and Skills: OECD Education runs PISA, TALIS, and PIAAC — international education benchmarking programs that mirror PASEC's assessment function. OECD addresses a much wealthier and broader membership but operates a comparable model of comparative data production for policy use.
• UNICEF Education Section: UNICEF's education section programs and reports on learning outcomes for children globally, frequently partnering with institutions like CONFEMEN on data and policy work in the same African member states.

Emerging players

• IIEP-UNESCO (International Institute for Educational Planning): IIEP-UNESCO specializes in education policy planning and capacity building for ministries of education, partially overlapping with CONFEMEN's PACTE and Imaginecole mandates. It operates more narrowly on training and planning rather than ministerial convening.

Regional players

• European Commission – DG EAC (Education, Youth, Sport and Culture): DG EAC coordinates EU education policy (Erasmus+, European Education Area) and convenes member state ministries in a way that resembles CONFEMEN's role in the francophone space, though within a different (European) geography.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/confemen
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC8r_G6FtJS1pO7BzEAc8N-A
• Facebookfacebook.com/CONFEMEN
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/confemen

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CONFEMEN