Africa Regional Services in Paris (ARS) supports the entire range of public diplomacy efforts across Africa, where its U.S. missions engage nearly one fifth of the world. Founded in 1962 and part of the Bureau of African Affairs, ARS supplies original print and digital content, French-speaking experts, strategic advising services, and cultural performances for public diplomacy teams working at our 54 client-posts. ARS creates, curates, and distributes books and digital resources in French and Portuguese for further free distribution or sale through our networks.

Unique in the Department of State, ARS runs its own publishing imprint, Nouveaux Horizons (NH) which translates, prints, markets, and sells NH American books in French throughout Francophone Africa, including the Maghreb and Haiti. NH is a self-supporting commercial enterprise with an average US$500K in sales. ARS produces accompanying audiobooks and e-books and manages public outreach by our NH Brand Ambassadors and supports 54 African managers of American Spaces conducting outreach outside Embassies across Africa.

Through its on-site studio and contacts with Paris-based pan-African media, ARS arranges interviews, press conferences, and briefings for journalists related to U.S. policy in Africa. Over 3,000 Africans annually take direct part in civic engagement and journalism training programs organized by ARS. ARS recruits U.S. experts to engage virtually and in-person on policy-relevant topics of interest to its audiences. Millions more are reached through its podcasts and related radio programs in French, English and Portuguese.

ARS also has an advisory and professional mentoring role for the 54 client-posts it serves. Through formal mentor-matching, monthly online professional development and in-person workshops in Paris, it trains local and U.S. direct hire staff from across Africa. ARS is led by two State Department Officers and 13 locally engaged staff.