Secretary General of La Francophonie
The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), generally known as the Francophonie (French: La Francophonie [la fʁɑ̃kɔfɔni]), but also called International Organisation of La Francophonie in English language context, is an international organization representing countries and regions where French is the first ("mother") or customary language, where a significant proportion of the population are francophones (French speakers) or where there is a notable affiliation with French culture.
The organization comprises 57 member states and governments, three associate members and twenty observers. The term francophonie (with a lowercase "f"), or francosphere (often capitalised in English) also refers to the global community of French-speaking peoples, comprising a network of private and public organizations promoting equal ties among countries where French people or France played a significant historical role, culturally, militarily or politically.
French geographer Onésime Reclus, brother of Élisée Reclus, coined the word Francophonie in 1880 to refer to the community of people and countries using the French language. Francophonie was then coined a second time by Léopold Sédar Senghor, founder of the Négritude movement, in the review Esprit in 1962, who assimilated it into Humanism.
The modern organisation was created in 1970. Its motto is , , ("equality, complementarity, and solidarity"), a deliberate allusion to France's motto liberté, égalité, fraternité. Started as a small club of northern French-speaking countries, the Francophonie has since evolved into a global organization whose numerous branches cooperate with its member states in the fields of culture, science, economy, justice, and peace.
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