In order to promote the development of the Third World in the context of the Cold War, the United Nations promoted the creation of technical assistance programmes. The International Labour Organization (ILO) is distinguished by its desire to link economic development and social progress. While Western experts are sent to Asia, South America and Africa to promote economic growth, young professionals from the countries visited receive scholarships to study in Europe. This article aims to reconstruct the movements of Africans who received ILO scholarships in the 1950s and 1960s and were sent to France to explore the functioning of the welfare state. Technical assistance, while increasing the mobility of young Africans towards Europe and participating in the regionalisation of African social security policies, reinforced France’s dominant position in its former empire.