Africa: Major Increase in Aid From Spain

from All Africa

Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)

By Tito Drago
Madrid

Spain's development aid to Africa has increased significantly since socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero took office in March 2004.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and the African World Heritage Fund has signed a memorandum of understanding that includes one million euros (1.5 million dollars) in aid, making Spain the second largest donor to the Fund after South Africa.

The head of the Spanish Development Cooperation Agency (AECID), Juan Pablo de Laiglesia, told IPS that his country "has adopted an integrated aid policy," developed from scratch since 2004. Before then, international aid was lower in quantity and quality, "and was even at the service of interests that were not confined to the fight against hunger and poverty."

Its global aid policy is to help countries meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted by the United Nations in the year 2000 with a deadline of 2015, and to achieve sustainable development. Within this approach Spain had "the aim of widening the geographical horizon, so we have incorporated Africa," he said.

"Overall official development aid has doubled in the past four years, but aid channelled to fighting hunger and poverty and promoting development in Africa has increased threefold," he said. AECID alone increased its aid to the region from 90 million euros (138 million dollars) in 2004 to over 400 million euros (612 million dollars) in 2007.

In 2004, AECID had four offices in Africa. Now it has branches operating in Algeria, Angola, Cape Verde, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Senegal and Tunisia.

De Laiglesia said that Spain "not only contributes by donating funds, but also by establishing an institutional presence, and collaborating in the planning process to tackle the different countries' development priorities."

Other European countries, such as France, Germany, Belgium and Portugal, have a greater institutional presence in Africa than Spain, as they were formerly colonial powers there.

That is why, these days, Spain's presence is perceived to be more neutral and friendly, and "aligned with the countries we cooperate with," de Laiglesia said.

The memorandum of understanding was signed Monday by de Laiglesia for AECID and Weber Ndoro, the executive director of the African World Heritage Fund, which was launched in 2006 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Centre to receive contributions towards the preservation of Africa's natural and cultural heritage.

Africa's rich heritage is neglected. As Ndoro said after the signing ceremony, only 65 out of the nearly 800 sites on the World Heritage List are in Africa, and 43 percent of them are on UNESCO's World Heritage in Danger list.

The memorandum specifies that Spain's contribution will be used specifically towards protection of the African heritage sites and the economic development generated by them, especially in terms of boosting their positive impact on tourism, the economy, and the educational and cultural level of the countries involved.

Is cooperating with Africa different from cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean? IPS asked de Laiglesia.

Yes, he said, because "we share a language with most Latin American countries, and a sister language (Portuguese) with the largest nation, Brazil, which makes the work of Spanish cooperation agents much easier."

In contrast, "Africa is a partner we must get to know and explore, and, as with other regions, respect the priorities it identifies in deciding how to spend the resources we contribute to promote sustainable development."

Is the language difference the main difficulty to overcome?

"No, more important than the languages in Africa is the lack of social structure, the absence of strong state institutions, and the weak capacity to implement public policies and provide significant services to citizens. These, rather than sharing a language or not, are the elements that set limits on our actions."

So would you say that strengthening states is one of your goals? De Laiglesia replied, "yes, of course, empowering the state is a goal that is constantly present in all of our activities, because there can be no sustainable development without public policies and institutional capability arising from the strength of the state."

That is why, he added, "good governance is always on the agenda in our projects. Along with the basic issues, there is always a governance component included in our actions."