The Diplomat
The Government has commissioned the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) to carry out a study on the current system of international cooperation, in order to find out, among other things, how the indicators that measure the effectiveness of the aid granted by Spain work.
Last Tuesday, the Council of Ministers agreed to ask AIReF for this study, within the framework of the reform of the international development cooperation system that is being carried out by the Executive and for which a specific subcommittee is also operating in the Congress of Deputies.
The current Law on International Development Cooperation dates back to 1998 and integrates the set of “resources and capacities that Spain places at the disposal of developing countries, with the aim of facilitating and promoting their economic and social progress, and to contribute to the eradication of poverty in the world in all its manifestations”.
The decision to carry out a reform of the legal framework of Spain’s policy on international cooperation is due to the changes that have taken place in this area since then, and in particular, according to the Government, to the adoption in 2015 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, as well as the approval in 2017 of the European Consensus on Development.
The Executive will receive the proposals made in the subcommittee created in the Congress of Deputies, in principle, before the summer, but at the same time, according to the agreement adopted by the Council of Ministers, it has considered it appropriate to ask the independent fiscal authority for a study on the current system of development cooperation.
Specifically, the Government wants special attention to be paid to “the definition of indicators for measuring the progress achieved and the effectiveness of Spanish cooperation“.
It also asks AIReF to submit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation the work plan for the study and the budget needed to carry it out.
