Eduardo González
Yesterday, the Council of Ministers authorized the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) to call for subsidies to Non-Governmental Development Organizations to carry out humanitarian actions, corresponding to the year 2024, for a maximum amount of twenty million euros, which represents an increase of 33 percent compared to the previous year.
The grants from this call will finance humanitarian actions by NGDOs that, for a maximum period of 24 months, aim to prevent and prepare for disasters, respond to emergencies, address complex, chronic and recurrent crises, and early recovery. and the protection of people in situations of special vulnerability.
The geographical priorities of this call are, in Latin America and the Caribbean: Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Venezuela. In Asia, the Arab World and Europe, the priority countries are: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Lebanon, Moldova, Myanmar, Palestine, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen and Ukraine. Finally, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the priority countries are: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Zimbabwe.
According to the forecast document for calls for competitive grants, adopted on February 21, only projects that develop the Humanitarian Action Strategy of Spanish Cooperation will be financeable, primarily in the sectors of protection, water, sanitation and hygiene, health, food safety and nutrition and education in emergencies.
Among the main developments for 2024, and in view of the increase in humanitarian needs in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the AECID will reserve 15% of the credit available in the call for humanitarian actions for Palestine.
At least 25 percent of the available call credit will also be reserved for interventions that address the specific humanitarian needs of women and girls and are aimed at advancing their empowerment and gender equality, including specifically targeted interventions. to the prevention, mitigation and response to sexual violence and gender violence and the protection of the rights of girls, boys and women, with the aim of reducing the risk and guaranteeing comprehensive humanitarian care.
In 2023, 19 humanitarian action initiatives developed by thirteen NGDOs were selected, which received a total of millions of euros (therefore, an increase of more than thirty percent is recorded in the new call) to improve the living conditions of the populations. most vulnerable in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, Lebanon, Mali, Niger, Palestine, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, South Sudan and Venezuela.
