The Diplomat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has presented the Spanish Platform for Cooperation in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (PECASH), an initiative of the Spanish Cooperation to connect the different actors in the sector and promote the exchange and learning of experiences.
The presentation took place this Tuesday by the State Secretary for International Cooperation, Eva Granados. According to Foreign Ministry, more than 600 people and entities have already joined this initiative that aims to generate alliances to improve the impact of its actions on the target population.
The event, held at the headquarters of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), was attended by more than 200 people from various points of the Spanish geography, representing decentralized cooperation – both from municipalities and autonomous communities -, civil society, the private sector, universities and public companies.
During her presentation, Granados highlighted “the strategic opportunity of this Platform to become a network of networks, connecting and strengthening the alliances of the different initiatives, actors and institutions that already work in this field: from the fundamental role of the AECID to the indispensable participation of decentralized cooperation, NGOs and the private business sector”.
Following the intervention of the State Secretary, Concepción Marcuello, coordinator of International Affairs of the General Directorate of Water of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, presented the initiative to launch the Spanish Water Partnership, which includes PECASH as a specific platform for the field of cooperation for sustainable development.
For her part, the head of the Department of the Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation of AECID, Emma Orejudo, pointed out the importance of working in alliances, making every drop, however small, contribute to the achievement of the objectives, driving progress towards SDG 6: “Clean water and sanitation”. The FCAS is one of the flagship programmes of Spanish Cooperation, which since its inception in 2009 and until 2023 has enabled 4,454,635 people to access improved water and sanitation.