<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Queen Letizia dedicated the first day of her trip to Cape Verde to visiting two Spanish Cooperation initiatives for women: an empowerment and economic autonomy project and two shelters for victims of gender-based violence.</strong></h4> Queen Letizia has been in Cape Verde since Monday for her first official trip to Cape Verde and her third cooperation trip to sub-Saharan Africa, following those to Senegal in 2017 and Mozambique in 2019. The Queen, who is traveling accompanied by the Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Eva María Granados, will conclude her visit to the African country next Thursday, March 27. The Queen began her day this Tuesday with a visit to the facilities of the Spanish Embassy in Cape Verde, where she chaired a meeting attended by, among others, the Spanish Ambassador, Ana Paredes, and the Secretary of State for International Cooperation. She then traveled to the city of Pedra Badejo (Santa Cruz), where she visited the "Women's Empowerment and Economic Autonomy" project and, alongside Miryam Vieira, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Government of Cape Verde, met with students of the dressmaking course and with project beneficiaries. The Santa Cruz Dressmaking Cooperative trains women in vulnerable situations. Additionally, they receive advice on entering the labor market and training to achieve economic autonomy through entrepreneurship. Its objective is to guarantee Cape Verdean women access to decent employment, increasing their income and strengthening the formal economy, weakened by COVID-19. The Queen's next stop was at shelters for victims of gender-based violence, where the First Lady of the Republic of Cape Verde, Débora Katisa Carvalho, was waiting for her. There, she was briefed on the project "Improving Access to Resources and Quality Care for Women and Girls Victims of Gender-Based Violence." The Manuela Irgher House houses women under the age of 18 (and their children), ensuring them safe and dignified living conditions and quality care services. In addition, the Casa Familia shelter, recently opened in the municipality of Santa Cruz, has expanded access and improved the quality of protection, care, and treatment services for women victims of gender-based violence. In the afternoon, the Queen traveled to Porto Mosquito, where she visited the project "Pilot program for localizing the SDGs in Cape Verde, with a focus on reducing inequalities - Comprehensive Development of the rural community of Porto Mosquito, in partnership with the United Nations" and held a brief meeting with beneficiaries of the project, whose main objective is to contribute to the comprehensive development and social cohesion of the community. The day concluded with a meeting with representatives of Spanish Cooperation at the Spanish Embassy in Cape Verde. <h5><strong>Tenth Cooperation trip</strong></h5> The purpose of the Queen's trip is to learn about the work that Spanish Cooperation is carrying out in Cape Verde in the areas of gender equality, comprehensive development (reducing inequalities and localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the blue economy (sustainable use of marine resources). This is the Queen's tenth Cooperation trip, which revives a tradition initiated by Queen Sofía in 1997. Previously, Queen Letizia traveled to Honduras and El Salvador (2015), Senegal (2017), the Dominican Republic and Haiti (2018), Mozambique (2019), Honduras again (2020), Paraguay (late 2021), Mauritania (May 2022), Colombia (June 2023), and Guatemala (June 2024). The purpose of these visits is to support Spanish Cooperation, learn firsthand about the work carried out by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID) and Spanish non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and verify the effectiveness of Spanish-funded projects and their direct impact on beneficiaries. <h5><strong>Cooperation in Cape Verde</strong></h5> Spanish Cooperation has been present in Cape Verde since 1999 and is currently one of the priority countries in the West African region. With the new Master Plan for Sustainable Development and Global Solidarity 2024-2027, Spain has renewed its commitment to the sustainable development of Cape Verde, a lower-middle-income country where a cross-cutting approach is being implemented to combat social, economic, and ecological inequality. In 2021, Spain and Cape Verde signed the latest Advanced Cooperation Agreement, which prioritizes progress in gender equality, economic growth and employment, the reduction of inequalities, adaptation to climate change and environmental sustainability, the use of marine resources, and the strengthening of partnerships within the framework of the 2030 Agenda. In the 2021-2024 period, the AECID invested more than €13 million in cooperation projects in Cape Verde. In addition, NGOs are currently implementing projects totaling over 3.7 million euros through CERAI, the Triángulo Foundation, the Association for Peace and Development, the Religious Foundation for Health, and the Amaranta Foundation. There are 32 Spanish aid workers in Cape Verde.
