The lack of a budget requires a reduction of almost 20 percent in subsidies for humanitarian action

Eduardo González The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) will contribute up to a total of €17 million to subsidize the development of humanitarian actions in 2025, 15% of which will be reserved for the Sahel countries. This amount is four million euros (19 percent) lower than the 21 million euros initially announced last March due to the lack of a General State Budget for 2025. The Official State Gazette published this past Wednesday the resolution of the AECID Presidency approving the public call for grants for the development of humanitarian actions in 2025. The resolution was signed on May 6 in Madrid by the agency's director, Antón Leis. These are the first calls for proposals since the approval of the new Master Plan for Spanish Cooperation 2024-2027. The beneficiaries of these grants will be non-governmental development organizations that have obtained AECID accreditation to carry out international development cooperation interventions, including humanitarian action, and that have obtained special accreditation from the European Commission for humanitarian interventions. Also eligible for these grants are groups without legal personality composed of entities that meet the above requirements or by entities legally established in the country or countries where the intervention is being implemented. Public administrations, international or multilateral organizations, and any entity in which a public administration participates are excluded. The objective of these grants is to finance humanitarian action projects, as established by the 2023 Law on Cooperation for Sustainable Development and Global Solidarity, including disaster prevention and preparedness, emergency response, response to complex, chronic, and recurring crises, early recovery, and the protection of people in particularly vulnerable situations. The actions may be carried out in one country or in several, if they are bordering countries experiencing the same humanitarian crisis. Ultimately, the objective of this call is to address the current context of conflict and multiple, overlapping crises globally. For example, the call provides for a reserve of at least 15 percent of the available credit for countries in the Sahel. Amounts and budgets For all of this, a maximum amount of €17 million has been set. The minimum amount that can be requested per project is €400,000, and the maximum is €1 million. The call will be funded from the General State Budget for 2023, but may also be financed with credits, if available. In early March, the AECID announced that €21 million would be allocated to humanitarian actions, as part of a total €85 million package for development cooperation, humanitarian action, and innovation grants in 2025. However, the lack of a General Budget for 2025 has forced the reduction of the amounts planned for this call and the provision of a maximum additional amount of €4 million (which would bring the total to the €21 million initially planned). This amount can be applied to the grants without the need for a new call for proposals, and its effectiveness will be subject to the availability of credit. Therefore, with the amount announced in March, the budget allocated to this item was €1 million higher than the amount announced in 2024. However, with this adjustment, the budgeted amount is €1 million lower than the previous year.

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