EL BLOG DE LA FIIAPP. Cooperación Española

What has been the greatest achievement of your experience as an expatriate expert?

Being able to offer more than ten years of national and international experience in public policies directed towards people with disabilities that could be of use to the National Council on Social Protection, the Cambodian institution that sought the support of SOCIEUX.  

What are you most proud of?

The General Directorate for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, for which I work, has taken part in a number of international projects, especially in European Neighbourhood Policy countries (Tunisia and Ukraine) and in Latin America. My work on this mission has opened up the chance for other international actors to get to know the work we do in countries where Spain has less presence or fewer historical, social, commercial etc. ties.   

How has your assignment helped to improve the lives of people and the planet?

The aim of the mission was to map and assess Cambodia’s existing social protection policies, including those that focus on disability. As a result of this work, my colleague (a Greek expert on disability from the WHO) and I have offered conclusions and recommendations to the Cambodian institution on the way forward for social protection policies aimed at people with disabilities in Cambodia which may improve the living conditions of people with disabilities and their families, and in general, of Cambodian society as a whole.  

What is the main value of the public sector for you?

The main value of the public sector is that it means we work for everybody, seeking the general interest of society as a whole, which I believe is very important today in a globalised world in which there are groups with conflicting interests.  

What have you learned from this experience? 

This experience has made it easier for me to get to know a part of the Cambodian reality, a country whose recent history has been very difficult, in which a large number of international actors operate such as the main United Nations organisations, the World Bank, various cooperation agencies international (Australia, Japan, the US, the EU etc.), NGOs from a number of different places with a wide range characteristics etc. This multiplicity of actors has its pros and cons, although the important thing is that the Cambodian government is committed to improving the living conditions of people with disabilities and their families. 

What would you highlight about your contribution to the mission to improve the lives of people and the planet?

What I am most proud of is having taken each mission as a personal challenge, analysing the objectives and conditions of the project in depth and having given my best. Although it is difficult to know to what extent, our mission has contributed to the general aim of improving the lives of people and the planet, beyond having personally contributed with the maximum interest and motivation to achieve the proposed goals. 

What is the main value of the public sector for you?

Without a doubt, ethics. Ethics is the foundation on which transparency and democratic quality have to be built. 

What have you learned from this experience?

I have learned many valuable things – that it is not based on superiority but on sharing experiences, that one never stops learning, that the search for solutions must begin with history, the actors and the cultural codes of the country to which they are going to be applied. 

What has been the greatest achievement of your experience as an expatriate expert?

I believe that the opportunity to strengthen ties of friendship and trust with other foreign and fellow prosecutors and feel that we have been useful in the processes of transformation and improvement of these counterpart institutions is very satisfactory. The trust that we establish with prosecutors from other countries through these processes of exchange of experiences also reinforces the global system for the fight against organised crime.   

What are you most proud of?

Being able to strengthen networks of specialist prosecutors and the true trust generated between professionals from different countries who work with the same objective. The networking of specialist Prosecutors is a success and has been recognised by all international organisations.  

How has your assignment helped to improve the lives of people and the planet?

I am confident that we have been able to achieve both improving the counterpart institutions and establishing links and common strategies to strengthen the mechanisms for the fight against organised crime and also to improve the treatment of victims.  Ending these criminal organisations or at least hindering their activity and growth improves peace and security. It is also possible to create fairer societies with the approach of the public ministries to the victims.    

What is the main value of the public aspect for you?

The general interest prevails in the public sphere and the institutions that work from the public to the public are based on objective values, for collective improvement purposes and on self-interested management seeking to share experiences without biases linked to particular and economic interests or with the objective of creating markets for the future. I am fully convinced that our experience as civil servants must be shared from the institutional level and that the private and interested use of knowledge, training and experience acquired in institutional work must be avoided.   

What have you learned from this experience?

To know other experiences and to be able to transfer them to my own institution to improve its operation.   

Prosecutor María Luisa García, deputy director of a cooperation project managed by FIIAPP and funded by the EU to fight organised crime in Albania, tells us about her work as a prosecutor mobilized by FIIAPP. The project also has specialists from the Ministry of the Interior (National Police), the Ministry of Justice, the State Attorney General’s Office and the General Council of the Judiciary. 

 What has been the greatest achievement of your experience as an expatriate expert?

It is probably too early to make an analysis of the greatest achievement as a mobilised expert. My trip to the field took place on March 15 of this year, so at the moment it is difficult to make an analysis. However, I am convinced that the progress that I can observe at the end of the project in the partner institutions in the subjects addressed will give me great personal and professional gratification. Likewise, achieving rapprochement between countries is one of the greatest objectives that can be pursued in this type of project.    

 What are you most proud of?

What I can feel most proud of is the possibility that this project offers me to externalise the knowledge that I have received during my professional career as a Prosecutor, share it with colleagues who face similar situations, but in a completely different scenario, such as Albania.   

How has your assignment helped to improve the lives of people and the planet?

It also may be too early to carry out an analysis of how the lives of the people who will be able to benefit from the activity carried out by the project have improved. In any case, it is clear that my mission as a cooperator in the field will improve and make more fluid relations in the field of judicial cooperation between Albania and other Member States, especially with Spain. This improvement will necessarily have an impact on judicial procedures and the quality of justice, the ultimate beneficiary of which will undoubtedly be the public.    

 What is the main value of the public aspect for you?

The main value of what is public, in my opinion, is being there for others. It involves the performance of a function far removed from private or personal interests to transcend the common benefit, the improvement and maintenance of the balance of a system that benefits everyone.   

What have you learned?

This type of experience involves continuous learning both personally and professionally. A continued achievement of overcoming new obstacles.  At the same time, it brings a greater vision. Knowing disparate systems, learning that there is no single way to achieve a goal, accepting what is different. From a public point of view, it allows us to analyse these differences and bring back to the public function in Spain everything that is different that can allow an improvement of our own system.   

What has been the greatest achievement of your experience as a mobilised expert? 

The greatest achievement so far has been to have been able to get Mozambican institutions to trust in the ability of the Support for the Fight Against Corruption in Mozambique project to work with them to effectively fight against corruption and get their full participation. 

What are you most proud of? 

From the teamwork and effort deployed, up to now, with my colleagues at FIIAPP when it comes to defending public technical assistance as an outstanding value. 

How has your mission as an aid worker and at the same time a public official contributed to improving the lives of people and the planet? 

As a Magistrate, I view public service to citizens as an absolute priority and as a necessary asset for the well-being of society as a whole. I understand that it is important to export these values and knowledge to other countries through the public technical assistance promoted by FIIAPP. 

What is the main value of the public aspect for you? 

Technical capacity and experience, merit and capacity in the selection of professionals, and prioritisation in the professional exercise of the principles of impartiality, objectivity and independence. 

What learning would you highlight?

That, sometimes, it is not easy to defend what is public against the commercialism of the market, private consultancies and vested interests. But there is no doubt that in the public sphere there are magnificent professionals who are knowledgeable about daily practice, and that this public model must be defended despite the obstacles. 

We interviewed Mónica Sánchez, a climate change adaptation expert at the Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge’s Office for Climate Change. Sánchez has worked in Latin America through the EUROCLIMA+ project and is part of the FIIAPP #PublicTalent initiative which is running in over 100 countries.  

What has been the greatest achievement of your experience as an expert working abroad?  

The most interesting thing is being able to share the Spanish experience in public policy matters for adaptation to climate change with other countries, as well as learning about their experiences when addressing the common challenges that we face. Adaptation to climate change is an area undergoing major development. It is important that spaces are created in which to exchange technical knowledge at both a methodological and practical level. The Spanish experience in the assessment of the previous National Climate Change Adaptation Plan and the preparation of a new, recently approved one, the development of tools such as the AdapteCCa climate change platform and specific sector initiatives, including health and climate change indicators and the National Plan for High Temperature Preventive Action, developed by the Spanish Ministry of Health, are all processes that can inspire the development of adaptation policies in other countries, just as their experiences inspire us in the design and development of ours.   

What are you most proud of?  

I believe that the actions in which I have been involved have fostered the exchange of both positive experiences and lessons learned in a highly technical and common learning environment. Adaptation is an area in which there are still many aspects to be defined, so I find it very enriching to have been able to share my experience with technical representatives from other countries. I have also had the opportunity to discuss different approaches and methodologies, as well as challenges that we still have to address, both with counterparts from other countries and with specialists in the field. I think that all the people who have been involved should feel proud of having managed to create this environment of learning and trust.  

How has your assignment helped to improve the lives of people and the planet?  

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humankind, affecting practically all human activities and natural systems, with an impact that is most severe in the most vulnerable countries. Through strategies to adapt to climate change, we contribute to preventing and reducing the risks posed by climate change and to building more resilient societies. Generally speaking, adaptation policies and measures also have multiple associated co-benefits, from improving people’s health and quality of life to conserving biodiversity and the health of ecosystems. All the progress we make to improve the adaptive capacity of countries is an achievement when it comes to coping with the current and future impact of climate change at a global level, not only for current generations but also for future generations.   

What is the main value of the public aspect for you? 

For me, the main thing is serving the general interest, with a focus on achieving collective goals that involve all actors in society. The climate emergency that we are experiencing requires coordinated and coherent collective action that can be quickly implemented and maintained in the long term, that is ambitious and systemic, that involves all sectors and at all levels and that allows us to achieve climate neutrality and adapt to the effects of climate change in a fair and sustainable way. These objectives must be achieved globally, so cooperation is absolutely essential. To face a challenge like this, the value of the public sector is undeniable, although it will not be possible without the collaboration of the rest of the actors in society.   

 What have you learned from this experience?  

Many things. I have found it very enriching to share experiences on common technical challenges that all countries need to tackle in emerging matters such as monitoring adaptation or establishing indicators. I have also learned a lot about different governance schemes and participatory processes that set out and monitor adaptation policies from the experiences gleaned from countries that have a long tradition of developing this type of initiative. I should also mention the methodological issues arising from the expert knowledge provided by specialists from different fields, to which I can add the personal learning process involved in participating in such experiences. In general, I consider them to be very enriching experiences for all the people involved, both professionally and personally.