Presentation of the APIA Programme to support inclusive policies in Sub-Saharan Africa

The objective of the APIA Programme (Support for Inclusive Public Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa) is to contribute to making growth in Sub-Saharan African countries inclusive and equitable for the benefit of all citizens. To do this, APIA will support local processes for formulating and monitoring public policies, with a special emphasis on the participation of civil society.

The APIA Programme was presented today at the Spanish Cooperation Agency (AECID) by Minister José Manuel García-Margallo, who in his presentation defined the APIA Programme “as a programme with strategic content, adapted to the African reality”, adding that “APIA brings together two essential elements of our foreign action: a policy for Sub-Saharan Africa and a development cooperation policy, both of which must be modern and adapted to the current reality of the continent”.

For Gonzalo Robles, Secretary General for International Development Cooperation, APIA means“looking at Africa without prejudices, looking while ‘listening’, observing and understanding what is happening on the continent and, based on this, trying to contribute to positive dynamics and the construction of the future Africans want”.

The APIA Programme, managed jointly by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP), will be focusing its activities on the priority countries for Spanish cooperation efforts in the area (Senegal, Mali, Niger, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Equatorial Guinea), and on the principal African regional organizations such as the African Union, UNECA (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), with which Spanish Cooperation works to promote development in the region