EL BLOG DE LA FIIAPP. Cooperación Española

What is EUROCLIMA+?  

EUROCLIMA+  is a programme funded by the European Union offering a wide range of specialized services aimed at supporting the implementation of the commitments of the Paris Agreement in the field of climate governance, as well as the funding and technical assistance for the execution of projects with Latin American countries. 

The implementation of these projects is carried out through the synergistic work of cooperation agencies of member countries of the European Union, together with two agencies of the United Nations ( UN ).   

What are the objectives of the programme?  

The programme seeks to promote environmentally sustainable development in 18 countries in Latin America, in particular, for the benefit of the most vulnerable populations. In addition, it supports countries in the implementation of the commitments established through the Paris Agreement on climate change.  

What does each of the agencies that manage the programme do?  

The spectrum of topics covered by EUROCLIMA+ includes the main development areas that are part of the climate change agenda. These issues are driven by the vast experience of the agencies implementing the programme, selected on the basis of their experience in the field of climate change, the environment and sustainable development in Latin America. 

One or several agencies deal with each of the components of the programme. Therefore, the FIIAPP works on Climate Governance with the Economic Commission for Latin America ( ECLAC ), UN Environment and the German Society for International Cooperation ( GIZ ). The German agency also deals with the component of Forests, biodiversity and ecosystems, energy efficiency, together with Expertise France, for Resilient Food Production, also with the French institution, and Urban Mobility , with the French Agency for Development ( AFD ). The latter also works with the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development ( AECID ) on the components of Energy Efficiency, Water Management from an Urban Perspective and Disaster Risk Management.  

What does the joint work of all these institutions contribute?  

The joint work of the different implementing agencies provides a broad and complementary experience in the field of climate change and sustainable development. It also promotes the exchange between Europe and Latin America, shortening distances and promoting synergies. 

And the work of the FIIAPP in particular?  

The FIIAPP leads the implementation of the Climate Governance component, accompanying the countries in the design, updating or implementation of climate policies. This will help Latin American countries reach 2020 with updated legislation and plans adapted to their realities.   

Specifically, the Foundation facilitates dialogue on climate policies and provides technical and financial support for the development and implementation of policies, plans, measures and tools for adaptation and mitigation of climate change in Latin America. It works by directly supporting the governments of the different countries, with actions oriented at their strategic and direct demands designed jointly with the Latin American institutions within the framework of the EUROCLIMA+ programme.  

According to the topics of greatest interest in the region and considering the context and the main challenges involved in facing up to climate change, the action lines of the component would be the implementation of NDCs, climate services, climate financing, education, communication and participation, and gender.  

The key tools at the service of the 18 participating Latin American countries are those of collaboration between institutions, the search for synergies, joint learning and the exchange of information and best practices. To this end, the horizontal component offers both European and Latin American experiences in this area. In addition, it strengthens the capacities of Public Administration personnel, as well as other persons involved, including civil society.

What are the challenges of EUROCLIMA+?  

EUROCLIMA+ works in an innovative, intersectoral and multi-stakeholder environment. The initiatives are identified and planned through participatory mechanisms. It encourages dialogue and regional exchange, ensuring that Latin American countries share best practices and lessons learned.   

The programme provides services to the governments of Latin America based on their needs, seeking to promote political dialogue, knowledge management, capacity development, education and awareness of climate change. EUROCLIMA+ is driven by demand. It brings together experiences from Europe and Latin America, as well as the experience of the specialized agencies of the United Nations, it supports South-South cooperation and joint learning processes.  

Given this scenario, one of the main challenges of the Programme is precisely the synergistic work with 18 countries in Latin America, a region in which many strengths and needs are shared, while at the same time presenting great differences, marked by their history, culture, politics and interaction between the nations themselves.  

Almost 24 years ago, the Social Support Fund, an Angolan institution which the FIIAPP has worked with on a local development support project, began to work on constructing social infrastructures and therefore access to public services in Angola’s most vulnerable or rural communities.  

Since then, the project, funded by the European Union, has worked on three main components: building infrastructures, boosting the local economy and reinforcing the capacities of local institutions. Now, there is also a more structured view of these communities; they each depend on one another and work cannot be done freely, a message that has finally come together.  

Of these components, the key component everything revolves around is the last, the reinforcement of the municipal administrations. What have we achieved? We have contributed to increasing the number of municipalities the Social Support Fund had already reached to a total of 36. In 30 of them, work started from scratch in a process that began with a municipal diagnosis and several studies, followed by planning.  

Until then, the diagnoses of the municipality were inanimate snapshots: this is what the municipality has, this is what the health sector is like, etc. Another thing that I think has been strengthened with our support is that we have improved the idea, which they had already come up with, of creating a “dynamic profile”, that is to say, things change from one day to the next.   

The final achievement in this reinforcement of municipal capacities was the introduction of a web-based platform, a municipal basic information system that anyone can access from any point on the planet. This updated information on the health sector or the social assistance sector of the municipality can then be accessed from any Ministry in order to make decisions on these matters.  

A diagnosis to create opportunities  

The promotion of the local economy through these municipal diagnoses sought to identify those products or sectors with greatest potential in the municipality. From there, studies were made of the value chains of these products to identify what investment opportunities there were for the municipality’s economy to develop. Normally, these were the products that involve more labour or which report more visits; there were several criteria to determine this.  

Another aspect of this component and that was not foreseen, but which resulted from the reflection and the influence of the World Bank with its social protection programmes, is that productive inclusion has been worked on, which ultimately aims to increase the income of poor families.  

The intention was that people excluded from the market and the productive economic sector and who have a subsistence activity should have the opportunity to conduct an economic activity or to improve the one they were doing. It started in ten municipalities, where vulnerable people and potential beneficiaries were identified and 1,400 people were selected.  

Those who did not have economic activity were offered training to submit a practically applicable plan. They then received a kit to start working with. For those who already had an activity, training was given in business management to teach them to control costs and profits and to identify gaps in their economic activity. A business improvement plan was thus made and they were also provided with a kit.  

Of the total of 1,400 selected, around 1,200 received the kit, since some did not finish their training or did not do the required project. This kit included the material they needed to start the activity. This might be physical equipment, such as a sewing machine or a generator. Some women who make flour (receiving grain, processing it, delivering it and keeping the shell which they sell for livestock) asked for buckets as well as grain to have more stock and be able to continue working.  

One of the important things about this part of the project is that there is great diversity because there are many different activities, and we were able to adapt to the needs of each one.  

We are now monitoring how these people’s lives have changed and how satisfied they are. A colleague has visited several of these beneficiaries to see whether the kit was used or not. There was a certain risk, which is that when someone gives you a kit with brand-new equipment, the first thing you do is go and sell it.   

An initial evaluation was made with the questionnaire and the on-site visit. As it was a pilot phase, there were many lessons learned: such as that training should not be mandatory, but a further element of the kit, and that some unselected people managed to blag their way in.   

Lessons learned in Angola  

A study of lessons learned can be very useful for other cooperation projects: how the team is formed, how the project is established in the field, how it is performed, how the monitoring is done, accountability, etc.  

In some cases, we also needed to be able to draw on other projects managed by the FIIAPP; it is interesting to know how they were conducted and whether we have points in common with them.  I think this is a lesson learned for the Foundation: we could come up with a strategy for knowledge management.     

Few jobs have such a frenetic pace as that of a journalist. Day-to-day urgencies rarely leave room for reflection on our own work, to think carefully about the things we fail at, the things we do well in, and especially about what we can do to improve. That is why I appreciate my work as a professor at the UAM-El País School of Journalism, because it forces me to reflect on all this. It is also why I accepted, without giving it a second thought, the FIIAPP’s invitation to lead the International Workshop on journalistic reporting on the prevention of drug use and human trafficking, issues that are so important and so serious that they deserve even more care and self-criticism when dealing with them in the media. The workshop was held in La Paz, Bolivia, in coordination with the Coordination Secretariat of CONALTID and with the funding of the European Union and the AECID.  

In that context, the most logical thing for me to do was to propose, from the beginning, a joint five-day reflection with the participants, about twenty professionals from the Bolivian press, radio and television.  Precisely, the diversity of the group (not only because they came from different media, but also because some were very young, newcomers to the trade, while others were seasoned journalists with decades of experience behind them) ended up contributing enormously to the workshop. But it was also the main difficulty, solved, in any case, by the chosen format: brief presentations accompanied by many examples of reference texts, a format which allowed us to immediately put into practice all the ideas and techniques presented, along with a lot of interaction and a lot of dialogue.   

This practical task consisted of writing a report about drug use or human trafficking. This enabled us to review the entire journalistic process, from the choice of topic, its development, documentation, field work, to the writing and editing (or in this case, proofreading).  This way, we managed to delve deeper into fiction techniques that might enable us to present our work in a deeper and more attractive way, without ever losing sight of the strengths of any journalistic text: honesty, rigour, fact-checking each piece of information and giving the context needed to understand complex realities. That’s on top of striking the essential balance between professional distance and the sensitivity required when dealing with social issues in general, and drugs and human trafficking in particular.   

Many of the problems that the students faced are the same ones Spanish professionals face in our daily work: how to approach the characters, how to present the story and make it attractive, what part of the information, obtained with great effort, to leave out to improve the end result, etc. However, others had to do with traits unique to Bolivia, which has its own working conditions and cultural environment, for example the bureaucratic written procedure necessary to request almost any official information. The answers that we all gave to these problems, at the peak of their experience and mine, were the most interesting part of the course, at least for me, and I think it also has a lot to do with the philosophy of the work that FIIAPP does in all the countries it is present in.     

Apart from that, my objective for this course was to give the participants a series of tools to tell, in a slightly more attractive and familiar way, both the big stories, those large-scale events that the media relies on, as well as the small everyday stories, those that have to be covered at full speed, but which also deserve, apart from the essential rigour, all the care and affection we can give. Especially when dealing with sensitive issues such as those that have to do with drug use and human trafficking.   

Juan Antonio Aunión, El País journalist specialising in social and educational issues  

In this interview, José Maté tells us about his life in Kyrgyzstan. The Chief Inspector of the National Police, currently coordinator of the EU-ACT project in the Central Asian area, has previous international experience, since he has two stays in Guinea Bissau and Timor.

How have you adapted to this country?

Much better than expected. Before embarking on the project I searched for information on the internet about the country, its people, culture, gastronomy… and what little information I did find did not correspond with the subsequent reality.

Undoubtedly, Central Asia in general, and Kyrgyzstan in particular, are largely unknown to Europeans, since they are not tourist or business destinations. An example of this is that there are only seven Spaniards living here. However, it is a very interesting country, practically virgin, where more than 90% of the territory is mountains, some more than seven thousand metres high, and with people who are open to foreigners and the changes they may introduce.

What has been the most difficult aspect to adapt to and the easiest?

The most difficult aspect for me has been the weather, because of coming from the Canary Islands and having lived in tropical places, here we have experienced winter days with temperatures of -27ºC.

The least difficult for me has been the change in the food; in Kyrgyzstan they have a completely different variety to Europe, with delicious and economical dishes. In fact, I’ve already gained weight, but since it is so cold I cannot play sports until summer.

Is this your first experience outside of Spain?

No. I was in countries like Timor and Guinea Bissau, both poorer and with more complex idiosyncrasies. In that sense I can say that my quality of life here has been better.

What is your work like and your daily routine?

It is an interesting job but difficult to do. First I must establish relationships with a lot of project beneficiaries belonging to different ministries such as Health, Justice and Interior. Each of them has different formal requirements for cooperation, so the bureaucracy is sometimes exhausting. Then, you must design a work plan that meets their demands, but that is at the same time valid and realistic, that fits in with their needs and our possibilities.

After this, you must move forward with the proposed and agreed activities, which entails its own difficulties, since in this country only Russian is spoken and all the experts who collaborate in our activities must be European. In addition, I must monitor the results and follow-up on the activities. As you can imagine, I do not have time to do everything.

What is your relationship like with headquarters in Madrid? And with your colleagues in Kyrgyzstan?

The relationship with Madrid is daily, there are a thousand things that must be coordinated and achieved and without this understanding and support it would be impossible to carry out this project. Most of it takes place by email, which is nonetheless impersonal and formal, but because of the time difference it is the most useful.

With my colleagues here, the relationship is the simplest and easiest in the world, since I only have one colleague, Zhibek, who works at the desk opposite me. Even so, there are times when we communicate by email, especially when we want to say something urgent and the other one is talking on the phone.

How would you assess your experience of working as a FIIAPP expatriate in Kyrgyzstan?

It is a positive experience because it gives me the opportunity to get to know this part of the world that I did not know anything about. It is especially interesting for my daughter, who is learning Russian in her new school and also lives with people from other cultures, religions, customs or ways of thinking; being told about something is not the same as living it.

How do you value cooperation in drug policies within the framework of the COPOLAD programme?

The broad coverage of the programme in the 33 countries of the CELAC, has presented a significant number of opportunities for cooperation between the European region and Latin America, covering all drug-related policies. COPOLAD is the first European cooperation programme to do this. While the previous programmes focused on the sector and mainly on reducing the supply of drugs, COPOLAD is based on all the aspects included in the European Union’s 2013-2020 Drug Strategy and its 2017-2020 Action Plan.

That is, we have the opportunity to support the development of balanced, evidence-based policies. We can offer practical support aimed at concepts that have recently emerged in CELAC countries. This programme is truly a public health policy and we can disseminate very positive results.

In all these tasks, we receive key contributions from multilateral agencies, such as the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), the Executive Secretariat of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD-OAS) and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) as well as bi-regional NGO networks (RIOD and IDPC).

COPOLAD promotes the inclusion of a gender approach into drug policies. How do you see this progress and what are the main challenges?

From its first phase, COPOLAD has always been a programme committed to the inclusion of the gender approach. In fact, we devoted the annual conference of 2013 in Quito, Ecuador, to the gender approach. This conference was a first opportunity to review the situation relating to key aspects in this field. As a result of the conference, a report on the situation in the participating countries was published in 2014.

Since then, some progress has been made in the theoretical recognition of the need to incorporate this approach in all areas of drug policy. COPOLAD is now assessing that progress through a new report.

The third COPOLAD annual conference is also devoted to women and drug policies. What are the problems facing the institutions involved?

Firstly, the institutions responsible for developing these policies must ensure that the measures are based on evidence. Different types of quantitative and qualitative research must be supported to guide effective interventions that are sensitive to women’s needs and priorities.

Secondly, adequate planning is required to ensure that changes are implemented in the field. Alongside this, institutions have to offer training opportunities to ensure the development of the measures included in national strategies and action plans. These include, prevention with a gender perspective, programmes to reduce damage, measures for social inclusion and reforms in the area of justice regarding drug-related crimes committed by women

Finally, policy changes must be accompanied by appropriate budget allocations for the implementation of certain measures and services.

How can the gender perspective and the empowerment of women improve the effectiveness of drug policies? What needs should be addressed?

The drugs-related problems that women face are complex and affect different social groups. Not only those in vulnerable situations, but women of all ages and conditions. This complexity requires a comprehensive approach, and no policy will be complete, balanced, holistic and effective if it fails to take into account the risk factors that affect women and men differently,

What do you think are the best practices on gender approach in Europe, Latin America and in general?

Some promising examples from the EU and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have been presented at this conference. Some include the evaluation of benefits derived from changes in public policies, developed programmes or new services.

I would highlight the slow but significant progress made over the last five years. At this conference, some positive data on how the new policies are contributing to improving the lives of women are encouraging. In addition to the increase in sector programmes and initiatives undertaken by the countries and multilateral institutions present.

How do you see the role of civil society in facilitating the perception of the need for a gender approach in drug policies?

For COPOLAD, according to the EU Action Plan 2017-2018, a constant dialogue must be ensured between the regional and international networks working in the field of drugs, involving civil society in the implementation and evaluation of the action plans as well as in bi-regional dialogues and cooperation programmes such as COPOLAD.

Therefore, we have a bi-regional network (RIOD) and an international one with non-governmental organisations, such as collaborating agencies. Through these, we try to support the increase in participation by civil society in each participating country

What should the focus of future initiatives regarding gender issues be?

The availability of data necessary to differentiate the specificities of drug-related problems between women and men remains limited, as is the evidence of the effectiveness of the responses made. In this context, the consideration of the gender perspective and the empowerment of women as a key element in drug policies continues to be a challenge that must be faced in practice and across the issues involved.

Therefore, research, evaluation of progress, allocation of necessary resources, training programmes and policy changes to ensure respect for women’s rights will improve their social, family, personal and health conditions. This requires a multi-sector approach capable of addressing the main challenges, ensuring coordination among agencies in which the public sector and non-governmental initiatives – led by civil society – ensure the implementation of strategies and programmes focused on equity, and provide services adapted to the individual needs of each girl and woman in our countries.

We discover Kiev (Ukraine) with Manuel Marión, deputy director of the UE-ACT project seconded to the city. He tells us some anecdotes and about his work within the framework of this European Commission-financed project that is managed by FIIAPP and aims to improve cooperation against drug trafficking and organised crime.

How have you adapted to this country? 

It is easy to adapt to Kiev, its a large city where you can find everything. In front of my house I can buy good ham – it is not as expensive as you would image given that it is an imported luxury – and I can also buy olive oil and oranges from Spain.

Kiev has lots to see, many attractions: ballet, theatre… it is the great unknown city of Europe. And it would be worth investing in renovating some of the old buildings that are in the same style as those in the centre of Vienna, where I lived for ten years.

For me it is an advantage speaking Russian, I can more or less communicate with people. Despite the political situation and the promotion of the use of Ukrainian, everyone speaks Russian. The people are affectionate, although they do have a hard time opening up. Most of my neighbours do not even say good morning when you meet them in the lift, unless you know them from somewhere. There is a culture of mistrust, people think that everyone else is a spy or an a government agent who wants to pry into their private lives.

What was most difficult for you and what was least difficult? 

It has not been the cold that has been most difficult thing for me. Perhaps understanding the logic used to number the buildings and entrances. On one occasion I took my dog to the vet and I could not find the entrance because it was camouflaged, until I saw a small sign in Russian saying: “Yes, this is the door!”

Is this your first experience outside Spain? 

I have lived in different countries for many years: El Salvador, Guatemala, Vienna, Ukraine, etc. with spells in Spain and short periods in the Balkans. Your first experience abroad is the one that marks you in a significant way. The poverty – sometimes it is more misery than poverty – that there was in El Salvador made a great impression on me. I lived in a very rural area. I was amazed to see so many boys and girls walking to a distant school in the mornings, wearing immaculate white shirts.

In Guatamala I lived in the capital and what worried me the most was my family’s safety. There were a lot of kidnappings, a lot of people were “finished”, as they used to say on the news when they murdered someone.

What is your work like and your daily routine? 

I travel a lot outside Ukraine, to Central Asia as well as to Africa and Europe. I am abroad for about half the month. I attend meetings we organise as part of the project to discuss the drug problem, mainly in five countries: Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Ukraine, Pakistan and Tanzania.

We have an office in Kiev, where I work with two other experts. I prepare reports, read those written by our experts, I support their activities, etc. Everyday I use Skype, WhatsApp or Viber to talk to various experts and counterparts who are in other countries and, of course, with FIIAPP in Madrid. Email is my main work and communication tool.

I recently spent two weeks in Tanzania, coordinating a team of experts from various countries to assess their ability to investigate the growing trafficking of drugs – mainly heroin – that arrive by sea from Afghanistan and then come to Europe. I also looked at their policy on drug use and the treatment of drug addicts. Incidentally, there is a Spanish NGO there working on their rehabilitation.

What is your relationship like with headquarters in Madrid? What about with your colleagues in Ukraine? 

Friendly, without any problems. I mainly spend my time working with María, the programme coordinator, as we have an almost daily “battle” against bureaucratic red tape.

Every country has its customs, and the truth is that in Ukraine when you ask for a formal invoice everyone runs a mile. It is impossible. And I have to tell María that I urgently need some services or materials but they will not give me an invoice…

The team is Marta, Iván, David, and Mónica. They are all very nice and efficient in trying to help out. I should also mention Ana and especially Sara, who are a great help in the personnel department. I have worked with both of them for over ten years on other FIIAPP projects. I must also not forget Charo, in FIIAPP’s communications department.

How would you evaluate your experience of working as an FIIAPP expatriate in Ukraine? 

It is a unique opportunity. Due to my frequent trips I do not spend much time in Kiev and I would like to get to know more about its culture, its beauty spots, museums, theatres and its surroundings. Kiev allows me to practice my Russian, which I have been studying for ten years. I travel to many Russian-speaking countries with the project and I am really pleased that I can speak their language. Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union and those times still have a great influence on the country, you have to live in these cultures to get to know them well.

Do you have any experiences or anecdotes about your arrival in the country? 

One thing I noticed when I first arrived was seeing grandfathers and grandmothers working. Elderly people, retired people, their pensions are tiny and they cannot live on them. They have to keep on working at whatever they can, until they cannot work any longer as they are too old: they sell fruit, vegetables…so they can scrape together a few grivnas to live off.

At the bottom of the stairs in the metro stations there are old women “watching” to ensure everything is going well. The building caretakers are usually grandmothers, aged 70 or older.  And it is impossible to see how they can do their job…The caretakers in my building – there are four who work in shifts and they work day and night – they subjected me to an interrogation to see who I was.

I was also struck by the fact that people are usually very reserved and seem sad. Although – and it can be contradictory – they like to party, just like we do, and there is a lot of night life, although not until as late as in Madrid. I really like salsa music and dancing and few cities have so many venues with Caribbean music and people to go dancing with.