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. 

Though less vulnerable to infection, the under-24 population has been greatly affected by the impact of the pandemic: lockdown, the closing of schools, children’s’ centres and those serving adolescents and young people. Work wise, according to the International Labour Organization, one in six young people is unemployed due to the crisis caused by COVID-19. A situation that has contributed to exacerbating inequalities, leaving behind the most vulnerable in this group.

Children and adolescents are the present and future of society. Therefore, it is essential to adapt public policies to their needs, particularly those aimed at promoting youth employment. We at FIIAPP encourage the exchange of experiences and cooperation to promote public policies aimed at sustainable development that take young people into account. How do we go about this?

EUROsociAL+ supports the exchange of experiences and technical assistance to enable countries to provide the same opportunities to their entire young population in a crisis context. Through this FIIAPP-led European programme numerous activities have been undertaken targeting young people: promoting the prevention of teenage pregnancy in Panama, facilitating the access of young people to the labour market, or promoting the social work performed by university students as a lever for social inclusion. The foregoing are just a few examples of the dedication of EUROsociAL+ to creating public policies targeting a priority group such as Latin American youth.

The SOCIEUX+ project also works to enhance youth employability. In Peru, for example, over 20,000 people have received training in different areas of knowledge such as IT, sales, administration, etc. The programme has contributed to this training by collaborating in updating the training model in skills for employability together with the Ministry for Labour and Employment Promotion. This training will enable them with to break into the labour market more effectively.

Another of the activities undertaken by SOCIEUX+ in Peru involves promoting youth employment in the forestry sector. This initiative seeks to foster employment for youth that is green and sustainable over time; which will be formal, decent and of high quality. Moreover, promoting this type of employment seeks to improve the conditions of the young population to avoid regional emigration caused by the lack of opportunities. Lastly, it endeavours to put an end to the poverty being caused by an activity exclusively focused on cutting down forests, often illegally, and transporting the wood outside the region. The programme also plans to embark on another action targeting young people in Mauritania. In this case, work will be carried out to train young businessmen and businesswomen in Mauritania and to support entrepreneurship.

Looking ahead to the next few years, at FIIAPP we will be working together with AECID and the British Council on a new project in Tunisia aimed at boosting the social and economic inclusion of the vulnerable members of Tunisian youth. The country’s youth carry important demographic weight. Young people under 35 years of age constitute 57% of the population. Despite this, and almost a decade after the 2011 revolution, a large part of Tunisian youth continues to be excluded from the political agenda and economic opportunities.

The EU4Youth for Tunisia programme seeks to strengthen local governance through more inclusive, transparent, efficient and participatory actions; to enhance the capacities of the part of Tunisian civil society involved in culture and sports, to increase the professional integration and employability of vulnerable members of the country’s youth, and to promote business creativity in culture and sports.

Unless the youth is provided with the right conditions to grow and develop, society will not advance either. Accordingly, in a context in which young people are increasingly vulnerable, public policies need to be redirected and adapted to their needs. Thinking of young people is looking to the future.