Responsibilities for development cooperation

Spain’s 1998 Law on International Development Co-operation provides the main legal framework for Spanish aid, the Spanish government intends on reviewing the law in 2010. The Master Plan, updated every four years, sets a comprehensive framework for development policy.

Parliament provides oversight, particularly through the International Cooperation for Development Commission, a permanent body in the Congress and - since the last legislature
- also in the Senate.

Other actors in development cooperation include: i) the Secretariat of State for International Cooperation (SECI), ii) the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), iii) the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEH), iv) the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade (MITC), v) the Inter-Ministerial Commission for International Cooperation, vi) the Development Cooperation Council.

Spain’s contribution to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s)

The 8 MDGs have been at the core of the two most recent Master Plans for Development Cooperation, respectively in 2004-2008 and 2009-2012.

The commitment to the MDG’s has also been translated into several policies; in particular, in the last two years almost 70% of ODA was allocated to sectors directly related to the MDGs.

Spain’s record on aid
Aid quantity

Spain set goals for scaling up its aid volumes, pledging to increase its ODA/GNI (the ratio of Official Development Assistance over Gross National Income) ratio to 0.7% by 2012, three years before the EU deadline. Spain has established a timetable; its record so far shows a strong commitment to comply with its promises.

Spanish ODA represented 0.45% of GNI in 2008, up from 0.37% of GNI in 2007. Spain’s ODA/GNI exceeds the EUDAC average (0.42%).

In terms of volumes, Spain provided 6.7 billion USD in net ODA in 2008. Debt relief grants (form of debt reorganisation which relieves the overall burden of debt) comprised only 4.7% of Spanish ODA in 2007 and 5.1% in 2008.

The OECD/DAC in 2007 recommended that Spain create an operational strategy detailing its plans for meeting aid targets, including those set for scaling up aid and for increasing the share of bilateral aid allocated to LDCs (least-developed countries).

Aid quantity

Spain’s share of bilateral aid (in this case, the aid given by Spain to a developing country) was 42% in 2008. More than half (53%) of Spanish aid goes to middle-income countries. Only a meagre 24% is directed to LDCs and 10% to lowincome countries, where aid is most needed. By region, Latin America still receives the largest share of Spanish bilateral aid (37.5%). By country, top recipients of gross bilateral ODA in 2006-07 were Guatemala and Peru. Spain must reflect on the types of countries its aid flows are going to and follow through consistently on its commitment to increase aid to Sub- Saharan Africa (presently about 26%).

In order to decrease dispersion of aid, Spain has identified 23 out of its 50 “priority countries” in which it seeks to concentrate 2/3 of bilateral ODA. In 2006, Spain fell far short of this goal, with only 36% of bilateral ODA going to priority countries.

Country programmable aid (CPA) is the proportion of aid that developing countries can allocate according to their development needs. In 2005 (latest DAC statistics available on CPA) it represented only 35% of Spanish gross. It remains below the combined figure of EU-DAC countries (47%).

Spain has made consistent progress in untying its aid over a period of several years; the share of untied aid (tied aid is assistance given to developing countries which must be used to purchase goods and services from the donor country) increased from only 56% in 2003 to 89.1% in 2007.

In 2006 and 2008, The OECD/DAC conducted a Survey on Monitoring the Paris Declaration to gauge the progress of donor nations toward improving aid effectiveness. The report finds that Spain is performing below most of its peer donor nations on key indicators of aid effectiveness (transparency and accountability of funding mechanisms, coordinated technical assistance, predictability of aid- precise time tables on aid delivery, harmonisation of donor procedures, number and extent of joint missions) and below the 2010 targets.

The OECD/DAC recommends implementing a division of labour between donors to make use of the comparative advantage of Spain in Latin America and of peer donor nations in Sub- Saharan Africa. Nonetheless, Spain should continue to work towards decreasing its aid volumes to Latin America, and to effectively implement plans to increase Spanish engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In its Master Plan 2009-2012, Spain sets clear objectives for improving the quality of its aid at the country level. In accordance with the EU Code of Conduct, Spain plans to identify sector priorities through dialogue with each partner country.

Policy coherence

In Spain’s 2007 peer review, the OECD/DAC finds a strong framework for policy coherence in Spain and ample political support.

Policy coherence across ministries is also well recognised. The Secretary of State for International Cooperation (SECI), who holds responsibility for promoting policy coherence, engages often in inter-ministerial discussions on development, trade and defence; at the same time, the Development Commission includes a range of national and regional parties that discuss links between development and various issues such as climate change and migration.

The signature of the Pact of State Against Poverty, promoted by the Coordinadora de ONGD – a platform of Spanish NGOs – and signed by all political parties in December 2007 demonstrates that policy coherence across ministries is well recognised.

Spain’s 2007 DAC Peer Review also notes some areas for improvement in policy coherence:

Fisheries remains a sector of policy incoherence – by not promoting the interests of development - also in respect to EU fisheries.

The framework on policy coherence presented by the Master Plan and Development Co-operation Council does not provide sufficient direction to decentralised actors.

Spain’s record on Trade

Policy coherence for Development does not refer just to aid policies: coherence of trade policies with development is key to help create livelihoods in poor countries.

As an EU Member State, Spain implements the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), providing subsidies and price controls on agricultural commodities. Despite gradual reforms, the CAP continues to distort the market for a wide range of products of critical importance to developing countries, such as cotton, dairy products, rice, fruits and vegetables, etc.

Spain favours EU agricultural supports for many sectors of production; these positions are largely explained by Spain’s labour-intensive means of production, and the fact that Spain is a net exporter of agricultural commodities.

Spain is also a major beneficiary of the European Fisheries Fund and of EC fisheries agreements with developing countries. According to fishsubsidy.org, a project led by EU Transparency and funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, Spain received 48% of total EU fisheries funding between 1994 and 2006.

As Spain’s role in internal EU negotiations on fisheries agreement is unclear, the OECD/DAC, in Spain’s 2007 Peer Review, recommended that Spain make transparent its position on EU fisheries.

In June 2009, Spain joined with France and Portugal in an attempt to pre-empt the European Commission from cutting banana import tariffs which would threaten their production.

In order to re-launch WTO talks, the European Commission hopes to end an historical trade dispute with Latin American producers by significantly reducing its banana import tariffs.

Public Opinion

A 2009 Eurobarometer shows that the number of people aware of the MDG’s has increased sharply from 12% in 2007 to 23% in 2009 . However, the majority of Spanish respondents (77 %) were uninformed about the MDG’s. Spain’s results were similar to the EU average- 76% yet lagging behind the Netherlands (36%) but better than France (87%).

According to Spain’s 2007 OECD/DAC Peer Review: “Spanish public opinion on development has influenced cross-party support for aid increases. Up until now, support has been generated by involving the public in the form of NGO activities and by the widespread official development assistance activities of autonomous communities and local administrations.”

As a response, Spain plans to integrate development education into all levels of its formal and informal education systems. The Master Plan 2009-2012 strengthens the strategic objective set out in the previous Master Plan to “enhance education for development and social awareness.”

Commitment to Development Index

The Centre for Global Development (CGD) ranks 22 of the world’s richest countries based on their dedication to policies that benefit poor nations. CGD’s Commitment to Development Index looks at seven policy areas important to developing countries: aid, trade, investment, migration, environment, security and technology.

CGD’s 2009 Commitment to Development Index ranks Spain 7th among twenty-two OECD countries. This score represents a rise in the rankings since 2006, when Spain was ranked 17th among 21 nations.

Spain’s overall score was brought down by low ratings on aid – particularly its quality - and on the environment.

On the positive side, Spain performs well on migration, accepting large numbers of immigrants from poor countries, and on technology, supporting technological innovation and
dissemination.

Updated: November 2009
For a more in-depth analysis and list of sources, please refer to the long version of the What About.