EL BLOG DE LA FIIAPP. Cooperación Española

‘I remember the first time we brought young people from rural areas to a provincial conference. Many girls came with their babies. The children cried in the middle of the debates… and nothing happened. It was part of life, part of Angolan reality. The important thing was that, for the first time, these young women were sitting at the table and could speak,’ says Pablo López Dean, coordinator of the PASCAL project.

That image sums up the transformation that the project is promoting in Angola: opening up spaces for real, inclusive and unfiltered participation for a young, female and diverse civil society.

The PASCAL project (Support to Civil Society in Local Governance in Angola) is a European Union initiative that seeks to strengthen citizen participation in the country’s decentralisation processes. It is implemented through a European consortium led by FIAP and the Central Project Agency of Lithuania (CPVA), in close collaboration with the Angolan government through the Ministry of Territorial Administration and civil society organisations. Its mission is not to impose agendas, but to facilitate capacities, open spaces for dialogue and accompany the transition towards more inclusive and participatory governance with technical evidence.

Young people have their say

Angola is one of the youngest countries in the world: 64% of the population is under 25. But for years, young people have been marginalised from decision-making. PASCAL has created processes to change that.

Between 2024 and 2025, the project facilitated more than 855 activities in 25 municipalities, with the participation of 12,193 people in those organised by the focal points alone, of whom 3,518 were young people (29%) and 2,346 were women (19%). In addition, provincial youth forums were organised in the five provinces of intervention, bringing together 200–250 young people per meeting and representatives of municipal organisations in cascading dynamics that reached thousands more.

A clear example is the process carried out in the province of Huíla. ‘One of the most obvious results is the creation of provincial forums where young people were able to present their concerns and needs and deliver them in an official document to the authorities. In Huíla, for example, they submitted their proposals to the governor, who is participating again this year to follow up on his commitments,’ explains Teófilo Silvestre, a specialist in governance and public innovation at PASCAL.

At the same time, the project has sought to draw on international experiences. In Benguela, for example, training was provided in August for civil society organisations involved in the Provincial Youth Days, led by Bruno António, executive director of the European network DYPALL, a European platform that works to strengthen youth participation in local decision-making. The meeting focused on methodologies for the active inclusion of young people in governance processes, strengthening the capacity of Angolan CSOs to work with and for young people.

These types of exchanges demonstrate the added value of PASCAL and European cooperation: putting the knowledge of international public administrations and networks at the service of local processes, creating spaces for trust and dialogue between peers.

Young women learning to claim their place

Participation is not only youthful, it is also female. Analdina Nouemou, civil society support specialist at PASCAL, sums it up as follows:

“Many women did not know that participating in local councils was a right. After the training sessions, they now approach municipal administrations, ask questions and make demands. Even women in rural areas with young children have learned how to organise themselves into groups and take their proposals to the administration. That is a profound change.”

In addition, thanks to the €1 million grant fund, 14 civil society organisations, many of them youth and women’s organisations, have accessed European funding for the first time, learning how to manage resources and strengthening their institutional self-esteem.

From the foundation to the future

The impact of PASCAL cannot be measured solely in numbers—although thousands of young people and women are already involved—but rather in processes that sow the seeds for the future. Civil society is becoming better organised, the authorities are listening, and, little by little, the historical silence of marginalised groups is being broken.

“PASCAL has built trust between institutions and civil society. It has professionalised local administrations and placed women and young people at the centre of governance. Today, citizen participation in Angola is more inclusive than ever,” says Teófilo.

In Pablo’s words: ‘PASCAL does not lead, it facilitates. They provide the voice: young people, women, rural communities. And when those voices are heard in the National Assembly or in government, the country changes.’

✍🏽 Laura Cárdenas, communications consultant for this PASCAL Project activity

PHOTO GALLERY:

The digitalisation of education has become a national priority of Ukraine — not only to modernise curricula, but also to make learning accessible and resilient in times of war. 

Since the beginning of Russia’s attacks, millions of Ukrainian students and teachers have been forced to adapt to disrupted learning environments. Schools have been damaged or destroyed, families displaced, and traditional teaching methods upended. In this context, digital education has emerged not just as a tool for innovation, but as a lifeline for maintaining educational access across regions. 

Digital platforms, cloud-based resources, and remote learning technologies have made it possible to preserve the right to education, even in bomb shelters, evacuation zones, or when separated from school communities. Moreover, in an era where digital transformation shapes national resilience and competitiveness, education plays a central role — cultivating the knowledge, skills, and adaptability needed to rebuild the country and shape its European future.  

IT Studios: A New Era for Informatics Education in Schools  

Among the flagship digital educational initiatives is IT Studios, developed by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine in cooperation with the EU-funded project EU4DigitalUA, implemented by FIAP. 

These studios offer reimagined informatics lessons that integrate digital materials and practical skill-building for school students of 1–11 grades. The IT Studios platform provides: 

-Over 500 interactive exercises 

-320+ educational sessions 

-Modules ranging from digital literacy, and media creativity to computational thinking and programming
 

“IT Studios is a rethought approach to teaching computer science through digital educational materials for students and teachers, with maximum focus on practice and application of skills in real situations. More than 30% of the country’s educational institutions already use IT Studios in the educational process. Educational resources of modern informatics change the idea of modern education and lay the foundation for the future, where technology becomes the driving force of the country’s development,” said Valeriya Ionan, Advisor to the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine on Innovation, Digitalisation & Global Partnerships, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
 

Cooperation to boost digital education in Ukraine
 

The EU4DigitalUA project stands as a pivotal initiative supporting Ukraine’s journey toward an innovative and inclusive digital society. Funded by the European Union, the project has been advancing digital learning and institutional capacity building in Ukraine since 2020 — with a clear mission: to bring international expertise, modern tools, and European values into the core of Ukraine’s digital governance and education systems.

The main goal of EU4DigitalUA is to increase Ukraine’s competitiveness through transparent, citizen-centered digital governance. With the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine as the primary beneficiary, the project focuses on three key pillars which are implemented by FIAP: 

-Institutional strengthening and capacity development 

-Communication and public awareness 

-Data protection

By equipping both public officials and the younger generation with 21st-century digital skills, EU4DigitalUA helps lay the foundation for Ukraine’s sustainable development and European integration. 
 

AI Knowledge in Ukrainian Schools 

As AI tools become increasingly integrated into everyday life, Ukraine is taking steps to bring them into the classroom. A joint study by Projector Creative & Tech Institute and the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, conducted in September–October 2023, sheds light on the current landscape of AI usage in Ukrainian education. 

This gap points to a critical need for ongoing teacher training and support — an area where EU4DigitalUA’s initiatives like CDTO Campus and digital upskilling programs continue to play a transformative role. 

CDTO Campus: Training Ukraine’s Digital Government Leaders 

Beyond classrooms, EU4DigitalUA also plays a transformative role in public administration providing training programs on AI and personal data protection for CDTO Campus — Ukraine’s national learning initiative for Chief Digital Transformation Officers (CDTOs) and their teams in government and public bodies. 

Designed to build high-level digital leadership, the Campus offers training in numerous educational programs in GovTech, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence, adapted to the modern requirements of public administration. 

One of the most recent programs delivered through CDTO Campus was “EU4DigitalUA: Implementing AI in e-Government”, completed in May 2025. This course was tailored for civil servants and focused on: 

-AI adoption strategies in public administration 

-Ethical and legal frameworks aligned with EU standards 

-Best practices from Spain and other EU countries 

-Practical use cases and adaptation for the Ukrainian context

Spanning eight comprehensive modules, the course combined lectures from international experts, group discussions, and hands-on case studies. 

A Path Forward: AI in the Classroom and Beyond 

As part of its long-term strategy, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has published practical guidelines for integrating AI into school curricula. These include safe usage recommendations, toolkits for teachers and students, and strategies for ethical use and responsible AI adoption. In this context, digital literacy plays a pivotal role as a driver of Ukraine’s innovation economy. With a reputation for producing top-tier tech talent, Ukraine is leveraging digital education to accelerate its recovery. 

From transforming how schoolchildren learn informatics, to training the next generation of public digital leaders, EU4DigitalUA initiatives reinforce the importance of education as the backbone of digital transformation. By fostering digital literacy, supporting AI integration, and aligning with EU standards, EU4DigitalUA helps Ukraine build a resilient, future-ready state where knowledge and innovation drive the country forward on its European path. 

✍🏽 Team of the project EU4Digital in Ukraine

Human trafficking is a serious crime that affects millions of people around the world, and this day seeks to mobilise efforts to prevent it, protect victims and prosecute those responsible. Furthermore, in a context of armed conflict and migration flows, it is particularly important to prioritise the protection of victims of trafficking.

A philosophical analysis of public policy design from a humanistic perspective leads us to commit to adapting these policies to people’s needs, for the common good, and where an educated and trained society is essential for governing with justice. In designing public policies aimed at combating human trafficking, it is essential to understand the political dynamics, i.e., to know the decision-making processes, the key actors involved and the factors that influence implementation. This knowledge is necessary in order to apply what is known as a victim-centred approach.

The victim-centred approach, also known as the victim-focused approach, prioritises the needs and concerns of victims, placing them at the centre of attention and processes. The main objective is for victims to regain control over their lives and for the services offered to them to be empathetic and free of prejudice, avoiding processes of revictimisation.

This approach seeks to empower victims, strengthen their resilience and therefore their ability to adapt, and help them recover their family and personal spaces.

In order for this approach to be applied in all key processes in the fight against human trafficking (prevention, protection and criminal prosecution), it is important that all actors in contact with victims have a better understanding of their experience. This better understanding comes from ongoing training aimed at improving knowledge of the problems faced by victims and their specific needs, thereby generating greater awareness and empathy among public servants.

In addition to this specialised training, it is necessary to eliminate elements of revictimisation from the processes, especially during the criminal investigation of the crime, where, for example, victims are forced to repeatedly repeat interviews in which they are forced to repeat and relive the moments of exploitation they have experienced. Victims are a very important source of intelligence, as they have access to information that is highly relevant to the criminal investigation process. However, respect and non-revictimisation cannot be subordinated to the extraction of information. For this reason, it is essential that comprehensive care and protection services are provided as soon as a victim is identified.

Through its project in Bolivia, FIAP works in coordination with the institutions that make up the Plurinational Council for the Fight Against Human Trafficking and Smuggling, supporting and strengthening the powers that each institution has under Comprehensive Law 263 on the fight against human trafficking and smuggling.

To reinforce the application of the victim-centred approach, we have collaborated with both the Ministry of Justice and Institutional Transparency and the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the design and dissemination of the Single Protocol for Specialised Care for Victims of Trafficking and Intervention Route. This Protocol is a set of guidelines and procedures that establish how institutions should act to provide comprehensive care and protection to victims of human trafficking, guaranteeing respect for their rights and promoting their recovery and social reintegration, i.e., the application of the victim-centred approach.

In addition, the design of a diploma course on the prevention and protection of victims of human trafficking has just been completed, which substantially improves the specialised training offered to Bolivian public officials on this crime and on the application of a victim-centred approach.

Santiago Santos

Project Director, Fight Against Human Trafficking, Smuggling of Migrants and Related Offences in Bolivia

The waters of the Falémé River, which separates Senegal from Mali in the province of Kédougou, have a strange ochre colour. They flow slowly in a dystopically silent landscape. No children splashing in its waters, no trace of women washing clothes.

When you ask about this rare calm, there are two explanations:

–GOLD. In recent years, illegal gold mining has soared in these lands, which account for 98% of the country’s mines, and with it criminality. Gold, as so many African countries have witnessed, is not only a source of violence. It also brings public health problems and damage to the ecosystem (aquifers, crops, etc.), due to the mercury used to process it.

–JIHADIST TERRORISM. Mali has become the epicentre of jihadist terrorism in the last decade. The map below shows the concentration of armed groups across the river in Mali. Raids are frequent and Senegal has asked the EU for help in containing the threat.

Between the violence of the precious metal, organised crime and terrorism, some 150,000 people are trapped between the violence of the precious metal, the violence of organised crime and terrorism, and increasingly, going to the market, to school, to fetch water from the well or to a health post is a risky activity.

Sharing Spain’s experience in the fight against terrorism

The Senegalese state and its gendarmerie requested EU support in 2017 to protect the country from growing destabilisation. The Sahel, the semi-desert strip south of the Sahara that crosses Africa from west to east, is home to 51 per cent of the world’s victims of terrorism. In 2024 alone, 3885 people were killed in terrorist attacks there, according to data from the Global Terrorism Index.

Four countries agreed to collaborate with the Senegalese Gendarmerie: Spain, France, Italy and Portugal. Their security forces offered their knowledge and experience to adapt to the Sahel countries a proposal that had been successful in Spain in the fight against terrorism.

‘The GAR doctrine (Rapid Action Groups of the Guardia Civil) develops working procedures and missions based on the basic characteristics of these units: mobility, self-sufficiency, robustness and polyvalence. They are units that dispute the terrain with criminals and terrorists, limiting their freedom of manoeuvre in the most inaccessible geographical areas, where impunity is rife, regaining the initiative in the field and forcing these violent groups to protect themselves from police action and avoid the civilian population. This is how the beginning of the end of ETA began, when it ceased to be safe in the countryside and to move with total impunity,’ are the words of Colonel Miguel Ángel Hernández, who since 2024 has been directing the third phase of the European GARSI project, implemented by a European consortium and led by Spain. Hernández, who is from the Canary Islands, has previously worked in international missions with the United Nations in Guatemala and Haiti. This after more than 15 years of direct experience in the fight against ETA.

International cooperation between security forces: the security-development nexus

In February 2025, the colonel travelled to Saraya, where the country’s second GARSI unit is being formed, together with the director of the Foundation for the Internationalisation of Public Administrations (FIAP), Francisco Tierraseca. ‘I have been able to see in situ the enormous involvement of Senegal in this project. After the stabilisation of the area and the successes achieved by the first GARSI unit in Senegal, in Kidira, the gendarmerie has not even waited for the official start of the project: they have already built the basic installations for the 300 men who will make up the GARSI unit in Saraya, and the gendarmes of Kidira themselves came down here to begin the basic training of the Saraya gendarmes,’ Tierraseca said, who also stressed the importance of this border for the stability of Senegal, its own development and also security in Europe.

The mission is accompanied by Brigadier General Emmanuel Gerber and Mario Farnós, lieutenant of the Guardia Civil and institutional coordinator of the project in Senegal and Mauritania. Emmanuel has previously participated in multiple international missions, including Central African Republic, Chad, Lebanon and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In constant movement

Commander Cheikh Faye of the Senegalese gendarmerie welcomes them warmly and shows them on the spot how well the work is progressing at the new Saraya barracks. He then accompanies them to one of the three mobile points deployed at the border, which can only be reached via 70 km of winding tracks shaken by dust and sand.

Mario tells us about the main characteristics of these units, what makes them different from classic gendarmeries: ‘they are units trained to work in continuous mobility, oriented towards direct contact with the population and with very specific training in areas such as physical training, explosive ordnance disposal, logistics and maintenance, judicial police, information, drone handling, explosive device detection, environmental crimes, etc.’.

Emmanuel provides the framework for the trainings that are taking place this month: human rights and the gender approach. They are given by a person in charge of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), a Senegalese magistrate and two women commanders of the Senegalese National Gendarmerie. Beforehand,’ he explains, ’we carried out basic training, which generated a great sense of belonging and teamwork in the unit, and also the training of trainers, a key strategy for multiplying knowledge and reaching large groups of gendarmes.

Solomonic solution

The hours on the road from Dakar to Kédougou, then to Saraya, then to the border are long. In the car, we share conversations and reflections. About the need to generate security to build development, about the key moments in the fight against ETA and what it was like to be a Guardia Civil in the Basque Country, about the living conditions in these units, about the baobab trees and also about the relations between different countries that share more and more common challenges. For Tierraseca, humility and creativity in finding solutions adapted to each context are key in this form of cooperation.

Sometimes, however, with so many roads in between, consensus can only be reached through Solomonic solutions. Like the one forged by Mario and Malik, the driver: as far as Kaffrine (halfway), we drive to the rhythms of Guinea Bissau and Cameroon that Malik chooses on the radio. From Kaffrine to Dakar we return with Estopa.

✍🏽 Alicia García, Head of Communication at FIAP

PHOTO GALLERY:

• The fight against gender-based violence is a commitment of Spanish foreign action, which is committed to feminist cooperation to combat gender-based violence outside our borders as well.

• FIIAPP, an entity of the Spanish Cooperation, materializes this commitment through the mobilization of public professionals of our institutions to support feminist public policies around the world that close the way to the abusers.

Police officers, judges, doctors and prosecutors are some of the professionals who are mobilized through FIIAPP to cooperate with their counterparts in other countries by contributing their experiences in Spanish institutions to combat gender violence.

Condemning abusers, raising awareness among adolescents, not re-victimizing women, prosecuting aggressors, prosecuting trafficking, ensuring the safety of threatened women, facilitating safe migratory routes, supporting feminist education… These are essential actions to combat gender violence that have one thing in common: they need public institutions to be carried out.

Through public cooperation – a type of cooperation that allows the mobilization of professionals from institutions – FIIAPP mobilizes specialists such as police officers, judges, doctors and prosecutors to work hand in hand with their counterparts in other countries. These exchanges facilitate dialogue and support for regulations, laws and public policies to curb violence against girls and women.

“Gender-based violence is a structural problem that requires cross-cutting approaches. Equality institutions, but also health, interior, justice and education institutions have the capacity to build public policies with a gender focus that protect women, but also focus on prevention and changing social structures,” explains Peggy Martinello, Director of Public Administration and Social Affairs.

Three examples of public cooperation against gender-based violence:

Security: Spanish police train Lebanese police officers against gender-based violence.

Specialists from the National Police work in Lebanon through a European FIIAPP program that provides support to the Lebanese police. The program includes a gender component with the participation of the National Police’s Family and Women Care Unit (UFAM). “With their support, we promote the creation of the Gender Violence Unit within the ISF (Lebanese Security Forces) with policemen trained in victim care and investigation of these types of crimes in the 12 territorial police stations in the country. We also want to ensure that there are female police officers to attend to victims, as currently there are only men, and we aspire to offer more comprehensive care to all victims, institutionalizing the provision of social, health, psychological and legal services to all victims” explains the program coordinator at the FIIAPP, Consuelo Navarro.

For the National Police and project leader, Joaquín Plasencia, the Spanish police officers working on the project not only contribute through training, “they are police commanders, and are a clear example that it is possible and necessary for women to occupy these positions, we must achieve together, setting an example of gender equality so that women can achieve their goals in a modern society such as the Lebanese one.

Justice: Latin American women protected from their abusers across the continent

Two experts from the Spanish Attorney General’s Office and COMJIB have been working for months with Latin American institutions to extend protection to victims of gender-based violence in Latin America. They have done so in the framework of PAcCTO, a European program to fight organized crime, through which the FIIAPP mobilizes Spanish public specialists who cooperate with their counterparts in Latin America.

The result of this joint work has been the approval of the Agreement on Protection Measures for Women in Situations of Gender Violence in Mercosur and Associated States. This milestone promotes the extension of protection for women victims of gender-based violence to any of the countries that have ratified this agreement. “We have worked with the PAcCTO to learn about local legislation on the protection of victims of violence and human trafficking in order to extend this protection not only in the country where the crime occurs but also in other Mercosur countries and Associated States,” explains the general coordinator of COMJIB, Tatiana Salem.

This agreement “helps to homogenize legislation in the region. It is also done with European support, which guarantees a certain capacity for transregional dialogue that should lead to systems that guarantee the protection of women in their countries, in their regions and beyond their regions,” says Mariano Guillén, director of Justice and Rule of Law at the FIIAPP.

Education: Anti-trafficking prevention for more than 500 girls in Nigerian schools

Nigeria is one of the main countries of origin of trafficking of women who are exploited in Europe. Police officers from our National Police Corps work there together with NGO’s and National Centers carrying out training and direct awareness-raising work for women and girls, the main potential victims of trafficking networks.

“The fight against human trafficking in Nigeria has taken on a positive dimension, the country has been placed at the forefront of the fight against human trafficking and irregular migration in Africa thanks to the support of European cooperation programs such as ATIPSOM, which remind us of the importance of putting our cooperation and development efforts into combating human trafficking,” explains Fatima Waziri-Azi, Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

Public policies do not fit in a tweet, they cannot be told in 280 characters, and much more is needed to communicate their scope and action. For this reason, we are launching a series of conversations under the name ‘Hablemos de Políticas Públicas’ (Let’s Talk about Public Policy) in which, through the voice of experts, we delve into the scope of public administrations in different countries to share solutions to global challenges. 

Challenges that can and should be addressed by public policies

We begin this cycle of conversations in collaboration with the Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs (DGPNSD) and we talk about #Drugs. A three-way conversation between Joan Ramón Villalbí, Government Delegate for the PNSD; Anna Terrón, Director of the FIIAPP; and Javier Sagredo, Director of the COPOLAD III cooperation programme on drugs.

Why public policies on drugs?

The drug challenge is global, crosses borders and hits people all over the world hard. Moreover, it is predicted that by 2030, the number of people who use drugs will increase by 11%. This is a problem that public policies are taking on board and implementing, with increasing progress, strategies that attempt to respond to it. 

Along these lines, Javier Sagredo stressed the importance of “appealing to the urgency of humanising politics more” and emphasised that a review is necessary, given that “recipes have always been closely linked to being very hard on the weak and very weak with the hard” and “this is part of the review that we have to carry out in order to achieve the opposite”. Furthermore, he stressed that the community responses developed in Latin America and the Caribbean are an inspiration, since they have built models of public policy. 

The truth is that data on drug production, trafficking and problematic drug use show a worrying overall upward trend: 36 million people worldwide suffer from drug use disorders. Moreover, according to some estimates, drug trafficking is worth between $426 billion and $652 billion a year – the equivalent of Sweden’s GDP.  

For this reason, the COPOLAD III programme, led by the FIIAPP in consortium with the Italian-Latin American Institute (IILA) and financed by the European Union, has been working for more than ten years with the DGPNSD and other partners to promote dialogue and cooperation between the European Union and Latin American countries.  

South America is the origin of coca leaf, coca paste and cocaine hydrochloride production worldwide and in some Latin American and Caribbean countries, 80% of women deprived of liberty are deprived of liberty for minor drug offences. 

Women need a specific approach

The approach that has guided public policy on drugs has largely focused on men’s problematic drug use, with insufficient attention paid to women, who also suffer from drug use disorders.  

Feminism has changed some of the parameters for the development of new public policies. “Our cooperation is feminist”, emphasised Anna Terrón, and it is this dimension that has led to the development of new strategies and ways of responding to women’s problematic drug use. 

In the words of Joan Ramón Villalbí, “the reality is that women traditionally have a lower consumption of drugs, but those who have a problem have a more serious problem and encounter barriers in accessing services, which have not been designed for them, but for men”. He added that it is women who encourage many men to seek help when they have a problem with drug use, but “who accompanies women who have a problem? Although this situation is less frequent in women, “it is perhaps more complicated for those who have a problem to find a way out”, said Villalbí.