EL BLOG DE LA FIIAPP. Cooperación Española

In 2015, during the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit held in New York, 193 countries approved the 2030 Agenda for global goals: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN defines sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

These objectives expand the scope of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) signed in 2000 and involve more actors committed to eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, and combating climate change.

The 17 SDGs set global targets ranging from eliminating poverty and hunger to reducing economic and gender inequalities, protecting the planet, conserving biodiversity, and ensuring universal access to basic services such as health and education. They also include the creation of partnerships and cooperation among countries to move together toward sustainable development.

The European Union’s Commitment to the SDGs
The European Union is committed to adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and integrating them into its legislation and political actions, prioritizing efforts across three fundamental pillars of development: economic, social, and environmental.

The EU also aims to create spaces for reflection on the long-term future of development and to extend the coherence of its policies beyond its borders, supporting third countries in building peaceful, stable, and resilient societies.

The European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, expressed this commitment as follows:
“My goal is to achieve genuine consensus, under the shared responsibility of EU institutions and Member States, that allows us to lead global action in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.”

FIAP in the 2030 Agenda
The International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIAP), as a public institution managing international cooperation projects, works in line with the European Union’s foreign policy and the principles of the 2030 Agenda.

Its work focuses on modernizing public institutions in partner countries, contributing to the SDGs across various areas:

• Social policies and rights
  FIAP manages projects promoting access to basic social services such as health, education, and employment.
  The EUROsociAL program fosters social cohesion in Latin America through exchanges among experts in justice, governance, and public finance. It contributes particularly to SDGs 16 and 17.

• Economy and public finance
  Projects like the Modernization of Public Finances in Algeria strengthen fiscal systems, aligned with SDG 17.1.

• Infrastructure and transport
  FIAP supports initiatives such as the Improvement of Ukraine’s Railway System, which contributes to SDG 11.2 (access to safe, affordable, and sustainable transport systems).

• Green economy
  Aligned with the EU’s 2030 Energy and Climate Framework, projects like EUROCLIMA support climate change mitigation and adaptation, consistent with SDG 13.

• Security and the fight against organized crime
  FIAP carries out initiatives addressing irregular migration, human trafficking, and drug trafficking, such as the Support for Drug Legislation in Bolivia. This work contributes to SDG 16, targets 16.4 and 16.11.

• Justice and transparency
  The EUROMED Justice program promotes effective, democratic, and human-rights-based judicial systems in the Euro-Mediterranean region, in line with SDG 16.3.

Opinions expressed in this blog are the sole responsibility of the author.

Editorial note (updated October 2025):
This content, originally published in 2017, remains a key reference for understanding FIAP’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since then, the institution has continued promoting public sector reform, social cohesion, and the green transition in alignment with the 2030 Agenda and the European Global Gateway initiative.

The first Twinnings began in May, 1998, when the countries of Eastern Europe entered Europe to make them better prepared for the enlargement of the European Union.

It is a specific type of project in which Spain occupies third place in the European Union in terms of the budget implemented, and fourth in projects won. Specifically, Spain implements 10% of the projects that circulate.

To better understand their purpose and the types of projects that exist, we talked to Rafael Rodríguez-Ponga, National Contact Point for Twinnings at Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

What are the European Union’s Twinning programmes?

The Twinning programmes of the European Commission are institutional cooperation programmes that are funded by the European Commission from the EU external action budget.

They represent a very particular type of funding. Specifically, they are from public administration to public administration. They must be implemented by and for agencies that are part of, or are themselves, public administrations, and they are managed by civil servants.

They are also results-oriented, which means that the two parties, both the administration that wins the project and the beneficiary administration, commit to achieving a series of results in a contract signed in advance.

Furthermore the defining feature of Twinnings is that the two parties, in addition to making a commitment, work together.

How do they function?

Well, a civil servant from the administration that wins the project relocates temporarily to the site of the other administration for one to two years, depending on the Twinning, and helps the civil servants there develop, work on and promote European Union legislation.

What is the purpose of Twinnings?

It´s cooperation between the different administrations. It’s to improve the administrative capacities of other beneficiary countries. It’s to bring these beneficiaries up to European standards so that they function increasingly better.

And it’s to export our experience, our working methods and our fundamental values, such as democracy or human rights. It’s to bring these neighbours closer to the EU acquis. In all sectors, from the justice sector, which is generally the one with the most Twinnings, to finance, energy, structural funds, consumer protection, etc.

Could you give us an example of a project FIIAPP is participating in?

We have a Twinning in Algeria for setting up a Directorate-General of Traffic (DGT), as no organisation currently exists there to regulate this area. So we have sent a civil servant from Spain’s DGT to Algeria to help set up a DGT over the next two years, and to look at how to improve traffic and reduce traffic deaths in that country.

Listen to our radio programme, Public Cooperation Around the World, on Radio 5 (RNE), about Twinnings here.

HISTORY OF THE FAS

Actions to fight poverty by the Angolan government started to take shape with the creation of the Social Support Fund (FAS) on 28th October 1994 through Decree No. 44/94 of the Council of Ministers within the framework of the Economic and Social Programme – PES/94. As a government body, it was granted legal personality and administrative and financial autonomy in its founding statutes.

To accomplish its mission, the FAS has utilised funds from the Angolan government and grants from diverse funding sources, such as World Bank credits, multilateral donations from the European Union and bilateral donations (Norway, Japan, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States of America) totalling 186.3 US dollars.

WHY FUNDS WERE REQUESTED FROM THE EU

In 2013, the FAS expanded its scope to provide national coverage and invest in regions of the countries with extremely vulnerable populations in terms of access to goods, services and opportunities.

The main objective of the Local Development Project (LDP) financed by the European Union is to combat poverty in Angola through effective decentralisation of service delivery, increased opportunities for business, and income generation. Its specific objectives are the following:

Improve the access of rural and vulnerable families to basic social services and economic opportunities.

Strengthen the institutional capacities of Angolan municipalities.

The FAS has always been attentive to context changes in order to adapt them to the real needs of the target public, i.e., the most vulnerable populations. This has meant transitioning from emergency intervention, whose main priority was reconstruction and construction of local physical capital (peri-urban and rural areas), to a type of intervention focused on strengthening physical, human and social forms of capital, and, more recently, economic capital (since 2011). The primary objective of this is to strengthen the 26 municipalities so that local and municipal leaders participate in their development process through better utilisation of the potential and productivity they have.

In this way, with this intervention, the FAS is working in the following areas:

Strengthening physical capital in the face of growing limitations on the access of populations to basic social and economic services (education, health, water, market, bridges and temporary bridges).

Strengthening social capital to address the need to continue stimulating the participation of citizens in identifying and solving the problems of their towns through public consultation mechanisms, bringing citizens, the civil society sector, the private sector and public bodies (municipal administrations) closer together.

Strengthening human capital because, during the war, there was a great exodus from rural zones towards the cities in search of protection; the majority of municipalities were left without qualified administrators, and so it is necessary to invest in training, not only of organised civil society but also to build the capacities of the employees of the local administration.

Strengthening economic capital because most economic and productive sectors which could be a means of lifting the local economy are not trained or developed enough to represent an added value for collecting revenue for municipalities, and because the main source of income for families tends to be the informal sector, especially in the case of women.

Helena Farinha

Deputy Director General of the FAS