eLankidetza to support the identification of five NGDO programmes

• The non-governmental development cooperation programmes will address global challenges with a local impact through partnerships between actors in the Global South and the Global North

eLankidetza-Basque Agency for Cooperation and Solidarity has granted almost 150,000 euros to 5 NGDOs for the identification of development cooperation programmes in Colombia, Bolivia, Guatemala, Senegal and Mali, among others. These initiatives will promote collaboration between institutions and agents from the North and the Global South and all will include actions in impoverished countries and in the Basque Country.

In today's world, borders have become blurred, with that issues that were once considered exclusively the problems of the South becoming global challenges. These include the climate and food crises, the increasing numbers of refugees and the rise of extremism.

To meet these challenges, tools are needed to foster collaboration between institutions in the North and South; to pool resources and strategies; to develop capacities for influence at both local and international level and to promote actions to transform local societies.

The grants will be used by 5 NGDOs to identify the following programmes, which will also encompass actions in the Basque Country: Oxfam Intermon will work for the labour rights of domestic and care workers in municipalities in Bolivia, the Basque Country and globally; Mugarik Gabe will identify a programme to defend human rights and social justice in the face of the challenge of ecological transition in Guatemala and the Basque Country; Calala Fondo de Mujeres will support feminist movements against hate speech in Central America and the Basque Country; Bizilur will promote alliances of social sectors in Europe and Latin America for the rights of peasants; and Mundubat will promote the role of women in peace building in Mali, SADR, Senegal, Mauritania and the Basque Country.

New cooperation instrument

On 12 January, the new programme decree was published, which defines two eligible phases: the identification phase and the implementation phase. eLankidetza will grant aid to each of these phases through calls for applications, such as the current one. In order to be eligible for support in the implementation phase, which will be launched next year, the proposal submitted must have been previously funded in the identification phase. In addition, programmes supported in the first phase, and applying for the second phase, must also pass the selection process in order to receive a grant.

The changes proposed by the new call for proposals are fourfold: the orientation of the instrument towards the local-global approach; the establishment of a working model aligned with this approach; the separation of the granting of aid into two phases, identification and implementation, and the replacement of the existing prior accreditation procedure with a set of requirements to be certified in each call for proposals.

The new decree replaces the decree on programme aid from the Development Cooperation Fund, which has been in force since 2007.