Euskadi have a unified portal on Basque public cooperation
The Basque Government, the three provincial councils, the town councils of the three capitals and the Euskal Fondoa association have presented the Basque Public Cooperation Portal in Bilbao. The initiative aims to promote transparency, harmonisation of information and coordination in development cooperation.
This new website provides an overview of public cooperation for development in the Basque Country. It provides information on commitments, projects and their budget, as well as their geographical location. From 2014 to 2017, the Basque public cooperation for development has reached 79 countries across the world; around 2,300 projects have been developed and more than 230 million euros have been earmarked.
The web portal was presented at the headquarters of the Basque Government in Bilbao by the Director of the Basque Agency for Development Cooperation of the Basque Government, Paul Ortega, and Jorge Gutiérrez, of HEGOA – Institute of Studies on Development and International Cooperation of the UPV, responsible for the design of the new platform. The presentation was attended by María Guijarro, representing the Provincial Council of Bizkaia; Alberto Ruiz de Azua, from the City Council of Bilbao; Mamen Díaz de Sarralde, from the Provincial Council of Alava; Aitor Gabilondo, from the City Council of Vitoria-Gasteiz; Silvia Carballo, from the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa; Ainhoa Gainberri, from the City Council of Donostia-San Sebastián; and Juanma Balerdi, from Euskal Fondoa.
The information presented in the Basque Public Cooperation Portal refers to initiatives under implementation between 2014 and 2017. The page fosters transparency and gathers information on the different Basque public agents that allocate resources to cooperation; the different projects developed by year, by geographical location and by institution; as well as complementary information to help visually understand the action of Euskadi as a whole.
This tool will be updated annually with new initiatives financed by the main public institutions working on development cooperation in Euskadi. The medium-term objective is to incorporate the cooperation data of all Basque public institutions. Likewise, new content will be introduced to facilitate a user-friendly approach and make it possible for users to download information by introducing specific selection criteria.
Paul Ortega, on behalf of the institutions involved, has valued the effort and the common work developed by the different Basque institutions to carry out this project: “This is an example of the ‘auzolana’ concept, as it sums up the effort of all Basque institutions. For the first time, Euskadi has a fixed photo of the projects and resources destined for Public Cooperation for Development”. Ortega has stated that the new portal is a “close, transparent and useful tool” and that it places “Euskadi on the map of solidarity and the Agenda 2030 of the United Nations”.
The Portal is accessible via: http://euskalankidetza.hegoa.ehu.eus
