Report of activities 2005

Out of the actions carried out by the Confederation of Funds for Cooperation in the year 2005, stand out the following:

• Relationship with the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI): as a result of a meeting that was held in July with the Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Ms. Leire Pajín, and previous negotiations, on December 22nd the signing of a framework convention between the AECI and the Confederation of Funds took place. This agreementwill enable the joint execution and financing of international cooperation programmes and the participation of the Confederation of Funds in the design of strategies of governability, municipal and local development in the corresponding regional areas, and will propose the execution of parts or points of these strategies, which will be implemented through the Cooperation of Funds.
  On the other hand, the AECI invited the Confederation to take part in a Workshop on municipal cooperation in Central America, held in Granada, July 5th, in which the guidelines for a regional cooperation programme with Central America in the area of municipalism were presented ; and in the same month, the Confederation participated in a meeting to present the Strategy Documents of the Country of the Saharan People, Palestinian Territories and Mauritania.

• Participation in the Interregional Commission: last year it participated in the meetings of the Interregional Commission Plenum (January 17th, March 29th, October 27th and December 22nd) and in the work groups created within the Commission.The Interregional Commission meetings held on January 17th, March 29th and December 22nd took as the main topic the report of the Director Plan 2005-2008, the Annual Plan of International Cooperation (PACI) 2005, and the Annual Plan of International Cooperation 2006, respectively, which incorporate some of the amendments presented by the Confederation and had the support of the Cooperation Funds.
  

• Monitoring of the processes of constitution of new funds: the Confederation has followed with great interest and has kept in contact with the constitution of the Castilian Manchegan CooperationFoundation , which manages the“Castilian Manchegan Cooperation Fund”, whose presentation took place on December 12th inToledo.On the other hand, it should be emphasised thatnegotiations carried out by the Galician Fund in Portugal, specifically with several councils that carry out development cooperation tasks, which have shown a positive response to information and exchanges proposed by the Fund, and which are considering the possibility of creating a specific fund.
  
  
• Collaboration with the UNDP: in the line of maintaining relations with international institutions such as United Nations, particularly in the framework of the United Nations Development Programme, on April 12th a meeting was held with representatives from the programme ART, in order to define the possibilities of working together, which were brought to fruition in the Programme ART GOLD Sri Lanka for the reconstruction after the emergency of the tsunami at the end of December 2004. The Andalusian, Catalan, Extremenian and Galician Funds all participated. Alternatively, the Confederation of Funds gave its support to the International Conference on Decentralized Cooperation: “ART: multilateral framework and decentralized cooperation for the Millennium goals”, which took place in Havana (Cuba) on December 7th and 9th, and brought together nearly a hundred delegates from 15 countries of America and Europe.

• Participation in the Network of European Municipalities for Peace in the Middle East: within the framework of support for the decentralized cooperation in the Middle East, the Confederation of Funds has participated, through the Catalan and Andalusian Funds, in certain initiatives of the European Municipal Network for Peace in the Middle East. It should be emphasised that the participation of a delegation of the Catalan Fund in the mission of electoral observation in Palestine with the purpose of the municipal elections in Cisjordan and Gaza in May, together with the local authorities of France, Italy and the Netherlands, making a total of eighty delegates. Particular attention is paid to the II International Conference of Local Authorities for Peace in the Middle East, held in November in Cordoba organized jointly by the Cordoba Council, the Andalusian Fund, the Catalan Fund and the Network which brought together local authorities of Europe, Palestine and Israel to promote a stage of peace and dialogue in order to bring an end to the conflict suffered by Arabian and Israeli communities for many years.

• Support for the Saharan People: in the area of support for the Saharan People, it should be pointed out that in June, due to the deterioration of the situation of the occupied territories, the Confederation of Funds carried out, by unanimous agreement, a pronouncement of denunciation of the violation of human rights in the occupied territories, in which the implicated parties and the Spanish authorities were urged to promote peace and give effect to the international agreements. On the other hand, the Basque Fund participated in the XXXI European Conference of Coordination and Support for the Saharan People (EUCOCO 2005), which took place in November in Mol (Belgium).

• International events: The Catalan Fund and the Andalusian Fund participated at the end of January in the meeting of the Network of Forum of Local Authorities for Social Inclusion (FAL) which took place in Porto Alegre in the framework of the V World Social Forum. This network aims to provide more continuity for the WSFs and has been promoting the creation of a Commission of Social Inclusion within the United Cities and Local Governments. Finally, it should be underlined that throughout the entire year the Valencian Fund has assumed the representation of the Confederation in the preparatory work meetings of theV International Forum of the World Alliance of Cities against Poverty, which will be held at the end of March 2006 and in which a space for the presentation of the Cooperation Funds is expected. 

• Publications and diffusion: at the end of May a commemorative leaflet was published to mark the tenth anniversary of the Confederation of Funds, with the intention of presenting the Cooperation Funds and the Confederation and circulating the work carried out in previous years and the main work tools that the Confederation offers (publications, website, observatory, bulletin).

• Online Bulletin: the electronic publication of the Confederation, MunicipalDescentralized Cooperation , has achieved in this first year of publication the regularity that it had proposed (bimonthly frequency) and has been received with great interest, especially in the areas where there are no cooperation funds, from where numerous requests for subscription have arrived. The bulletin contains sections on current issues and information on the Confederation and the Cooperation Funds, as well as reflection on the matters of decentralized cooperation. It is distributed free online throughout the SpanishState territory and in some European and international institutions.

• Observatory of the Decentralized Cooperation: has continued its consolidation as a reference service specialising in decentralized cooperation, particularly in the area of legislation and documentation. Throughout this year new legislative texts have been introduced, to an extent that presently 76 can be consulted, and the documentation base has been increased to 133 catalogued documents, of which more than half can be consulted online. The monitoring of the enquiries made in the virtual space of the Confederation confirms the growing interest in the Observatory, which can be accessed in six languages: Castilian, Catalan, Basque, Galician, English and French.

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