Report of activities 2004

Out of the activities carried out by the Confederation of Funds for Cooperation and Solidarity in the year 2004, stand out the following:

• Relations with the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI): in July the collaboration agreement between the AECI and the Confederation of Funds within the Azahar Programme was signed and this will open up the possibility of the Cooperation Fund participating in this cooperation program in the area of sustainable development in the Mediterranean region. Also, the AECI invited the Confederation to participate in a diagnostic workshop about Municipal Strengthening in Central America, held in Antigua (Guatemala) at the beginning of September, with the objective of identifying the common problems of local authorities. Using the conclusions from the workshop, which was attended by the director of the Galician Fund, the Meeting of coordination for municipal cooperation was held in December in Granada, with the participation of the managers of the Valencian and Extremaduran Funds, where three working lines were defined within the framework of a program of municipal strengthening in Central America (formulating a joint municipal cooperation plan in the region, creation of a web page as a meeting point for Central American municipal governments and renovating and strengthening the Foundation for Institutional and Municipal Development in Central America).
  
  
• Participation in the Interregional Committee: during last year, the Funds' representatives attended the meetings of the Session of the Interregional Committee (19th July) and of the Permanent Committee (18th October). At the Interregional Commission meeting held on 19th July it was agreed, amongst other points, to begin working to create an Emergency Humanitarian Aid Joint Fund and in this way, to create specific commissions to work to homologise methodology, finance, information and development cooperation instruments. Also, the Permanent Committee was formed, in which the Confederation of Funds for Cooperation and Solidarity will be represented by its president, Mr. Pere Navarro, and Mr. Miguel Ángel Morales, vice-president of the Extremaduran Fund, will act as his replacement. At the Permanent Committee on 18th October, the constitution of 6 working committees was approved on the following subjects: planning, subsidies to the NGOs, emergency aid, evaluation, data bases and sensibility, and the Cooperation Funds are represented in all of them. The working group Planning met on 3rd December to assess the Master Plan 2005-2008 and to comment on the modifications proposed by the decentralised cooperation representatives. The Confederation prepared a document with the corresponding comments and amendments, some of which were incorporated in the text.
  
  
• Observatory on Decentralized Cooperation: in the first quarter of the year, the Observatory on Decentralised Cooperation started to operate and it consists of a virtual space in the Confederation of Funds web page. Its objective is to offer a specialised consultation service on decentralised cooperation in three basic areas, using three databases: for local cooperation, European, state and autonomous government legislation, and publications. The Observatory is available in six languages: Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Galician, English and French.
  
  
• Participation in the European Municipal Network for Peace in the Middle East: the Confederation of Funds for Cooperation supports the European Municipal Network for Peace in the Middle East and actively participated in its activities during 2004. Coinciding with the United Cities and Local Governments constituent congress, a meeting of the Network was held in Paris. At this meeting it was approved to start a campaign in support of the motion "Bridges and not walls between Israel and Palestine" in European local authorities. In July, the Catalan Fund formed part of the delegation of European mayors to Israel and Palestine, that met with representatives from Palestine and Israeli local authorities, Palestinian authorities and the European Commission delegation in Jerusalem. Also, the Andalusian and Catalan Funds have participated in the organisation of the International Conference of Local Authorities for Peace in the Middle East, which takes place in June 2005 in Cordoba and will be attended by representatives of Israeli, Palestine and European municipal networks..
  
  
• Incidence in the European Union: during 2004 the project to promote its activities in the European Union has been consolidated further, achieving an interlocutory role in areas of development cooperation with European institutions and other cooperating European municipal networks. Last year's main activity was the request to appear before the Development Committee of the European Parliament, to have the opportunity to explain what are the cooperating European municipal networks and how they operate. The Confederation also participated in the elaboration of a series of regulations, opinion reports, and external relations and migration reports, as well as the promotion of equality in development cooperation, technical assistance in Latin American countries, dispersal of official development assistance, etc.

• Publications: at the beginning of November, the French and English editions were published of Reality of the Funds of Cooperation 2001-2003, number 6 of the Confederation collection Municipal cooperation in development. The book is a collection of joint initiatives of the Funds and the Confederation, as well as a general overview of the development task at each of the Cooperation Funds during the period 2001-2003.
  
  
• Contacts with possible committees of management of new cooperation funds: the representatives of the management committee of the Asturian Cooperation Fund, that were at the Confederation's General Assembly on 17th May in Bilbao, reported that they were in the process of enlarging the Committee, that is made up from representatives of all the political parties and counts on the support of the ONG Coordinator, the Federation of Asturian Councils and the Asturian Cooperation Agency. The Asturian Development Cooperation Four Year Plan forecasts having the Fund set up in the first half of 2006. Meanwhile, the director of the Basque Fund participated in the sessions held in Santander and Valladolid, where he was able to familiarise himself with the workings of the Cooperation Funds. At both events he showed great interest in the work of the Confederation of Funds, but he thought that the lack of experience in cooperation of the local authorities, could mean that it would not be possible to set up a fund in the near future in the corresponding autonomous communities. Also, the Galician Fund has made some contacts with Portugese local authorities that undertake development cooperation tasks and they have shown great interest in the Cooperation Funds. They have established the basis for a possible collaboration with the Galician Fund.
  
  
• International institutional relations: in May the Andalusian, Extremaduran and Catalan Funds participated in the constituent congress of the new international organisation of local authorities: United Cities and Local Governments, that has its head office in Barcelona. Also, at the beginning of May, the Catalan, Valencian and Andalusian Funds took part in the Forum of Local Authorities for Social Inclusion, that was held in Barcelona. Here it was proposed that the FAL start up a committee within the United Cities and Local Governments, without it losing its original ties to the World Social Forum. Furthermore, a management committee was set up to prepare a document of statutes for the creation of the Network of Cities for Social Inclusion on a world-wide basis. The manager of the Andalusian Fund also assisted at the Forum of Local Authorities held in London in October, prior to the European Social Forum, and the Confederation gave its support to the Malaga Forum of Local Authorities, organised by the Andalusian Fund at the beginning of December, with the presence of the president of the Galician Fund and the manager of the Catalan Fund. Finally, some of the Funds have collaborated in the preparation of the Mediterranean Social Forum, that is planned for June 2005 in Barcelona.

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