Spain

AECID increased its funds by 42%, the largest increase in more than a decade, but leaving the agency’s budget still at less than 15% of total ODA, which is insufficient for the institution responsible for executing most of the Spanish Development Cooperation budget. CSOs had proposed the creation of a Feminist Cooperation Office in the framework of the AECID reforms, but this does not seem to be included in the draft budget.

The reform of Spanish Development Cooperation and the promotion of the Feminist Foreign Policy are important steps, but they require the necessary resources and adequate indicators, something that is not yet included in the draft budget for 2023. In particular, it would be necessary to ensure sufficient investment in the area of sexual and reproductive health and to have indicators to measure gender impact.

In 2021, Spain contributed almost 24 million Euros to SRHR, to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 crisis in health systems and guarantee the response to SRH needs, such as strengthening health systems for access to family planning; responding to GBV; pursuing the elimination of harmful practices such as child marriage and FGM; and advocating in the area of gender equality. This overall amount includes almost 8 million Euros going specifically to SRH/FP. Furthermore, Spanish contributions to UNFPA benefitting SRHR achieved 5 million Euro, of which 3.7 million were for SRH/FP.

Regions contributed to this support. Part of the Spanish SRH/FP spending in 2021 included the Basque Country Government’s contributions to the Joint Programme on Essential Services for GBV and UNFPA’s programmes ‘We decide’ and ‘Addressing GBV and SRH needs of women and youth as part of mixed migration humanitarian response’ in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as outcomes of the Nairobi Summit. Following parliamentary advocacy work in the Basque Country led by Sedra-FPFE, the regional government also approved a new agreement focused on supplies in humanitarian settings for 2022, which will continue in 2023 (according to the informal declaration during the Parliamentary Conference on SRHR in international cooperation and humanitarian contexts). The government of Catalonia has also supported UNFPA’s programme on prevention and response to GBV in the humanitarian context in Libya and Palestine in 2021.

It is important to highlight that in 2021  the Spanish government did not provide core funds to UNFPA or UNICEF, as a result of political decision. This situation is however expected to be reverted in 2023, when core funding from Spain to UNFPA is expected to amount to 250.000 Euro. Furthermore, in 2022 the Spanish government committed to contribute to IPPF a grant with the amount of €200,000 to its Arab World Regional Office based in Tunis. Such contributions may indicate that Spanish overall support to the SRHR agenda will at least be sustained until new elections, taking place in 2023.