The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has today inaugurated the event to celebrate Aid Workers Day with the recognition of the close to 2,700 Spaniards engaged in development cooperation abroad who contribute to make Spanish Cooperation plural, diverse and respected by our partners.
José Manuel Albares, who began the day dedicated to aid workers by holding several events at the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Spanish acronym: AECID), used his opening words to remember the aid worker María Hernández who, moments before had received a posthumous decoration following her murder in Ethiopia. “This loss once again clearly shows the extreme conditions and insecurity that Spanish aid workers face", he recalled.
In this regard, he explained that the new Cooperation Act pushed through by the government seeks to recognise aid workers by dignifying their professional careers in the understanding that “they make projects possible and improve people's lives, which must be reflected in constant support for their work", he said.
The minister welcomed Aid Workers Day, which has been held on 8 September each year since 2006, and which was adopted to coincide with the signing of the Millennium Declaration of the United Nations, which expressed its recognition and respect for the priceless work of aid workers, who devote their time and capabilities to achieving a fairer world for everyone, while spreading the values they represent in the fight to eradicate poverty.
More women
José Manuel Albares paid tribute to this group of workers, the most common profile of which is women over the age of 35, an age above which spans 77% of the cases. In fact, the number of women engaged in aid work exceeds that of men, accounting for 54% of the total of 2,689 Spaniards that are currently deployed overseas in their professional devotion to international development cooperation and humanitarian action.
According to the study annually prepared by AECID, attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation through its State Secretariat for International Cooperation, the largest number of aid workers are from the Region of Madrid (22% of the total), followed by Andalusia (13%), Catalonia (12%), Castile and Leon (9%) and the Basque Country (7%). Spain currently has aid workers posted overseas from all the autonomous regions, along with the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
Present in 97 countries
Spanish aid workers are working in 97 countries around the world. 42% undertake their work in Sub-Saharan Africa while the rest are unevenly distributed: 20% are located in South America, 19% in Central America and the Caribbean, 6% in the Asia-Pacific Region, the Maghreb and the Middle and Near East, and 1% in Europe.
The countries that stand out in terms of the number of aid workers are Mozambique, with a total of 179 Spanish aid workers at this time, Bolivia with 174, Honduras with 171, Colombia with 141 and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 121 Spanish aid workers.
According to the report, with the collaboration of embassies and Spanish Cooperation units abroad, 34% of Spaniards engaged in development cooperation in countries that receive Official Development Assistance (ODA) work under the coordination of non-governmental development organisations (NGDO). The second largest group (30%) is made up of religious personnel, while 24% work for international bodies devoted to aid work. 7% of Spaniards deployed on the ground work for AECID. The remaining 7% work for different organisations at the same time, or it has not been possible to define their position.
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