The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Spanish acronym: AECID) is managing humanitarian aid to Honduras in the sum of 300,000 euros to date, in response to the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Eta at the start of November, which has now been exacerbated by the catastrophe of Hurricane Iota. This aid will be channelled through the Honduran Red Cross and the Standing Committee for Contingencies (Spanish acronym: COPECO), and through the activation of an emergency convention with Médicos del Mundo and other donations to Spanish NGOs on the ground.

This was reported by the State Secretary for International Cooperation, Ángeles Moreno Bau, who expressed her solidarity with the people of Honduras during her virtual three-day visit to this country that has ended today.

During this virtual trip, the 8th Joint Spain-Honduras Commission was held, which renewed the Country Association Framework (Spanish acronym: MAP) – the agreement that governs cooperation relations between the two countries, which covers the period 2020-2023, and was signed by the State secretary and the Secretary for Foreign Relations, Lisandro Rosales. This will mobilise 215 million euros for development programmes while in force, which incorporates as the main cross-cutting pillars of action the priorities of gender, digital education, the environment, human rights, the strengthening of public health systems, economic inclusion and democratic governability.

Ángeles Moreno Bau had the opportunity to share with institutions and organisations of Honduran civil society, and with Spanish companies present in the country, the approaches by the Government of Spain to development cooperation and the response strategy of Spanish Cooperation to the Covid-19 crisis.

The Honduran Minister for Education, Arnaldo Bueso, informed the State secretary of the government’s plans to rebuild and take connectivity to Honduran schools. He also explained the institutional campaign “we want you to study at home”. In this field, Spain and Honduras decided to establish a working group on digital education to analyse projects that contribute to closing the digital gap and to strengthening the right to education, particularly in schools located in the more remote parts of the country.

Ángeles Moreno Bau also met with representatives from some 20 Spanish NGDOs in Honduras, and highlighted their “essential” role as actors of cooperation, together with their “valuable” contribution to the creation of opportunities and resilience. Her meeting with Spanish companies present in Honduras served to analyse opportunities to structure public-private alliances to promote development.

The agenda of her trip also included a meeting with the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and organisations that defend these rights, to whom she conveyed Spain’s support. This meeting also served to address the vulnerability of human rights defenders in Honduras, gender-based violence and LGTBI rights, key issues on the United Nations 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, shared with the delegated cooperation of the European Union.

Lastly, Ángeles Moreno Bau assessed with the Mayors de Santa Rosa de Copán, of Gracias and of Comayagua five water and sanitation projects of Spanish Cooperation in the area, and reserved the final part of her trip to see two projects by the Cultural Centre of Spain in Tegucigalpa, one on theatre workshops and the other on the recovery of public spaces.

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