ODA in Galicia (Spain). The importance of the fisheries sector and the cultural priority

Abstract

This article analyses the motivations, priorities and financing of Galician Official Development Aid (ODA) in relation to Spanish ODA. We will focus mainly on the Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP), paying special attention to the cases of Cape Verde and Mozambique, both priorities for the Galician cooperation programs, due to their linguistic proximity and the fact that fishing takes on a significant role. To understand the orientations of Galician ODA, it is important to consider three priorities, geographical, sectoral and cultural. Fishing is relevant in any of these priorities, as a strategic sector for the economy of Galicia and Portuguesespeaking countries due to the linguistic proximity between Galician and Portuguese. Therefore, there is a willingness to project regional interests in foreign actions, although always coordinated along the main Spanish and European cooperation lines. However, the decentralised policy of Galician cooperation, characterised in economic terms by its weakness, has encountered certain difficulties in developing its strategies. The main difficulty lies in the small size of Galician Non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs), which are unable to manage large projects, while bigger NGDOs manage a large part of the cooperation funds, with national or international interests that do not always coincide with the interests of Galicia. In this article we will show that, despite these drawbacks, the fishing orientation of ODA in Galicia is still relevant, and cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries is also unique in the Spanish context. However, it is necessary to strengthen a regional vision that can generate more benefits for both the donor region and the receiving country, as well as helping the local population to better understand the meaning and benefits generated by ODA.