The Presidency Council finances up to 90% of small solidarity actions that provinces and municipalities want to develop with NGOs in disadvantaged countries.
March 14, 2025
Castile and León | Presidency Council
The IV Cooperation Development Master Plan of the Castile and León Junta 2023-2026 includes measures to strengthen the role of municipalities as key players in international cooperation, highlighting the promotion of ties between local entities and NGOs. It is worth noting that these public administrations have collaborated in the planning and design of the strategies outlined in this Master Plan, through the Regional Federation of Municipalities and Provinces.
This is the second year in which the Presidency Council involves local entities in the implementation of international solidarity initiatives. The aim is to provide economic support to promote collaboration between municipalities and NGOs through small development initiatives, known as ‘development micro-actions’, in impoverished countries. These actions must be carried out within a maximum period of 12 months and will be implemented on the ground by NGOs selected by the local entities.
The Presidency Councilor, Luis Miguel González Gago, presented this call at a meeting organized in Segovia by ‘La Razón Castile and León’, attended by representatives of the provinces and a hundred mayors from the community interested in getting involved in such projects, in addition to the President of the Coordinator of NGOs of Castile and León, Andrés Rodríguez Amayuelas. During this event, attendees had the opportunity to hear different testimonies from local representatives of Castile and León who already have experience in International Development Cooperation and who wanted to emphasize the importance of joining, also from the local perspective, in policies and initiatives in this field.
González Gago highlighted that «the municipalities of Castile and León show a particular sensitivity to those people living in countries where rights and basic needs are not met or are insufficient.»
The initial budget for this call is 200,000 euros, which is 33% more than last year. Additionally, this budget could be increased to 400,000 euros to cover the maximum possible number of initiatives.
Once municipalities or provinces, in collaboration with NGOs, submit their applications, the Junta will finance all selected micro-actions with 90% of the total cost of each intervention, up to a maximum of 45,000 euros. Therefore, the maximum contribution from each local entity will be 5,000 euros.
González Gago emphasized the great opportunity that this call represents for municipalities considering participating in development cooperation actions, but who may not have sufficient resources of their own to carry them out properly.
Furthermore, since solidarity is one of the fundamental values of Castilian and Leonese society, the councilor underscored «the importance of the reputational benefit that local entities can gain from these initiatives, as they allow citizens to feel proudly represented in the decisions of their respective municipal corporations.»
The deadline for municipalities interested in receiving this aid from the Castile and León Junta is April 4.
This same call also includes another line of aid for companies in Castile and León that collaborate with NGOs to carry out solidarity actions in the same direction, with the same administrative and economic requirements, presented by the Presidency Councilor at the time of the call’s publication, a week ago.