Por Redaccion 
The Presidency Council finances up to 90% of the small solidarity actions that the provincial councils and municipalities want to carry out with NGOs in disadvantaged countries.
March 14, 2025
Castilla y León | Presidency Council
The IV Cooperation Development Master Plan of the Junta de Castilla y León 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 included 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 goal is to provide financial 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 the 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 Castilla y León’, attended by representatives of the provincial councils and a hundred mayors from the community interested in getting involved in such projects, in addition to the President of the NGO Coordinator of Castilla y León, Andrés Rodríguez Amayuelas. During this event, attendees had the opportunity to hear testimonies from local representatives of Castilla y 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 Castilla y León show a particular sensitivity to those 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 as many initiatives as possible.
Once the municipalities or provincial councils, 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 may not have sufficient resources of their own to carry them out properly.
Furthermore, as solidarity is one of the fundamental values of Castilian and Leonese society, the councilor highlighted «the importance of the reputational benefit that local entities can obtain from these initiatives, as they allow citizens to feel proudly represented in the decisions of their respective municipal corporations.»
The deadline for submitting applications by interested municipalities to receive this aid from the Junta de Castilla y León will end on April 4.
This same call also includes another line of aid for companies in Castilla y 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 publication, a week ago.