Spain 🇪🇸
Global Education Profile

GENE participant since 2009.

+ Ministries and Agencies in GENE

+ Other relevant Ministries and Agencies

+ Civil Society and Youth Platforms

+ Global Education documents

Spanish Cooperation Strategy on Development Education

The state of development education in Spain: Initiatives, trends and challenges

The Spanish regions have been developing their own strategies. These two serve as an example:

  • Estrategia valenciana de Educación para el desarrollo en el ámbito formal- Valencian ED strategy in the formal sphere
  • Estrategia aragonesa de Educación para el desarrollo y ciudadanía global- Aragone Strategy of Education for development and global citizenship

+ Concepts and Definitions

In Public Institutions (AECID, Autonomous Communities, Municipalities...) the common term used is still Education for Development, or Development Education, but the majority of NGOs prefer to use the term Global Citizenship or Transformative Education. (Country report)

The theoretical framework of the strategy supports Development Education understood as Global Citizenship Education, and this vision was widely shared by DEAR stakeholders. The Strategy defines Development Education as: “a formal, non-formal or informal educational process which is constantly working, through knowledge, attitudes and values, to promote a global society committed to solidarity, to combating poverty and social exclusion and to promoting sustainable human development“ (AECID, 2007: 12). The purpose was to have a strategic framework for action for all development education stakeholders. The strategy identifies four major dimensions of Development Education: raising-awareness, training and capacity building, research and participation. (Strategy)

Development Education and Awareness Raising (DEAR) is mostly founded in ‘Global Citizenship Education' and it has evolved from Development Education. The shaping of the concept and the practices of DEAR is directly related to the contextual and historical factors of development, international cooperation and with the stakeholders involved. This approach allows the discussion of the concepts from an historical perspective and it connects them to the actors, social forces and philosophical, ethical and/or ideological visions that have shaped these concepts and approaches and, specifically, connects them to major changes within the discourse and practice of international solidarity. During the past decades the DEAR concept has shifted from a focus on activities based on the promotion of aid policies and the key role of values such as charity, to a wider vision that includes personal and public commitment to and active engagement in global issues, such as sustainable development, climate change, migration, and gender equality. Global Citizenship Education fosters global solidarity. Its aim is to achieve a critical understanding of the phenomenon of globalization, and to reaffirm the link between development, justice and equality (locally and globally).

Master Plan for Spanish Co-operation covering the period 2018-2021 recognizes an important role for NGDO as agents of change in the fields of public awareness, global learning and advocacy, as well as their role to ensure effective compliance with human rights. It highlights the need to reinforce DEAR activities, in the framework of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, specifically its target 4.7: "By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development".

The joint response strategy to COVID 19, agreed in 2020 by Spain as a roadmap, makes a firm commitment to working in favor of a local citizen movement and global, bottom up, to do solidarity and commitment prevail with global sustainability (3.4).

+ GE specific budget

7,9 M € (2019) AGE (Budget of the General State Administration)

8,230,749 EUR (2O18)

Total contributions:

47,5 M €; 4,9% Spanish AOD

+ Overall ODA budget

42,807,910 USD (2018)

2.630 M € (AOD Gran Equivalent) (2019)

+ GE in initial teacher education

Educators for Development Programme (2009-2019). This programme is geared towards teachers training as the first-order change agents and promotes the fulfilment of Goal 4.7

+ GE in formal education

One of the most relevant DEAR activities at the institutional level is the programme: Teachers for Development (Docentes para el Desarrollo) promoted by AECID in collaboration with the Education Ministry. The initiative began in 2009 and it is targeted at schools from primary to baccalaureate with the aim to generate networks among teachers and spaces for learning and exchange of experiences. The programme focuses on developing two actions: the National Education Award for Development and the National Seminar for Teachers. As part of the award programme, educational practices on Development Education are published and disseminated in schools. The National Seminar for Teachers is a training programme to exchange experiences and good practices including sometimes field studies to some development project. Since the programme started, the network of teachers involved in the programme has grown significantly and it is very active and lively with many projects and publications shared through a dedicated website.

Regarding the experience of the NGDOs in schools, it has a long history of initiatives and in recent years has incorporated issues relevant to the global context, such as sustainable development, migration, and care and society. One of the most importance initiatives is the Network of Educators for Global Citizenship, which comprises about 100 teachers in all levels of education.

They have developed three mayor educational initiatives:

Movement for Transformative Education and Global Citizenship, promoted by InteRed, Entreculturas, Oxfam Intermón and Alboan together with the networks of teachers and educational centres that accompany

Global Campaign for Education is also a highly relevant initiative in formal education linked with the goal of quality education for all. It brings together an important network of NGDOs committed to the Agenda 2030 and SDG 4: “guarantee inclusive, equitable and quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030”.

Another relevant network on DEAR activities in formal education is Aprendizaje Servicio (Service Learning), a pedagogical approach linking the learning process with community action. This methodology uses global learning and knowledge in order to address social aims, including concrete actions that are carried out in the community, as part of the learning process. It is about “Learning by doing in the nearby community”.

+ GE in nonformal education

New social platforms or networks were created with the aim to participate in actions advocating against climate change, and for social economy, feminism, etc. A significant example was the constitution of Quorum Global, a space for dialogue in which many people and organizations have participated to explore some topics about poverty, inequality, the environment, etc, in order to exchange experiences, and to advocate for global justice.

+ Educational resources on GE

+ GE in other sectors

+ GE civil society actors

+ Development Policy documents

+ Agenda 2030

Progress Report 2020 - Rebuilding the common 2030 Agenda Implementation in Spain

+ EU Presidency Last / Next

2010 / 2023

Public opinion on issues related to Global Education

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