The Coordinadora de ONGD del Principado de Asturias (Codopa) presented its Informe anual sobre la cooperación descentralizada al desarrollo en Asturias 2025 on 8 November 2026. According to the report, regional funding for development cooperation rose by 42 per cent compared with 2020, to 7.09 million euros. This figure refers to the budget allocation of the Government of the Principality of Asturias for 2025.
Codopa stresses that the increase does not address the structural weaknesses. As a share of the consolidated budget, the proportion remains well below the long-standing demands of civil society organisations. In its historical overview, the report notes that the pre-crisis level of 2008 has still not been reached. The organisation uses this benchmark to describe the current trend as incomplete and volatile.
At municipal level, Codopa identifies marked differences. Gijón is highlighted as a positive example, with stable programmes and a significant share of funding. By contrast, Oviedo has seen declines and procedural delays, according to the report. Codopa cites a lack of political prioritisation and administrative obstacles as causes. The analysis is based on a review of Asturias’s seven largest municipalities (with more than 20,000 inhabitants) between 2020 and 2025 and shows concentration effects: one leading municipality accounts for a substantial share, while other cities invest considerably less. Codopa explicitly identifies these assessments as the organisation’s own views.
To improve predictability in partner countries, Codopa is calling for funding to be more firmly guaranteed as a fixed percentage of the Principality’s budget, and for municipal programmes to be made permanent. It also highlights procedural issues: among other things, two-year calls for proposals with a low likelihood of implementation had weakened effectiveness and contributed to shortfalls. The organisation also advocates clearer deadlines and better coordination between regional and municipal levels to avoid duplication and close funding gaps.
With its newly published data and assessments, the report provides an updated basis for the budget policy debate in Asturias. It places regional developments in the context of declining international public development aid, without attributing them to specific macroeconomic causes in Asturias. One thing is clear: funding has increased since 2020, but the pre-crisis level of 2008 remains a long way off. The priorities that the government and municipalities draw from this are a political choice; the report makes no forecasts about future budget years.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).