Fons Català de Cooperació al Desenvolupament (Catalan Fund for Development Cooperation) is a non-profit organization made up of  town councils and other supralocal bodies, which allocate part of their budget to finance actions for Development Cooperation and International Solidarity.

Institutionally, the FCCD is the Cooperation Agency of the municipalities of Catalonia and participates in local, state, European and global networks to give voice to the local world.

In April 2002 was declared Public Utility Entity, in recognition of the Fons' work and the transparency of its management. 

  • The institution

    Institutionally, Fons Català has a presence, according to Spanish law of International cooperation (Law 23/1998 on Cooperation for International Development), in the Interregional Committee for Development Cooperation.

    In Catalonia, in accordance with the Catalan law of cooperation (Law 26/2001 on Development Cooperation), Fons Català is present in the Coordination Commission with Local Bodies and in the Development Cooperation Council. At a local level, it has an agreement with the Catalan Association of Municipalities and Counties (ACM) and the Federation of Municipalities of Catalonia (FMC) of which it is also a member of the Executive.

  • Mission, vision and areas of intervention

    It jointly manages the financial resources provided by the associated institutions, which allows the unification of the criteria for analysis and evaluation of projects and has a technical team of specialists who facilitate a coordinated monitoring of the projects funded, overcoming the dispersion of efforts, duplications and technical and economic limitations of many municipalities

    It acts as an instrument for coordinating the efforts of Catalan councils in cases of emergency action and especially in the post-emergency and reconstruction. 

    This action began with the Campaign for the Reconstruction of Central America, after the passage of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and since then, it has been activated in emergency situations, both for natural causes and for causes such as in Kosovo, Mozambique, the Sahrawi People, El Salvador, Iraq, Alhucemas, Southeast Asia, Cuba, Haiti, Myanmar, Peru, Pakistan, Syria, Philippines, Nepal, Mexico, the Sahel or the Horn of Africa . And more recently, the “Local World Refuge” Campaign, launched in 2015 and still open, which has allowed many Catalan City Councils to contribute to alleviating the refugee crisis.


    To promote with its actions, both in our country and in disadvantaged countries, the creation and consolidation of an active civil society committed to the values of human development and human rights, funding projects that prioritize the direct participation of the beneficiary population and supporting awareness and education projects carried out by associations in our country.

    The FCCD wants to be the joint voice of Catalan councils committed to development cooperation and solidarity with other national, state and international institutions. The aim is to vindicate the relevant role that local governments currently play in promoting decentralized cooperation in the North, and local development in the South.

    For that, FCCD has different areas of intervention for its members and collaborators.  

    • Institutional scope: made up of the institutions that are part of it and with the vocation of setting and directing action guidelines.
    • Operational scope: divided into commissions and working groups
    • Economic field: participating financially in the financing of cooperation projects approved annually by the general assembly, and in emergency and reconstruction campaigns

     

  • Where do we come from?

    After the success of the campaign at the social level, in July Fons Català de Cooperació al Desenvolupament was born in Salt.

    Fons Català de Cooperació al Desenvolupament, therefore, arises intending to be a body where all Catalan public institutions (town councils, county councils, provincial councils, associations and the Generalitat de Catalunya) can come together to contribute from the Catalan field to the development of southern countries through the establishment and management of an economic fund for development cooperation.

    The FCCD was the first decentralized Cooperation Fund in Spain, and promoted in 1995 the creation of the Confederation of Cooperation and Solidarity Funds which brings together more than 700 municipalities and cooperating bodies in the Basque Country, Valencia, Mallorca, Menorca, Galicia, Ibiza and Formentera, Andalusia, Extremadura and Catalonia.

    It participates in local, state, European and global networks to give voice to the local world. Our presence in all these spaces allows the councils to be permanently represented in those bodies in which the objectives coincide with those of the local authorities in the field of development cooperation and solidarity.

    This coordination also facilitates the exchange of information and the better management of the commitments and agreements made in the supralocal instances.

  • General Assembly and Executive Board

    The FCCD is deliberately a framework of consensus and, in this sense, has always tried to reflect the plural reality of Catalonia within its representative bodies, taking into account the political diversity, the territorial and demographic distribution and the different types of associated institutions.

    It is governed by an Executive Board and holds an annual General Assembly to explain the activity of the year.

    Section 10.- The powers of the Ordinary General Assembly of members are:

    a) To ratify the affiliations of the members and to terminate them. Admit and unsubscribe protectors and collaborators.

    b) To approve the balance sheet and the report of the corresponding year, as well as the acts of the Assemblies.

    c) To approve the Cooperation projects presented by the Board.

    d) To approve the annual budget, and the social quota for the next year and the percentage referred to in section 39 of these Statutes.

    e) To appoint the positions of the Executive Board.

    f) To control the performance of the members of the Executive Board in the exercise of their positions.

    g) To deal with and resolve the issues proposed by the Executive Board, or by the members at the request of at least 25%.

    h) To ensure compliance with the purposes of the Association.

    i) To approve the voting weighing scales.

    This Executive Board (27 members) is elected by the General Assembly of Members every 4 years. Since the partners are town councils and other municipal public corporations, the renewal of positions on the Executive Board is conditioned by the renewal of positions in these institutions. Therefore, in accordance with the Statutes, the Board must be renewed after the Municipal Elections.

    Section 24.- The following powers are statutorily attributed to the Executive Board:

    a) To apply and interpret the Statutes.

    b) To execute the resolutions of the General Assembly, both ordinary and extraordinary.

    c) To carry out the management of the accounts, formalize the balance sheet and formulate the budget to put it to the vote of the Assembly as well as select its cooperation projects and monitor them.

    d) To carry out, on behalf of the Association, the actions decided by the Executive Board itself.

    e) To open, maintain and cancel current accounts in banks or credit institutions.

    f) To study the request for the entry of new members and to register them if appropriate (Section 30 a.)

    g) To propose to the General Assembly the designation of Protective and Collaborating Entities of the Association (Sections 34 and 35).

    h) To resolve all the own affairs of the Assembly of partners that have an urgent character, although it will have to submit them to the vote of the next General Assembly.

    i) To convene the General Assemblies.

    j) To agree on the hiring and dismissal of labour personnel and to designate the person who must hold the position of manager. The manager has the function of carrying out the decisions of the Executive Board, at the indication of the presidency, on which he/she depends. Therefore, it will be present at the meetings of the Board (with voice, but without vote), so that it allows a constant transfer of information and can make proposals.

    k) It will listen to the Advisory Council of the FCCD as a mechanism of participation of the organized civil society that it is, and other advisory institutions that help to orient its trajectory. The functions, composition and operation of the Advisory Board will be agreed in an internal regulation, which will be approved by the Board itself and will respond to the lines of work approved by the Assembly.

    l) In case of repeated absence in the convocations of the Executive Board of any of its members, the Board may agree to the termination of office, and shall propose at the next General Assembly the ratification of the termination and open a meeting to cover the vacant.

    The institutions that are members of the current Executive Board were elected at the Ordinary General Assembly held in Barcelona on November 2, 2015. Each institution appoints, from among its elected positions, the person who represents it.

    The members of the Executive Board do not receive any remuneration for the position they hold.

  • Work comissions

    Fons is articulated in three work comissions:

    Municipal Commission: with the following work axis:

    • Axis of Technical Cooperation
    • Axis In Defence of Cooperation
    • Axis on Procedures and Harmonization of administrative procedures
    • Working group on Public Water Management.

    Migration and Development Commission: Circularity and scope of interaction between migration and development. There are the following working groups centered in:

    • Morocco
    • Senegal
    • Gambia.

    Human Rights Comission: The commission coordinates the Human Rights Defenders Cities project, revitalizes the Catalan Coordinator of Solidarity Town Councils with the Sahrawi people (CCASPS) from where the Western Sahara Working Group hangs and monitors peace building projects in Colombia and Palestine.

  • Technical Team

    The Fons Català de Cooperació has a technical team made up of contracted staff who are responsible for carrying out and coordinating the practical tasks required by all dynamics of the FCCD's work. 

     

    Direction David Minoves
    Technical coordination of the Project Area   Marta Pujolràs
    Assistant Project Area Ariadna Montcusí
    Project Manager for the Latin America Area Xavier Ruiz
    Head of the Managua office Xavier Ruiz
    Assistant of the Managua office Auxiliadora Ardón
    Head of the African, Mediterranean and Asian Area Joan Ribas
    Head of the Office in Senegal Toti Rovira
    HEad of the Human Rights and Forum for Concertation Area       Toni Royo
    Head of Emergency, Refugee and Evaluation Area Victòria Planas
    Responsible for awareness projects in Catalonia Albert Pujol
    Head of IT and Web Coordination Albert Pujol
    Communication Manager Natàlia Martínez
    Head of Administration Josep Maria Frigola
    Management Assistant Sofia Bonany