Cabo verde

The year 2023 featured not only the 30^th anniversary of the cooperation agreement but also high-level visits. In March, Franz Fayot, Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, visited Cabo Verde for the 22nd partnership commission meeting between the two countries. In May, the President of the Republic, José Maria Neves, made a state visit to Luxembourg, accompanied by three ministers from Cabo Verde.

The current ICP, which covers the 2021-2025 period, is entitled “Development – Climate – Energy” ICP (DCE, EUR 85.4 million). This is the first ICP in which Luxembourg is implementing a whole-of-government approach, facilitating the integration and coordination of development actions and other areas, such as energy transition and combating climate change. The activities are implemented by LuxDev and ADA (inclusive finance project which forms part of the priority area of employment). For the first time, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity (MECB) and the Ministry of the Economy’s General Directorate for Energy have joined forces to draft and implement a single multiannual programme. The various programmes in the ICP cover the whole of the archipelago and focus on the following priority areas of intervention: employment, water and sanitation, energy transition, climate action and governance and local development. These priority areas of intervention are complemented by sectoral budgetary support in the employment and health sectors.

The bilateral programme in the energy sector provides substantial support in the form of preliminary studies with a budget of EUR 3 million for the preparation of a flagship project under the European Union (EU) Global Gateway initiative. This involves the construction of a pumped storage plant, similar to the plant at Vianden but on a smaller scale, suitable for the size of the Santiago Island network. The power plant will be financed by a blended finance framework loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Commission, granted in October 2023, for the improvement of the country’s energy infrastructure.

Within the framework of multilateral cooperation, two interventions implemented by UN agencies under the DCE ICP were launched in 2023. As part of the priority area of employment, a project is being implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO), designed to promote formal employment. The local development priority area is being addressed through a programme implemented jointly by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), with the aim of limiting or eliminating asymmetries between the islands.

There are currently three Luxembourgish NGOs working in Cabo Verde, funded by the MFA.

The NGDO Betebuerg Hëlleft is implementing a project to renovate and redevelop school infrastructure in the municipality of Mosteiros on the island of Fogo. ECPAT is implementing a project to strengthen the capacities of Cabo Verde’s local networks so that children, adolescents, families, local authorities and key community actors involved in child protection are aware of the risks of sexual exploitation and abuse and are equipped to prevent them. The NGDO Guiden a Scouten fir eng Welt is implementing activities to support formal schools and vocational training.