Brazilian Cooperation Agency

Published in May 18, 2021 12:49 PM Updated in Mar 14, 2023 11:35 AM

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In 1987, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE) created the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) to plan, coordinate, negotiate, approve, implement, follow up and evaluate technical cooperation programs, projects and activities for the purpose of development in all fields of knowledge, be these actions undertaken by Brazil abroad or from abroad to Brazil in the bilateral, trilateral or multilateral modalities.

In the case of cooperation received from abroad to Brazil, ABC operates in two modalities: multilateral and bilateral. Multilateral cooperation takes place with an international organization while bilateral cooperation is undertaken with a developed country. The cooperation received aims to accelerate the process of social and economic development in Brazil through the training of national institutions at the three levels of the federation (federal, state and municipal), and through the sharing of technology and knowledge.

As the years passed, Brazil, which before would merely receive technical assistance from developed countries and international organizations, started to provide cooperation abroad. To undertake these action, ABC counts on about 120 cooperating entities all over the country, in the public and private sectors alike; it also has strategic alliances with developed countries (Germany, Canada, Spain, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, among others) in addition to partnerships with 45 international organizations, blocks of regional and extra-regional countries, and cooperation projects in more than 100 developing countries, including the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) Members and Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

The cooperation provided by Brazil abroad is exclusively undertaken in response to demands received officially through diplomatic channels (Brazilian embassies abroad) or through foreign diplomatic representations in Brasilia, Brazil. Upon receiving the demand, ABC consults the Brazilian public and private institutions that have the expertise in the requested field to verify their availability and interest in sharing their technical knowledge. Then, the project design stages begin, during which a technical diagnosis is made before the draft proposal is prepared jointly by the partner country and the Brazilian participating institution(s). The project document, which is also submitted to the opinion of the legal consultants at the MRE and partner institutions, contains the timescale, the objectives defined, as well as the costs, stages and outputs for each stage. Throughout the project implementation, all activities go through a monitoring and evaluation process.

The decision to accept a demand is contingent on following the Brazilian foreign policy guidelines. One should recall that Article 4, item IX, of the Federal Constitution states that "the Federative Republic of Brazil governs its international relations", among others, by the principle of "cooperation between peoples for the progress of humanity".

In over 30 years of existence, ABC has built a record of approximately 8 thousand projects (cooperation provided and received), in fields such as public administration, family farming, urban themes, science and technology, culture, defense, social development, education and school feeding, industry and commerce, justice, environment, energy, animal husbandry, fishing, planning, health, public security, work and employment. Please click here for further information on Brazilian technical cooperation.

Since 2017, ABC has also coordinated the humanitarian actions on behalf of the Brazilian Government through the donation of food, medicines and other items of necessity to aid countries and populations in a situation of social and environmental disaster, public calamity, armed conflict, food and nutrition insecurity or any other emergency or vulnerability situation, which include serious threats to life, health and human or humanitarian rights. The Agency also coordinates the humanitarian cooperation received by Brazil from abroad. This type of cooperation is currently widely used to fight against the current outbreak of Coronavirus. Please click here for further information on Brazilian technical cooperation.

To carry out its mission, ABC follows the MRE foreign policy guidelines, as well as the national development priorities defined in the multi-annual plans and sectoral government programs.

The operational structure of ABC is composed of 10 divisions (of which 8 are in charge of developing the Agency's finalistic activities while the other 2 focus on the implementation of administrative and communication activities):

General Coordination for Family Farming (CGAF)
General Coordination for Technical Cooperation - Africa, Asia and Oceania (CGAA)
General Coordination for Technical Cooperation - Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe (CGAE)
General Coordination for Multilateral Technical Cooperation (CGMULT)
General Coordination for Technical Cooperation and Partnerships with Developed Countries (CGTP)
General Coordination for Humanitarian Cooperation (CGCH)
General Coordination of Planning and Communication (CGPC)
General Coordination of Administration and Budget (CGAO)
Technical Cooperation with Portuguese Speaking Countries (CGPALOP)
Technical Cooperation with the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CGPLP)
South-South Trilateral Technical Cooperation with International Organizations (CGTRI)

For more information, go to: https://www.gov.br/abc/en