In the last 20 years we have seen a strong upsurge in decentralized cooperation. Such a phenomenon has motivated the promotion of a model of cooperation based on actions more than on reflections.

We believe that growth focused on action is already exhausted, and now we must move forward into a second stage focused on reflection which prioritises the evaluation and practical application of lessons learned, taking on the challenge to evaluate in order to evolve.

At this stage, decentralized cooperation can generate more impact and develop its full potential and specificity qualities. In fact, the local level (community, municipality, district, department, autonomous region and country) is the best platform for advancing initiatives in the fields of development, participation and management, and where it is possible to push new models of development through public policies leading to the promotion of social inclusion and equity.

Undoubtedly this can only be realised if we are able to build quality cooperation committed to the internally generated development of the southern countries and which can contribute effectively to supporting the processes of change.

It is for this reason that as a team of professionals with ample experience in the area of international cooperation, we would like to bring our theoretical and practical knowledge to bear in order to offer an Advisory Service and Independent External Consultancy: AVALUEM..

At AVALUEM we offer services such as evaluation of development programmes, impact assessments, systematisations and social audits. These tools are essential in analysing and promoting a critical debate in the sector in order to foster improvements in the quality of decentralized cooperation through local strategic planning.

AVALUEM is also rooted in an ethical commitment not only to the southern countries, but also to the rest of the world. There is a need for a new way of solidarity initiatives – friendly environmental activities—. We share the belief that only an alternative globalization can do away with the world’s imbalances and that socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable development should be encouraged everywhere.

In a world as interdependent as ours, the problems of world governance affect all countries. So we can assert that globalization is responsible for such public goods as economic, social and cultural rights and that environmental issues, international justice, social inclusion and peace cannot be managed by each country unilaterally. For this reason, as we face such phenomenon as immigration and social exclusion in our own country, we should not stop the process of international cooperation, but instead revise it so that official developmental aid is directed towards the eradication of poverty and assuaging the negative effects of globalization.

This stage of globalization has caused the level of social welfare at which each public good is positioned to decrease significantly within the international sphere. Therefore, at this stage of globalization, violations of international public rights (non-compliance with the Kyoto Agreement, tax havens…) undermine global public rights. A world with an increasing imbalance of rights becomes unmanageable and, for that matter, we must first open a dialogue on the mechanisms of managing global public goods if we really want to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

At AVALUEM we approach analysis and development from a multidisciplinary perspective because we believe in the need for a broader vision so that the coming globalization might allow for a charter of citizenship applicable to all the people of the world without exclusion and that the mechanisms for managing it should be democratic.