CIDEAL is a foundation that has been working for over twenty years in research, training and technical assistance in development cooperation. It also has a vast experience in the execution of development programmes and projects in Southern countries. Created in Madrid in 1983, it currently counts on local offices and experts in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

As a research centre, CIDEAL Foundation gives postgraduate programmes and many monographic courses, seminars and workshops. It also has its own publishing house, having edited more than 70 books to date; some of which have become a point of reference in their speciality. Besides, CIDEAL Foundation carries out development projects in different areas in nearly 25 countries.

The blend of its theoretical and practical activities has made CIDEAL Foundation a pioneer in Spain, distinguishing it from most of the organisations in the area. CIDEAL Foundation applies the results of its research in the projects that take place in the South, and at the same time, uses this field experience as the basis of its research.

From an economic and political standpoint, CIDEAL Foundation is an independent organisation that encourages professional excellence and counts on experts from different ideologies. It was developed by professional researchers and professors from different European and Latin American countries. 

CIDEAL Foundation has cooperated, since its establishment, with numerous public institutions such as the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the European Commission and the regional Government of Madrid (Spain), among others, as well as with many public and private institutions of different natures and orientations. 

 CIDEAL Foundation is a member of the following networks:

Mission

To contribute to human development of Southern countries through two ways of action:

• - Research, specialised training, technical assistance and publication of books on international developmental cooperation.
• - Promotion and implementation of development actions on the field.

Both areas have been integrated to CIDEAL Foundation’s everyday activity, enriching each other: work of thought leads to better quality projects in the South and the field experience provides theoretical analysis and specialised training with an empirical and realistic foundation.

This addition of actions responds to a double aspiration: to increase the effective ability of the underprivileged sectors in the South and to contribute in creating fairer and more well-balanced international relations.

Approach

CIDEAL Foundation, recognised as an avant-garde organisation in developmental cooperation, has contributed to the put into practice of new ways of doing cooperation, has promoted professional excellence and quality in the sector and has encouraged active participation of universities, companies and civil society in this field.

The general objective is to improve the situation of the societies living in the Southern countries, contributing to provide people with more vital options for development, which would allow them to direct their own lives and choose their own future.

Values

CIDEAL Foundation’s task arouses from the following values:

• - Human development, spreading abilities, equality and social inclusion in all the regions of the planet.
• - The active incorporation of the highest number of public and private actors, of the South and of the North, in international development cooperation.
• - Co-responsibility of the actors, both in the South and in the North, in taking decisions and in the implementation of development actions.
• - The strengthening of and the respect for human rights.
• - The increasing of the theoretical and practical knowledge of cooperation for development.
• - Professionalisation of the international cooperation for development sector.