Spain has made an explicit commitment to leaving no one behind in its new Fifth Master Plan for Development Co-operation. According to Spain addressing leaving no one behind requires a differentiated, people-centred approach that adapts to the needs of different developing countries according to four fundamental variables: 1) levels of poverty; 2) human development; 3) inequality; and 4) vulnerability.
Spanish development co-operation strives to respect cross-cutting principles of human rights and fundamental freedoms, gender equality, respect for cultural diversity, and environmental sustainability. It also targets vulnerable populations in middle-income countries and reducing inequalities within developing countries. It uses indicators such as the Human Development Index, GDP per capita and the multidimensional poverty index as its evidence base for selecting countries and regions.
For Spain, applying a leave no one behind approach helps ensure that policies focus on excluded people, can increase efficiency in allocating resources, and enable a better understanding of the problems and challenges to inclusive development. A key challenge is managing potential trade-offs between reaching the furthest behind first, pressure to allocate funds efficiently to maximise impact, and the potentially higher cost of reaching the most vulnerable populations.
