The Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI), Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation

The Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (official Spanish and Portuguese acronym, OEI) has been granted the 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, as announced today by the Jury responsible for conferring said Award.

The Jury for this Award –convened by the Princess of Asturias Foundation– was chaired by Gustavo Suárez Pertierra and composed of Pedro Luis Alonso Fernández, Maite Arango García-Urtiaga, Miguel Ballenilla y García de Gamarra, Andrés Conde Solé, Laura Díaz Anadón, Pedro Duque Duque, Gloria Fernández-Lomana García, Rodrigo García González, Luis García Montero, Charo Izquierdo Martínez, Mònica Margarit Ribalta, Sophie Muller, Juan Carlos del Olmo Castillejos, Ana Pastor Julián, Rafael Puyol Antolín, Isaac Querub Caro, Ignacio Villaverde Menéndez and Manuel Toharia Cortés (acting as secretary).

This candidature was put forward by Ramón Jáuregui Atondo, President of Fundación Euroamérica. It was backed by Andrés Allam and, Ibero-American Secretary General; Rolando González Pacheco, President of the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (PARLATINO, Panama); Enrique V. Iglesias, 1982 Prince of Asturias Laureate for International Cooperation; Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate; Sergio Ramírez Mercado, Cervantes Prize winner; Rosalía Arteaga Serrano, President of Ecuador; Leonel Fernández, President of the Dominican Republic; and José “Pepe” Mujica, former President of the Republic of Uruguay, as well as by sixty-eight rectors, former rectors and vice-rectors from Spain and Latin America and twenty ministers and former ministers of different Ibero-American countries.

Founded in 1949, the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) is an international intergovernmental organization that pursues collaboration between Ibero-American countries on issues such as education, science and culture within the context of equality policies and the defence of democracy. Headquartered in Madrid, with nineteen offices in the same number of countries, its current secretary-general is Mariano Jabonero. The official languages of the OEI are Spanish and Portuguese. It is made up of twenty-three countries: Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Under the motto “We make cooperation happen”, the OEI simultaneously undertakes an average of 600 cooperation projects each year which have a direct effect on 12 million beneficiaries. The institution boasts 3900 professionals, including managers, officials and technicians. It works in five fields: education, science, culture, language and human rights. In terms of education, it carries out projects within the context of infant through to higher education, as well as in the spheres of vocational training and adult literacy. It is committed to improving the quality of education, promoting digital transformation and thus promoting teacher training. Each year it provides assistance to an average of 450 000 students and trains 40 000 teachers. Support for science takes the form of the development of public policies to further scientific and technological development, as well as the transfer of knowledge, so that all this can be implemented by public administrations. The average number of research studies amounts to 200 per year. Highlighting the cultural richness and diversity of Ibero-American communities is another of the OEI’s priorities. One of the tools to further this goal is the Ibero-American Cultural Charter, which especially focuses on all things related to intellectual property rights and digital culture. As regards language, the organization encourages the promotion and dissemination of Portuguese and Spanish, in addition to supporting the hundreds of languages native to the region. Finally, the Ibero-American Programme for Human Rights, Democracy and Equality seeks to strengthen sound democratic institutions that guarantee human rights and promote “responsible citizenry, fostering citizen empowerment and engagement”. Allocating some 160 million dollars per year in project management, the OEI is funded through the fees and contributions made by the twenty-three Member States, as well as contributions from institutions, foundations and organizations for specific projects.

In 2023, the UN General Assembly declared the OEI an associate observer member and UNESCO decided to maintain it as Ibero-America representative member of the senior management committee of the fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), which focuses on equitable quality education.

As stated in the Statutes of the Foundation, the Princess of Asturias Awards are aimed at rewarding “the scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanitarian work carried out at an international level by individuals, institutions or groups of individuals or institutions”. In keeping with these principles, the Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation is aimed at recognizing “individual or collective work, in cooperation with another or others, to develop and promote public health, universal education, the protection and defence of the environment, as well as the economic, cultural and social advancement of peoples.”

This year, a total of 34 candidatures comprising 13 nationalities were put forward for the International Cooperation Award.

This is the sixth of the eight Princess of Asturias Awards to be bestowed in what is now their forty-fourth year. Previously, the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts was granted to singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat, the Award for Communication and Humanities went to Franco-Iranian cartoonist, film director and painter Marjane Satrapi, the Award for Sports was conferred on badminton player Carolina Marín, the Award for Social Sciences went to Canadian academic and essayist Michael Ignatieff, while the Award for Literature was conferred on Romanian poet Ana Blandiana. The corresponding Awards for Technical and Scientific Research and Concord shall be announced in the coming weeks (in the preceding order).

As is customary, the presentation of the Princess of Asturias Awards will take place in October in a solemn ceremony presided over by Their Majesties The King and Queen, accompanied by Their Royal Highnesses Leonor, Princess of Asturias, and Infanta Sofía of Spain.

Each Princess of Asturias Award comprises a Joan Miró sculpture symbolizing the Award, a diploma, an insignia and a cash prize of fifty thousand euros.