#triangular cooperation

This year’s official theme is “Solidarity, Equity, and Partnership: Unlocking South-South Cooperation to Achieve the SDGs.”

South-South cooperation is a manifestation of solidarity contributing to national well-being, national and collective self-reliance, and the attainment of internationally agreed development goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Coming just ahead of the two-day SDG Summit, the commemoration is an opportunity for the Global South to emphasize the needs of various regions and accelerate practical action towards sustainable development targets.

“In our world of deeply connected challenges, South-South cooperation plays a vital role in shaping a brighter future,” said UN Secretary-General António  Guterres.

“The United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation is a powerful reminder that when nations unite, they can overcome obstacles and accelerate sustainable development.”

He said it was “only together” that we can forge a world of shared prosperity, “where cooperation knows no borders.”

Collaborative spirit

Examples of cooperation among the Global South include Cuba's support combatting Ebola in West Africa, the Republic of Congo assisting family farming and school feeding programmes in Brazil, and UNESCO facilitating exchanges between the Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu to improve the teaching capacity of educators.

To boost this collaborative spirit, the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), promotes both South-South and triangular cooperation.

Triangular cooperation is a collaboration in which donor countries and multilateral organizations facilitate South-South initiatives through funding, training, management, and providing technological systems, in addition to other forms of support.

Collective self-reliance

South-South cooperation is conducted through a broad framework of collaboration among countries of the Global South in the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental, and technical domains.

Through South-South collaboration, developing countries share knowledge, skills, expertise, and resources to meet their development goals through coordinated efforts.

“From climate action to poverty eradication, from healthcare to education, from trade to digitalisation, solidarity and strong partnerships between developing countries can pave the way for a more equitable and sustainable world,” said Mr. Guterres.

“As we mark the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, let us recognize this form of collaboration as an essential catalyst for change, embodying solidarity, innovation, and mutual support,” concluded the Secretary-General. 

The UNDP and the IICPSD will launch the report “Harnessing the role of Private Sector in Waste Management through South- South Cooperation for Inclusive Urbanization” on September 12th, Starts at 9am EDT or 4pm UTC.

UNCTAD and its partners have kicked off a three-year global project to help developing countries use a common framework to measure and give more visibility to South-South cooperation.

The project’s first event, organized with Brazil from 11 to 13 July, brought together representatives from 16 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Participants also included economists, statisticians and development experts from over 10 international organizations, including four UN Regional Commissions.

South-South cooperation – when developing countries pool resources or share knowledge, skills and expertise – is a powerful tool that can take many forms.

For instance, Mexico allocated $62 million from 2020 to 2022 for programmes in Honduras and El Salvador that helped improve food security and create jobs for young people, benefitting more than 40,000 people.

Other examples include Brazil and India’s collaboration on satellite technology to monitor deforestation and boost agricultural production, and Colombia and the African Union’s joint projects to empower women through aquaculture in Nigeria, Tanzania and South Africa.

“South-South cooperation is key to achieving the 2030 Agenda and became particularly pronounced during the pandemic when countries came together in solidarity,” said Sumeeta Banerji, a policy specialist at the UN’s Office for South-South Cooperation, who participated in the July event, held in Brasilia and online.

An incomplete picture

But historically global development discussions have leaned exclusively on data from cooperation that also involves developed countries or multilateral organizations – or both.

Without reliable data on South-South cooperation, the picture of international development cooperation remains incomplete.

In March 2022, the UN Statistical Commission introduced a new SDG indicator (17.3.1) to measure “additional financial resources mobilized for developing countries from multiple sources.”

It also welcomed a voluntary common framework designed by developing countries to measure South-South cooperation and provide data for the new indicator.

“Now we have a framework that is made by the South for the South,” Brazilian Ambassador Luiza Lopes of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency said.

“This truly is a historic milestone for South-South cooperation,” added Luciana Mendes Santos Servo, president of Brazil’s Institute of Applied Economic Research.

The UN Statistical Commission asked UNCTAD, as a co-custodian of the new SDG indicator, to coordinate with developing countries further work on the framework, including on reporting and capacity-building.

More than a tool

The framework was developed through a sub-group under the UN’s Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators.

The process was inclusive and interactive, and the result reflects the actual practices of the global South – not in the traditional set-up of donor and recipient countries but as equal partners.

“It’s more than just a tool for measurement,” said Ms. Anu Peltola who leads UNCTAD Statistics. “It gives voice for the hope and solidarity of developing countries.”

Mr. Sukhbir Singh, chair of the sub-group that developed the framework, agreed: “For the first time, this framework enables developing countries to tell the story of their development cooperation in numbers and inform South-South cooperation policies with solid data.”

A shared responsibility

Moving ahead, it will be important for participating countries to secure political will and ensure efficient collaboration between government agencies, as data on South-South collaboration will come from many areas, such as health, energy, food security, education and environment.

Also, the scarce resources in many developing countries mean international and regional support will be crucial. Acquiring the national capabilities to consistently collect accurate data is a big task, requiring support from specialized, regional and international organizations.

“The journey ahead may be filled with challenges,” Ms. Peltola said, “but when countries come together with a shared vision, important results can be achieved.”

“It is now the shared responsibility of the UN and the developing countries to make this framework work and tell the story of the global South.”

The United Nations celebrates South-South cooperation every year on September 12th . This year, the day falls just a week before the highly anticipated SDG Summit, offering an opportunity to highlight South-South cooperation’s role in tackling global challenges – and the need to collect more and better data.

The UNCTAD helps countries measure #SouthSouth cooperation. Learn more:

Watch the panel discussion to mark the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation 2023 on the theme “Solidarity, Equity and Partnership: Unlocking South-South Cooperation to Achieve the #SDGs”.on 12 Sept, 3 pm NY time.

The side event will highlight the critical role played by South-South and Triangular Cooperation mechanisms in transferring technology and building sustainable capacity to ensure access to energy and clean water for all.

Nuclear solutions, together with more conventional techniques, can contribute to addressing the global crises and ensure affordable and clean energy and water for all. South-South and triangular cooperation modalities, as proven by experiences from different geographies from the global south, prove that such mechanisms not only facilitate knowledge sharing, partnerships, networking and sustainable capacity building, but are key to enhance impact and ensure lasting results.

Recent global frameworks, such as the BAPA+40, Doha Programme of Action for Least Developed States (DPoA) 2022-2031 and others, recognize the potential of South-South and triangular cooperation for closing the gap on subjects such as climate change, clean energy and water. Learning from concrete examples on how South-South and triangular cooperation could help the scaling up of sustainable solutions, the side event, structured as a panel discussion and using an interview style format, will enable representatives of countries from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbeans, to showcase how South-South, triangular and international cooperation can amplify efforts to increase progress towards the SDGs, including ensuring access to clean and reliable energy sources, as well as clean water.

The side event is organized jointly by the IAEA in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of Tajikistan, the Permanent Mission of South Africa, the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

General debate and review of progress made in implementing the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries, the new directions strategy for South-South cooperation, the Nairobi outcome document of the High level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation and the Buenos Aires outcome document of the second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation (item 2, continued)

Report of the Secretary-General on progress made in implementing decision 20/1 of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation, with emphasis on enhancing the role and impact of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, and in implementing the priorities set out in the outcome document of the second High-level United Nations Conference on SouthSouth Cooperation, including the recommendations and proposals made in his report (SSC/20/2). The Committee will also consider the response to General Assembly resolutions 77/185 and 73/291, para. 36, as described in the report of the Secretary-General (SSC/21/2) (item 3, continued))

Report of the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (SSC/21/1) (item 4, continued) 

Triangular cooperation is collaboration in which traditional donor countries and multilateral organizations facilitate South-South initiatives by providing funds, training, technological systems and other forms of support.

At the opening of the Global South-South Development Expo 2022, Secretary-General António Guterres encouraged through a video message, collaboration among countries and communities to build a sustainable future for all.

“It is important that Southern-led development solutions are shared far and wide,” he said, underlining the need for cooperation among developing countries as well as with developed nations in addressing shared challenges.

Mr. Guterres reminded wealthier nations of their responsibilities to “work constructively with the developing world, especially to reduce growing inequalities between and within nations”.

In commemorating the UN Day for South-South Cooperation, he advocated for redoubled cooperation “to achieve an equitable and sustainable future for all”, he said.

‘Trust in one another’

Citing COVID-19, the climate crisis, longstanding and new conflicts, economic inequalities and rising inflation that “are jeopardizing many of the development gains we have struggled for decades to achieve,” General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid acknowledged that “the world is at a critical time”.

Recalling his tenure as the Presidency of Hope, he called for deeper South-South and triangular cooperation to accelerate global economic recovery.

“Going forward, let us put our trust in one another, and…vindicate trust through mutual aid and cooperation. With that solidarity and collective willpower, we can recover better, expand our horizons and achieve our vision for a brighter future,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Achim Steiner, highlighted how “South-South and triangular cooperation continue to power solutions to some of the world’s most persistent development challenges.

“At UNDP, South-South and triangular cooperation are embedded in our development support across the globe”, he said in a video message.

‘Hard-won’ development gains at stake

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), pointed to “remarkable” socio-economic progress in Asia and the Pacific, which is leading global value chains, innovation and global investments.

“However, these hard-won gains are at stake,” she warned. “Almost half-way into the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, the COVID-19 pandemic, worsening impacts of climate change, growing inequalities, and rising geopolitical tensions have laid bare the fragility of our interconnected world”.

She urged building upon the foundation of South-South and triangular cooperation “as an integral part of international development cooperation”.

Expo 2022 theme

The eleventh edition of the global Expo 2022 forum is co-organized by ESCAP and the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and aimed at -sustainable pandemic recovery.

The event, which runs from 12-14 September, is one of the largest at the UN Conference Centre (UNCC) in Bangkok since the COVID-19 outbreak.

It features plenary discussions; a global and Asia-Pacific Directors-General Forum; booths showcasing innovations and best practices on South-South and triangular cooperation; and a virtual exhibition.

Also on the agenda are forums and associated events, including a discussion on peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a national home-grown school meals programme, organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Examining the framework

South-South cooperation encompasses collaboration in the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical domains – with two or more developing countries leveraging knowledge, expertise and resources to meet their development goals.