Celebrating South-South Cooperation, innovative partnerships for tackling food insecurity and poverty

Through South-South Cooperation, countries across the global South are successfully exchanging technical expertise and building innovative partnerships, which if strengthened, can continue to play a crucial role in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

This was the message at the opening of a three-day event in Kampala, Uganda, marking the 10th Anniversary of the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Programme and Triangular Cooperation.

Supported by China, the programme has benefited more than 70,000 people directly in 12 developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The theme of the 10th Anniversary event is “Inspiration, Inclusion and Innovation” as the programme reflects on its achievements and looks to the future.

“The success of the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Programme is not limited to technical transfer, capacity building and engagement of rural working women and youth through working together hand in hand,” said Abebe Haile-Gabriel, FAO’s Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa.

“What is even more noteworthy is its catalytic impact – inspiring other countries to join hands with FAO in the fight against food insecurity and malnutrition as well as poverty.”

South-South (SSC) and Triangular Cooperation – involving third countries and other partners – is based on solidarity, and has proven effective in creating jobs, building infrastructure and promoting trade while offering a complementary model to the traditional relationship between donors and recipients.

FAO has played a pioneering role in championing South-South and Triangular Cooperation, and in the past two decades more than $370 million has been invested in related projects and activities, and more than 2000 experts and technicians have been deployed worldwide. Currently, FAO has approximately 40 such projects in over 90 host countries, including Uganda.

Officials and experts gathered at the Kampala event to discuss the results, innovations and lessons learned from the first 10 years of the FAO-China SSC Programme and to develop a new vision for the future. The digitalization of agriculture and use of digital platforms to assist farmers and producers are a priority as well as financial services to help the rural poor increase their incomes and move out of poverty in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Abebe Haile-Gabriel said it was critical to attract greater private sector investment and generate more involvement from developed and developing countries.

He said FAO had also set an ambitious target of creating up to 200 partnerships with academic and research institutions to foster technical exchanges and capacity-building.

Original source: FAO
Published on 25 November 2019