Part #1: Enhanced UN support to South-South Cooperation? The United Nations Office for SSC Strategic Framework 2014-2017

@karin_vazquez

United Nations Webcast webtv.un.org

Full steam ahead! The Strategic Framework of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), 2014-2017, will be presented this Wednesday (29 January) for consideration and approval of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations  Population Fund (UNFPA), and the United Nations Office for Projects Service (UNOPS) in its First Regular Session 2014 (27-31 January, New York).

A more strategic role for global and UN-wide policymaking and coherence in South-South Cooperation (SSC) is particularly welcome as the Southern middle class, trade and investment among developing countries, and the demand for new, independent modalities of development cooperation and partnership increase. 

As the home for SSC in the UN system, UNOSSC is faced with the challenge to enhance UN support to the exchange of knowledge, technology, investment, information and capacity among Southern partners based on the principles of respect for national sovereignty, national ownership and independence, equality, non-conditionality, non-interference in domestic affairs, and mutual benefit.

The new strategic framework contains proposals on how the UNOSSC can effectively promote, coordinate, and support South-South and triangular cooperation through i) policy development and advocacy; ii) inter-agency coordination and facilitation; iii) innovative mechanisms; iv) inclusive partnerships and resource mobilization; and v) the exchange of development solutions.

Global and United Nations policy development and advocacy

South-South cooperation has slowly made its way across the United Nations system over the past 30 years. The new UNOSSC strategic framework aims to transform SSC from “an issue of special attention into a modality for regular, day-to-day programming and implementation of the system-wide operational activities for development.” The new strategic framework aims to embed the South-South agenda, perspectives and approaches in the High-Level Committee (HLC) on South-South Cooperation, the General Assembly and the governing bodies of other UN organizations, the post-2015 development agenda, and other relevant intergovernmental and inter-agency processes. This will be achieved through evidence-based research and analysis on demonstrable development outcomes, trends, opportunities and challenges to South-South and triangular cooperation to enable Member States and UN system organizations to make informed decisions and policies.

Inter-agency coordination and facilitation

A growing number of UN agencies are developing strategies and establishing dedicated SSC structures to initiate, coordinate, report and evaluate their support to SSC. As SSC is mainstreamed across the UN Development System (UNDS), attention to coordination, participation, and positive action grows. At the global level, the new strategic framework defines UNOSSC collaboration with UNDP in terms of the collection, analysis and provision of detailed data on South-South and triangular cooperation to improve policy dialogue, and facilitate consensus building. At the regional and national levels, emphasis is given to UNOSSC support to the UN Resident Coordinator System through the development of guidance notes, training manuals and workshops to embed SSC into the UN Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs) and other UN planning and programming instruments.

Catalyzing innovative mechanisms, fostering inclusive partnerships and mobilizing resources from public and private entities to support multi-agency collaboration in implementing the recommendations in the Nairobi outcome document

The Nairobi outcome document of the 2010 High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation encourages UN centers of excellence and regional/sub-regional economic groupings (e.g. the UN Economic Commission for Europe International Public-Private Partnership, and the World Food Programme Center of Excellence Against Hunger, UN Industrial Development Organization Energy Technology Centers, among others) to leverage their work through UNOSSC 3-in-1 multilateral South-South support architecture. The new strategic framework aims to consolidate the 3-in-1 support architecture by identifying, documenting and disseminating development solutions more systematically; strengthening the online directors-general forum for dialogue; and enhancing countries’ capacity in utilizing the South-South Gate for the exchange of technical know-how and technologies.

The renaming of the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation to UNOSSC in 2012 not only boosted the Office’s visibility; it also brought the challenge to reposition itself in better servicing Member States and the UN system with little change in core funding sources. The new strategic framework aims to mobilize $20 million in non-core resources to supplement core resources through financial and in-kind contributions to multilateral forms of South-South development assistance, multi-agency participation, and cost-sharing arrangements. Public-private partnerships will be encouraged at the country level through the use of the South-South Gate (SS Gate) by the UN Resident Representative System.

Supporting knowledge-sharing, networking and the exchange of good practices, including through Southern centers of excellence.

The new strategic framework expands the support to self-sustaining and South-owned knowledge exchange networks (e.g. the IPC-IG South-South learning on Social Protection Gateway, the UNEP South-South Cooperation Exchange Mechanism, and the UNFPA South-South Cooperation Platform, to name a few) and piloting a UNDP-led Global South-South Centers of Excellence Facility to connect and leverage the strengths of relevant centers of other UN organizations (specially those of UNDP) such as the Public Service Excellence Center in Singapore, the Rio+ Center in Brazil, and the Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in development.

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Part #2: Enhanced UN support to South-South Cooperation? The United Nations Office for Development Cooperation Strategic Framework 2014-2017
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