South-South and Triangular Cooperation Gateway

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Modalities

In its role as a catalyst and facilitator, FAO supports Member States through SSTC to attain their developmental outcomes by leveraging proven development solutions, resources, knowledge and technologies from the Global South to accelerate the agricultural and food systems transformations. The SSTC exchanges and initiatives are designed involving an array of different stakeholders, involving policy-makers; institutions as well as practitioners and grassroots organizations.

SSTC modalities are carefully selected and adapted depending on the objectives and anticipated outcomes of the exchange. FAO uses a range of modalities to facilitate the exchanges, including fielding of experts, policy dialogues, study tours, training and technology demonstrations amongst others. While each of these modalities are highly effective on their own, it is often a blend of the different modalities over medium to longer-term that contributes to the most tangible results. 

modelities

 

Exchanges between countries occur through several modalities: short- and long-term deployment of experts, study tours, policy dialogues, and technology exchanges. FAO brokers South-South partnerships, brings in Triangular partners from the North when suitable, and provides practical guidance and technical support throughout.

While distinct SSTC modalities can be highly effective on their own, often a blend of modalities are used depending on the objective of the exchange and the level of stakeholders engaged in the initiative. FAO’s key SSTC modalities include:

Policy
Dialogues

Organize forums for policy exchange at local, national, regional and global level around different thematic areas to facilitate countries to present and share their experience but also to learn, adapt, improve and replicate governance mechanisms, relevant policy or strategic frameworks and interventions.

Changsha Ministerial Conference (2018) : 

More than 200 representatives from 30 developing countries, 12 international organizations, and the heads of the UN Rome-based Agencies (RBAs: FAO, IFAD and WFP) attended the Ministerial Level Forum on Global South-South Cooperation in Agriculture, which was jointly organized by FAO and the People’s Republic of China.

Deployment of
Experts

FAO has established institutional partnerships with a number of countries, providing access to their technical experts and expertise in the agri-food sector. Through these arrangements, FAO facilitates the deployment of experts (short/medium/long-term) for provision of technical advice, demonstrate new technologies and innovations, as well as provide hands-on training.

FAO-China SSC Programme:

The FAO-China SSC Programme facilitates exchanges of knowledge and experts between China and other countries of the global South.   Since 2006, China has deployed over 1,100 long-term experts and technicians in 28 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Training and Capacity Building Programmes

FAO in collaboration with its Partners hosts a number of capacity building and skills development programmes around a specific development challenge. Training can also involve training of trainers as a modality to quickly scale up solutions. Trainings can be in situ or through webinars, which allow a higher number of participants to attend.

Fish Culture Training in Egypt 2017: 

The Egyptian International Center for Agriculture (EICA) and FAO organized a 10-week training on fish culture for 16 participants from Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda

Study tours and learning journeys

Strategically anchored study tours and learning exchanges between groups of participants (eg: policy makers, technicians, farmers). The learning exchanges are designed to provide exposure and up-take of specific know-how and technologies and are often combined with demonstrations at field level, training sessions, mentoring and training of trainers.

Sierra Leone-Uganda Study Tour (2022): 

 A high-level delegation from Sierra Leone attended a week-long study tour to Uganda. The objective of the study tour was to learn about Uganda's institutional structures and set-up for SSTC and their experience in setting up the USD 9.6 Million SSC Unilateral Trust Fund (UTF) with FAO. Following the study tour, Sierra-Leone has developed their own SSC programme and set-up a USD 5 Million UTF.

Institutional
Collaborations

FAO has strategic relationships with a large number of Government institutions, Knowledge Networks, Technical Centers of Excellence and Universities. Institutional collaborations take the form of joint-research projects, staff exchanges, joint-trainings and knowledge exchanges amongst others.

Angola-Brazil SSC Project (2014): 

Institutional collaborations between the Brazilian Agricultural Research Cooperation (EMBRAPA), the Angolan Agricultural Research Institute and the Veterinary Research Institute enabled over 100 Angolan researchers to receive technical assistance and short-term training from EMBRAPA.

Webinars and other virtual exchanges

The COVID-19 pandemic has induced a much more extensive, often highly effective use of virtual formats of SSTC modalities. Webinars and e-learning exchanges involve one or several experts/institutions sharing experiences and solutions, and facilitated discussions with participants.

Virtual Training on Tropical Fruit Production in Sri-Lanka ( 2022): 

Within the framework of the FAO-China SSC project in Sri-Lanka, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) organized a 5-day virtual training on tropical fruit production for Sri-Lankan experts from Sri-Lanka. The training was attended by over 35 participants from the Fruit Research and Development Institute (FRDI) and the National Institute of Post-Harvest Management.