Challenges

Triangular Cooperation (TC), viewed as a transformative development cooperation modality, is drawing wide international attention. Important international processes and documents point to the importance of the modality and its contributions to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with an increasing number of evidence about TC’s effectiveness and impact. In this regard, development programs especially oriented towards the use of Triangular Cooperation that make financing instruments available to all actors, accompanied by tools for systematization, impact measurement (understood as a contribution to the 2030 Agenda) and diffusion are especially needed.

Toward a Solution

To address these challenges, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) launched ADELANTE.

ADELANTE, an international development cooperation programme of the European Commission, managed by the Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA), aims to contribute to fulfilling the 2030 Agenda and to promote more inclusive and sustainable development. This is achieved through modern approaches to Triangular Cooperation between Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, harnessing the full potential of international partnerships inherent to this modality.

Several European development programmes have effectively addressed development challenges through components that resemble Triangular Cooperation models. These models include methods like peer-to-peer learning and the exchange of experiences between similar institutions, leading to significant changes in public policies in various regions of the world, including Latin America and the Caribbean.

In this context, an important step has been the creation of ADELANTE, a programme with a special focus on Triangular Cooperation as a modality, an innovative approach in itself.

During the first phase of ADELANTE, implemented between 2015 and 2020, the programme co-financed eight Triangular Cooperation projects, involving 93 organisations from 22 countries in Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Building on the lessons learnt during the first phase, in 2021 the European Commission launched ADELANTE 2. In order to maximise the potential of Triangular Cooperation, ADELANTE 2 is structured around three components:

Operational support component: This involves coordinating the ADELANTE Triangular Cooperation Window European Union – Latin America and the Caribbean. The ADELANTE Window is a co-financing facility with a demand-driven approach, which seeks to mobilise and channel resources towards partnerships or alliances between entities in Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. These reflect the Triangular Cooperation modality and aim to fulfil the 2030 Agenda. Detailed information on the first three annual windows (Window 2021, Window 2022, and Window 2023) can be found throughout this website, as well as on each of the co-financed Triangular Cooperation Initiatives.

Analytical support component: This aims to develop studies and public policy analysis to assess the impact of Triangular Cooperation between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean, and reflect on how to add more value. To this end, the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) will be consulted, thanks to its expertise as the leading think-tank and expert institution in South-South and Triangular Cooperation in Latin America.

Institutional support component: This consists of six Triangular Cooperation funds for the co-financing of Triangular Cooperation projects between stakeholders in Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. These projects provide innovative responses to the region’s challenges in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda to achieve the SDGs. These funds have been established between the EU and Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, and Uruguay.

The implementation of ADELANTE since 2021 across these three components is further proof of the European Union’s commitment to strengthening its partnership with Latin America and the Caribbean, a region characterized by its diversity and multiple development realities. It is precisely this rich diversity that has made the region a benchmark for exploring the potential for dialogue and the exchange of knowledge and experience, for which Triangular Cooperation is a particularly relevant and effective modality.

›› Visit the European Commission / DG INTPA organizational profile on South-South Galaxy

›› Visit the ADELANTE 2 page under the South-South Galaxy financing section