South-South Volunteering: Innovative and People-Centered Cooperation

One year ago, UN Volunteers (UNV) and the Ibero-American Programme for the Strengthening of South-South Cooperation (PIFCSS) launched South-South Volunteering, a pioneering initiative to connect skilled professionals, mainly from the Global South, with national efforts to advance South-South cooperation in Ibero-America. Through UNV’s Online Volunteering service, governments can access technical support by drawing from a global talent pool of skilled volunteers to enhance their teams and co-create innovative, context-sensitive solutions, thereby expanding the ecosystem of professionals with practical experience in South-South Cooperation. So far, 37 online volunteer assignments have supported institutions in 9 countries, across areas such as communications, research, translation, software development, and data analysis. The 21 member states of the PIFCSS Intergovernmental Council endorsed the initiative, highlighting it as an innovative and result-oriented mechanism for collaboration with the United Nations, anchored in shared principles of solidarity, mutual benefit, and horizontality. Initially involving national South-South cooperation authorities, the initiative is being now extended to all affiliated Ibero-American cooperation programs (PIPAS), scaling up people-powered development and practical SSC experience across the region.     ?? Read more about the launch and early phase of the initiative: https://unvolunteers.exposure.co/southsouth-cooperation-through-online-volunteering ?? Ibero-American government entities that promote or manage South-South and Triangular Cooperation can request support from online volunteers through the PIFCSS South-South Volunteering website, designed specifically for online volunteers: https://cooperacionsursur.org/voluntariado-sur-sur/