A renewed global partnership opens the door for 26 UNFPA offices to strengthen South-South partnerships at the national level. Learn the two-step activation process from members of the Inter-Country Cooperation Office.
The UNFPA Strategic Plan 2018-2021 identifies partnerships and coordination, including South-South and triangular cooperation (SSC), as one of the Fund’s five modes of engagement to deliver on the three transformational results and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. All UNFPA country programmes are expected to broker the systematic exchange of solutions, innovations and experiences between countries in need and those with deployable expertise.
A newly-signed global agreement presents a unique avenue for 26 UNFPA country teams to scale-up their South-South cooperation efforts.
On the margins of CPD51, Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director, signed an agreement with Mr. Hu Hongtao, Acting Executive Director of Partners in Population and Development (PPD) — a global intergovernmental initiative created to expand and improve South-to-South collaboration in the fields of reproductive health, population, and development.
The agreement calls for both organizations to collaborate and organize knowledge exchange forums, conduct research and evidence-based advocacy, identify and map South-South opportunities, generate demand for South-South initiatives, and harness the technical and financial resources of Southern countries.
UNFPA’s offices in Bangladesh, Benin, China, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, The Gambia, Tunisia, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen and Zimbabwe can now leverage PPD’s infrastructure and resources to generate demand for cooperation among national agencies.
Here are the two steps programme officers can take to activate the PPD partnership at the national level:
Step one: Initiate a meeting with your national PPD Partner Country Coordinator. These coordinators are usually located in the Ministry of Health or equivalent agencies, and are tasked by their governments to develop the national work plan for SSC. They would also value UNFPA’s contribution to the development of these plans.
Step two: After making the connection, explore opportunities to conduct South-South exchanges as a solutions provider or as a recipient. Given the cross-functional role of the Partner Country Coordinator, you may also get to learn about other national and sub-national agencies interested in SSC, or in areas of our mandate.
