Experts debate global architectures for effective development cooperation

February 12, 2020

On 3rd December 2019, UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC) co-hosted an expert meeting together with the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) with the goal of exploring the global architecture for effective development cooperation. The meeting brought together policymakers, practitioners, and experts from different countries to reflect on Southern perspectives in the debate on effective development cooperation. The meeting was organized back-to-back with the Busan Global Partnership Forum – a bi-annual event organized by MOFA to assess the implementation progress of the Global Partnership on Effective Development Co-operation.

Countries of the global south play an increasingly important role in development cooperation. Recent processes such as the UN High Level Conference on South-South Cooperation (BAPA+40) introduced some elements of “development effectiveness” in South-South Cooperation, opening the door for greater cooperation and collaboration of stakeholders from the South and the North, and ultimately, better results on the ground.

In this context, USPC hosted an informal policy roundtable to further collective understanding on this topic. This was done through three panel discussions on finding common grounds on what modalities of cooperation could work, what it would take to actualize these modalities and the extent that they could be developed, along with the next steps forward in pursuing this global architecture of development cooperation. (For detailed outcomes of the meeting, please read the Chair Summary on Meeting Outcomes and Agreements).

The results of the discussion also fed into the breakout session that USPC organized in the context of the Busan Global Partnership Forum. Focusing on South and Trilateral Cooperation, the session discussed the outcomes of the BAPA+40 conference and provided examples of how Southern actors approach the effectiveness agenda at the country level. These included examples of fragile-to-fragile cooperation. The session also addressed some practical challenges of including private sector and ensuring effective monitoring of South-South Cooperation.

Having joined OECD/DAC only about 10 years ago, in 2010, Korea is well placed to promote strategic global dialogue on the global architecture for development cooperation.

UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC) for Global Development Partnerships supports effective development cooperation, including South-South Cooperation, through cutting edge development research, policy dialogue, and knowledge-sharing on key development issues.