On 20 March 2019, United Nations Development Programme, Southern Voice, and CIPPEC held a side-event to discuss the effectiveness of South-South Cooperation (SSC) at the country level during the Second High-Level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation (BAPA+40) in Buenos Aires.

South-South Cooperation plays an increasingly important role in the partnership landscape for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) attainment. SDG 17, ‘Partnerships for the Goals’, specifically recognizes that global multi-stakeholder partnerships are important in achieving SDGs in all countries.  At the same time however, diversity of modalities in South-South Cooperation can make it difficult to measure development effectiveness of relevant interventions.

The panel discussion at this side event aimed to unpack the perspectives, experiences, and priorities of recipient countries, particularly Least Developed Countries (LCDs), engaged in SSC initiatives to strengthen global cooperation and the achievement of the SDGs. The side-event purposefully included smaller SSC partners, which tend to receive less attention in debates, as they are critical for improving development impact, strengthening the quality of cooperation, achieving the SDGs at national level, and ensuring that no one is left behind.

The panel discussion was moderated by Artemy Izmestiev, UNDP’s Seoul Policy Center’s Director a.i., and included panelists representing governments, thinktanks, academia, and civil society organizations. Participants agreed that the recipient perspectives should guide the discussion on the definition of South-South Cooperation. They also highlighted the need for a dialogue platform to exchange experiences and lessons learned from measuring development effectiveness of different cooperation modalities.

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. As one of UNDP’s six global policy centres, USPC will continue leveraging its partnerships and network to further the inclusion of all countries for the ultimate goal of successful SDG realization.