As a facilitator of South-South Cooperation (SSC), FAO brings together countries that have development solutions with countries that are also interested in applying them. By bringing partners together, FAO supports SSC initiatives by:

• facilitating dialogue between governments, institutions, civil society and the private sector to reach consensus and coordinate policies, strategies and programmes for SSC;
• providing a framework for cooperation within which exchanges take place among countries, institutions, cooperatives, farmers and international organizations. Using this framework, FAO facilitates mutual learning and ensures that cooperating partners adhere to mutual commitments;
• offering technical oversight and ensuring international standards are adhered to or adopted in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and impact evaluation of all programmes/projects. FAO ensures that technology and knowledge are adaptable to local conditions and are environmentally and economically sustainable and socially inclusive;
• working through FAO’s extensive country level presence, allowing for engagement, support and follow-up with national authorities and other relevant stakeholders. In addition, FAO has extensive technical and outreach capacity to identify similar constraints and solutions among regions and across similar socioeconomic contexts; and
• mobilizing resources for and raising the visibility of South-South and Triangular Cooperation.

Modalities for South-South Cooperation

FAO is widening the range of SSC modalities of exchange. These include:

• short-term exchange of technical expertise – deployment of experts or technicians to a country for an average of two months;
• medium- to long-term exchange of technical expertise – deployment of experts or technicians to a country for one to two years;
• study tours and training – short educational exchange between groups of participants (e.g. professors, technicians, ministers) as well as access to training courses offered by FAO’s centres of excellence;
• policy dialogue – forums for policy exchange at national, regional or global level;
• in-kind and technical solution exchange, crosscutting the above – such as the exchange of agricultural inputs, small-machinery, farm equipment and/or improved varieties and species.