Annex A. Triangular Co-operation Partner Profiles

Triangular, or trilateral, co-operation has a long history in Brazil and is a key element of its development co-operation. Two of the seven divisions of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) are responsible for triangular co-operation, one working with bilateral partners and the other with multilateral organisations. The ABC has developed and updated a series of frameworks and manuals including the Manual of South-South Technical Cooperation Management (Brazlian Cooperation Agency, 2017[1]) and the General Guideline for the Design, Coordination and Management of Trilateral Cooperation Initiatives (Brazilian Cooperation Agency, 2019[2]).

Brazil allocated USD 8.5 million for triangular co-operation in 2021 according to OECD data for total official support for sustainable development (TOSSD). The main sectors of its trilateral projects are government and civil society and agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors (Box A.1).

Brazil works with many DAC members in triangular partnerships. Among these are Canada, the EU, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States. Brazil also engages with a broad range of regional and international organisations in triangular co-operation, including the United Nations (UN) system, the Rome-based institutions, the India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum, the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries, and others.

Chile, with over 30 years of experience, is an international leader in triangular co-operation. It has a strong triangular co-operation system backed by political will and guided by its 2015-18 International Development Cooperation Strategy (AGCID, 2015[4]). The country’s strategic objectives for 2021-24 include intensifying South-South and triangular co-operation initiatives at the regional level.

According to TOSSD data, Chile disbursed USD 495 000 on triangular co-operation in 2021. Its regional priority is Latin America; its main partner countries are Germany, Mexico, Paraguay and Spain; and the main sectors where it engages in triangular co-operation are the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector and government and civil society sector. In 2021, the Chilean Agency for International Development Cooperation (AGCID) had a budget of USD 9.9 million, and it allocated about USD 4.3 million, or 62.1%, to the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Program (62.1%).

Chile aims to deepen strategic partnerships for development through three types of different partnerships: North-South partnerships via the Triangular Fund Chile-Spain, the Bilateral Fund for Development in Transition and the Kizuna programme with Japan (Table  A.1); South-South partnerships via the Pacific Alliance and Chile-Mexico Fund; and South-global partnerships via the Chile Fund and Chilean Fund for Ibero-American South-South Cooperation.

People’s Republic of China (hereafter China) engages in triangular co-operation and its strategic approach to engaging in the modality is elaborated under its white paper China’s International Development Cooperation in the New Era (China International Development Cooperation Agency, 2021[6]). The China International Development Cooperation Agency co-ordinates triangular co-operation, and projects tend to focus on areas where China can contribute with its domestic experiences, enhance policy dialogues and knowledge exchange, and advance co-operation with international organisations. The white paper indicates a strong focus on agriculture and public health. China views triangular co-operation as a way to increase its development resources and expand the scope of its development co-operation, learn from the best practices of traditional providers, improve its co-operation system, and build a favourable global image of China (Chao, 2021[7]; Zhang, 2020[8]; Zhang, 2017[9]).

According to the OECD’s triangular co-operation project repository, China engaged in 62 triangular partnerships between 2000 and 2022 (OECD, 2023[10]). China established a facility in 2018 with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) focused on delivering South-South and triangular co-operation (Box A.2) and a programme with the Food and Agriculture Organization.

India is a pioneer of triangular co-operation, with its first projects dating back to India’s independence in 1947. India’s approach to triangular co-operation is evolving, and a specific Indian model of triangular co-operation is emerging that aims to enable India and its partners to leverage domestic development innovations and the strengths of India’s diverse landscape of civil society organisations via triangular initiatives (Chaturvedi and Piefer-Söyler, 2021[12]).

Many of India’s triangular co-operation partnerships focus on sharing Indian expertise and innovations with African and neighbouring South(east) Asian partners (Table A.2). For example, a key objective of the United States and India’s triangular co-operation programmes is to increasingly share innovations proven to work in India with other countries in Asia and Africa (USAID, 2017[13]). The programme has enabled the sharing of Indian innovations in the agriculture sector with Kenya and the sharing of Indian HIV/AIDS treatment solutions in Sri Lanka.

The European Union (EU) institutions are leading facilitating partners for triangular co-operation and have provided triangular co-operation since the late 1990s. The current EU development co-operation policy document, the New European Consensus for Development, highlights triangular co-operation as an innovative instrument to implement the 2030 Agenda.

The EU institutions disbursed USD 35.6 million for triangular co-operation in 2021, with LAC as their regional priority and a strong focus on supporting general environment protection. The EU institutions engage in triangular co-operation via various programmes such as Euroclima, the Europe Latin America Programme of Assistance against Transnational Organised Crime or PAcCTO, EUROsocial, and Expertise on Social Protection, Labour and Employment or SOCIEUX. The EU Commission’s flagship triangular co-operation programme is ADELANTE, which focuses on supporting triangular co-operation between the EU and LAC. Between 2016 and 2020, the European Commission co-financed 8 triangular projects via ADELANTE involving 93 organisations from 22 LAC countries. Building on the lessons learned from the implementation of the first phase, the EU launched ADELANTE 2 in 2021. As of 2022, the programme had undertaken more than 94 activities under the 15 funded initiatives in the 2021 Window, with 2 171 direct beneficiaries. Box A.3 describes an ADELANTE public health project.

The ADELANTE programme stands out for engaging multiple stakeholders. Data from the 2021 Window show that 13% of the triangular programme projects included public institutions at the national level and 25% engaged with subnational public institutions. Non-state actors were involved in 51% of the total initiatives.

Germany is a long-standing and leading partner in triangular co-operation, with engagement dating back to the mid-1980s. Its approach to triangular co-operation has been guided by a clear strategy that was updated in 2022 (BMZ, 2022[15]) following an extensive evaluation of its triangular co-operation (DEval, 2020[16]).

In 2021, Germany disbursed USD 7.9 million for triangular co-operation, according to OECD Creditor Reporting System (CRS) data. Its regional priority is Asia with a focus on government and civil society. The OECD triangular co-operation project repository data show that Germany engaged in more triangular projects – 152 between 2000-22 – than any other country reporting to the database. Germany’s triangular projects are demand-driven and consistent with partners’ development priorities. All development projects align with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Germany has two specific funds for triangular co-operation: the Regional Fund for Triangular Cooperation with Partners in Latin America and the Caribbean, in operation for more than a decade, and the more recent Fund for Triangular Cooperation with Asia, established in 2021. Beyond these funds, Germany also engages in this modality to complement its existing bilateral programmes with pivotal partners, among them the Brazil-Germany trilateral co-operation programme and Mexico-Germany triangular cooperation project (Table A.3). The Sino-German Center for Sustainable Development, established in 2017, also promotes triangular co-operation projects between Germany and China to deliver global public goods. At the beginning of 2022, Germany and India signed a Joint Declaration of Intent to implement triangular co-operation in third countries with a focus on tackling the climate crisis, scaling up renewable energies and agroecology approaches.

Indonesia, as both a provider and beneficiary of co-operation, has made triangular co-operation one of its political priorities, underpinned by its 2019-24 National Medium-Term Development Plan. Indonesia’s South-South and triangular co-operation system is an example of inter-institutional co-ordination among four institutions on the National Co-ordination Team (NCT): the ministries of foreign affairs, national development planning and finance and the State Secretariat. Relevant sectoral line ministries are responsible for implementing triangular co-operation initiatives. Since 2019, the NCT is supported by the Indonesian Agency for International Development, which is hosted within the Ministry of Finance.

The TOSSD dataset shows that in 2019 (the most recently reported data), Indonesia allocated USD 58.1 million for triangular co-operation, with projects focusing mainly on population policies and health. Its main partners are in Asia and include Cambodia, Japan, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam (Box A.4).

Japan has a long history of engaging in triangular co-operation, which it views as complementary to its bilateral co-operation and as an effective way to disseminate across developing countries what works.

The OECD’s project repository shows that Japan has engaged in 99 triangular co-operation projects over 2000-21, the fifth-largest number of projects engaged of any country in the database.

Japan provides triangular co-operation via multiple programmes across an array of issues, including supporting disease control in West Africa (Box A.5). The Partnership Programme, one of its most established triangular co-operation programmes, is based on a series of individual memoranda of understanding between Japan and 12 pivotal partner country governments (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Tunisia). These pivotal partners support a set of beneficiary countries where Japan is already providing bilateral co-operation. The Partnership Programme has two main sub-programmes – the Third Country Training Programme and the Third Country Expert Dispatch – that are designed around enabling pivotal partners to share training and expertise with key beneficiary countries. As of September 2022, JICA supported 77 countries through the Third Country Training Programme that benefited 80 000 participants.

Since independence in 1957, Malaysia has focused on advancing greater co-operation and solidarity among newly independent countries of Asia and Africa, actively promoting self-reliance of the developing countries and cultivating partnership among them through South-South and triangular co-operation. The Malaysian Technical Cooperation Program (MTCP) is key to this policy, prioritising developing countries of strategic interest and focusing on Malaysia’s areas of expertise, providing demand-driven courses and programmes. MTCP focuses on the thematic areas of professional services; management and public administration; economics and trade; science, technology, and information and communication technology management; industrial and technical training; finance; diplomacy; health services; humanitarian activities; academic and educational areas; and social development. The programme draws on Malaysian public and private sector institutions, which have accumulated a wealth of knowledge and expertise across these sectors that can be shared with partners (Box A.6).

South-South and triangular co-operation has high-level political support in Morocco, with the Moroccan constitution in its preamble recognising its reinforcement as a primary national objective.

Morocco has been engaged in technical co-operation since 1986, when it created the Moroccan Agency of International Cooperation (AMCI). As the national body responsible for co-ordinating and promoting South-South and triangular co-operation interventions, AMCI works in close collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Co-operation and Moroccan Expatriates. It has close partnerships with various Moroccan governmental, financial, educational and private institutions that it engages with to carry out South-South and triangular co-operation activities (Box A.7) and an extensive network of partners at international, regional and bilateral levels. AMCI also is a partner in implementing technical assistance projects, offering in particular expertise in project demands, mobilising financial resources, and facilitating visa and related foreign affairs issues.

Nigeria responded to the UN's 1978 Buenos Aires declaration on promoting co-operation among developing countries South co-operation by establishing the Directorate of Technical Aid Corps (DTAC) as an alternative to direct financial aid given to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. The government of Nigeria has demonstrated its political will to engage in South-South and triangular co-operation by providing the DTAC with various resources, participating in major regional and international South-South and triangular co-operation events, and taking part recently in the IsDB 3 2-C initiative for enhancing synergy among the technical co-operation agencies of IsDB member countries.

The DTAC maintains and draws from the large roster of Nigerian professionals to provide volunteers to beneficiary countries and manages Nigeria’s funding for South-South and triangular co-operation (Box A.8). Areas of knowledge where Nigeria has a comparative advantage include the health sector, education, agriculture and agronomy, civil and electrical engineering, and handicrafts. Triangular initiatives include collaboration between the DTAC and the IsDB to support efficient treatment of obstetrics fistula in Gambia, Sierra Leone and Somalia.

Norway actively engages in triangular co-operation. It disbursed USD 32.5 million for triangular co-operation in 2021, according to the CRS data. Its regional priority is Africa, with a focus on education.

The main institution within Norway that facilitates triangular co-operation is the Norwegian Agency for Exchange Co-operation (Norec), which runs volunteer programmes based on mutual exchange between institutions. About 70% of Norec’s project portfolio are triangular co-operation projects. Since its establishment in 2000, more than 9 600 people have participated in exchanges in 65 countries and approximately one-third of these exchanges have been focused on enabling South-South learning (Tjønneland, 2019[24]). Norway reported it has engaged in 133 projects between 2000-2022, according to the OECD project repository database, and is the most active country engaged in triangular co-operation in Africa (Box A.9).

Portugal is actively engaged in using and promoting triangular co-operation at the global level. Portugal organises key international events on triangular co-operation and has helped to focus political attention on the issue and foster learning and sharing across countries.

The Portuguese Cooperation Strategy 2030 continues a focus on co-operation with Portuguese-speaking countries, with human development, governance, employment, and climate and environment as key thematic priorities and with gender equality as a cross-cutting priority (Government of Portugal, 2022[26]).

Portugal disbursed USD 100 000 for triangular co-operation in 2021, according to CRS data. Its regional priority is Africa, with a focus on agriculture, forestry and fishing (Box A.10).

Portugal engages in triangular co-operation as a means of enabling horizontal partnerships for sharing knowledge and experience. Portugal uses its membership within the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries and the Ibero-American Conference to foster triangular co-operation using a whole-of-government approach.

Senegal established in 1995 the Technical Cooperation Directorate under the authority of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, as the national focal point for technical co-operation for development. Over approximately four decades, the government of Senegal has demonstrated its political will for South-South and triangular co-operation by maintaining the directorate and providing it with various resources, participating in major regional and international South-South and triangular co-operation events, and taking part recently in the Islamic Development Bank’s 3-2-C initiative for enhancing synergy among the technical co-operation agencies of IsDB member countries.

Senegal has a long tradition of South-South co-operation thanks to its previous status as the capital of French West Africa and its geographical position that enabled it to develop many good practices in terms of technical co-operation. Working with the IsDB, Senegal’s Institute Pasteur Dakar has been sharing vital knowledge on pandemic preparedness with other African countries (Box A.11).

South Africa was one of the first pivotal partners to engage in triangular co-operation in sub-Saharan Africa (Box A.12). It focuses on triangular partnerships across the African continent and with Cuba and the Palestinian Authority. South Africa engages in projects in sectors related to governance issues, post-conflict reconstruction, regional integration, and peace and security.

The African Renaissance and International Cooperation Fund under the Department for International Relations and Cooperation together with the National Treasury are the main co-ordinating bodies for triangular co-operation. Line ministries implement triangular co-operation projects.

Türkiye officially began its development co-operation efforts in June 1985 when a comprehensive capacity development package was developed for Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal and Somalia. With the break-up of the Soviet Union in the 1980s and the establishment of new republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia regions, Türkiye ramped up its development co-operation by establishing the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) in 1992. TIKA was given the responsibility of implementing Türkiye’s development co-operation policy and co-ordinating with national actors on formulating and implementing technical co-operation activities in other countries.

TIKA has steadily increased its operations in all regions across the globe since 1992. It has a vast network of 62 offices in 60 countries that enables Türkiye to understand the needs of partner countries through direct co-ordination and feedback from the field (Box A.13).

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