Since its inception, South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) has become an integral part of FAO’s support to country-level action on food and nutrition insecurity for two main reasons, namely: (1) experts from the Global South have a deeper understanding of the development context of the South and of practical solutions that are cost-effective and socially, culturally and economically appropriate; and (2) SSTC is a cost-effective form of technical assistance which allows countries to reach out at a significantly larger scale within given budget constraints.
The Regional Office for Africa hosts almost 80% of FAO’s SSTC projects, a trend now for over ten years. Thanks to growing demand from FAO member countries, increased interest in the Global South and triangular partner’s willingness to finance SSTC projects in Africa, SSTC will continue to serve a as an effective means to increase Africa agriculture productivity.
Current SSTC priorities and Activities in the Africa Region
Current SSTC priorities and Activities in the Africa Region
- Brazil: Exchange of Experience and Dialogue about Public Policies for Family Farming in Africa (USD 4 million); received amount (USD 600,000).
- South Korea: Capacity Development & Experience Sharing for Sustainable Rice Value Chain development in Africa through SSC- USD 1.8 M. The beneficiary countries include Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Nigeria.
- Venezuela: Partnership for Sustainable Rice Systems Development in Sub-Saharan Africa through South-South Cooperation – USD 5 million. The project incorporates the sharing of technologies and innovations among beneficiary countries, as well as capacity building, while facilitating access by smallholders, especially women and young people, to inputs and small-scale agricultural equipment in Benin, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda.
- China Trust Fund: In 2014, China added additional USD 50 million to the FAO-China Trust Fund to support the implementation of FAO strategic objective in Asia and in Africa. With support from the FAO-China Trust Fund, projects are currently being implemented in the following countries: Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Malawi.
i. Regional Project approved on Technical Assistance on Rice Production Programme through South-South Cooperation with China for Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Guinea and Senegal
- Morocco Trust Fund: The trust fund is currently implementing projects in the following countries with a total budget of USD 1 million:
- Eswatini: Strengthening the capacity of Swaziland’s agricultural sector, with particular focus on the development of the livestock, irrigation and water management, and horticulture sectors, as well as on improving food and nutritional security.
- Guinea: Support in building country capacity in irrigation
- Guinea Bissau : Support in agriculture extension service capacity development
- Mali: Support in building the capacity of the following sector, irrigations, agro-pole, water management for irrigation and rice value chain production improvement.
In addition, the following countries have just been approved for project formulation as part of the Morocco Trust fund, these countries are Cameroon, Niger and Ethiopia.