“SDG Partnerships” are the UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC)’s country support programme – an approach for global knowledge exchange to create new solutions, build collaborative platforms, spark new partnerships and instruments for development – which is an innovative form of triangular development cooperation, bringing together UNDP’s corporate and Korean experience for the benefit of developing countries; and generating opportunities for innovative South-South Cooperation among USPC’s partner countries.
Anne Juepner, Director of the UNDP Seoul Policy Centre
Description: In the years 2020-2022 USPC implemented 44 SDG Partnerships in 34 countries around the globe. In its current triennial work programme (2023-2025) USPC expresses its ambitions to strongly embed an SSTC component in the core of the cooperation modality. Thus, the Centre will employ SSC/TrC approaches to achieve and sustain results by facilitating a “multiplier effect” that can be categorised in two main approaches encompassing a) TrC and b) SSC. In the first stream, USPC will identify and match the supply of Korean expertise with the demand of partner countries. Based on the ROK´s remarkable development trajectory on transitioning from an aid-recipient to a development cooperation provider within a relatively short period, the ROK advocates for sharing its domestic development solutions and best practices with other countries. Therefore, USPC will facilitate triangular cooperation to share those experiences with partner countries and translate them into the respective country contexts and demands. Building on this, the Centre will ensure that the partner countries are capacitated to pass on the acquired knowledge to other developing countries to catalyse South-South Cooperation leading to a multiplier effect.
Example I.
USPC hosted a three-day 'Training of Trainers' webinar (February 14-16, 2023) with the Korean Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) and UNDP Country Offices in three countries to share ACRC's digital corruption & public interest violations reporting system called 'Clean Portal.' It was organised by ACRC and UNDP Country Offices (COs) of Mongolia, Kosovo and Uzbekistan. The Clean Portal is an innovative digital platform developed and operated by ACRC for reporting corruption and public interest violations. It serves as a one-stop anti-corruption platform for 1,042 public organizations in Korea, providing an effective tracking and monitoring system, in addition to information on rewards and protection provided to whistleblowers, and anti-corruption policies. The webinar’s main objectives were to: a) share in-depth information on the Korean model; b) facilitate interactive discussion between COs and the ACRC for their learning; c) equip the potential trainers (CO partners) with the necessary knowledge to locally disseminate and contextualize the Korean tool for their adaptation thereby ultimately building institutional capacity of other anti-corruption agencies. The webinar concluded with a commitment to future SSTC and appreciation for collaborative engagement. It signifies potential for a further multiplier effect through knowledge exchange and mutual learning with a wider audience in the near future.
Example II.
In 2020, USPC launched the “SDG Partnership on Development Cooperation” to support developing countries in becoming effective providers of their own knowledge solutions. USPC offers partner countries relevant support through various forms such as technical webinars and e-consultations, assistance in drafting strategic documents, and providing internal capacity building opportunities. Furthermore, the partnerships focus on triangular approaches and multi-stakeholder engagements in knowledge exchange with Korean and international experts. Building on this, in 2021 USPC brought together its partnering institutions in India, Rwanda, and Bangladesh with the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) to facilitate a discussion on the sustainable management of a digital knowledge platform. The meeting shared the good practices and the challenges met by UNOSSC while operating the South-South Galaxy, touched upon the impact of COVID-19 on the knowledge platform and activities related to the pandemic, and facilitated peer-to-peer exchange among the partner countries. As a result, the partner institutions were able to utilize the insights gained through the knowledge exchange activity to further improve and/or launch their digital platforms within the scope of the SDG Partnerships.
Focal point: Anne Juepner, Director of the UNDP Seoul Policy Centre, [email protected]
Learn more about UNDP Seoul Policy Centre: https://www.undp.org/policy-centre/seoul
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