Background

The Global South-South Development Center Project (GSSDC) was jointly initiated by United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE).

During its ten-year journey, the China SSDC Project has achieved encouraging results in different areas, such as, integrating South-South cooperation resources, strengthening public-private partnerships and promoting economic and technical cooperation between China and other developing countries. According to the Statement of Intent signed between the Ministry of Commerce of China and UNOSSC, the project has been upgraded as Global SSDC since June 2019.

The Global SSDC project will build on the achievements of the China SSDC project and reprofile itself as a global network of centres of excellence for South-South cooperation in advancing SDGs and aims to engage southern centers of excellences outside China, and build sub-centers of excellence in line with regional priorities in order to become a globally-focused platform to facilitate and implement South-South and triangular cooperation (SSTC)

Project Focus

Partnerships

- To enhance the global partnership for sustainable development and leverage partnerships with various stakeholders from multilateral agencies, civil society, private sector, and think tanks, align Global SSDC’s effort with SDGs and other global development frameworks;

Knowledge Products

- To conduct demand-driven sector-specific research/analysis, document good practices, and place greater emphasis on two-way knowledge sharing between China and other developing countries;

Small-Grant Proposals and Capacity Development Trainings

- To support promising small-grant proposals to facilitate technology transferring and capacity building among developing countries.

Highlights & Achievements

A multi-stakeholder platform across key thematic areas

Global SSDC Project brings together resources and expertise from various industries and sectors. It provides comprehensive support including capacity development and on-site orientation training, as well as direct implementation of small-grant proposals.

Knowledge products

Throughout the implementation of the SSDC Project, many good practices have been documented and many international policy dialogues were organized. Multiple analytical reports, quarterly South-South Cooperation Updates and timely news briefs were published and disseminated within and beyond its networks. These include:

COVID-19 has been sweeping across the globe since the start of 2020. To increase understanding of China’s key measures for prevention and control of the COVID-19 in a comprehensive and objective manner, Center for International Knowledge on Development, with the support of Global SSDC, compiles Fighting the COVID-19: 100 Q&As, which focuses on widely-discussed questions and aims to facilitate understanding of similarities and differences from a comparative perspective;
China SSDC Project, in partnership with Nankai University, jointly developed the China Development Report on South-South Cooperation, a report series outlining trade, investment and development relations between China and other developing countries;
In 2014, China SSDC and UNDP Country Office in China jointly developed the UNDP in China—History and Opportunities, a publication that shared successful experiences, proposed new perspectives and approaches and further advocates China’s South-South cooperation strategies.

Factsheet: SSC &TrC in Sustainable Agriculture & Value Chain Development in Côte d’Ivoire

Improving Business Environment in China: Practices and Experiences

Research on Participation of Private Businesses in the Development of the Belt and Road and Investment in Africa

South-South in Action: China South-South Development Center

Promoting Biogas Development through South-South Cooperation and Communication

GSSDC 2020 Highlights

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Small-grant proposals advanced with impactful results

By December 2020, there were 25 small-grant proposals supported by SSDC Project, across various thematic areas including agriculture, forestry, renewable energy, environmental protection, industrial development, etc. These projects have benefitted more than 30 developing countries.

The funding resources channeled in through public-private partnerships (PPP) by implementing partners, utilized for project implementation in parallel to those granted by SSDC, reached 1.6 times of the core funds needed for implementing these projects. Partners and participating institutions from developing countries, including China, were provided accesses to technologies, equipment and facilities, and opportunities to gain knowledge and develop capacity at the same time. It’s a real “win-win” scenario.

Based on a third party evaluation of the ten-year project, these small-grant proposals have made considerable contributions to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals and SDGs, including eradicating extreme poverty (SDG 1), ending hunger (SDG 2), achieving gender equality (SDG 5), providing decent work for all and promoting economic growth (SDG 8). Some of the small grant proposals have been featured on several of UNOSSC flagship publications: