Supported by the Government of China, WFP’s Global South-South Field Pilot Initiative generates benefits for vulnerable smallholders and strengthens food systems and resilience building in Ecuador, Kenya, the Republic of Congo, Sri Lanka and Peru
Since 2019, the World Food Programme (WFP), is supporting countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to roll out South-South and triangular cooperation field pilot projects in partnership with China and the WFP China Centre of Excellence, in order to generate benefits for vulnerable smallholder farmers on the ground. WFP’s South-South and triangular cooperation field pilot projects in Ecuador, Kenya, Republic of Congo, Sri Lanka and Peru are currently in the third phase of implementation and focus on supporting host governments in strengthening country capacities in food systems and resilience-building to assist the most vulnerable rural populations by leveraging South-South and triangular cooperation.
So far, the field pilots have benefited USD 5.7 million from MARA over the past 3 years. In total, these pilots transferred Chinese agricultural development solutions to nearly 11,000 public servants and vulnerable smallholders and reached over one million indirect beneficiaries at the grassroots level.
The third phase is now generating experience to scale up South-South and triangular cooperation results of previous activities and strengthening linkages to Chinese solutions in line with national priorities of the host countries.
For example, in collaboration with FAO and IFAD and with support of the WFP China Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Beijing, these SSTC initiatives are helping the Republic of Congo to develop its cassava value chain; providing post-harvest loss management techniques and equipment to smallholders in Kenya and Sri Lanka; promoting sustainable land use and farming practices through an integrated rice-duck system in Ecuador; and have supported Peru to issue a law that promotes access of 1 million smallholder farmers across the country to the institutional public markets. A great volume of policy experiences, technologies and practices came from China and were adapted to local contexts and national priorities.
WFP’s government partners, in developing countries, highly appreciate South-South and triangular cooperation support from WFP and China and stand behind these projects which have generated value and evidence of how SSTC can reach and change the lives of those most at risk of being left behind. The South-South and triangular cooperation Field Pilot initiative is a key mechanism of WFP’s engagement in South-South and triangular cooperation at the global and local levels. It enables WFP to share China’s wide range of knowledge and expertise with partners from the Global South to address capacity gaps related to achieving food security and nutrition. This initiative also provides space to further RBA-SSTC collaboration in the field by building on each agency’s comparative advantages. The field pilots are rolled out by WFP Country Offices, with support from WFP’s global SSTC function in Headquarters, WFP China CoE and WFP Regional Bureaux.
For more information, please contact Carola Kenngott and Xin Zhang.