By
Javier Surasky-
How do digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, shape the technical and political agendas of Triangular Cooperation (TC)? How can we strengthen a TC that supports economic and social innovation in countries? What future needs can we identify today that TC should address to develop the competencies our societies will require tomorrow?
These
questions exemplify the challenges TC must begin addressing today to ensure
timely responses in an increasingly fast-paced international landscape, which
profoundly affects our understanding of development.
South-South
Cooperation (SSC), a tangible expression of solidarity among developing
countries, must play a leading role in creating effective responses to
demonstrate its relevance and capacity for real change. In this context, the
value of TC stands out as a dialogue-oriented, action-driven, and
peer-sustained effort, complementing traditional North-South cooperation.
The
significance of TC lies in its role in a critical yet underappreciated shift
within international development cooperation: moving beyond cardinal points, TC
is exponentially growing as a working model both in the Global North and South.
In a previous
blog entry, we discussed TC and its potential contributions to processes
like the Summit of the Future. Now, we focus on one of the most intriguing
developments in international cooperation in recent years: the "More than
Three" program by the Ibero-American
Program for Strengthen South-South Cooperation of the Ibero-American
General Secretariat (PIFCSS).
Still under
construction, "More than Three" serves as a platform where 21
Ibero-American countries gather to share experiences, promote peer learning,
and advance TC. This effort’s innovation lies in its integration into a broader
framework supporting SSC and, most importantly, in the involvement of technical
bodies managing TC practices among participating countries.
Recently,
from June 24 to 26, 2024, "More than Three" held a meeting in Tela,
Honduras, where I attended as an invited expert. I can personally attest to the
potential of this space to enhance the work of Ibero-American countries in TC
across various directions. However, I will focus on one particularly crucial
aspect: the capacity to generate data and analysis from practice, enabling
policymakers to make evidence-based decisions.
It is
commonly heard that the technical teams responsible for implementing SSC and TC
are constrained by the choices made by policymakers, who serve as the absolute
framework for technical teams' work. While true, this is only part of a larger
truth that "More than Three" highlights.
In times
requiring effective and efficient responses to complex, interconnected
challenges, evidence-based public policy decision-making is critical. It is
worth noting that TC is a public policy integrated into the foreign policy of
participating countries.
The primary
source of information for policymakers is the data and analysis produced and
systematized by technical teams, which provide insights into each country’s
work, processes, and outcomes. Thus, technical bodies are the architects of the
evidence that policymakers must act upon. In clearer terms, the knowledge
generated by technical teams from analyzing their practices creates the
evidence needed for effective decision-making.
This means
that, to a significant extent, technical bodies shape decisions that update
their work frameworks, priorities, opportunities, and demands. The relationship
between policy and TC management is a two-way street that can only achieve
optimal results with a constant flow of data and analysis from practice to
inform political decisions, which, in turn, generate new data and analysis
demands in a continuous exchange. Some call this a "technical-political
dialogue," but I prefer to describe it as "exchanges between practice
and policy."
In its Tela
meeting, "More than Three" demonstrated its potential to coordinate
the technical pole of this exchange at the Ibero-American level, adding layers
of information and evidence to the national level, providing new data and
analysis on larger scales, and fostering peer learning.
This
platform opens the opportunity to project TC towards new horizons, enabling it
to move beyond the pressure of urgent resolutions and open up opportunities to
consider long-term structural elements. This capability could make "More
than Three" a privileged space for addressing future aspects of TC that
are challenging to discuss in the daily work of international cooperation
technicians in Ibero-American countries and cannot be tackled by countries in
isolation.
"More than Three"
invites us to envision a future-oriented, evidence-based, action-driven TC
built on dialogue and practice-driven policy. The process has just begun, but
it offers a reason for optimism in times when good news is scarce.
