Since the approval of the WFP Policy in 2015, South-South and Triangular Cooperation(SSTC) is featured across the most influential corporate strategic documents that determine the organization’s line of action.
SSTC is a means through which WFP can support countries to strengthen their systems and capacities as well as enabling new partnerships and mobilize resources. Furthermore, SSTC is included under the Partnership Section of the Strategic Plan as a key enabler for WFP to achieve its strategic results.
● SSTC Policy Evaluation
In 2021, WFP rolled out an independent evaluation of the WFP Policy on SSTC (2015) to assess its relevance, effectiveness, coherence and sustainability as well as its implementation from 2015 to 2020.
The evaluation is largely positive with regards to the quality of the SSTC policy. It acknowledged the concrete and tangible results generated at the country level, the extent to which WFP has broadened and systematized its SSTC engagement over the years and how it is currently among the UN entities that have made the most progress towards SSTC mainstreaming.
SSTC is recognized as a “bridge” between WFP’s work on country capacity strengthening and partnerships that has the potential to contribute to WFP’s mandate, which encompasses both the saving lives and changing lives agenda.
At the same time, the evaluation underlines how the process of institutionalizing SSTC is ongoing, and that SSTC is not yet fully mainstreamed across all thematic areas. The report puts forward six recommendations:
● At the strategic level:
○ Revise the policy and develop related costed implementation plan;
○ Reflect SSTC consideration in second-generation Country Strategic Plan (CSPs) and in relevant new corporate frameworks and policies.
At the operational level:
○ Strengthen evidence and learning generation approaches;
○ Invest in guidance for staff on integrating SSTC in different areas;
○ Continue to strengthen staff capacity for SSTC at different levels;
○ Continue to contribute to system wide SSTC engagement.
● Global Task Force to Consolidate WFP’s Strategic Approach to SSTC
To further enhance the corporate strategic engagement in SSTC, WFP launched in 2020 a Global Task Force that brings together country and technical perspectives to help improve and refine the work in this area.
The Task Force serves as an internal WFP coordination mechanism on SSTC, bringing together all key decision-makers from WFP Centre of Excellence(CoEs), Regional Bureaux (RBx), Country Offices(COs) and thematic divisions.
In 2021, WFP global SSTC Task Force workstreams focused on:
○ Strategic analysis of WFP’s position on the SSTC agenda and landscape;
○ Exploring WFP’s SSTC delivery models;
○ Matching of future demands and offers for WFP’s SSTC.
The Task Force produced a set of eight concrete deliverables and strategic decisions around:
○ WFP’s value proposition for SSTC
·Formulation of value proposition on SSTC
·Mapping of SSTC partnership opportunities
·Risk mapping for brokering SSTC
○ WFP’s SSTC delivery models
·Mapping of SSTC actors and services
·Key standards and principles for quality assurance
·SSTC coordination mechanisms
○ defining an approach to SSTC knowledge brokerage (matching demand and supply of “Southern solutions”)
·Global mapping of SSTC needs and offers
·Strategic options to operationalize SSTC towards knowledge platforms
The work of the Task Force continues in 2022, building on the results from 2021, the recommendations of the SSTC Policy evaluation and on the outcomes of 2nd global internal meeting on SSTC held in November 2021.
In 2022, WFP global SSTC Task Force workstreams will focus on:
○ Mainstreaming SSTC into 2G CSPs and across WFP’s agenda on saving and changing lives;
○ Strengthening WFP’s approach to generating evidence and fostering learning on SSTC;
○ Peer review for WFP’s SSTC Policy update.
Resource：
[1]2021-2022 Overview of WFP’s Initiatives on South-South and Triangular Cooperation.
http://www.wfpchinacoe.net/2023-01/06/content_85042002.shtml
