BEIJING, March 02 (IPS) – Five years ago, on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, world leaders adopted the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The agenda was to be accomplished through the achievement of 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030: eradicate poverty, end hunger, tackle climate change – to name a few.
Matteo Marchisio The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 suddenly disrupted progress towards that goal, in many cases reversing years of progress. The World Bank, for example, estimated that COVID-19 pushed 88 to 115 million more people into extreme poverty last year, bringing the total number of the world’s poor to 2014-2015 levels. According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 report, the pandemic would have added between 83 and 132 million people to the total number of undernourished people in the world in 2020. It is as if the COVID-19 suddenly brought the world up. back to 2005, eroding 15 years of progress in food security in just a few months. Measures implemented to contain the spread of COVID-19 (i.e. lockdown and movement restrictions) have affected all food systems, disrupting production, processing, marketing and distribution . Rural communities and smallholder farmers – especially in developing countries – have been most affected by the implementation of these measures; their livelihoods depend mainly on agricultural production and sales. As smallholder farmers produce more than 70% of the world’s food needs, the impact of COVID-19 on smallholder farmers can potentially have serious implications for global food security. It is therefore in our common interest (besides our common responsibility) to help developing countries – and, in developing countries, rural communities and smallholder farmers – to recover from the pandemic. International development cooperation is an important way for the world community to help developing countries. In this context, South-South cooperation, that is to say cooperation between developing countries (“the global South”), has increasingly appeared as a form of international cooperation which complements traditional North-South cooperation. South. South-South cooperation enables developing countries to share knowledge, practical experience, development solutions and investment opportunities with each other. South-South cooperation is a particularly appropriate modality of cooperation for developing countries, as many developing countries share similar development paths and many experiences, solutions or innovations may be relevant or more easily adopted in similar contexts. What role can South-South cooperation play in supporting developing countries in their recovery from COVID-19? An interesting example is offered by the South-South Cooperation Facility managed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations multilateral development organization whose mission is to promote inclusive rural development in developing countries. IFAD’s South-South Cooperation Facility was established three years ago with a contribution of US $ 10 million from China to mobilize the expertise, knowledge and resources of countries in the South to reduce poverty and improve the livelihoods of the rural poor. The Facility finances the proposals selected by competition submitted in response to periodic calls for proposals. Since the establishment of the Mechanism, 15 proposals for a total amount of approximately US $ 7 million have been approved and are currently being implemented. The proposals encouraged cooperation between countries in different regions and covered a wide range of topics, from value chain initiatives among farmer groups and businesses in Cambodia, China, Laos and Vietnam, to technology transfer sustainable aquaculture in Ghana and Nigeria – to name a few. The third call for proposals for the facility was launched precisely at the time of the COVID-19 outbreak. Given the scale of the challenge posed by the pandemic, it was decided that the Facility would be used to contribute to the global response to COVID-19. The remaining funds from the Facility were therefore intended to facilitate the exchange of approaches, solutions and innovations that could be useful for developing countries to build more resilient societies and recover from the effects of the pandemic. Considering that one of the main impacts of COVID-19 was the disruption of food systems, the Facility specifically aimed to help rural communities and smallholder farmers cope with situations of disrupted access to agricultural inputs or to labor. work, or disrupted markets. The Facility will support activities aimed at diversifying income-generating opportunities, thereby reducing dependence on agriculture as a primary source of livelihood, or facilitating access to markets – including through the adoption of innovative digital solutions. The proposals submitted in response to the third call for proposals are currently being evaluated and will be selected shortly. Responding effectively to the impact of the pandemic will require even greater international cooperation. In addition to traditional North-South cooperation, South-South cooperation is arguably more important today than ever. Knowing the solutions to COVID-induced problems, such as food system disruptions, is as important as financial support. Around the world, each country has unique experiences of the direct and indirect impact of the pandemic, and the experiences of developing countries are different from those in the North, and may be more relevant to other developing countries. It is only by drawing on these experiences that effective solutions can be found and the international community will succeed in implementing the 2030 Agenda. The author is Country Director and Representative for China, and Head of the Regional Center for East Asia and South-South Cooperation Center, United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
