Trade unions at 2016 DCF side event on accountability and policy coherence in South South Cooperation

The CSO Partnership on Development Effectiveness, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Reality of Aid organised the DCF side event “Enhancing accountability and policy coherence in South-South Cooperation: Monitoring quality and documenting impact at country level”. Giulia Massobrio (CSA-TUCA) participated as discussant.

This side event established the importance of an South-South Development Cooperation (SSDC) monitoring framework anchored on horizontal development cooperation, and highlighted how it can improve the effectiveness and development impact of SSDC.

The event also conducted an assessment of national policies and practices of Southern governments through the lens of policy coherence, inclusiveness and multi-stakeholder participation, rights-based approaches, and horizontal development cooperation principles, with the objective of learning from participating stakeholders relevant methodologies in measuring development impact of SSDC policies and programs.

Giulia Massobrio (CSA-TUCA) participated as discussant, highlighting trade union experiences in South-South cooperation (SSC) and how trade unions promote the development effectiveness principles, as well as the role of SSC as a trigger of regional integration. That is the case of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a new intergovernmental space of the South for the South, resulting in an important space for a structured dialogue on development policy and external relations.

She stressed that South-South cooperation requires an enabling environment, including human and trade union rights. SSC also requires democratic ownership in the form of CSO participation in its design, monitoring and implementation. She put as example the experience of the Trade Unions BRICS Forum, which promoted better coordination amongst BRICS’ trade unions, but still awaits for a more direct and structured dialogue with governments from that group of countries.

Giulia added that for the first time the South defining itself, meaning a new compass of power and a way to rethink the power of the global North and South.