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UNDP ART Initiative and the Global South-South Development Expo 2012
The UNDP ART Initiative participated in the Global South-South Development Expo 2012 held last 19-23 November in Vienna, presenting its approach and work on South-South and triangular cooperation at territorial level in the panel "Voices from the Southern Frontlines: Local Academy and ART Initiative".
The GSSD Expo was organized by the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation/UNDP in conjunction with more than 20 United Nations agencies and partners. Over 600 participants gathered in Vienna, representing Member States, the UN, NGOs, civil society and academia to exchange their good practices and results on South-South and triangular cooperation and to discuss the potentialities of this innovative cooperation modality in the evolving development landscape. The UNDP ART Initiative presented the positive results being a multilateral platform put at disposal of local and regional authorities, organizations and agencies working at the regional and local level for South-South and triangular exchanges, allowing a dialogue between territories among local actors to learn from other country experiences. It also showcased how national governments can collaborate with the multilateral framework to mobilize the excellence and experience of their territories.
The mayor of Chefchaouen, Morocco, provided first hand-experience of a local authority using the ART framework for South-South and triangular exchanges, presenting the South-South Agreement between Morocco, Mauritania, Gabon and Senegal to exchange on good practices and lessons learnt related to local governance, local development and decentralization, as well as the triangular cooperation initiative between the Municipality of Malaga (Spain), Chefchaouen and Oujda (Morocco) and Tripoli (Lebanon) on the use of ICT to improve basic service delivery and governance.
The interest raised by the joint UNDP - Chefchaouen presentation was prove of the innovative nature of the ART approach and of the potentialities of South-South and triangular cooperation at territorial level to effectively advance sustainable human development.
Posted on: December 12, 2012
