Special Unit for Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries

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Special Unit for Technical Cooperation among
Developing Countries

• APDIP Seminar on ICT Policy Development and
  Implementation for Afghanistan
• Kuala Lumpur
• 14 18 October 2002

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Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries
(TCDC)

• TCDC is a process whereby two or more
  developing countries pursue their individual or
  collective development through cooperative
  exchanges of 

knowledge,
resources,
skills,
and technical know-how.
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• TCDC activities are organized and managed  by
  developing countries themselves.

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Approaches to TCDC

• Policy dialogue and intellectual exchanges
• Information sharing and communication
• Inter-institutional twinning arrangements and
  attachments

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Institutional Mechanisms for TCDC

• Multilateral
• National

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Multilateral

• UNDPs Special Unit for TCDC
• The Special Unit for TCDC (SU/TCDC) was created
  by the United Nations General Assembly in
  December 1974. It had its functions established
  in 1978.

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SU/TCDC Main Activities

• Carrying out research, studies and analyses on
  TCDC issues
• monitoring TCDC activities worldwide
• reporting on progress made to the biennial
  sessions of the United Nations High Level
  Committee on the review of TCDC
• assisting developing countries in the development
  of TCDC policies, legislation and information
  systems

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• assisting developing countries in TCDC
  programming
• mobilizing supplementary financing for TCDC
• strengthening focal points
• developing and managing the Information data base
  WIDE

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National

• Focal Points
• At the national level the focal point - whether
  it is a specific ministry, an inter-ministerial
  committee, a development agency or even a special
  unit - is responsible for the development of TCDC
  in a developing country or in a United Nations
  agency.

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Focal point activities

• Assisting in the formulation of national TCDC
  policies, strategies and programs
• Organizing TCDC orientation seminars, training
  courses and study tours
• Serving as a liaison between national enterprises
  and their foreign counterparts involved in TCDC

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• Assessing the costs, benefits and overall impact
  of TCDC on a country's development needs
• Providing guidance in the development of a
  national TCDC information network.
• Maintaining an inventory of the country's needs
  and domestic resources that it's willing to share
  with other countries.

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New trend in TCDC
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South South Cooperation

• Bringing together political, economic and
  technical cooperation.

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South South Cooperation

• Mutually
• articulating shared challenges
• identifying needs and strengths
• laying the foundation and creating common
  platforms to address those shared concerns
• pooling institutional, technical, intellectual
  and financial resources to resolve them.

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ICT and South South Cooperation

• An important enabler of South South Cooperation

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ICT and South South Cooperation

• Facilitates
• sharing of information, knowledge, experiences,
  best practices and challenges
• networking to discuss and build consensus around
  common challenges
• discussion of joint positions regarding major
  global agendas
• discussion and decision-making regarding
  cooperation among Governments, private sector and
  civil society organisations.

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SU/TCDC and ICT

• WIDE is the Web of Information for Development, a
  free and easily accessible, on-line database. It
  provides visibility for and links southern
  experts and institutions.

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By frequently updating WIDEs technological
capacities, the Unit is expanding South-South
connections, and enabling institutions to promote
their expertise on the web.
WIDE can be accessed through the following URLs
http//www.undp.org/tcdc
http//tcdc.undp.org
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Thank You