Following the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg in 2002, the Republic of Benin (Western Africa), the Kingdom of Bhutan (South Asia) and the Republic of Costa Rica entered into Strategic Partnership Agreement for cooperation on sustainable development and agreed to establish a Program for South-South Cooperation (PSC), with the financial support of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Within the framework of PSC, Fundecooperación, with the partner countries, (Bhutan and Benin) support initiatives to strengthen entrepreneurial and productive activities, improving processes and implementing new technologies in five thematic areas:
- Sustainable tourism.
- Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
- Access to sustainable energy and efficient energy use.
- Sustainable chains of production and consumption.
- Gender equity (as a transversal axis).
Under this program, three guiding principles shall be considered:
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Equality: organizations in the partner countries should jointly manage process on an equal basis.
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Reciprocity: contribution to sustainable development should occur in at least two of the participating countries. Pilot projects could start in one country but there must be concrete perspective that valuable project components be implemented in at least one other partner country during time-span of the project.
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Participation: promoting the collaboration and cooperation between the public sector, civil society and private sector to formulate and implement projects and activities.
At present, there are 36 ongoing projects, from which 7 are trilateral, 17 are bilateral and 11 are pilot.
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