• Origins
• A Global Infrastructure
• Financing for TCDC
• TCDC at Work in the World

"Societies can interact only as far as their technical capacity allows them to. If they do not have the means for intellectual communication, if their people and goods cannot overcome the natural and man-made barriers setting them apart, their influences on each other are necessarily limited. Such is the case now among the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The bridging of their diversity is the subject matter of TCDC."

From Bridges Across the South, by B.P. Menon, 1980

Technical cooperation is as old as the earliest forms of intellectual and technical interchange between human societies. It can be traced back several thousand years to the movement of scholars and merchants, craftspeople and explorers - envoys among the ancient civilizations of Asia, the Arab world, Africa and the Americas. The seeds of many present-day technologies can be found in these cultural ancestors of today's Third World.

Beginning in the early fifteenth century, however, the free flow of knowledge, skills and commodities within and between countries of the South was stifled by colonialism. Northern political, legal, economic and educational models were imposed on the colonies, and investment in transportation and communications concentrated on strengthening North-South routes. The results have lingered. It was not long ago, for example, that a telephone call from Senegal to neighbouring Gambia required routing through Paris. Indeed, telecommunications in many countries are still routed through the former "motherland". In addition, travel between many countries of the South is still very cumbersome.

Gradually, however, the tide has begun to turn. Developing countries began re-establishing ties in the 1950s and 1960s, as large numbers of former colonies gained independence. Many of them enhanced their technical resources, becoming good sources of high-level expertise, admirable research capacity and excellent training opportunities. Developing countries also developed their technology and capacity to supply quality equipment, both of which were usually more appropriate for their own needs. Along with these initiatives came the growing awareness that South-South exchange of ideas, information, technologies and solutions might, in many cases, be more appropriate and more consistent with developing countries' development goals than other forms of assistance.

Recognizing the need for this renewed contact, the United Nations formalized its support for southern "relinking" in the early 1970s under the rubric of technical cooperation among developing countries (TCDC). The landmark event providing substance and documentation for this support was the United Nations Conference on TCDC, held in Buenos Aires in 1978.

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A GLOBAL INFRASTRUCTURE

"Given the changes in the structure of international economic relations, TCDC and South-South cooperation in general, will become an increasingly important aspect in multilateral technical cooperation."

Denis Benn, Director
Special Unit for TCDC
United Nations Development Programme
May 1995

The Plan of Action that emerged from the Buenos Aires Conference, which was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly, made 38 practical recommendations that form the global framework for South-South cooperation today.

The foremost objective, stated in the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, is "to foster the self-reliance of developing countries through the enhancement of their creative capacity to find solutions to their development problems in keeping with their own aspirations, values and special needs."

Furthermore, the Plan of Action states that TCDC should "promote and strengthen collective self-reliance among developing countries through exchanges of experience, the pooling, sharing and utilization of their technical resources, and the development of their complementary capacities." The Plan of Action emphasized that TCDC was not an end in itself; nor is it a substitute for traditional, or North-South, cooperation. Rather, TCDC is recognized as a dimension that adds to the overall quantity and quality of development assistance. Action at the national level Structural arrangements for TCDC vary from country to country.

The formal establishment of a national institution responsible for TCDC within the country - known as the TCDC "focal point" - and actively supported by the highest levels of Government, is usually a first step in organizing a framework for TCDC at the country level. Sometimes the focal point is a special unit or a committee with representatives from different ministries and departments; in a few countries it is just one official. In most countries it comes under the aid coordinating authority, usually the Ministry of Economic Affairs or Planning. In others, it is linked to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The national focal point serves as a line of communication to various ministries or government departments, to chambers of commerce and public and private enterprises and institutions, to non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, and to TCDC focal points in other developing countries and the United Nations system. The functions of the national focal point can include

• Formulating national policies and mechanisms for TCDC;
• Facilitating coordination among various sectoral ministries, departments and other entities engaged in TCDC activities, as well as between the Government and the private sector;
• Organizing TCDC orientation seminars, training courses and study tours;
• Serving as a liaison between national enterprises and their foreign counterparts involved in TCDC;
• 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. An essential task is to maintain an inventory of the country's needs and the domestic resources that it is willing to share with other developing countries. This information can be compiled in collaboration with sectoral ministries and public and private institutions and it can be linked to regional, interregional or global TCDC networks.

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GLOBAL SUPPORT

TCDC is a cooperative activity for development between two or more developing countries. It is initiated, organized, managed and principally financed by developing countries themselves.

While South-South cooperation entails direct sharing or exchange among developing countries, the Buenos Aires Plan of Action outlines the supporting role of Governments of developed countries and of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). At the global level, it calls for the "permeation of the spirit of TCDC" throughout the programmes and structure of the United Nations system.

Along with setting up an active focal point invested with adequate authority and provided with resources, the highest priority is placed on the articulation of a comprehensive national TCDC policy. This is intended to demonstrate the commitment of the nation to the TCDC modality and facilitate its application. In 1992, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations declared that TCDC should be the modality of "first consideration" in national planning exercises. This exhortation will hold true only if it is firmly reflected in the national policies of the developing countries themselves.

The role of UNDP

The United Nations General Assembly has assigned the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) the lead role for the promotion and support of TCDC within the overall United Nations development system.

As the centre-piece for technical cooperation in this system, UNDP has central funding and coordination responsibilities for a large portion of United Nations technical assistance. This includes assistance to Governments in multisectoral country programmes as well as regional, interregional and global programmes. Through its accumulated operational experience and its network of offices in 130 developing countries, UNDP is in a unique position to guide and assist developing countries to undertake cooperative endeavours. This can include:

• Identifying sectoral needs that could be met through TCDC modalities;
• Locating expertise, training facilities, equipment and services in developing countries that could be made available on a TCDC basis;
• Establishing functional contacts among developing countries, including establishment of networks and training arrangements;
• Promoting South-South exchanges by means of orientation and training seminars and workshops, study tours and other activities;
• Providing catalytic financing for results-oriented TCDC activities.

The Special Unit for TCDC

As mandated by the General Assembly, UNDP carries out its functions as the lead organization for TCDC through a Special Unit attached to the Office of the Administrator. The Special Unit for TCDC encourages new policies and innovative practices throughout the United Nations system to integrate TCDC into mainstream development activities.

The Unit is also available to help countries directly in the implementation of TCDC. Such assistance can include

• Strengthening national TCDC focal points;
• Assisting in the development of TCDC policies, legislation, procedures and information systems at the country level.

Within this framework, assistance for TCDC from the United Nations system can take the form of "promotional" or "operational" activities. Promotional activities are intended to spread the word about TCDC, make the concept popular, demonstrate its potential and bring the cooperating partners together. Promotion can also take the form of activities to support TCDC, such as enhancing the technical resources of participating countries and their capacity to promote and apply TCDC. Operational activities are a step forward from promotional and supportive activities, whereby TCDC projects are actually put into practice. The line of demarcation between one kind of activity and the other is often thin and the distinction can become blurred. One of the most common examples of this, the capacities and needs matching exercise, illustrates a TCDC subprogramme supported by the Special Unit for TCDC. Parties in the exercise get to know the strengths and weaknesses of one another, discover opportunities for cooperation, and frequently undertake to do so within the framework of bilateral or multilateral agreements.

The Special Unit also provides assistance for:

• Organizing TCDC training, sensitization and orientation programmes;
• Assisting developing countries, at their request, in TCDC programming;
• Developing and managing the TCDC Information Referral System (TCDC-INRES) and serving as a clearing-house for TCDC information;
• Mobilizing supplementary financing for TCDC;
• Carrying out research, studies and analyses on TCDC issues and problems;
• Monitoring TCDC activities worldwide and reporting on progress made to the biennial sessions of the United Nations High-level Committee on the Review of TCDC, comprised of all countries participating in the UNDP system;
• Assisting developing countries, at their request, in organizing workshops or symposia to address specific issues of TCDC and consider technologies or systems that can promote TCDC and organizing capacities and needs matching exercises;
• Assisting developing countries, at their request, in trying out a variety of mechanisms - including studies, networking, brainstorming, action research, mutual technical help and replication of experiences - intended to share progress in collaborative resolution of common problems.

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INFORMATRION

"Each developing country should take adequate steps to strengthen the gathering, processing and dissemination of information covering the availability of national capacities, knowledge and experience for application and use in TCDC, if necessary with the support of the information systems of the United Nations development system, and particularly of the Information Referral System of the United Nations Development Programme, as well as official, professional and other sources."

From recommendation 4 of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action

Information: A TCDC switchboard for all

The countries of the North are linked by a vast information "infrastructure" that contributes to their individual and collective strength. Complex data flow across the developed world 24 hours a day, providing updates and analyses of commodities and stocks, tariffs on manufactures, technology patents, insurance costs, capital loan interest rates and international monetary movements. Moreover, the industrialized countries rely on intricate networks of intellectual resources, such as universities, think-tanks and research foundations, together with hundreds of technical journals and transnational computer grids.

Accurate, current information is a prerequisite for development in today's interconnected world. Opening channels of contact and communication among developing countries involves the compilation of previously unavailable data from and for developing countries themselves. This information is now available through hundreds of specialized information systems - in virtually every area of economic and social activity. Information systems, particularly the TCDC-INRES South-South database, have been devised specifically to promote South-South exchanges.

Consider these examples of TCDC-INRES at work in providing diverse individuals the information they need.

• Getaneh Gobezie, a researcher from the interior of Ethiopia, receives information on institutions in other developing countries dealing with rural development so that he can get in touch with them.
• Mushtaq Ahmed, working for a private company in Lahore, receives information on suppliers of hydrogen peroxide plant as well as on the technology of rayon grade pulp production from biogas.
• Dr. Klaus Hortsmann from Germany receives information on environmental training facilities in developing countries so that the German Foundation for International Development can set up collaborative training programmes.
• Irma Pirtskhalaichvili, working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Georgia, gets information on institutions dealing with women in development.
• Faisal Hasan Abas from Khartoum wants to help the new nation of Eritrea through his NGO, the Sudan-Eritrea Friendship Association, and receives information on developing country institutions working in agriculture, health and communications.

TCDC-INRES: From humble beginnings to a promising future TCDC-INRES began as a manually operated service in 1978. The database was placed on a mainframe computer in 1984 and registration of capacities rose sharply from 2,400 to 4,000 by 1988. Nonetheless, INRES remained a centralized switchboard, and, as such, was not easily accessible by many users. The database was transferred to microcomputer in 1989 and a decentralization programme was launched the following year. The inquiries reached a level of 100 a month in 1991; the examples set out above represent a sample of those handled in 1994.

More recently, a dramatic transformation has occurred in the continuing TCDC-INRES evolution. First, conversion of the main database to a Microsoft Windows database (ACCESS programme), commenced in 1993, has been completed. Secondly, all registrations are being updated through country compilations in the field. By early 1995, 32 country studies had been completed and others will be covered in 1996. Thirdly, a system has been put in place to update data every three years, with outdated data similarly discarded. Fourthly, and most important, the database - renamed "INRES-Lite" - has been distributed in the form of desktop computer diskettes to 500 locations comprising UNDP field offices, United Nations organizations and national TCDC focal points. By 1996, the INRES database will be accessible through Internet, with a global user network of millions.

Over the years, a good deal of investment has gone into TCDC- INRES and ongoing activities continue to update its registration of institutions. The database is already very rich on training facilities of all kinds. In eight broad sectors - education, agriculture, social services, health, architecture, management, training, and information technology - the training offered courses number over 11,000. It is proposed to expand TCDC-INRES into a multi-dimensional database which will include information not only on institutional capacities, but individual experts, centres of excellence and innovative project experiences that can be transferred among developing countries.

Many agencies and organizations of the United Nations system have their own information storage systems. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has documented many successful technologies of the South, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has useful information on the industrial sector as a whole. On environmental issues, the Sustainable Development Network has compiled a wealth of information. Many organizations have rosters of experts at national or regional levels. TCDC-INRES is now in a position to incorporate a great deal of this information and make it easily available to users. The commissioning of the Group of 77 Trade Information Network, long supported and now being pilot tested in 10 centres, will add to the information revolution in the South. The power of easily accessible and well-checked information has an invaluable contribution to make, both to TCDC and to the broader process of economic cooperation among developing countries (ECDC).

Institutions and professional associations in developing countries can supply information for registering their capacities with the TCDC-INRES database by filling out forms provided by the UNDP country offices in the field or by the Special Unit for TCDC in New York. Individuals or institutions interested in information on any kind of capacity in the South can obtain such information from the Special Unit for TCDC in New York; and since March 1995 it has also been possible to acquire the information directly from UNDP Resident Representatives and national TCDC focal points. While a standard form is provided by UNDP for making such inquiries, questions can be framed in any way the inquirer wants.

Cooperation South Cooperation South is a development journal published as a magazine by UNDP in response to the recommendations contained in the Buenos Aires Plan of Action calling for greater information support for TCDC.

In 1984, Cooperation South transformed the original black-and-white news bulletin "TCDC News", first published in 1979, into a colourful, in-depth magazine intended for use by develop-ment professionals and other interested readers. The magazine is targeted at those directly engaged in TCDC and other interested audiences, with a varied list of subscribers numbering about 36,000. The journal comments on a wide range of South-South issues and provides news on TCDC activities. It invites readers to share their viewpoints and experiences. The magazine is available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

To receive the publication on a regular basis, please write to
The Editor, Cooperation South
UNDP Special Unit for TCDC
One United Nations Plaza
New York, N.Y. 10017
United States of America
Fax: (212) 906-6429

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FINANCING FOR TCDC

"... the financing of TCDC activities is primarily the responsibility of developing countries themselves, it will nevertheless be necessary for the developed countries and the United Nations development system to support these activities financially without prejudice to the decision-making control by the developing countries of these TCDC activities."

From recommendation 38 of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action

Financing for TCDC

TCDC's underlying philosophy and ultimate development goal is self-reliance, and participa-ting countries are expected to rely primarily on their own resources to fund TCDC activities. Nevertheless, supplementary financing for TCDC is available from a variety of sources, which can be drawn upon as an alternative or in a combination.

Financing from UNDP

Country programme funds

A country's "Indicative Planning Figure" (IPF) is the projected level of funding for technical assistance that will be available to that country from UNDP over a five-year planning cycle, subject to the overall availability of United Nations funds. Under this arrangement, developing countries are permitted to use an unlimited portion of their IPF funds for projects or project components from which they benefit on a TCDC basis. Many countries are utilising their IPF resources for the promotion of TCDC.

In addition to integrating TCDC components into country projects formulated in the normal way, countries often choose to design one TCDC "umbrella" project under the country IPF. This is a flexible means of financing multiple TCDC activities and reducing administrative bottlenecks. A number of countries are now making creative use of these umbrella projects and expanding their sphere of developing country contacts.

In fact, in the course of the past two decades the overall level of South-South cooperation activities has vastly expanded, with most of it occurring by way of either bilateral arrangements or through regional or subregional initiatives. A large number of Governments in the South make provision in their annual budgets to promote TCDC, usually as in-kind exchanges, but almost invariably they are dependent on additional sources of financing. Private enterprises are also heavily involved in TCDC and they try to meet the costs involved as much as they can.

External resources for supplementary financing of TCDC come from a variety of sources. In addition to UNDP and other organizations of the United Nations system, bilateral donors, international and regional development finance institutions, charitable foundations and NGOs are also active in supporting TCDC.

Intercountry programme funds

Complementing its funding for country-specific projects, UNDP also funds regional, interregional and global projects. These promote TCDC in a number of ways. They may, for example, strengthen regional and subregional groupings, set up information networks, support intercountry research and training institutions, or facilitate the exchange of development approaches and experiences through workshops and seminars. These projects cover a wide range of fields, including river basin and water resources management; high-tech and other appropriate technologies; innovative, non-formal education; and disease control.

UNDP's regional programmes are formulated in consultation with regional and subregional groupings. Developing countries, therefore, can make regional project proposals to UNDP through these larger groupings.

Special Programme Resources

UNDP's Special Programme Resources (SPRs) are increasingly being applied to developing new and innovative programmes and approaches.

Beginning in 1983, a first-time allocation for promotion of action-oriented TCDC activities was made from SPRs. In the fifth programming cycle (1992-1996), additional SPR funds were allocated for TCDC, although a subsequent United Nations resources shortfall reduced the allocation by 20 per cent. During the first year of the cycle, SPRs have been used in four subprogrammes supporting a wide variety of TCDC activities. Most prominent are promotional activities; these include sensitization and orientation programmes, workshops and seminars on technologies and systems, meetings or studies for seeking solutions to common problems, research and studies on new approaches and new ideas for cooperation, organizing capacities and needs matching exercises, and compiling information on capacities of the South and its subsequent dissemination. In addition, SPR funds are also applied against supportive activities; these include the strengthening of institutions in the South so that they can undertake TCDC, setting up of networks or twinning arrangements so that institutions can enhance their capacities and exchange experiences, and information support through pamphlets, audiovisual presentations and publications. Many of these activities generate demand for the actual application of the TCDC modality at an operational level, thus increasing the use of IPF resources for TCDC.

Other sources of financing

In addition to UNDP, most other organizations and agencies of the United Nations system also support TCDC from their regular resources, as well as from trust funds. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) give special attention to TCDC, and some of them have separate allocations for such cooperation.

Most agencies have their own TCDC focal point to promote and coordinate TCDC activities. International and regional development finance institutions also support TCDC. In particular, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank give special attention to TCDC.

Other sources of supplementary financing are bilateral donors, such as foundations (for example, the Ford, Rockefeller and Kellogg Foundations), semi-governmental research and development institutions in the North (for example, the International Development Research Centre of Canada, the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries, the German Foundation for International Development and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency) and international NGOs.

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TCDC AT WORK IN THE WORLD

"The Economic and Social Council calls upon all parties in the development effort to make concerted, planned and vigorous endeavours to benefit from utilization of the capacities of developing countries, by giving their full support and first consideration to the use of the modality of technical cooperation among developing countries.

ECOSOC Resolution 1992/41
July 1992

TCDC at work in the world

How is TCDC promoted, how do countries get to know the capacities of their peers and how do development practitioners, private or public, get together? The United Nations development system as a whole, and UNDP in particular, play a significant role in this process.

• By providing easier access to an expanded database, INRES-Lite is making the capacities of developing countries more widely known.
• The Special Unit for TCDC has evolved a number of carefully structured mechanisms for getting partners together and generating interest in the capacities and needs of others. These are known as capacities and needs matching exercises (CNMs) and result in agreements for TCDC among participating countries.
• Workshops, studies and institutional and programme support to centres of excellence are among the measures taken by the Special Unit to help the South develop and advertise its own capacities and technologies.
• A number of mechanisms to seek solutions to common problems have been developed by the Special Unit, including case studies, brainstorming, working groups, pilot projects and networking. Selection of the most suitable mechanism is based on how the venture proceeds, but increasingly a longer-term intervention approach is being applied.
• Capacity enhancement is promoted through networking and twinning arrangements.

TCDC in operation

Technical cooperation is, by its very nature, promotional. It aims to build the capacities for economic development to take place. Indeed, in many cases, TCDC provides a viable means of problem resolution. The following examples of TCDC came about as a result of workshops and capacities and needs matching exercises organized by the Special Unit for TCDC.

• Ghana is adapting the fish-smoking techniques of Senegal. The Senegalese techniques are suitable for the traditional communities of west Africa and meet the taste preferences of the local population.
• Preservation of potatoes under modern refrigeration processes causes weight loss, with attendant implications for sugar content. Peru has a traditional way of preventing such weight loss, which Colombia, Cuba and Guatemala are trying to acquire.
• Widely dispersed countries such as Fiji, Nepal, Peru and the United Republic of Tanzania have been undertaking mini-hydro projects to meet the needs of isolated and rural areas. The Hangzhou Hydro-power Research Centre of China has been promoting the case for mini-hydro stations.
• The first capacities and needs matching exercise (CNM) organized by UNDP - in China in 1983 - made the Wuxi Regional Centre for Integrated Fish Farming internationally known. Thailand and Turkey have benefited from technical cooperation with China on fish farming through both bilateral and other contacts. Further requests for this expertise were made at an exercise in September 1994 in Bangladesh.
• In Jaipur, India, Dr. Pramud Karan Sethi and his associates developed a simple, flexible and inexpensive foot-replacement prosthesis. The "Jaipur foot" was vastly improved in the 1980s and the technology has been transferred to Malaysia and Nicaragua.
• India's Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Energy Planning at Bakoli on the outskirts of Delhi hosted an interregional meeting early in 1994, which prepared a blueprint for rural energy planning.
• GLARES, a Latin American network on rural energy for sustainable development, has issued a handbook on rural energy planning. In November 1992, 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries met in Buenos Aires to agree on an agenda for cooperation, further progress having been made possible by the meeting at Bakoli. Solar cookers are being promoted in Latin America by a group of NGOs, and in India by a private firm, Solker Enterprises of Madras, with support from the Government. Biogas technology is moving from market to market, from China to Brazil and Costa Rica and from India through an NGO, AFPRO, to Cambodia.
• Regional organizations, together with UNESCO and UNDP, have joined together to bring about health technology development in Latin America. Self-reliance in basic health-care supplies, harmonization of rules and regulations, cooperation in education, research and management, and a regional information network are some of the aims of the undertaking.
• Aid coordination and management have assumed greater significance in a time of diminishing availability of aid resources. It is especially vital and urgent for the new transitional economies. The Special Unit for TCDC has assisted in several efforts to promote increased awareness of the importance of TCDC in this area. Meetings were held in Poland in September 1991, in Malta in June 1993 and in Turkey in October 1994. Negotiations have been sponsored to establish bilateral training programmes and a regional programme for diplomatic training. Other countries are involved in similar efforts. In November 1992, a number of countries assembled in Seychelles and agreed to set up networking arrangements, Chile has taken a leading role in documenting experiences of 8 Latin American countries and in January 1994, 12 Arab countries gathered at Amman, where Chile, Malawi and Turkey shared their experiences.
• TCDC contacts often lead to greater overall economic cooperation. Capacities and needs matching exercises and bilateral contacts have often led to expansion of trade between developing countries. Examples include construction by China of an irrigation dam in Turkey, the establishment of a network of independently powered television relay units suitable for the remote, mountainous regions of Yemen by experts from Yugoslavia in the mid-1980s, the setting up of a dairy cattle breeding farm and an institute of pasture management by Brazil in the United Republic of Tanzania and importation by Barbados of techniques of low-cost housing from Kenya.
• "Operation Ear-lift", first conducted in Kenya in 1987 and then in the Lao People's Democratic Republic in 1989 by a Thai mobile unit for hearing treatment, was set up by Dr. Sylaveth Lekagul as a private voluntary enterprise in the early 1970s. The effort received support from other surgeons in Thailand and recognition from the Thai Government in the 1980s. Kenya has set up its own ear-testing and surgery service, using instruments and techniques developed by the Thai surgeon.

New Directions

SU/TCDC intends in the future to promote a more strategic approach to TCDC by supporting initiatives in priority areas which will have a major development impact on a large number of developing countries. It will also seek to put in place suitable institutional and financial arrangements to support this new policy and operational thrust.

Some notable recent initiatives

UNDP is constantly looking for new ways to promote TCDC, both in its own programmes and in the work of other organizations, particularly those of national Governments and institutions. Among some of the more noteworthy recent initiatives are:

• An annual Group of 77 UNDP Award for TCDC/ECDC for a proposal from an individual, group or institution in a developing country that is likely to make the greatest contribution to the promotion of TCDC/ECDC. The award will be presented during the annual ministerial meeting of the Group of 77.
• An initiative to encourage technical and economic cooperation between Asian and African countries based on the decisions adopted at the Asia-Africa Forum held in Bandung in December 1994.
• In 1993, UNDP decided to make three research grants for joint projects by Asian and Amazonian ethno-botanists. The proposal must be jointly prepared by two researchers and supported by at least two institutions, one from each region. The researchers can work together in the two regions or they can do it in parallel in their own regions.
• The preparation of a feasibility study on a Small Island Developing States Technical Assistance Programme (SIDS/TAP) and the implementation of the programme in keeping with the decisions of the UN General Assembly on the subject.
• The economies in transition face a number of challenges in seeking to transform themselves into market economies and to become fully integrated into the world economy. Dealing with international monetary and financial institutions and donor countries of the western world is a new experience for them. In order to assist in this effort assistance is being provided through the Special Unit for TCDC to facilitate exchanges between the CIS countries and Latin America.

By acquiring the technology and capacities to satisfy their own needs, developing countries can give impetus to sustainable economic growth and development. Other developing countries share not only understanding of needs, but also the vision necessary to strive for the capacity to fulfill them. That is the essence and reality of TCDC.

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