Knowledge sharing in global governance: a path in public goods delivery

ABSTRACT

The exchange of knowledge in development cooperation can help overcome common challenges while providing collective solutions. Country, regional and global platforms play a crucial role to facilitate development cooperation at both national and international level, but there is a lack of knowledge on their structure and operationalisation. The aim of this paper is to fill this knowledge gap to assess how global platforms can contribute to bridge the establishment of national priorities with the provision of global public goods. By way of a documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews, the study examines the case of the South-South Galaxy, a platform created by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation to promote the exchange of solutions among all Southern knowledge sharing platforms. The main results find that each node of knowledge sharing works to build a shared understanding of good practices on the SDGs and make this knowledge universally accessible.

KEYWORDS:

• Knowledge sharing
• public goods
• global platforms
• south-south cooperation
• country ownership
• sustainable development goals

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. In this study, Southern countries refer to nations primarily located in the Southern Hemisphere, and include regions in Africa, South America, and parts of Asia. It is important to note that within these countries there is a great diversity in terms of cultures, economies, and social structures.

2. The countries included are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, India, Israel, Kuwait, Malaysia, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Tunisia, Türkiye, Venezuela, South Africa and United Arab Emirates.

3. In addition, triangular cooperation involves the collaboration of international donors to implement South-South projects through technical assistance, capacity building and other forms of support.

4. Two different experts were interviewed in this organisation.

5. Two different experts were interviewed in this organisation.

6. The Issue Based Coalitions are led by one or more agencies and coordinate the UN response to cross-cutting challenges in the region, help realise synergies among related areas of work of different UN entities, and serve as platforms to reach out to non-UN stakeholders.