Year-end (2020) Message to the Global Thinkers Community

Dear South-South Global Thinkers Community Members,
 
As we complete yet another fulfilling year together, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the key achievements of the South-South Global Thinkers.
 
As you know, the South-South Global Thinkers initiative, jointly supported by UNOSSC and UNDP has been contributing to a growing body of evidence and knowledge on issues pertinent to South-South and triangular cooperation. The Global Thinkers has contributed to numerous South-South policy dialogues and consultative processes and served as a source of ideas on how best to eradicate poverty and address other transnational challenges facing many countries in the Global South. The initiative has also been effective in mainstreaming insights, perspectives and ideas from the South at key forums, policy instruments, UN flagship publications, as well as through advocacy and communication channels. 
 
Below are some highlights of this year:
 
The preparation for the 2020 HDR was informed by inputs from the South-South Global Thinkers community through e-discussion and virtual consultation. These inputs range from suggested indicators for greening the HDI to ways of leveraging SSC and TrC for addressing climate-related risks. This week UNDP HDRO launched the 2020 HDR. We are glad to see that the 2020 report includes some of the ideas as proposed during these consultations, such as the new experimental index on human progress that takes into account countries’ carbon dioxide emissions and material footprint. In January 2020, UNOSSC & UNDP announced the South-South Global Thinkers Grant Awardees. Nine grants were awarded to the think tank networks to develop frontier research which will reflect on some of the important aspects mentioned in the BAPA+40 outcome document. The research papers are being finalized. A new call for research will be launched at the beginning of 2021. UNOSSC, jointly with its partners, organized around  40 webinars and virtual workshops which brought together think tanks from the South, to share their country and regional insights and diverse perspectives on the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the beginning of 2020, UNOSSC has pooled together over 80 publications and research pieces on COIVD-19 and South-South and Triangular cooperation developed by members of the Global Thinkers. These are being used as a source for research in the development community.  The database can be accessed on the South-South Global Thinker online platform and is also promoted actively via UNOSSC and South-South Galaxy social media channels. 
 
Earlier this month, the 4th Steering Committee meeting of the South-South Global Thinkers was held to discuss the way forward to research ideas and priorities for 2021. The members discussed and presented the research priorities with the aim to advance the research agenda on SSC and TrC. Just to mention a few these ideas included COVID-19 related issues, Combatting illicit financial flows, southern contributions to global public goods, debt sustainability, technology value chains, and Statistics for SSC. We look forward to working with all of the think tank networks to advancing those topics that will contribute to advancing the knowledge base on SSC for the SDGs.
 
I would like to end this note by highlighting, that UNOSSC, in partnership with UNDP and other UN agencies, is committed to continue strengthening the sharing of knowledge, accompanying our valued think tank networks community to advance thought leadership and produce evidence-based research, facilitating informed policy-making on SSC in the context of sustainable development.
 
We will continue our efforts to better incorporate the voices of the Global South into UN flagship publications and development fora through closely working with South-South Global Thinkers networks. Through your voices, we can deepen the understanding of experiences, knowledge, and prospects in the Global South to support the achievement of sustainable development.  
 
I would like to thank you all for your contribution.
 
Seasons Greeting to all the Global Thinkers Network Members!

Xiaojun Grace Wang
Deputy Director, UNOSSC