Catalyst for progress

The Global Development Initiative has made much progress since it was proposed less than two years ago

The Global Development Initiative has been widely and warmly received by the international community, and it has achieved positive progress and early harvests.

The initiative has been enriched by adopting constructive opinions and recommendations from various parties, and its cooperation programs have been improved in a timely manner. Discussions at meetings of the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative have stressed that development is a prerequisite for protecting and promoting human rights, and that special attention should be paid to gender equality and the development needs of groups such as the elderly, children, youth and persons with disabilities.

The Group of Friends is an important step in the institutional development of the Global Development Initiative cooperation. The group was formed at the United Nations in January 2022. So far, nearly 70 countries have joined it. The Group of Friends has called for the establishment of a task force composed of heads of UN development agencies and experts in relevant fields to advance the initiative. This working group would serve as another platform for strengthening policy dialogue and strategic synergy with UN development agencies and a mechanism for promoting Global Development Initiative cooperation. China has also launched the Global Development Promotion Center and its network, as well as regional pillars for the Global Knowledge Network for Development, to provide platforms for exchanging development knowledge, synergizing development plans and coordinating resources.

A six-pronged approach for advancing the Global Development Initiative has been identified. The implementation of the initiative will stay committed to development as the priority, and focus on the central task of implementing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It will be projects-led and action-oriented, where policy dialogue, experience sharing, capacity building and practical cooperation will be promoted through specific projects in various fields. It welcomes extensive participation, with UN development agencies as important cooperation partners and the members of the Group of Friends as the main actors, to build a good example of cooperation and encourage the participation of other countries and agencies. It will increase input by fully leveraging the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund and the China-UN Peace and Development Trust Fund to pool more resources and encourage all parties to fund projects in areas of interest. It will advance all-round Global Development Initiative cooperation by strengthening cooperation in the key areas of the initiative to ensure that all 17 Sustainable Development Goals are met. It will have a special focus on key issues, including pressing challenges such as food and energy security, poverty, supply and industry chain disruptions while promoting comprehensive implementation of the initiative.

Practical cooperation projects have gradually come to fruition. Positive results in the eight priority areas of the Global Development Initiative have been achieved. Half of the 32 Deliverables of the High-level Dialogue on Global Development released in June 2022 have been accomplished or have reaped early harvests. The first batch of the 50 projects in the Global Development Initiative Project Pool covers various areas such as poverty reduction, food security and industrialization. Among them, more than 10 projects have been completed, and the rest are seeing positive progress. At present, the total number of projects in the Project Pool has exceeded 100, benefiting nearly 40 developing countries. Meanwhile, over the past year, the Chinese government has set up 1,000 capacity-building projects and provided 20,000 training opportunities, covering almost all members of the Group of Friends.

In the next steps, it is recommended that the Global Development Initiative should continue to give full play to its role as an accelerator for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and seek to guide the SDGs back on track.

The Global Development Initiative should continue building consensus around development as a priority. This year marks the mid-point for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The Global Development Initiative should continue to sharpen the international community's focus on development and recommit to cooperation. The Global Development Initiative can act as an SDG stimulus. Full play should be given to the platforms and mechanisms such as the Group of Friends so as to further identify entry points for cooperation in various fields, better synergize the development strategies and visions of the members of the Group of Friends and their regions, and better meet the development needs of developing countries. Communication and coordination should be strengthened among development partners, and the resources and expertise of the UN development system should be fully utilized.

The Global Development Initiative should effectively mobilize and allocate resources to forge the greatest possible synergy for development. The Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund and the China-UN Peace and Development Trust Fund are among the funding platforms supporting Global Development Initiative project cooperation. It is important to better facilitate the application of developing countries for financial support in response to their development needs. International organizations such as UN development agencies should be encouraged to channel their resources to the needs of developing countries, and promote and participate in Global Development Initiative cooperation. The participating countries should adopt innovative measures and cooperation models to further encourage developed countries, international financial institutions, development aid agencies, businesses, and non-profit foundations, to increase input and take part in Global Development Initiative cooperation and input resources.

The Global Development Initiative should deepen practical cooperation to generate tangible benefits. It is important to base project design and implementation upon development needs, adhere to a projects-led approach, extensive participation, all-round cooperation, and focus on key issues. In line with the principle of voluntary participation, joint contributions, innovative methods and openness and transparency, continued efforts should be made to enrich the open-ended project pool, and advance both "small but smart "projects that benefit people's lives as well as development capacity-building projects. Project cooperation should not only cover all the eight key areas of the Global Development Initiative to ensure the achievement of all the 17 SDGs, but also focus on the outstanding issues at different times and adapt measures to local conditions.

The Global Development Initiative should promote "knowledge for development" and strengthen the sharing and exchange of development knowledge. Governments, think tanks, businesses, universities, research institutions and other stakeholders should be encouraged to work in close collaboration, give full play to their unique strengths, and form extensive networks that integrate intellectual and practical resources. Based on regional networks between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Africa, Central Asia, and thematic networks for poverty reduction, green development and digitization, countries participating in the Global Development Initiative should build global networks of knowledge for development by strengthening exchanges and cooperation. Dynamic assessment of Global Development Initiative cooperation and regular progress reports are also needed to review and share good practices.

Zhou Taidong is the vice-president of the Center for International Knowledge on Development. Zhou Yu is an associate researcher of the Center for International Knowledge on Development. The authors contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn