South–South cooperation in population and development: current progress and future perspectives

The impact of South–South cooperation (SSC) has been bolstered in the context of implementing the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action. In the past 25 years since ICPD in 1994, remarkable progress and achievements have been made in promoting SSC in population and development. China has been committed to working with developing countries, UN agencies and international organizations to advance ICPD under the framework of SSC. As the landscape of international development assistance has been changing and the ICPD remains as an unfinished agenda, the SSC has increasingly recognized the importance of effective financial inclusion policy in the implementation of the ICPD and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The international community has recently identified seven strategic priority areas for SSC in the next few years, i.e., (1) population dynamics and development; (2) universal access to reproductive health and family planning services; (3) women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health; (4) healthy ageing; (5) migration; (6) health and poverty alleviation; and (7) ending sexual and gender-based violence. The institutionalization and operationalization remain as critical challenges, and special attention needs to be given to address these issues. Stronger political commitments, enhanced capacity building, better coordination and partnerships establishment of the SSC Center of Excellence, adequate resource mobilization and more evidence-based researches and systematic evaluation are recommended as future strategies for further promoting the SSC in population and development.