In the policy brief ‘Unlocking the potential of Southern trade Unions through South-South Cooperation (2017)’, researchers conclude that South-South Exchanges among trade unions can be an effective capacity building strategy as it unlocks a vast amount of appropriate know-how and expertise, while allowing for genuine two-directional learning processes.
Drawing on good practices of the Belgian Institute for International Workers Education (IIWE) of the Belgian trade union ACV-CSC, and of its 2012-2016 development co-operation programme, the researchers go on to identify a set of policy recommendations for organisations exploring to set up or support South-South co-operation programmes: the need to address well-defined demands, to embed South-South exchanges in action-oriented processes, to include mechanisms for identification of relevant Southern practices, to adopt a mixed methods based strategy, to evaluate and document practices, and to provide logistic and financial support.