Background

The partnership project of UNDP and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic (MFEA SR), Effective Development Cooperation Solutions for the SDGs, was launched in 2018. It has three main objectives:

• Create opportunities for the involvement of the private sector in development cooperation
• Strengthen gender equality in security sector systems
• Strengthen the ODA capacities of Slovak development officials

1. Private sector in development cooperation

There is a growing need for ever higher involvement of the private sector in development cooperation. One part of the project with MFEA SR reflects this need through the support of Slovak innovative solutions that contribute to solving development challenges in the context of the SDGs in partner countries. This objective is achieved through the Slovak Challenge Fund (SCF). 

SCF supports projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Moldova and Serbia in the following areas:

• Natural Resources and Nature-Based Solutions
• Energy Transition
• Agriculture
• Good Governance
• Resilient Society

Since 2020, four SCF calls for proposals have been announced and a total of 16 projects supported, out of which eight in Moldova, three in North Macedonia, three in Serbia and two in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

2. Strengthening the gender equality in security sector systems

Another objective of the project is to promote gender equality in security systems. It does so through a specific project called Strengthening Regional Cooperation on Gender Mainstreaming in Security Sector Reform in the Western Balkans that supports knowledge and experience exchange on integrating gender equality in the military within the wider SEESAC initiative (The South Eastern and Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons).

This is a multi-Donor initiative, financed by Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Slovak MFEA, with a higher percentage of funding from Norway. It is implemented by SEESAC and fully complements with overall SEESAC portfolio. 

In the framework of the project, the regional cooperation platform as the project's backbone, was created. Since 2019, 16 regional meetings of the Gender Equality Mechanisms in the Ministries of defence have been organized, resulting in the exchange of information and experience and the creation of joint activities in the field of policy research and promotion of gender equality.

Furthermore, SEESAC actively participates on various professional forums dealing with similar topics, like 48th South East Europe Defence Ministerial Coordination (SEDM-CC) Meeting, preparing a specialized trainings and coaching programmes or supporting partners with preparation of documents or guidelines, e.g. Ministry of Defence of Montenegro with the preparation of Guide on Combating Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, and Abuse. 

3. Strengthening the ODA capacities of Slovak development officials

Primarily aiming at the MFEA SR and SAIDC development cooperation professionals as well as other relevant national or international thematic professionals, the project aims to equip them with new skills, procedures and programmatic/strategic tools to provide effective and high-quality ODA. It supports various capacity development tools as professional trainings, community workshops, monitoring missions as well as the support to the organization of and participation in broader national and regional events and workshops, or other networks involved in international development cooperation.