The Government of Indonesia in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund –well known as UNFPA- held the Internship for Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) of the Philippines Youth Muslim Leaders, from 9 to 15 October 2016 in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. This program is part of South-South and Triangular Cooperation program implemented under the Mou between National Population and Family Planning Board of Indonesia –or BKKBN- with Population Commission of the Philippines –well known as PopCom, signed on 26 September 2013.

Indonesia’s South-South Triangular Initiatives: History and Current Situation

Indonesia, as the 16^th biggest economy in the world with stable economic growth around 5.5% in 2015[1], has emerged as one of the important key players in the development cooperation field. Eventhough Indonesia still receives big amounts of officials development assistance (ODA), 64 million USD in 2013[2] , Indonesia has been implementing South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) initiatives for more than thirty years in its commitment to contribute in global development cooperation. According to ILO’s GB (2012), SSTC is a manifestation of solidarity among the countries and peoples of the South that contributes to their national well-being, national and collective self-reliance, and the attainment of internationally agreed development goals.

Indonesia started its involvement in global cooperation architecture in the 1950s when Indonesia -together with India, Myanmar, Pakistan and Sri Lanka- initiated the first Asian African Conference (AAC) in Bandung, Indonesia, which gathered numbers of Asian and African countries in solidarity to strengthen the cooperation among themselves. The conference outcome documents, called Bandung Communique, outlined the idea of the South as developing countries and the North as developed countries while promoting mutual cooperation among Southern Countries.

[1] OECD Data, 2015

[2] World Development Indicators Data, 2015