Reverse Linkage

9 DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION S ince its beginning in 1975, the purpose of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has been to foster the human and economic development of its member countries through various approaches, mechanisms and modalities, including financing economic development projects and promoting cooperation among the member countries themselves. In this regard, the IsDB 10-Year Strategic Framework, adopted in 2015, has recognised the need for enhancing the role of the Bank as a partner of choice in the development of its member countries, and as a facilitator of cooperation between member countries, and Muslim communities in non-member countries. More recently, in 2016, IsDB initiated the President’s 5-Year Programme (P5P) which advocates, among others, the strengthening of IsDB’s role as a connector. The P5P aims at transforming IsDB into a bank of development, developers and knowledge, by giving more prominence to channelling comprehensive and innovative development solutions from one member country to another. In this spirit, collecting, validating and sharing informa- tion about providers of development solutions from within the member countries – referred to by IsDB as resource centres (RCs) – is of paramount importance. RCs are insti- tutions that have accumulated knowledge and expertise and have developed reliable as well as adaptable solutions and technologies that can be shared with other countries. These centres can belong to the public, private or non- governmental spheres. They work in one or more of IsDB’s priority sectors such as, but not limited to, health, agricul- ture, energy, education, transportation, and information and communication technologies. The challenge of determining solution providers IsDB, through its network and partnerships, has cooperated with many RCs in member countries and benefitted from the wealth of valuable knowledge and deep expertise that they have in their respective sectors. The features of these centres vary from one country to another in terms of size, number of years of experience, range of activities, interna- tional collaboration, and exposure. This diversity constitutes an advantage but has some chal- lenges in terms of classification. Until IsDB introduced a mapping methodology, there was not a standardised and sustained process for identifying the RCs. A comprehensive repository of their profiles did not exist, so the knowledge and expertise of the majority of RCs were not recorded and accessible, and were therefore under-utilised, particularly outside their home countries. In addition, the geo-mapping initiatives – online mapping platforms – of the development organizations usually focused on sharing project-related data that did not necessarily contain in-depth data on development institutions such as RCs. The response of the Islamic Development Bank Within the framework of its Reverse Linkage mecha- nism, the Bank recognised the value of identifying RCs in order to match seekers and providers of knowledge across member countries through a robust process that is backed- up by reliable data. Therefore, IsDB launched an integrated programme for RC mapping along with a methodology to select the RCs in a consistent manner. Providing development solutions by mapping resource centres in IsDB member countries IsDB Reverse Linkage Team 1 RC mapping completes IsDB’s cycle for matching the demand and supply of technology and expertise across its member countries Source: IsDB Demand identification – Member Countries Partnership Strategy The supply – The mapping of the Resource Centres Expertise and technology transfer projects – Reverse Linkage