Thai-German Trilateral Cooperation Programme

CONTEXT

After almost six decades of Thai-German bilateral technical cooperation, Thailand is no longer reliant on development assistance. In 2008, Thailand and Germany signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Trilateral Cooperation to form a joint partnership with pooled resources for regional development. Both countries jointly apply their development experiences and technical know-how to support third partner countries by implementing small-scale trilateral projects in selected sectors, i.e. education, rural development, and health. Currently, the third partner countries include Lao PDR, Vietnam, and Timor-Leste, with a possible extension to Cambodia and Myanmar in the future. The programme also aims to enhance Thailand’s role as a provider of development cooperation and to support South-South cooperation in order to promote regional knowhow, strength, and ownership. The programme is co-funded by the Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA) within the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

OBJECTIVE

To foster development goals in the target countries through the sharing of relevant expertise and to support Thailand’s role as a provider of development cooperation

APPROACH

The programme supports and strengthens the partners in Thailand and third countries through:

• Joint development and implementation of small-scale trilateral projects, from project design and preparation, to development of a steering structure, and project monitoring and evaluation through participatory process and ownership to ensure sustainability
• Synergy of know-How transfer in the sectors in which both Thailand and Germany possess expertise and experiences
• Capacity building and human resource development of team partners and project beneficiaries

The programme consists of four interlinked work areas:

• Capacity building in development cooperation and result-oriented steering and project management
• Development of the instruments of trilateral cooperation
• Development of a joint strategy for Thai-German technical cooperation activities in the region
• Implementation of up to 9 small-scale trilateral projects with third partner countries as follows:

FINANCED BY

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

PARTNERS

Programme partner: Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA)
Project partners: Various government and private agencies in Thailand, Lao PDR and Vietnam

PROJECT DURATION

2009 – 2019