Fundecooperacion is Costa Rica's non-profit foundation that acts as the platform for alliances between the government, civil society, the academic sector, and private stakeholders in Costa Rica. Fundecooperacion's purpose is to support and fund sustainable development projects in Costa Rica.   Fundecooperacion, along with its respective partner non-profit organizations in Bhutan and Benin, are in charge of promoting the Programme for South-South Cooperation (PSC) at the national level and of coordinating the implementation of their respective projects and activities. These organizations are also referred to as the "National Mechanisms" for PSC in each country.

Fundecooperacion also serves two additional and critical roles within PSC:

• as the Secretariat of the Programme for South-South Cooperation (PSC),
• and as the Administrator of the PSC Fund across all three countries involved.

History of Fundecooperacion

Fundecooperacion has a fascinating history behind its establishment in 1994, and its involvement with the Programme for South-South Cooperation.

Inspired by the agreements of the Earth Summit (Rio 1992), the Government of Costa Rica and the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Holland) decided in 1992 to develop an innovative form of international cooperation for sustainable development. The Kingdom of the Netherlands proposed that three countries located in different continents (Benin in Africa, Bhutan in Asia and Costa Rica in Latin America) develop bilateral agreements for sustainable development. Under such agreements, the funds provided by the Dutch cooperation would be earmarked for projects with a sustainable character, congruent with the philosophical framework that has arisen after the Rio Summit.

As a result of this process, in 1994 the Government of Costa Rica and the Kingdom of the Netherlands signed the Bilateral Agreement for Sustainable Development (CBDS) and that same year, the foundation Fundecooperación para el Desarrollo Sostenible was created, to implement the agreement.

The funding and technical assistance provided by FUNDECOOPERACION is focused in four strategic fields for the sustainable development of Costa Rica:

1. Sustainable Tourism
2. Environmental Management and Clean Technologies
3. Sustainable Agriculture
4. Gender Equity 

The El Tigre South-South Project includes addresses each of these four strategic areas through its rainforest attractions, organic farming, Internet cafe, and rainforest restoration, and elementary school improvements. Learn more about the El Tigre South-South Project details.