ECLAC technical cooperation activities are implemented with substantive and financial support from various donors including the member countries or other countries interested in collaborating with ECLAC, United Nations agencies, other multilateral organizations, academic centres, foundations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private sector entities.<

These technical cooperation activities include the implementation of individual projects, which are identified on the basis of the ECLAC programme of work and member countries' priorities. These projects, in general, are of regional or sub regional scope or benefit a limited number of countries, so that initiatives applied in one country can be replicated; good practices disseminated and mistakes avoided; and problems and solutions approached from a regional or sub regional perspective. Moreover, some of these projects address topics commonly known as "regional public goods", which will benefit (or affect) more than one country and occupy an intermediate space between the national and global public goods. ECLAC also implements country-specific projects at the request of its member and associate member States, insofar as they are central to the Commission's priorities and provided that ECLAC has the relevant expertise.

ECLAC cooperation activities are increasingly being conducted on a multisectoral and multi-year basis. Programmes involve several subprogrammes and substantive divisions and sometimes extend over more than one biennium. In its relationship with donors, ECLAC is evolving towards a qualitatively higher stage of cooperation, making efforts to engage donors in the implementation of programmes rather than specific projects. Programmes provide the opportunity of dealing with development issues from a multidimensional and multi-year perspective, which is more in tune with the way in which problems arise in the real world.

Outputs generated by ECLAC projects include: national, subregional or regional research or analysis and comparative studies; technical assistance at the national level and collaboration with subnational organizations; training activities, workshops and seminars organized at the sub national, national, subregional or regional level; creation of databases and coordination of expert networks. These products are aimed at influencing the processes of public policy formulation in countries of the region and providing a regional perspective -and from the United Nations- to these processes. ECLAC also uses its convening capacity to ease the exchange of information and experiences among the actors involved in this processes. One of the strengths of ECLAC lies in its ability to combine research, technical assistance and training in a way that optimizes intervention for beneficiary countries and donor countries and organizations.

Finally, it is important to highlight the role ECLAC website plays in the dissemination of these outputs. Project outputs are published as ECLAC "series" or "books", which are distributed free of charge to our "stakeholders", and placed on the ECLAC's website. They may also be disseminated through co-publications, launched in association with publishing houses from within and outside the region. This format allows our institution to reach a broader audience.