The countries interested in participating in the Fair nominated their sucessful South-South Cooperation experiences through the Office of the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in each country. The deadline to submit the proposals was March 2, 2012, at which time the two-stage selection process began.

First stage: National selection

The Knowledge from the South organization will consider a maximum of five successful CSS experiences for each participating country. The cooperation agency or entity designated for South-South cooperation of each national government will be responsible for the selection, identification or recognition of the five experiences to be nominated.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator office in each country shall guarantee that all participating initiatives are considered at this stage by the cooperation agency or entity designated in each country for South-South cooperation.

Second stage: Regional selection

The final selection of up to 30 experiences to be presented at the Knowledge from the South Fair will be made in two steps:

• Using a technical screening performed by recognized specialists in the areas prioritized in this call,

• The Knowledge from the South Steering Committee will validate the selection made during the technical screening.

The regional selection stage will consider the five experiences nominated by each country and decide, based on the selection criteria, within a period of two weeks from the close of the experience nominations. Additional information about the experiences may be requested if necessary. The selection results will be published and widely disseminated at the end of the selection process.