Voluntary Cooperation Programme (VCP)
Countries supporting countries to strengthen weather, climate and water services
The Voluntary Cooperation Programme (VCP) connects countries across the WMO community to share expertise, resource and solutions that strengthen weather, climate and water services.
For more than 50 years, VCP has enabled WMO Members - countries and territories represented through their National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) - to support one another. The cooperation includes technical expertise, training, equipment, fellowships, financial contributions, peer-to-peer exchanges and institutional partnerships.
WMO helps identify priority needs and connects them with available expertise and resources across the community. With its flexible approach, VCP can respond to targeted needs, catalyse new partnerships and complement larger development investments.
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A Community built on cooperation
The VCP connects countries, through their WMO representation, to share expertise, resources and solutions according to their capacities and needs. Through peer-to-peer support, South-South and triangular cooperation, regional collaboration and institutional twinning, countries can provide technical expertise, training, equipment, fellowships and financial resources, or bring forward priority needs where cooperation can make a difference.
This approach recognizes that cooperation is not one-way: a country receiving support in one area may have valuable expertise to offer in another. By connecting complementary needs and capacities, the VCP builds lasting partnerships, makes the collective expertise of the WMO community more accessible and helps sustain investments beyond individual projects.
Each year, participating countries meet through the VCP Informal Planning Meeting to exchange experiences, identify opportunities for cooperation and develop new partnerships.
The result is a global network that connects needs with capacities and makes the collective expertise of the WMO community more accessible.
How VCP cooperation works
The VCP provides a flexible pathway from an identified national or regional need to targeted cooperation. WMO analyses requests according to priority regional needs, identifies suitable partners and resources, and supports implementation and learning.
Lasting Partnerships
The VCP is evolving alongside the changing international development landscape.
WMO is strengthening VCP as a platform for South-South and triangular cooperation, regional collaboration, peer-to-peer exchange and institutional twinning between National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs).
The objective is not only to address individual needs, but also to build relationships that enable institutions to exchange expertise, solve problems together and continue collaborating over time.
In this way, relatively modest and targeted VCP support can catalyse broader cooperation and help sustain the results of larger investments.
Join the VCP Community
Every country has something to contribute and something to gain from cooperation.
The VCP community is open to all WMO countries, through their WMO representation. Countries via their NMHSs can:
- Share expertise through technical assistance and peer-to-peer exchanges;
- Build partnerships through South-South, triangular, regional or twinning arrangements;
- Provide resources through financial contributions, equipment, training or fellowships; or
- Bring forward priority needs that could benefit from cooperation with other Members.
Every contribution strengthens a community built around a simple principle: countries supporting countries.
For detailed information on VCP processes, activities, contributions and programme, visit the VCP Knowledge Hub.