South-South Cooperation (SSC) involves the transfer of resources from one developing country to another to finance projects, programs, technical cooperation, and humanitarian assistance. It is based on the principles of solidarity and mutual cooperation between countries. SSC aims to foster self-reliance, promote collective self-reliance, strengthen capacities, and create new capabilities in developing countries through the sharing of experiences, skills, and technologies. While SSC faces challenges like a lack of centralized data collection, proponents argue it can help strengthen national ownership, support demand-driven exchanges, and ultimately contribute to development in the Global South.
2. Contents:
Introduction of SSC.
Its principles.
Proposal for defining SSC.
Objectives of SSC.
Characteristics.
Practical challenges.
Impact of SSC.
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3. 3
Introduction
South-South Cooperation (SSC) has a long and
proud history as an important form of solidarity
between countries.
For the international community to acknowledge
accurately its increasing role and importance,
there needs to be better and more
comprehensive information and data.
It is recognised that SSC has considerable
advantages and better information will benefit
partner countries in seeking most cost effective
and appropriate funding.
4. 4
Principles underlying SSC
The principles of solidarity and mutual
cooperation underlie SSC and as such it is a
broader and deeper concept that Northern donor
aid. It encompasses financial flows (eg loans
and grants) as well as the sharing of
experiences, technology and skills transfers,
preferential market access and trade-oriented
support.
However for UN DCF to strengthen information
and data flows, the initial emphasis is to be
narrowed to focus on financial SSC and
triangular flows.
5. 5
Proposal for defining SSC
The principle is that it represents a genuine
transfer of resources from the country offering
cooperation programmes into the economies of
partner countries.
It is defined to include grants and concessional
loans (including export credits) provided by one
Southern country to another to finance projects,
programmes, technical cooperation, debt relief
and humanitarian assistance.
6. 6
Contd.
Southern actors offering SSC are Southern
governments and their agencies and Southern
multilateral institutions.
Southern actors receiving SSC are Southern
governments and their agencies, multilateral
development institutions (eg World Bank, UN),
regional development banks (eg AsDB, AfDB),
other multilateral institutions and CSOs.
The concessionality of SSC loans is to be
designed to measure the opportunity cost of the
funds to the lender.
7. 7
Contd.
Triangular cooperation is Northern donors,
multilateral institutions and Southern partners
providing cooperation to one Southern partner to
execute projects/programmes with the aim of
assisting a third Southern partner country.
Since Northern donors and multilateral
institutions account for their triangular flows as
Northern donor aid including these flows as part
of SSC would result in double-counting.
However Northern donors are to be encouraged
to provide better reporting on their triangular
flows.
8. Objectives of SSC:
Basic Objectives of SSC:
contribute to the wider objectives of
the development of the developing
countries and international
development cooperation (are
interdependent and mutually
supportive)
9. Contd.
to foster national self-reliance of developing
countries
to promote and strengthen collective self-
reliance among developing countries
to strengthen the capacity of developing
countries( to identify and analyze the main
issues of their development)
to strengthen existing technological capacities
in the developing countries
to create new capacities and capabilities and to
improve the capacity of developing countries
10. Characteristics of SSC
principal value added by South-South
Cooperation is its contribution to develop
and strengthen capacities between partners
in a horizontal relationship where both
parties benefit from sharing.
SSC constitutes an ideal vehicle that helps
strengthen national ownership and
leadership
the exchange of know-how, technologies
and experiences is demand-driven
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Practical challenges
One of the main challenges is lack of a single government
ministry or agency responsible for the country’s SSC
programmes. So there is no overarching institutional
structure for recording and monitoring SSC. On the other
hand, a number of Southern countries have taken steps to
strengthen institutional and data collection processes.
Proposal for the way forward:
A senior Southern country official, knowledgeable of the
country’s cooperation programme, be nominated to facilitate
national data collection and its reporting to the DCF on a
voluntary basis,
Support to be provided by the UN including through missions
and email/telephone.
12. 12
Impact of SSC
It is proposed to conduct analysis to learn and
share good practices of SSC and triangular
cooperation, for example an independent study
to evaluate triangular cooperation and a
repository of good practices in triangular
cooperation to garner more information on the
practical issues.
to foster national self-reliance of developing countries through the enhancement of their creative capacity to find solutions to their development problems in keeping with their own aspirations, values and special needs;
to promote and strengthen collective self-reliance among developing countries through the exchanging of experience, the pooling, sharing and utilization of their technical resources and the development of their complementary capacities;
to strengthen the capacity of developing countries to identify and analyze together the main issues of their development and to formulate the requisite;
and to strengthen existing technological capacities in the developing countries, in order to improve the effectiveness,
to create new capacities and capabilities and to improve the capacity of developing countries for the absorption and adaptation of technology and skills to meet their specific developmental needs.
The principal value added arising from South-South Cooperation is its contribution to developing and strengthening capacities between partners in a horizontal relationship where both parties benefit from sharing. This has been exemplified by Cuba and Suriname through the Health sector cooperation. Cuba has the opportunity to export its medical expertise and gain international recognition and solidarity, while Suriname is able to address its shortages on medical staff and secure medical care for its population in remote and underserved areas.
In addition to capacity-building, development occurs through the exchange of know-how, technologies and experiences insofar as they strengthen human and institutional resources as well as national cooperation systems, encourage the production and use of local knowledge, skills and expertise and promote the systematization and analysis of successful experiences. In this sense, SSC constitutes an ideal vehicle that helps strengthen national ownership and leadership in developing countries.
Under the SSC the exchange of know-how, technologies and experiences is demand-driven, based on national plans and priorities. This is supportive towards the level of ownership by the recipient countries. This is especially important since one of the main criticisms levied against the Technical Assistance model used in the traditional form of cooperation is that it continues to be driven by the donor country’s supply instead of the partner country’s demand, regardless of the progress achieved.
Against this background, the experience South-South cooperation can bring in terms of harmonization with national development plans, broad stakeholder participation, and adaptability of proposals may provide valuable insights for advancing joint approaches to address key development issues, thereby contributing to the sustainability of solutions.
This, of course, does not mean that all SSC is carried out under this perspective.
One may argue that it is important to emphasize the potential and the good practices that underpin this form of cooperation, as they can enrich the traditional model of technical assistance, providing it with some criteria for partners to access, analyze and learn from their own practices.