The focus on South-South development cooperation
The role of Southern partners…
Over the past decade, the global development landscape has evolved rapidly. Many actors have taken on a greater role in the global economy and in development cooperation, particularly Southern partners in development cooperation. Brazil, India, China and South Africa, but also others, such as Arab countries, have become major players in development cooperation.
…is increasing significantly.
It is hard to measure the exact contributions of Southern partners to development cooperation., Yet, they have provided ample financial resources that complement official development assistance from OECD countries. South-South development cooperation has brought further benefits, in the form of personnel transfers and skills, capacity building, technology transfers and knowledge sharing. Moreover, regional, historical and cultural similarities can add additional value to the engagement by Southern partners.
DCF as a space for dialogue.
The DCF attracts a large diversity of participants from developing and developed countries. This enables the Forum to convene substantive deliberations on international development cooperation and facilitate a multi-stakeholder learning process. South-South cooperation is one of the main focus areas of the DCF, including new initiatives to support Southern partners in coming together to share experiences amongst themselves and with a larger and broader group of stakeholders. These initiatives draw on and contribute to ongoing DCF research on trends in and characteristics of South-South and triangular cooperation.
South-South development cooperation in the post-2015 era
Preparations for a global development agenda beyond 2015 are at full throttle. Thinking on the global partnership for development needed to underpin such an agenda is now accelerating. The analytical work and initiatives of the DCF to facilitate dialogue among Southern development partners should also strengthen their input to the post-2015 process, which can gain from the experiences and perspectives of South-South cooperation.
Related events
Meeting of Directors-General of Southern providers, June 2013, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (held back to back with DCF Ethiopia High-level Symposium)
Background Material
International Development Cooperation Report 2010
Update on South-South and Triangular Cooperation (2010)
South-South cooperation in health and medicine (2010)
Report of the Secretary-General to the 2012 DCF
Characteristics and Potential of Triangular Development Cooperation (2012)
South-South Cooperation in Infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa (2012)