International Seminar on South-South Cooperation, 26th-27th August, 2014

Venue: Hotel Comfort Zone, E-586, GK-2 Next to (DT) Savitri Cinema, New Delhi - 110048

Background Note

About VANI

Voluntary Action Network India (VANI) is an apex body of voluntary organisations in India with an outreach of more than 5000 voluntary development organisations from almost all parts of the country. It was formed in 1988 with an objective to promote volunteerism and the voluntary sector in India. The primary role of VANI is to work towards strengthening the voluntary sector through research based advocacy and by promoting awareness. It also actively engages in global discourses related to the voluntary sector and its issues. Further, it plays the important role of sensitizing Indian voluntary organisations to these discourses and providing them with a platform for dialogue and to formulate a collective response to these issues.

Context of the workshop

The global development discourse has been radically challenged and opened up for debate in recent years. Not only are the means and various models prescribed to achieve development being contested, but the concept of development itself is being redefined. The processes which were put in place by traditional models of development are also therefore, witnessing significant changes. One such process is the North-South development relationship which has dominated the international system since the beginning of the restructuring era at the end of the Second World War.

North-South cooperation or NSC entails the flow of development aid from rich countries of the global North to poor countries in the form of monetary aid targeted at specific programmes or meant for budgetary support and technical assistance in the form of information and technology sharing. This presumably unequal relationship has also meant that global governance institutions such as the UN and the IMF have been disproportionately influenced by developed nations.

But as countries from the global South are becoming increasingly assertive, the focus is being shifted to South-South Cooperation, which is an expression of solidarity between developing countries and an instrument for them to negotiate, influence and reshape international forums and processes collectively.   

South-South cooperation (SSC) is a significantly different process from NSC. It is based on the principles of respect for national sovereignty, equality, non-interference in domestic affairs and mutual benefit.  Under SSC, emerging economies such as Brazil, China and India have started extending monetary aid and technical assistance to other developing countries as their own economies continue to register strong growth. This assistance is usually demand driven and does not have conditionalities attached to it, unlike NSC where developing countries were required to make changes to their governance and macroeconomic policies based on prescriptions by international financial institutions such as IMF  in exchange for aid.

These countries have also initiated dialogues on the reformation of global institutions to give developing countries a greater say on the global stage and have come together to form new institutions such as G20, BRICS and IBSA to represent the South in international forums.

SSC is not a new process as many developing countries have a history of extending technical assistance to other countries of the South. But with the resurgence in SSC, this development assistance has greatly expanded leading to new opportunities and challenges for the international system and causing the global aid architecture to transform rapidly.

With the emergence of developing countries as important donors in the South, traditional donors and aid agencies are seeking to reallocate their resources and recalibrate their approach towards development. While this has led to some friction between SSC and NSC, it has also broadened the scope for development cooperation as NSC and SSC are complimentary processes where developing and developed countries can collaborate by way of sharing experiences, technology and expertise and through triangular cooperation.   

Currently, the global community is discussing the framework and modalities of a new global development agenda to succeed the Millennium Development Goals in 2015. The institutions of SSC have therefore, assumed greater significance as they need to ensure that the specific issues and challenges of developing countries are adequately articulated and represented so that the agenda  is more inclusive and dynamic and not based solely on parameters set by developed countries.

Objective of the Workshop

Against the present backdrop, VANI is organising a seminar on August 26-27, 2014 in New Delhi. The objective of the meeting is to discuss the implications, challenges and future of South-South Cooperation from the civil society’s perspective. The meeting will also explore the possibilities of partnerships between governments, private corporates and civil society. We would also like to discuss the role, challenges and expectations from new platforms like G20, C20, BRICS and IBSA.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) are important stakeholders in the development process. We have seen that in the North-South development paradigm, there has been a significant focus on the relationship between the government and non-governmental organisations. NGOs serve as conduits for aid dissemination and as service providers and capacity builders working on the ground. It is important to develop a similar relationship between government agencies and NGOs under SSC. 

The government can use the expertise and vast knowledge that voluntary organisations have accumulated through their work on grass root levels and in some cases, by implementing projects abroad. By developing mechanisms which involve CSOs as development partners and not merely as service providers and aid facilitators, countries of the South can establish an effective, transparent and accountable structure of development cooperation which adheres to the basic principles of SSC.

CSOs, in turn, need to examine the challenges posed by the new development scenario such as a reduction in aid from developed countries leading to renewed pressure on limited resources, even as income inequality and deprivation amongst marginalized communities continues to rise in the South. They also need to explore ways to make SSC more equitable for genuine development of the South.   

Therefore, VANI would like to take this opportunity to bring together civil society practitioners and development experts and initiate a much needed dialogue on how voluntary organisations can become credible and responsible partners in the development process.

List of Invitees

The following have been extended an invitation to ensure a vibrant and enriching discussion: -

• Sin Putheary, Cooperation Committee for Cambodia, Cambodia
• Seong-Hoon (Anselmo) Lee, Korea Human Rights Foundation, South Korea
• Baigalimaa Nyamdavaa, Centre for Human Rights and Development, Mongolia
• Sixto Donato C. Macasaet, CODE-NGO, Philippines
• Juliana Araujo C. Tavares, ABONG, Brazil
• Erin Ruth F. Palomares, Reality of Aid Network-Asia Pacific, Philippines
• Gopal Nath Yogi, NGO Federation of Nepal, Nepal