SOUTH-SOUTH VOICES brings you news coverage on bold new efforts to strengthen the exchange of technological innovation, knowledge, and creative resources across borders.

Sharing across the South: 30 years of progress promises more still to come

Interview with Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the UN and President of the General-Assembly’s High level Committee on South-South Cooperation

NEW YORK [South-South Voices] : In 2009, the United Nations will commemorate its 30th anniversary of system-wide efforts to promote south-south cooperation by hosting a high-level conference on the subject. With an eye to the remarkable progress already made, delegates and policymakers will gather to discuss new and innovative ways to further collaboration between countries of the global South in shared development pursuits.

In an exclusive interview, Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser of Qatar, President of the Committee on South-South Cooperation, told South-South Voices, the meeting will highlight existing examples of South-South solutions in addition to promoting new pathways towards solidarity. “The agenda includes highlighting the efforts needed to better understand the approaches and potential of South-South cooperation in enhancing development effectiveness through capacity development,” he said.

While South-South cooperation has only recently begun to create notable shifts in the international community, the concept has continually redefined itself over the years. Born at a United Nations conference on technical cooperation among developing countries, the Buenos Aires Plan of Action of 1978 was the first major initiative to promote south-south cooperation on a global scale. While historically the vast majority of foreign aid and knowledge sharing across borders flowed from the global North (developed countries) to the South (developing countries), the idea of south-south cooperation introduced a new paradigm: countries of the South, drawing on shared geographical and historical traits, would aid each other. “South-South cooperation derives its importance from the fact that the sustained economic growth in the world since the late 1980’s has led to an increasing number of developing countries to become regional centers of economic dynamism,” said Ambassador al-Nasser.

Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar in his office in New York. (Photo: MediaGlobal)

South-South cooperation, as it came to be known, is not confined to traditional forms of aid, though often there is a financial aspect to it. South-South solutions have ranged from healthcare capacity-building initiatives to agricultural solutions, from technology and knowledge sharing to joint creative arts programs.

Many attribute the increased mobilization of South-South cooperation to the growing legitimacy of peer learning, as well as technological advances, which have eased the flow of ideas.

Among the countries stepping up to take the lead in moving towards South-South cooperation, the nation of Qatar has continually paved the way as a leader in promoting international collaboration. In 2005, His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani launched the South Fund for Development and Humanitarian Circumstances. Ambassador al-Nasser said that the Fund, which would address issues of hunger, poverty and catastrophe, would soon be operational. “Several countries, including China, India and the Sultanate of Oman have pledged contributions in this regard,” he said.

With global threats such as food insecurity and climate change on the rise, the interconnectedness of global economies is increasingly evident, and the economies of developing nations are especially vulnerable. It is these countries that stand to gain from South-South cooperation’s potential for collaborative solutions and creative exchange.

The threads that bind: How India and China stepped in to save Africa’s cotton industry

UNITED NATIONS [South-South Voices]: Around the world, cotton is inextricably woven into the fabric of daily life. Not only is it the most commonly used natural thread in clothing, its social and political economy sustains the livelihoods of small-scale farmers across Africa and Asia. Central and West African countries account for 20 percent of all world exports.

But it is also an industry in grave danger. In recent years, the World Trade Organization ended its quota policy for the cotton industry, which had prevented the subsidized exports of the developed world from flooding markets and drowning African and Asian competition. The policy had allowed farmers in developing countries to remain competitive – even thrive – with the agribusiness of rich nations such as the United States. With the policy’s end, African sales plummeted.

“Many cotton-producing countries in Africa are plagued by low productivity, lack of technical and marketing information, cotton subsidies and high exchange rates,” David Yuen-Hoi Lee, Development Officer with the United Nations organization for industrial development (UNIDO), told South-South Voices.

A cotton farmer outside Fana. Cotton is Mali’s primary export crop, and many farmers in the area rely on the earnings from the cotton harvest to support their families. (Photo: Nick Rabinowitz/Oxfam)

Africa accounts for the world’s second largest amount of raw cotton production, following the United States. But while those of the United States more than double Africa’s annual sales, its producers number in the millions, with the United States standing at roughly 25,000 growers. The United Nations estimates that 15 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa depend directly or indirectly on the cotton sector, the majority amongst the poorest and most vulnerable populations.

The competition is all but insurmountable. The United States government pours two billion dollars into its cotton industry each year – roughly the amount the cotton producers generate in Africa. A study released last year by the aid agency Oxfam found that eliminating trade-distorting United States subsidies would spur a 10 percent increase in world cotton prices, improving the livelihoods of millions of African farmers and their families.

While most African cotton farmers are dependent on a few hectares of land, family members and oxen, United States farms are large-scale sometimes million dollar businesses, running on state-of-the-art machinery and technological advances. Without innovations in technical infrastructure, African farmers cannot possibly compete.

While the World Trade Organization quota policy allowed rapidly industrializing nations such as China and India to pull ahead, developing sophisticated textile factories and infrastructure, Africa has continued to lag behind.

Lee, who has spearheaded an initiative that will promote resource and technology sharing between India, China and Africa, said, “The cotton and textile industry in China and India are more advanced than in Africa. African countries can gain from China and India in terms of developing technology, equipment, niche product ranges and industry support.”

The UNIDO cotton initiative works in eleven African countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia – to implement strategies learned in building internationally competitive cotton production industries in both China and India. Through establishing national and international business partnerships, the initiative has drawn a 15 percent increase in investment in the countries’ cotton industries. Most foreign investment has come from India and China.

Knowledge sharing: One woman teaches many to be self-sufficient

ZIMBABWE [SOUTH-SOUTH VOICES] : At age 12, Chido Govera made the tough choice to leave school and begin working full time growing mushrooms to provide food for her brother and grandmother; today, Govera has taken the vital skills she learned and has begun passing them on to women throughout Southern Africa, Colombia and India.

Govera told South-South Voices, “Since around May, I’ve been working between South Africa and Zimbabwe.” In Zimbabwe her focus has been helping orphans learn important ways to provide for themselves. One such way is by producing food, in the form of mushrooms and vegetables, both to feed themselves and to sell.

By teaching orphans how to produce food through agro-waste farming, meaning they use biological waste such as grass clippings to grow mushrooms, Govera not only gives them the means to produce food to eat and sell while in the orphanages, but she also gives them knowledge that can carry them through their lives.

Govera explained that her own experience learning how to farm mushrooms with little education made her believe that “all the kids that were out there would be able to change their lives completely like it happened to me.” An essential aspect of the work Govera is doing is that she is giving children a chance to be self-sufficient. “You don’t need to depend on any company or anyone,” she said. Additionally, she hopes that the orphans she is teaching will follow in her footsteps and teach other orphans mushroom farming techniques.

Not only is Govera passing her know-how on to people in Southern Africa, but she has also visited India, where she successfully trained village women in Jhansi on mushroom growing. She said that she makes the process easy to understand and that many women find it easier to grow mushrooms than vegetables by the end of her workshops. “I know how to make it really simple so that anyone can do it,” she said.

Along with her work spreading farming techniques, Govera has also been teaching kids how to sew. The children in the orphanage in Zimbabwe have learned how to make their own bedding. “We buy the materials for them and we teach them,” Govera explained.

In the spirit of South-South cooperation, Govera is committed to passing on the knowledge she learned as a young girl to orphans and villagers in need of her help. She said she believes her work is so important because, “You’re caring for kids, you’re protecting kids, and you’re giving them something that can last their whole lives.”

Communication technology: Ghana to benefit from increased cooperation with India

GHANA [SOUTH-SOUTH VOICES] : For years, India has been using its expertise in numerous areas to help developing countries through South-South cooperation.

In 2003, the government of India and the government of Ghana partnered together to set up the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, which hopes to become the focal point for knowledge entrepreneurs of West Africa.

Vikram Doraswamy, the United Nations media representative for India, told South-South Voices, “this was one of our biggest projects set up in Ghana,” and further explained that, although he does not have exact figures on how successful the institute has been, “I trust it’s working well because all we’ve heard from our Ghanaian friends is that they’re doing very well.”

In mid-September at a meeting at the Manhyia Palace, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II of Ghana appealed to the Indian High Commissioner to Ghana Ruchi Ghanashyam to increase cooperation between India and Ghana, according to the Ghanaian Chronicle. While expressing gratitude for the cooperation thus far, which includes the set up of the Kofi Annan Centre, Tutu explained that Ghana would benefit from the knowledge acquired by increased cooperation.

Other aspects of India-Ghana cooperation include scholarships granted to allow Ghanaian students to study in India, which Tutu hoped to increase in the future, as well as a number of training courses to assist in technology transfer programs and technical cooperation in things like infrastructure, Doraswamy said.

Although there is no certainty as to whether or not more scholarships will be offered yet, Ghanashyam did highlight the fact that trade between India and Ghana has doubled due to their cooperation, and she explained that some courses in agriculture and information and communication technology have been created by the government of India for interested Ghanaian students in the near future.

A Web platform: Courses to create links and increase cooperation

GENEVA [SOUTH-SOUTH VOICES] : The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is helping increase technology and knowledge transfer to Africa through South-South cooperation. Its Network of Centres of Excellence helps create links between members of the scientific community by bringing them together for training sessions.

UNCTAD Technology and Logistics Representative Michel Gary told South-South Voices, “Training enables south-south transfer of knowledge, the creation of contacts among and between participants and instructors, and indirectly between the institutions where they work.” He also explained, “a Web platform, managed by UNCTAD, on which the selected participants and instructors can access training materials and documents, carry out activities related to their course, and interact through forums and other communication functions,” has been created to allow participants to stay in touch after they conclude their courses.

In 2006 and 2007, seven training sessions in biotechnologies and information and communication technologies (ICTs) successfully took place in China, Egypt, India, South Africa and Tanzania with participants from 25 African countries. The participants received accommodation and air tickets from UNCTAD, which receives financial support from Italy and is currently seeking additional financial support.

Gary explained that, “the program builds upon existing organizations based in developing countries, offering them the opportunity to organize international courses, interact with other experts, and expand professional networks.” The network is currently expanding to include non-Anglophone scientists and engineers by making the website available in French and Spanish and offering its first training course in French in Tunis.

So far, courses have been offered in advanced laboratory training, animal biotechnology, malaria-related research and training, bioinformatics, information technology in agriculture for Africa, molecular marker techniques and fingerprinting, and advanced molecular biology. In autumn 2008, training courses will be offered in cyber security as well as biosafety and genetically modified organism (GMO) detection.

Gary said, “The idea is to use UNCTAD’s wide experience in supporting policy making in the areas of science, technology and innovation, as well as in the areas of trade, investment and intellectual property rights.”

Deliver now: regional initiative in Latin America aims to decrease maternal and child deaths

GENEVA [SOUTH-SOUTH VOICES]: Each year, more than 22,00 women in Latin America die from pregnancy and childbirth-related causes, and almost 400,000 children die before reaching age five.

Compared to the rest of the developing world, Latin America has relatively low mortality rates, but it has been found that many of the deaths that occur are linked to social inequities in the region and are therefore preventable. With the goal of reducing, and eventually eliminating preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths, a new regional initiative was launched 19 September calling for South-South cooperation in Latin America.

Director of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Dr. Francisco Songane told South-South Voices, “Within the region [of Latin America] we have all the solutions, but collaboration and solidarity is definitely needed.” In cooperating, each country will be able to share its expertise with other countries that may have the social organization necessary but not know the most successful practices.

The initiative, called “Deliver Now for Women and Children,” includes a long-term project, starting now and lasting until 2015, with different phases. Chile, Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia will be the focus of the first phase, which will last until 2010, and Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay are already on board for the second phase. By 2015, the initiative aims to expand to as many countries in the region as possible.

According to Songane, the major problem in Latin America is the unequal care different groups receive, so a main focus of the initiative is sharing knowledge to provide care with a multicultural approach. It also stresses better maternal and neonatal management training and increased training of nurses and midwives.

Because the mortality rates in the region are relatively low, officials are optimistic about the effects of the initiative. Songane said, “We hope that change, in terms of indicators, will happen very fast in Latin America.”

President Michelle Bachelet of Chile and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil led the initiative, and it has received support from experts from the countries involved as well as national and international agencies, such as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health.

Enhance capacity: Intellectual property coalitions important for developing countries

DES MOINES [SOUTH-SOUTH VOICES]: Within the global intellectual property regime, developing countries often lack the leverage they need to advance their interests, but a paper released late September by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) argues that, through cooperation, developing countries can improve their influence in future negotiations.

Kern Family Chair in Intellectual Property Law Peter K. Yu, who is the author of the paper, told South-South Voices from Des Moines, Iowa, that the continuous expansion of the international intellectual property regime hurts developing countries by reducing access to essential medicines, knowledge, and information and communication technologies, as well as limiting the policy space that is needed by developing countries to develop intellectual property, trade, and public health policies.

He argues that establishing intellectual property coalitions for development (IPC4D), in the forms of South-South alliances, North-South cooperation, joint participation in the World Trade Center (WTO) dispute settlement process, and the development of regional or pro-development meetings, can help developing countries reduce pressures from powerful trading partners, such as the United States and the European community.

Yu said, “At this stage, the most effective IPC4D seems to be those involving the least developed countries with the leadership of middle-income developing countries,” such as Brazil, China and India. Within the proposed South-South cooperation, developing countries can unite resources to enhance indigenous technical capacity to make technology transfer more appealing, they can combine markets to encourage foreign investment, and they can share best practices, knowledge, and negotiation strategies.

In the future, such south-south coalitions could help developing countries deal with policies such as Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which has often been criticized for making it difficult for developing countries to create generic forms of necessary medications.

Not only is South-South cooperation important for developing countries wishing to increase their power in terms of the creation of international intellectual property laws, but also north-south agreements are essential because they are “based on power, which already exists in the current system,” said Yu. “Compared to north-south agreements, south-south agreements can be influential in a different way,” explained Yu. “[They] work well in situations where each country has a vote.”

Moving forward, developing countries may benefit from the creation of IPC4D because such coalitions will allow them to have a greater presence in the international community through solidarity.

SOUTH-SOUTH SHORTS

NEW DELHI: As the ripple effects of the unfolding financial crisis is felt throughout the world, leaders in the developing world, India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA), joined hands this week to push for reforms of the UN, G8 and international financial institutions. “IBSA has an important role to play internationally. We are meeting against the backdrop of the international financial crisis,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said while kicking off the third IBSA summit that brings together the three economic powerhouses from Asia, Africa and Latin America. “Our voice on how to manage this crisis in a way that does not jeopardize our development priorities needs to be heard in international councils,” Singh said. Hailing IBSA as “an effective model of South-South cooperation,” Singh also underlined the need for greater cooperation among the three countries for the satisfactory conclusion of the Doha round of trade negotiations. Calling for creating a new international financial architecture, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva underlined the need for making IBSA more “agile and efficient.” In a similar vein, South African President Kgalema Motlanthe spoke about the need for self-regulatory mechanism and underlined the need for improving governance of financial institutions. He said that a solution to current global woes would emerge “from the South.”

TEHRAN: Iranian Economic Affairs and Finance Minister Shamseddin Hosseini has underscored the importance of enhancing economic relations between the members of UNDP’s Special Unit for South-South Cooperation, especially during the global financial crisis. Hosseini made the comments in a meeting with Sri Lankan Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Sarath Amunugama on the sidelines of the annual six-day meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) in Washington D. C., the Mehr News Agency reported. UNDP’s Special Unit for South-South Cooperation was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1978. Its primary mandate is to promote, coordinate and support South-South and triangular cooperation on a global and United Nations system-wide basis.

ALOFI: Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi said recently that China attaches great importance to relations with Pacific Island nations and will continue to support the islands’ people to improve their lives. Liu, who was in Alofi, Niue, for the 20th Post-Forum Dialogue Partners’ Plenary, noted that both China and Pacific island nations are developing countries. “Although we are in different development stages, we can help each other in many aspects,” he said to the Xinhua News Agency. “As a developing country, China is willing to help the Pacific Island nations in economic and social development, which we regard as a part of South-South cooperation,” Liu said.

JAKARTA: The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs held an international workshop on disaster risk management and climate change in Jakarta this week. The workshop on “Enhancing South-South Cooperation Role in Disaster Risk Management in Asia Pacific: Focusing on Climate Change Adaptation” was in partnership with the Non Aligned Movement Centre for South-South Technical Cooperation (NAM CSSTC), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and The Pacific (UNESCAP) and the UNDP Special Unit for South-South Cooperation. The workshop is aimed to promote the capacity and the experience of various government institutions in Indonesia on disaster risk management (DRM) and climate change adaptation (CCA) in handling natural disasters. “The workshop is aimed to be a forum of sharing the experience and knowledge as well as information between Indonesia and other members of the workshop,” Esti Andayani, Director for Technical Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in her opening remarks. “It is in this framework of cooperation that we have been working together to promote development in our world of developing countries,” she added. About 30 participants from 13 developing countries in Asia and the Pacific took part in the three-day (Oct 14-17) workshop.

GLOBAL HAPPENINGS

Stand Up and Take Action against Poverty and Inequality
Worldwide (17-19 October): Stand Up is a global mobilization to end poverty and inequality. Last year, 43.7 million people joined Stand Up worldwide, setting a new world record.
http://www.standagainstpoverty.org/

Micah Sunday
Worldwide (19 October): Micah Challenge USA is part of a global campaign. The aim is to deepen engagement with impoverished and marginalized communities and to challenge leaders to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and halve absolute global poverty by 2015.
http://www.micahchallenge.us/Home.shtml

United Nations Day
Worldwide (24 October 2008): The anniversary of the United Nations Charter on October 24, 1945 has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. It has traditionally been marked throughout the world by meetings, discussions, and exhibits on the achievements and goals of the United Nations.
http://www.un.org/events/unday/2007/

Editor: Nosh Nalavala

U.N. Correspondents: Emily Geminder, Alina Haddad and Gabrielle Wade


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Email: Nosh Nalavala at media@mediaglobal.org