I share with you all an excerpt from the message by Colombian Co-Chair of the Task Team on South-South Cooperation during the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness meetings, held Paris, July 7  2011, where South-South Cooperation received the decided support of many countries that believe in its potential to transform the international cooperation agenda. 

The Pre-Busan process keeps advancing and we are confident that the contribution of South-South Cooperation and Knowledge Sharing will be adequately reflected in the Busan Outcome Document.

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The dynamic has changed! Let´s move towards horizontal partnerships and Scale Up Knowledge Sharing

 I want first to thank all the partners that are active involved in keeping the momentum and making all the efforts to reflect it in this Document.

Let me refer to yesterday’s DAC chair speech: the dynamic has changed!

This is an important message that fits well on our discussions and which has to be well reflected not only in the preamble of the Busan Outcome Document, but along its structure in a coherent way.

If the document begins recognizing the changing dynamic, it will be better and more coherent to make the link with the development cooperation effectiveness, where the importance of actors, roles and their assessment, have to be more evident.

As co-chair of the Task Team on South-South Cooperation; task developed with the Government of Indonesia, I would like to propose two action-oriented messages to be included in the Outcome Document.

These, were produced based on the evidence and the rich contributions from 31 case studies in close collaboration with 27 academic institutions from 16 developing countries, 153 case stories, and the active contribution of more than 80 countries and institutions with strong regional pillars in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean.

First, I would like to make reference to Horizontal Partnerships.
South-South cooperation is a tangible, mature and mainstream source of development cooperation. Evidence shows that effective South-South Cooperation is characterized by horizontal partnerships that are long-term in nature and are based on equity, trust and mutual benefit. All partners must recognize that these characteristics need to form the basis for any development partnership. All of us should commit to develop clear guidelines to support development actors engage in such horizontal partnerships and should commit to keep those guidelines up-to-date through a continuous and inclusive learning process.

Second, Scaling Up Knowledge Sharing
Partner countries - predominantly but not exclusively Middle Income Countries - are increasingly sharing their development experiences and knowledge with each other. By doing so, they not only strengthen the ownership of, and leadership over, their own development processes, but they also manifest themselves as drivers of the changing development landscape. Development partners must recognize and support this knowledge-sharing dimension of South-South and Triangular Cooperation, as a strong driver of Capacity Development, which needs to be scaled up.

Based on their respective complementary strengths, all partners must commit to develop plans to scale up knowledge sharing, to improve the quality of information on South-South and Triangular Cooperation experiences; reinforce results-oriented and demand-driven approaches; strengthen alignment with country systems and national development plans; and, ensure that practitioners’ perspectives are contributing to shaping development policies.

The lead of Middle Income Countries in accelerating the achievements of global development goals, in particular the MDGs, cannot wait to be demonstrated.

Dear Colleagues,

This process has grown, and it has done so in an inclusive way, bringing together partners from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbeans. We are sure that South South and Triangular cooperation has a lot more to contribute in the new development cooperation architecture. This must be supported with more efforts and resources of the all the countries seatting here today, and with the countries that are not.

Thank you!

Sandra Alzate

International Cooperation Director

Colombian Presidential Agency for Social Action and International Cooperation