SouthSouth and Triangular Cooperation: Improving Information and Data

1
South-South and Triangular Cooperation Improving
Information and Data

• Alison Johnson
• Development Finance International, Consultant to
  DCF
• November 2009

2
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.

3
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.

4
Proposal for defining SSC -1

• 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.

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Proposal for defining SSC -2

• 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.

6
Proposal for defining SSC -3

• 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.

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Proposal for data compilation

• To have a comprehensive and consistent overview
  of SSC, it is important to have the following
  annual data
• New commitments in aggregate and by
  concessionality, type of cooperation, sector and
  receiving partner country
• Gross and net disbursements in aggregate and by
  concessionality, type of cooperation, sector and
  receiving country.
• These data will enable the computation of
  benchmarks to better understand SSC and ways to
  maximise its impact.
• Data on SSC is to be collected on a voluntary
  basis.

8
Proposal for SSC database

• Voluntary reporting of SSC data would be a
  two-staged process
• Compilation by Southern countries of national
  data on a voluntary basis and on the basis of the
  agreed data concepts and definitions for SSC.
• Reporting of nationally compiled data in a
  standardised Excel-format to the DCF, which will
  be used in the overall reporting of SSC by the
  DCF.
• Draft database format in Excel has been prepared
  as part of the Study.

9
Practical challenges for data compilation

• One of the main challenges is lack of a single
  government ministry or agency responsible for the
  countrys 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 countrys 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.

10
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.