Comparative Analysis of Development Aid Modalities and Institutional Architecture between the North-South and South-South Development Cooperation-Perspectives from Donor Recipients

Abstract

The modalities of development cooperation saw drastic changes over the last decades when fast-emerging economies of the global south entered the business. Therefore, aid no longer rests solely on the global north with the global south being the recipient. In this light, authors compared the modalities of development aid of the north-south with the emerging South-South development cooperation (SSDC) based on the perspective of donor recipients. The seminar is titled “China-Africa Agricultural Cooperation Policy & African Agricultural Technology Extension and Transfer Mechanisms”, held in Beijing, China. Delegates argued that donor support from the SSDC and NSDC (North South Development Cooperation) comes with varied features and similarities; Firstly, the NSDC is monetarists and characterized with stringent conditionality of fiscal discipline, thus maintaining and sustaining macroeconomic stability in a given country, whereas the emerging SSDC aid is without strings and conditionalities, therefore, SSDC supports small schemes of social productive sectors in the area of health, education, infrastructure, agriculture without strings of macroeconomic performance. Also, aid from NSDC is channeled through institutions such as the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), UN, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nation Development program (UNDP), whereas aid from the SSDC is received by the government ministries. Secondly, the study acknowledged the leading role played by China as an aid donor among the BRICS. China provides various forms of aids to developing world especially African countries in the form of concessional loans, grants, technology transfer, and capacity building among others. Its trade and investment projects are not without strings and conditionalities nor does it pursue a neo-colonialism interest, unlike the NSDC, which uses transparency, good governance, microeconomic as basis for the qualification or otherwise for aid. However, both the NSDC and SSDC puts premium as regards to proper use of funds by recipients, thus strict mechanisms for proper monitoring and evaluation. Non-interference in recipient’s political and domestic issues is not a condition for Aid for SSDC, it’s a mutual business and friendship that author’s found as an important consideration. Finally, the SSDC is expected to emulate the positive side of the NSDC since has a lot to learn from how aid and grants are disbursed.

Keywords: South-South, Development, Cooperation, North-South Development, Aid, Perspective