South Africa’s Development Cooperation: Opportunities in the Global Arena

The paper analyzes South Africa's role as a development partner, emphasizing its comparative advantage in Africa due to geographic and political proximity. It contrasts South Africa's 'development partner' identity with traditional 'donor' models, noting that South African aid often includes non-traditional activities like military protection and student scholarships. The author argues that while South Africa lacks a cohesive strategy and transparency in its South-South Cooperation (SSC), the UN can act as a neutral broker to help operationalize SSC principles and integrate southern perspectives into global development architecture.

• South Africa possesses a comparative advantage in development cooperation within Africa due to its 'proximity', which includes geographic location, a shared experience of state building following its transition to democracy, and the ability to act as an intermediary between fragile states and donors.
• South Africa's development cooperation prioritizes bilateral and trilateral engagements in Africa over multilateral efforts; for example, contributions to the IBSA Poverty Alleviation Fund were limited to $1 million each from South Africa, India, and Brazil.
• South Africa's approach differs from the OECD-DAC model by including activities that fall outside the definition of Official Development Assistance (ODA), such as military protection in Burundi and the Central African Republic, student scholarships, and providing shelter for refugees.
• Despite its aspirations, South Africa's development cooperation is criticized for lacking a clear vision, strategy, and operational mechanisms for accountability and transparency, which limits the negotiating power of the Global South in international development debates.
• The United Nations is positioned to support South-South Cooperation (SSC) by providing a neutral platform for emerging actors to converge on principles of accountability and alignment, provided it does not drive the process, as SSC must be owned by southern countries.

APA

Lucey, A. (2015). South Africa’s Development Cooperation: Opportunities in the Global Arena. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2015-11-24-NeST-SSC-event-paper-Amanda-Lucey-ISS.pdf

Chicago

Lucey, Amanda. South Africa’s Development Cooperation: Opportunities in the Global Arena. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2015. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2015-11-24-NeST-SSC-event-paper-Amanda-Lucey-ISS.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lucey |first1=Amanda |title=South Africa’s Development Cooperation: Opportunities in the Global Arena |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=November 2015 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2015-11-24-NeST-SSC-event-paper-Amanda-Lucey-ISS.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lucey2015south, author = {Lucey, Amanda}, title = {{South Africa’s Development Cooperation: Opportunities in the Global Arena}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2015}, month = nov, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2015-11-24-NeST-SSC-event-paper-Amanda-Lucey-ISS.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }