CONCEPT PAPER

INTERAGENCY SOUTH-SOUTH/TRC SUPPORT PROGRAMME TO THE GOVERNMENT OF SOUTH AFRICA

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1.Introduction

The South African Government South-South & Triangular Cooperation (SSC)is premised on its overarching strategic objective of Building a Better South Africa, Better Africa and Better World. Since 1994, South Africa has contributed to regional peace and development processes, and repositioned itself in the region, on the continent and in the world, as a respectable and active member of the international community. In its Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) 2014-2019, South Africa has committed itself to continue to support regional and continental processes to respond to and resolve crises, promote peace and security, strengthen regional integration, significantly increase intra-African trade and champion sustainable development in Africa; and continue to promote mutually beneficial South-South cooperation by utilising membership of and engagements with formations and groupings of the South.

The Strategic Cooperation Framework (2013-2017) key result area on: Strengthened national institutions and systems to support South Africa’s contributions for a Better Africa and a Better World, commits the UN in South Africa to build capacity of local institutions and expand local knowledge in support of South Africa’ strategic objective of promoting peace and development in Africa, advancing Africa’ development agenda in global fora, and in championing South-South cooperation among other foreign policy objectives. Since 2013, some of the UN support activities included sharing knowledge and tools with Mexico to build local capacity of SMMEs to address unemployment and poverty; sharing experiences on land reform by SADC countries and the United Kingdom; electoral information exchange with Egypt and electoral logistical support to CAR; sharing health and gender information within the SADC countries.

2.Strategy

The purpose of this Concept Paper is to develop a UN - Interagency South-South/Triangular Cooperation programme to support the implementation of the National Development Plan & attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals; and related Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) 2014-2019 human development priorities in South Africa; and to strengthen human development knowledge exchange in the region and other countries.

2.1Objectives

2.1.1Objective One: Mapping the UN & South Africa S-S/Trc Context

Activity 1:To Define the Interagency in-house/UN SS/Trc Baseline

Description:

  • Document and analyze past and current UN-SA SS/Trc programme scope, support, and partnership with government, business, academia and civil society counterparts
  • Document lessons learned;
  • Review extent to which SS/Trc is mainstreamed within the UN planning & implementation process;
  • Review the extent to which UN SS/Trc support is aligned and contribute to national development priorities;
  • Identify programme opportunities;
  • Identify required in-house capacity building; &
  • Map UN-SA SS/Trc comparative advantage in the South African context.

Activity 2:Define SS/Trc landscape in South Africa, including focus; coordination structures and platforms; priority development areas; assessment

Description:

  • Establish Government understanding of SS/Trc
  • Establish Government SS/Trc priorities and envisaged UN role
  • Review the extent to which government structures have mainstreamed SS/Trc in their planning, reporting and the implementation of the NDP;
  • Extent to which government has established SS/Trc coordination structures, platforms and processes;
  • What has been a SA knowledge exchange and cooperation partnership development areas?
  • What are the government SS/Trc priorities?
  • Bilateral agreements with the potential and opportunities for SS/Trc;
  • The extent to which SS/Trc has contributed to national development processes;
  • Who are the government” SS/Trc main beneficiaries ( which departments/municipalities/provinces);
  • Lessons learned to date;
  • SS/Trc key challenges in the South African context;
  • Extent to which SS/Trc has contributed to regional integration;
  • Identify local human development knowledge exchange institutions and initiatives; &
  • Required capacity building
  • SS/Trc and the business sector in South Africa
  • SS/Trc and civilsociety in South Africa
  • SS/Trc and Academia in South Africa

Deliverables:

  • Government & UN South Africa SS/Trc Report Findings & Recommendations

2.1.2Objective Two: Developing & Implementing an Interagency S-S/TRC Support Programmefor South Africa

Activity 1: Interagency Programme Development

Description:

  • Map a programme based on the UN & government SS/Trc findings and recommendations above;
  • Identify potential partnership areas from existing bilateral agreements;
  • Do stakeholder analysis with definition of roles and responsibilities;
  • Reposition S-S/Trc within the NDP implementation process;
  • Reposition SS/Trc within the Sustainable Development Goals;
  • Reposition SS/Trc within service delivery processes;
  • Mainstream SS/Trc within judiciary and legislature processes; &
  • Map the required capacity building programme.

Deliverables

  • Interagency South-South Cooperation Support Programme to Government
  • Interagency resource support and commitment to the programme
  • Government cost-sharing commitment to the programme

2.3Envisaged Outcome

  • Enhanced Interagency S-S/Trc support to South Africa
  • Enhanced S-S/Trc coordination among Government entities
  • Expanded mainstreaming of S-S/Trcwithin the UN and government national planning, implementation and reporting processes
  • Structured S-S/Trc contribution to the implementation of the National Development Plan and attainment of the SDGs.

2.4Approach

  • Multi-stakeholder & inclusive process
  • Interagency programmeprocess
  • Local ownership of the process
  • Evidence based support programme
  • Gender sensitive programme
  • Programme sustainability & replicability

2.5Process

  • UNDP develops a Concept-Paper , and is discussed internally
  • Concept-Paper is presented to the UN-Governance & Participation Result Group for review and discussions
  • Revised Concept-Paper is presented to UNCT for endorsement or disapproval
  • UNCT recommends government engagement process
  • Engagement with key government counterparts
  • Partnership programme developed with a detailed roadmap, resources and implementation modalities, endorsed by key stakeholders

Annexure One: Concepts Definition & Guiding Principles

South-South cooperation

It is a broad framework for collaboration among countries of the South in the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical domains. Involving two or more developing countries, it can take place on a bilateral, regional, sub-regional or interregional basis. Developing countries share knowledge, skills, expertise and resources to meet their development goals through concerted efforts. Recent developments in South-South cooperation have taken the form of increased volume of South-South trade, South-South flows of foreign direct investment, movements towards regional integration, technology transfers, sharing of solutions and experts, and other forms of exchanges.

Collaboration in which traditional donor countries and multilateral organizations facilitate South-South initiatives through the provision of funding, training, and management and technological systems as well as other forms of support is referred to as triangular cooperation.

Basic Elements of South-South Cooperation

South-South cooperation is initiated, organized and managed by developing countries themselves; often, Governments play a lead role, with active participation from public- and private-sector institutions, non-governmental organizations and individuals. It involves different and evolving forms, including the sharing of knowledge and experience, training, technology transfer, financial and monetary cooperation and in-kind contributions. South-South cooperation can include different sectors and be bilateral, multilateral, sub-regional, regional or interregional in nature.

Guiding Principles of South-South Cooperation

South-South cooperation is a manifestation of solidarity among peoples and countries of the South that contributes to their national well-being, their national and collective self-reliance and the attainment of internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals. The South-South cooperation agenda and South-South cooperation initiatives must be determined by the countries of the South, guided by the principles of respect for national sovereignty, national ownership and independence, equality, non-conditionality, non-interference in domestic affairs and mutual benefit.

Objectives of South-South Cooperation

The basic objectives of South-South cooperation are interdependent and mutually supportive and contribute to the broader objectives of international development cooperation. These objectives are to:

  • foster the self-reliance of developing countries by enhancing their creative capacity to find solutions to their development problems in keeping with their own aspirations, values and special needs;
  • promote and strengthen collective self-reliance among developing countries through the exchange of experiences; the pooling, sharing and use of their technical and other resources; and the development of their complementary capacities;
  • strengthen the capacity of developing countries to identify and analyse together their main development issues and formulate the requisite strategies to address them;
  • increase the quantity and enhance the quality of international development cooperation through the pooling of capacities to improve the effectiveness of the resources devoted to such cooperation;
  • create and strengthen existing technological capacities in the developing countries in order to improve the effectiveness with which such capacities are used and to improve the capacity of developing countries to absorb and adapt technology and skills to meet their specific developmental needs;
  • increase and improve communications among developing countries, leading to a greater awareness of common problems and wider access to available knowledge and experience as well as the creation of new knowledge in tackling development problems;
  • recognize and respond to the problems and requirements of the least developed countries, land-locked developing countries, small island developing States and the countries most seriously affected by, for example, natural disasters and other crises; and
  • enable developing countries to achieve a greater degree of participation in international economic activities and to expand international cooperation for development.

Benefits of South-South Cooperation

Benefits of South-South cooperation include:

  • strengthening of the voice and bargaining power of developing countries in multilateral negotiations;
  • use of experience and capacity that already exists and the development of new capacities in developing countries;
  • opening of additional channels of communication among developing countries;
  • promotion and strengthening of economic integration among developing countries on as wide a geographic basis as possible;
  • enhancement of the multiplier effect of technical cooperation;
  • fostering of economic, scientific and technological self-reliance;
  • increased knowledge of and confidence in the capacities available in developing countries;
  • coordination of policies on development issues relevant to a number of developing countries;
  • development of indigenous technology and the introduction of techniques better adapted to local needs, particularly in traditional subsistence sectors such as agriculture;
  • promotion of:
  • national science and technology plans;
  • economic and social planning;
  • linkage of research and development with economic growth;
  • project planning and evaluation;
  • use of human and natural-resource potential;
  • modern management and administration;
  • technical, scientific and administrative manpower; and