Part #1: Learning from peers: How are Brazil and Indonesia structuring institutional and operational models for South-South cooperation?

(excerpt of book chapter forthcoming @ Ottawa University Press - adapted)

For decades, development cooperation has been about transferring money, technology, and solutions from the rich in the North to the poor in the South. Today, solutions come from anywhere, and increasingly from the South, from countries and regions that have achieved economic growth and social progress.

Countries from all income levels want to learn from the practical experiences of their peers, the pitfalls to avoid and the practices to adopt. This stems from a belief that development solutions work best when they are designed in interaction with peers and partners who have gone through, or are going through, similar challenges. As the demand for their development experiences grows, countries increasingly seek better conditions to exchange knowledge in a predictable way and at a larger scale. 

Brazil and Indonesia are pioneering institutional and operational models for South- South cooperation and knowledge exchange. The two countries embarked on pathways to better capture, package, and share national development experiences, coordinate knowledge exchange organizations, and connect these organizations to external peers who seek development experience and expertise. 

Indonesia's Policy framework for South-South cooperation

Indonesia has made substantive progress in the design of policy frameworks and national coordination mechanisms for South-South cooperation and knowledge exchange. Initiatives were fragmented and knowledge dispersed across various ministries, government agencies, universities, and non-governmental organizations. Funding for Indonesia’s South-South cooperation program was heavily dependent on State budget. OECD-DAC countries’ contributions were channeled through a myriad of line Ministries and implementing agencies with poor coordination mechanisms. This contributed to the provision of ad hoc, activity-based initiatives, with low scalability and sustainability.

The first step to strengthen Indonesia South-South cooperation was the inclusion of South-South Cooperation in the country’s Long-Term National Development Plan (2005 – 2025) and Mid-Term National Development Plan (2010-2014). This measure was followed by the development of two policy frameworks for South-South cooperation. The Grand Design, set a vision and mission for Indonesia’s South-South Cooperation based on the use of knowledge exchange mechanisms in democracy, poverty reduction, macroeconomic management, and other areas in which Indonesia had practical experiences to share with other countries. 

The Blue Print set seven action points for implementing the broader goals of the Indonesian South-South Cooperation program. These action points consisted of legal frameworks; the establishment of a “national focal point”; budget allocation through government budget; integration of Indonesia’s flagship programs; dissemination and communication; establishment of information systems; monitoring and evaluation of programs. 

The Grand Design and the Blue Print were developed by the National Coordination Team, comprised of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Planning (Bappenas), the Ministry of Finance and the State Secretariat. The main functions of the National Coordination Team were to ensure Indonesia’s South-South cooperation program alignment with the policies and priorities stipulated in the Grand Design and Blue Print; and to approve all South-South cooperation programs, including those implemented through line Ministries and other partners.

At the operational level, the National Coordination Team was responsible for the identification and systematization of Indonesia’s development experiences and designing knowledge management tools to be integrated into project planning and implementation. The National Coordination Team was also tasked with developing an evaluation guideline for better implementation of Indonesia’s South-South cooperation programs and training evaluators on the methodology.

READ ALSO:
Part 2#: Learning from peers: How are Brazil and Indonesia structuring institutional and operational models for South-South cooperation?