Street view from Bandung today. Flickr. Some rights reserved.
Over the last decade, we have witnessed many changes within the field of international cooperation for development, among which are the discussion of a new development agenda (the newly adopted sustainable development goals), the defining of new ways to improve aid effectiveness, and especially the renewed strength and visibility of methods for South-South cooperation (SSC), with the potential to reshape the international scene.
Inspired by the principles of Bandung, which gave rise to the non-aligned movement, the SSC framework defends respect for sovereignty and non-interference as a basis for action. It proposes technical cooperation at a remove from those conditionalities that often permeate North-South relations, allowing new forms of solidarity and development opportunities for developing countries. One of the first consequences of this is an opening of the international space to more pluralistic voices that may be involved in defining global agendas. What once was decided between a select group of rich countries meeting at the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD, today has to include countries such as China, India and Brazil, among other emerging powers. The global South thereby acquires more space in global arenas: a breakthrough in a highly unequal international system.
