Rising Donors and the New Narrative of ‘South–South’ Cooperation: what prospects for changing the landscape of development assistance programmes?

Abstract

This article aims to provide a critical analysis of how the ‘emerging donors’ are redefining the structure of development cooperation in the new millennium. It offers an overview of the growing role of Brazil, China, India and South Africa in shaping the conditionally driven framework of official development cooperation. By reviewing the aid coordination mechanisms of the Southern donors, the article also seeks to provide a context for comprehending the challenges for Southern countries to systematically manage, monitor and deliver aid. It argues that the Southern donors’ interest in changing the dominant conditionality driven narrative of aid has opened up the possibility for constructing a new aid paradigm that focuses more on the strategic needs of the partner countries than on advancing the ideological interests of the donor countries. However, without assuming a much greater role in providing overseas aid and without building a unified platform based on a shared development vision, Southern donors will not be able to meaningfully alter the current dac -dominated aid architecture.