FAO used to design what were called national support programmes for food security in some African countries. These had long- and short-term deployments of experts from Global South countries such as China, Viet Nam, Egypt and so forth. Fifteen to 20 years ago, countries were able to send their technicians for long periods to share their knowledge. Now, countries often need their own expertise back home, so we see experts being released for three to four weeks to train national trainers who can pass on the lessons more widely.
At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a real uptake in digital tools to share knowledge.
We’re also seeing more and more donors from the Global North taking part; we call this Triangular Cooperation. Countries such as Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Netherlands are triangular partners because they are interested in being part of the South–South Cooperation story.
A good example is Spain supporting Namibia financially to receive technical support in aquaculture from Viet Nam. So there’s been a big shift: two decades ago it was just South–South Cooperation but now it is South–South and Triangular Cooperation. This complements the collaboration between Global South partners.
South–South is increasingly morphing into Triangular Cooperation…
The FAO–China Trust Fund programme has had a huge impact. One aspect of the programme enabled countries to set up their own trust fund, with FAO, to bring expertise into the agriculture sector. Nigeria, for instance, set up a trust fund of about USD 40 million, which enabled Chinese experts to be deployed to Nigeria. They shared technologies and innovations for the benefit of Nigeria.
The second major success has been the Brazilian school meals programme, which was adapted to a number of African countries: Senegal, Ethiopia, Malawi and others. The Brazilian national model centred on procuring food from family farmers for the school meals programmes. It meant increased production and incomes for the farmers, and better nutrition for the schoolchildren. It clearly shows that you can adapt a methodology to another continent, where it can be very well received.
Language is one of the main challenges we face. In the past, it was a bigger problem, but now FAO is really taking the time to work with countries to integrate intensive language and cultural training before deployments. It is not just for the teams who work together, but sometimes technology and machinery arrive in languages that the recipient country does not understand. That has been recognized and is being addressed through greater attention to language, and selecting experts based on their language skills as well as their technical skills. Through our matchmaking, we also take language into account. For example, Portuguese-speaking Brazil, Mozambique and Angola have collaborated successfully, and French-speaking experts from Morocco have been deployed in Guinea.
In terms of cultural barriers, there are myriad examples when different cultures come together. For instance, there are different times of day for eating depending on where you’re from. But over the three or four weeks of deployments, we see people from different countries recognizing their respective similarities rather than their differences. Over time, relationships are built and they easily overcome barriers.
Portuguese speakers for Angola and Mozambique, French speakers for Guinea…
Hands-on learning makes it easier to successfully transfer skills, innovations and technologies, especially on-farm. The person is able to see what you’re doing so it is easier to replicate for themselves, compared to sending a manual or curriculum, for example. Even though there’s virtual training, it is not the same as sending a technician to a farm demonstration plot in a particular country.
Africans are looking to leapfrog economic development stages…
When you look at the countries from the Global South, they have a lot of similarities with their African counterparts. China, Viet Nam and Malaysia, for example, went through rapid development only relatively recently. So Africans believe that if they can learn from their Chinese counterparts, they may be able to leapfrog over some of the challenges that China has already faced and learned from, and therefore avoid a lot of mistakes.
Another point is that there is huge agricultural trade between Global South partners, which shows that there is political goodwill and solidarity between these countries. This stimulates mutual learning. So it’s easy for them to opt for South–South Cooperation as a modality for their development.
Ownership is crucial because if South–South Cooperation activities are not integrated in national programmes that are being implemented by African governments, it will not be sustainable. The only way it can be sustained is through best practices and innovations being mainstreamed in national programmes and upscaled across the country.
The second aspect is the private sector, because it can help spread innovation. There is only so much a government can do, but those who have the capital can help spread innovations and technology rapidly.
Yes, we will be seeing more countries in the next few years, especially lower-middle-income countries in Africa financing their own South–South programmes. For example, Sierra Leone wishes to establish a unilateral trust fund with FAO to be able to have Vietnamese experience-sharing on irrigation and the rice value chain. So, we will be having more countries from sub-Saharan Africa financing their own agricultural development and choosing which countries they would like to learn from.
We will also see more countries from the Global North participating in Triangular Cooperation, because it is a win-win for everyone. More of these countries are trading with African countries; the same goes for emerging economies in Latin America, such as Mexico and Argentina. They are trading with Africa and they want to have an equal trading partner.
Triangular Cooperation is a win-win for everyone…
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FAO. 2022. FAO’s work on South–South and Triangular Cooperation in sub-Saharan Africa – Exchanging rice-farming knowledge and technology for food security. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc1960en
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