South-South cooperation, which offers solutions through solidarity, is key to helping developing countries build collective self-resilience and promote more sustainable and equitable economic growth. In a globalized world, South-South Cooperation tackles the urgent development challenges the Global South faces through cross-country collaboration spanning the economic, social, political, and environmental spheres. Since its establishment, South-South cooperation has flourished over the decades, with trade among the developing countries amounting to $5.3 trillion in 2021.

In fact, trade flows between developing countries have surpassed trade flows between developing and developed economies. While trade between developed countries has decreased by almost 15% since 1995, trade among countries in the Global South has increased by 14.1%. Between 2000 and 2021, the loan portfolios of South-led development banks also rose significantly. It went from $7.2 billion to $73.4 billion, a tenfold increase.

Promoting Clean Energy and Job Creation

India’s demonstration of converting unused cotton plant parts into clean energy and creating employment opportunities for participants from African countries is a notable example of South-South cooperation.

As India strode towards clean energy, entrepreneurs began utilising the unwanted parts of crops for renewable energy. Instead of setting the waste on fire, a practice that has led to pollution, India has set up more than 500 briquetting plants. Briquetting is a process of converting unused plant parts into clean fuel by forming pellets or briquettes as a substitute for coal and wood.

UNCTAD report highlighted the untapped potential of briquetting in Zambia, where farmers could earn an additional $3 million each year by processing cotton waste into briquettes. Not just Zambia, but cotton farmers globally could greatly benefit from the production of this renewable energy.

Therefore, in 2019, UNCTAD offered officials from Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe the opportunity to visit India and develop a better understanding of the technology. UNCTAD chose India because its cotton production resembles that of these countries, making the technology and equipment adaptable.

South-South Cooperation and the Pandemic

Over the past few years, the converging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising global food and energy insecurity, and the climate crisis have had a profound impact on the world. For countries in the Global South that were already vulnerable, the high inflation and slowed economic growth in the post-pandemic period, along with droughts, fires, and floods that the climate emergency has brought about, have made things considerably more difficult. In Southeast Asia, the pandemic pushed 4.7 million people into extreme poverty. It undermined the region’s economic and development progress, leading to millions losing their job during the pandemic’s peak.

While there has been a strong recovery, with a 4.6% increase in GDP growth in 2024, millions still face job insecurity and unemployment. As developing countries grapple with these changes, South-South cooperation fosters more sustainable economic growth by driving collective self-resilience.

Promoting Decent Work

The ILO ProSSCE-ASEAN is a project actively working to counteract the post-COVID economic backsliding in the Global South and to achieve decent work for all, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 8.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the Promoting the Global Development Initiative with a focus on South-South cooperation in Employment in ASEAN project in partnership with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China. In Cambodia, the project has partnered with the government and local organisations to connect close to 150,000 young people and marginalised groups to high-quality jobs since 2023.

In Indonesia, the project launched a four-tiered training program to improve job matching by training more than 3,000 public employment counsellors across the country and implementing labour market programmes that are inclusive and gender-responsive. Following the success of the programme in Indonesia, the ILO is set to expand the four-tiered training to other countries in Southeast Asia.

Strengthening South-South Health Cooperation

The pandemic disproportionately affected women and children, particularly in the developing world. It led to a reversal of progress in maternal health, which is a key indicator of health.

In response to this, the World Health Organization (WHO) partnered with the Health Development Partnership for Africa and the Caribbean (HeDPAC) to foster South-South health cooperation between the regions. The initiative brought together countries from Africa and the Caribbean to exchange innovative primary health care solutions, with a focus on maternal and child health.

As the world continues to navigate crises, South-South Cooperation provides a strong framework that encourages solidarity, knowledge sharing, and mutual support among developing countries. Its initiatives aim to foster development based on fairness and resilience, creating an inclusive and sustainable world.

– Priya Doshi

Priya is based in Edinburgh, UK and focuses on Good News and Politics for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr