The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Olivier Nduhungirehe said the future of development cooperation lies in countries of the Global South working as equal partners to design, implement and scale solutions together, rather than relying on one-way knowledge transfer models,
He was speaking at the inaugural Convention on South-South and Triangular Cooperation held on June 22, in Kigali.
Organised by the Rwanda Cooperation Initiative (RCI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the gathering brought together leaders, development partners and UN agencies to explore how cooperation between developing countries can be strengthened and translated into concrete development outcomes.
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South-South cooperation is a collaboration among countries in developing regions, where nations share knowledge, skills, technology and policy experience based on similar development challenges.
Triangular cooperation adds a third dimension, where traditional development partners or multilateral organisations support and facilitate these exchanges, helping scale successful solutions and mobilise additional resources.
Officials at the two-day convention said this model has grown in importance over recent decades as countries increasingly seek practical, experience-based solutions rather than externally designed development approaches.
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Nduhungirehe said the global development system is undergoing a structural shift, driven by tightening aid budgets, changing financing patterns and the emergence of homegrown solutions from developing economies.
“The system is still recovering from the shocks of recent years, and from a multilateral financing architecture that was not designed for the world we live in today,” he said.
“While traditional development cooperation remains important, countries now hold hard-earned experience in building institutions, reforming public services and delivering digital governance systems that can be shared across borders.This is not a substitute for traditional development partnerships. It is a complement,” he said.
The minister said the global development system is shifting, with more solutions now emerging from the Global South, and cooperation becoming a necessity due to declining aid flows.
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Officials highlighted that South-South cooperation is evolving from study visits and policy benchmarking into joint implementation of reforms and systems across countries.
UNDP Rwanda Resident Representative and interim United Nations Resident Coordinator Fatmata Lovetta Sesay said effective cooperation must be measured by its impact on people’s daily lives, particularly through improved services and stronger institutions.
She highlighted Rwanda’s community-based governance systems such as Umuganda and Imihigo, alongside digital public service platforms and innovations like drone-based medical delivery, as examples that other countries are studying and adapting.
“South-South cooperation thrives when people learn from people, development must remain centred on citizens, services and trust in institutions,” Sesay said.
Rather than a vertical model where knowledge flows from donor to recipient, leaders said the current era is defined by horizontal collaboration, where countries engage as peers.
Over the next two days, delegates are expected to explore financing mechanisms, technical partnerships and institutional frameworks needed to support this transition from dialogue to delivery.