German-South African Trilateral Cooperation Programme

projekt beendet

Partners for regional cooperationContextSince South Africa’s successful transition to democracy in 1994, the country’s political and economic influence has grown throughout the rest of the continent. South Africa’s transition process has become a valuable repository of experience with regard to social, economic and political change from which lessons can be learned. Several African countries have approached South Africa for assistance in effecting social and economic change, and in strengthening their democratic structures.ObjectiveSouth Africa’s capacity to provide impetus to development in the region has grown. Its commitments to third-party countries has increased and German involvement in African development has deepened.ApproachIn the Trilateral Cooperation programme, South Africa and Germany make their experience as well as their human, institutional and financial resources available to other African countries, in order to support those countries’ development in a sustainable and results-oriented manner. GIZ is helping the South African institutions involved to develop the human capacities and expertise they need in order to ensure South Africa can successfully carry out its role as a development partner.The Trilateral Cooperation Programme is currently supporting one project in the region: the ‘ZIGESA Trialogue’, a partnership between Zimbabwe, Germany and South Africa that encourages peer-to-peer leaning between the cities of Harare, Durban and Munich, and between the three countries’ local government associations. This project enables policy makers and practitioners from different countries to make direct contacts and to work together with their colleagues, thereby sharing their experiences and best practices.Results achieved so farThrough the Trilateral Cooperation Programme, South Africa and Germany as equal partners have provided visible contributions to the development of the continent.With the support of the programme, South African institutions have been able to implement results-oriented and sustainable South-South cooperation projects. Nine projects have so far been implemented successfully. In one example, South Africa provided assistance for the development of an anti-corruption strategy for the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country on which South Africa focuses more closely with a specific post-conflict strategy. In another intervention, training has been provided to the staff of police oversight bodies in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda, and in various African countries national performance-monitoring and evaluation systems have been improved.An Africa-wide network of think tanks has been set up to prepare Africa’s position on topics affecting the global economic order. In the SADC region, efforts to introduce controls on small firearms received support, and an African Ombudsman Research Centre has been opened. Lastly, Tanzania is now equipped with a coherent approach to capacity development in the area of integrated fire management.

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