The article “South-South Cooperation: Brazilian experiences in South America and Africa”, by Roberta de Freitas Campos and Mateus Rodrigues Cerqueira, sets out by exploring the position that Brazil occupies (or aims to occupy) at international level and how this position is reflected in its foreign policy and collaborative projects with other countries, especially in the health area. The main questions examined relate to the model of international technical cooperation adopted by the country with its partners, the goals it aims to achieve, and the results it is generating both domestically and in the context of the cooperating countries.
The authors, Roberta de Freitas Santos and Mateus Rodrigues Cerqueira, show how Brazil has played an increasingly active role at global level over recent years due to its model of international insertion and its foreign policy directives. They also observe that the health sector has become a valuable strategic tool for Brazilian technical cooperation to attain, among other things, its development objectives.
Describing the main directives of Brazilian foreign policy, the article conceptualizes and characterizes South-South Cooperation, illustrated through an analysis of two technical cooperation initiatives in the health sector: one in South America, the other in Africa.
The ‘Framework of South-South Cooperation Directives’ put forward in this study aims to systemize the approach to Brazilian technical cooperation through various concepts related to South-South Cooperation and horizontal cooperation, while also seeking to enable the planning and structuring of actions at the level of international technical cooperation.
The authors observe that, irrespective of the interests and power asymmetries existing in South-South Cooperation, the objectives of these cooperation programs have been achieved through technical work.
Read the full article:
Santos, Roberta de Freitas and Cerqueira, Mateus Rodrigues. South-South Cooperation: Brazilian experiences in South America and Africa. Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos, Mar 2015, vol.22, no.1, p.23-47. ISSN 0104-5970
Click here to see the full summary of HCS Manguinhos latest issue (vol.22 no.1, jan./mar. 2015).
