{"id":66042,"date":"2016-03-15T18:47:49","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T16:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/how-brazil-missed-its-golden-south-south-co-operation-moment-the-conversation\/"},"modified":"2016-03-15T18:47:49","modified_gmt":"2016-03-15T16:47:49","slug":"how-brazil-missed-its-golden-south-south-co-operation-moment-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/how-brazil-missed-its-golden-south-south-co-operation-moment-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"How Brazil missed its golden South-South co-operation moment | The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"
Former Brazilian president Lula da Silva speaks during a ceremony to celebrate a decade of Brazil's Bolsa Familia programme. His development aid programme has since fizzled out.<\/span> Reuters\/Ueslei Marcelino<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Compared to China or India, Brazil is a relatively small player in development aid. Yet it has managed to make a mark in Africa and globally, especially under the leadership of charismatic Lula da Silva.<\/p>\n

From 2003 to 2010 Lula led an unprecedented shift in the country\u2019s foreign policy towards the global South. He also helped elevate Brazil to the status of a global player.<\/p>\n

Back in 2010 the outlook was promising yet cautious. Brazil\u2019s aid programme was dubbed a \u201cglobal model in waiting\u201d. Its potential was acknowledged but there were some tangible (institutional and operational) issues to address to fulfil its ambitions. But, six years on, the expectant waiting has turned into tired disillusionment.<\/p>\n

An unrealised dream<\/h2>\n

Brazil, it seems, is vanishing from the international development cooperation scene. This is happening before it has proved its South-South promise to be more than rhetorical hype. Many may never have been convinced by the South-South euphoria. Others may regard Brazil\u2019s premature retreat as a missed opportunity. This article sways towards the missed opportunity view.<\/p>\n

A comeback is needed. Yet, the omens do not look favourable. For the last couple of years, Brazil has been wrestling with major economic and political turmoil at home. This has severely hampered its engagement abroad.<\/p>\n

The country is preparing to host the Olympic Games in a few months amid concerns about overpriced infrastructures and unfitting venues. The Zika epidemic and strikes add further strain.<\/p>\n

And then the news of Lula\u2019s alleged connections to a mega corruption scandal. This is a major blow to the image of success that Lula had so skillfully cultivated internationally. This is now on the verge of being irremediably tainted.<\/p>\n

The \u201cgolden age\u201d of Brazil\u2019s South-South cooperation that marked Lula\u2019s years in power is over, as suggested by researcher Laura Waisbich at a recent conference on the rising powers and global development at the Institute of Development Studies in the UK.<\/p>\n

The myth behind Brazil\u2019s affinity with Africa<\/h2>\n

On President Dilma Rousseff\u2019s watch Brazilian cooperation has, for the last couple of years, gradually receded to the backstage.<\/p>\n

It is time to take stock of what happened. Several of the rhetorical claims of Brazilian cooperation need to be challenged. Brazilian actors need to be forced into a more self-critical and less self-centred attitude.<\/p>\n

The myth of Brazil-Africa affinities based on common history, culture and racial kinship needs deconstructing. Ethnographic research by Susanne Ress, a postdoctoral researcher at Humboldt University of Berlin\u2019s Center for Comparative and International Education, gives an account of the difficulties of striking the envisioned interaction and integration, not least because of the gap that separates Brazilians\u2019 imaginaries of Africa and contemporary Africa. Afro-Brazilians and Africans are separated by different struggles and interests.<\/p>\n

Also, the forthcoming work by Katia Taela, a doctoral researcher at Institute of Development Studies, exposes the myth of \u2018sisterhood\u2019 and \u2018brotherhood\u2019 by Brazilian aid workers towards their Mozambican counterparts. She also challenges claims of mutual learning.<\/p>\n

My own research shows that Brazilian researchers working on development projects in Mozambique are able to engage fruitfully with local counterparts more because of an individual\u2019s personal attributes and attitudes than on presumed affinities and South-South credentials.<\/p>\n

Recipes that don\u2019t translate<\/h2>\n

There is also the questionable claim that Brazil\u2019s recipes can fit in African contexts.<\/p>\n

This is particularly noticeable in agriculture. Landscape-based similarity claims have been a particularly strong feature of Brazil in Mozambique. This has led to parallels being drawn between Brazilian and African countries\u2019 tropical geography which has justified the deployment of Brazil\u2019s \u201ctropical technology\u201d.<\/p>\n

Other parallels have been drawn. For example, the presumed relevance of Brazilian concepts such as family farming and social struggles against agribusiness and modernisation.<\/p>\n

Yet when they arrive in Africa, Brazilian imaginaries, technology, policy templates and political struggles land in a different context. They get reinterpreted and often reconfigured.<\/p>\n

The impact of Brazilian cooperation on the lives of those it was supposed to benefit has yet to be assessed. In the meantime, its impact on local politics and state-society interactions has already been significant.<\/p>\n

Natacha Bruna, a researcher from Observat\u00f3rio do Meio Rural, a Mozambican NGO, shared a critical view of Brazilian cooperation\u2019s footprint in her country. It shows how ProSAVANA \u2013 a trilateral initiative between the governments of Brazil, Japan and Mozambique \u2013 is regarded as a threat to local communities.<\/p>\n

But there is still potential<\/h2>\n

Yet, there are many exciting elements in the Brazilian development trajectory that deserve being more effectively incorporated into international development cooperation. These include policy interventions that tackle different development challenges in an integrated fashion. Examples include:<\/p>\n