South Africa and aid effectiveness: Lessons for SADPA as a development partner

With the establishment of SADPA, South Africa needs to understand the tensions inherent in its role as a development partner.

South Africa is an important actor in peacebuilding and post-conflict development and now wishes to deepen its engagement through the establishment of the South African Development Partnership Agency (SADPA). However South Africa needs to be aware of the tensions inherent in its positioning as a development partner. South Africa can learn from the experiences of other donors and development partners and should consider how best to position itself within national aid architectures in developing countries. This paper examines the findings of previous ISS research on South Africa’s engagements in peacebuilding and post-conflict development to situate them in the broader aid effectiveness debate, and makes recommendations for South Africa as it moves ahead as a development partner.

About the authors

Alex O’Riordan has been working in international development since 1993, mainly for the EU and UN, but also as an advisor to the governments of Kenya and Ethiopia. Most recently Alex designed the EU’s billion-euro strategy for South Sudan and is currently supporting a similar process in Mozambique. Alex is a doctoral candidate at UCT and is studying the political economy of donor allocations to development assistance.

Amanda Lucey is a researcher working on the Enhancing South African Post-Conflict Development and Peacebuilding Capacity in Africa project at the ISS. Amanda spent time in the DRC where she worked with MONUSCO as a Political Affairs Officer, and in South Sudan as a Rule of Law Officer with the UNDP. She holds a MPhil in Justice and Transformation (specialising in conflict resolution) from UCT.