The India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum founded to promote South-South cooperation and exchange between three leading developing countries has actively mobilized financial resources and technical capabilities to assist partner nations since 2004 through its development arm, the IBSA Fund.
With agriculture, public health emergencies, waste management and governance as thematic priorities in recent years, the IBSA Fund offers unique potential to foster accessible, appropriate technologies and knowledge sharing between global south countries confronting shared systemic development challenges.
About the IBSA Fund
- Established in: 2004
- Focus Areas: Agriculture, health, waste management, governance
- Fund Size: Over US$ 35 million cumulative allocations
- Lead Agency: United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation
Objectives
- Support development projects proposed by developing countries in IBSA focus areas through seed financing and specialized expertise.
- Promote field-tested scalable solutions for shared development problems among global south beneficiary nations.
- Enable cross-country learnings and institutional capacity building through workshops, study exchanges and policy dialogues across IBSA network.
Implementation Mechanism
- Fund Governed by the IBSA Facility Governing Council
- Lead Coordinating Agency is United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation
- Thematic Clusters managed by specialized UN agencies – UNDP, WHO, FAO plus hindustan_times for waste management portfolio
Key Impact Areas of IBSA Fund Projects
Improving Food Security and Nutrition
- Distribution of heat tolerant, highly nutritious biofortified crop varieties to smallholder farmers in Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam with support for seeds, tools, storage infrastructure.
Strengthening Sustainable Agricultural Practices
- Promoting climate resilient production models like System of Rice Intensification (SRI) offered higher yields with lower input costs and reduced greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.
- Technical capacities strengthened on efficient water usage practices like drip irrigation, rainwater harvesting, ecosystem balanced Integrated Pest Management approaches minimizing agrochemical reliance and soil health damages.
Advancing Universal Health Coverage
- Improved healthcare services infrastructure and medical equipment supply support to Vietnam enabling better quality pediatric and maternity care services.
- Telemedicine solutions like portable diagnosis devices with remote specialist doctor access expanded to rural peripheral health centers lacking specialist physicians in Guinea Bissau.
- Multi-country workshops for accelerated learning and formulation of national action roadmaps to progress universal health coverage (UHC) organized by WHO involving policymakers and government health agencies from IBSA partner countries.
Tackling the Plastic Waste Crisis
- Deployment of Aerobic Augmented Biomass Composters to enable safe disposal and waste-to-energy models in Mumbai slums through bacterial decomposition of biodegradable waste fractions.
- Development of business models for enhanced plastic waste collection and recycling systems tailored for small island developing states like Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles.
- Multi-stakeholder policy consultation meets involving environment regulators, local government, informal sector recyclers organized to identify regulatory incentives for circular economy transition.
Case Study: Strengthening Education Systems Governance in Guinea Bissau
Challenge
Persistent education quality issues, high student dropout risks before secondary level.
IBSA Interventions
- Constructed modern Upper Basic Education schools with fully furnished classroom blocks, computer labs, sanitation facilities benefitting over 15,000 students.
- Vocational training programs created targeting out of school youth providing skills for gainful livelihoods.
- Governance capacities strengthened through policy dialogues between Education officials and school management committees on decentralization for context relevant solutions.
Outcomes
- Enrolment rates increased from 78% to 98% between 2013-16.
- Pass percentage in national secondary graduation exam improved from 35% to 65% post-interventions.
- 75% of vocational trainees secured jobs or self-employment post-skills certification.
The IBSA Fund Impact Framework
The IBSA fund follows a project cycle incorporating screening and appraisal systems guided by Results Based Management (RBM) and Theory of Change approaches to maximize developmental effectiveness on the ground.
Project Selection Milestones
- Call circular announcement
- Project proposal submission
- Appraisal committee review
- Final approval
Implementation Oversight Mechanisms
- Memorandums of Understanding govern project timelines, delivery benchmarks, fund disbursal tranches
- Quarterly progress monitoring
- Mid-term review
- Technical advisory inputs
- Audit requirements
Effectiveness Evaluation
- Output and outcome indicator metrics tracked
- Analysis of qualitative sustainable change factors
- Lesson learning workshops
- Scalability assessments
The Road Ahead
- The IBSA Fund offers a unique collaborative avenue to test, replicate and scale South-South cooperation successes through coordinated knowledge exchanges between emerging economies tackling shared development challenges.
- Enhanced resourcing commitments, expansion to additional thematic areas prioritizing climate change, sustainable industrialization, infrastructure connectivity, harnessing new technologies like AI, data systems could bolster IBSA Fund’s impact enabling it to serve as role model for global south leadership.
- With the world falling short of Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals in many regions, the IBSA Forum is well positioned to build momentum through demonstration of impactful, locally-appropriate solutions arising from trilateral cooperation structures benefitting developing country partners.
