Sweden’s support of South Africa began in the 1960s in the form of humanitarian development aid that was delivered to the African National Congress (ANC) and other organizations pursuing the battle against apartheid. Following the abolition of apartheid and the ANC’s victory in the 1994 elections, humanitarian development aid was supplemented with more regular development cooperation activities.
Traditional development cooperation with South Africa is now becoming a broader cooperation built on co-financed partnerships within areas such as trade and investment, institutional and civil cooperation, in a model called participant cooperation.
Participant cooperation is aimed at areas that are of mutual interest to Sweden and South Africa. The contributions are increasingly co-financed and are based on shared experience and knowledge. The purpose is to create conditions for the development of long-term sustainable partnerships within various areas and to involve players, such as schools, companies, voluntary organizations and churches, in the process.
The overall targets are to:
- Reduce poverty, inequality and vulnerability
- Strengthen democracy and promote respect for human rights
- Fight the HIV/Aids epidemic.
Co-operation across several areas
Cooperation across municipalities, regions and counties is an effective method for transferring knowledge and building capacity. There are several examples of cooperation between municipalities and regions in the two countries. One example is the ongoing co-operation between Gävle in Sweden and Buffalo City in South Africa on issues such as tourism, management development and emergency preparation.
Sida is also supporting cooperation between institutions. For example, Sweden’s National Police Board is cooperating with the police authority in South Africa, and the two countries’ tax authorities are doing likewise.
HIV/Aids has hit South Africa hard. Sida is supporting efforts to prevent and alleviate the consequences of the epidemic, through contributions to the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a leading HIV/Aids organization in South Africa. The TAC works actively to give poor people access to advice and anti-retroviral medicine.
IF Metall Sida and the
International Council of Swedish Industry are working within the frameworks of the
Swedish Workplace HIV/Aids Programme (SWHAP) to increase awareness of how to handle the illness in the workplace.
Sida is cooperating with the Swedish Trade Council, South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry and Swedish companies in South Africa to promote economic development and combat unemployment. This cooperation includes trainee programmes, management training, trade programmes and schools of industry. The programme is aimed particularly at those groups that faced discrimination during apartheid.
Trade unions, churches and other organizations are of great importance in a democracy. Sida’s support of the work being done by Swedish and South African non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for democracy and human rights continues. This support is financed through a grant for NGOs.
Reducing the spread of HIV/Aids is an important part of Sweden’s support in southern Africa.
