Valuing Possibility: South-South Cooperation and Participatory Budgeting in Maputo, Mozambique

Abstract

While the novelty or distinctness of South-South Cooperation (SSC) as a development paradigm is contestable, its relevance for urban planning is not. SSC among cities in the 21st century is growing, and with it reference to Brazil’s experiences in urban reform. This is in evidence in the Mozambican capital of Maputo, where a large portfolio of SSC stakeholders – or thick cooperation – paved the way for the institutionalization of Brazilian-inspired participatory budgeting. Maputo’s experience with participatory budgeting demonstrates the particular value of SSC for urban development. SSC in this case promoted a learning environment by embracing flexibility in implementation, particularly vis a vis time and organization, and by balancing diverse stakeholders with different contributions to the reform exercise. This helped evade destructive power imbalances that typically corrupt traditional development projects. Instead, SSC helped create a ‘proximate-peer’ learning environment, where knowledge or expertise is co-produced, contextually relevant, and recognized among cooperation partners.