Oxfam South Africa has commissioned the Centre for Environmental Rights to develop a briefing paper on the “Information Disclosure Mechanisms of the New Development Bank (NDB)” in response to the priorities of the South Africa (SA)/Africa Civil Society Organisation (CSO) NDB working group related to country systems and transparency. The SA/Africa CSO NDB Working Group, co-chaired by Oxfam South Africa and African Monitor is a network formed in 2018 during the time of Civil BRICS when South Africa hosted the 10th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg. The SA/Africa CSO NDB working group seeks to engage the NDB and its African Regional Centre (ARC) on its role in South Africa and the region, in coordination with BRICS civil society.

Broadly, the challenge of a universal definition of South-South Cooperation (SSC) and a subsequent monitoring and evaluation framework(s), in their various forms, is as a result of the various contexts, stakeholders and fields SSC finds itself. In part, there is a reluctance to compare SSC to northern efforts that are measured by Official Development Assistance (ODA) because by its very nature, SSC is born out of principles that differentiate it from its predecessors. SSC aims to challenge the current global status quo to ensure a more equitable and inclusive development that fosters self-reliance. The emphasis on technical exchanges to build capacity can be seen in contradiction to the often reactionary responses of the north. Some countries have also argued that monetizing their contributions underestimates their contribution since costs for goods and personnel in the South are lower than in developed countries, leading to a reluctance to measure SSC.