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- Convenors:
-
Meera Venkatachalam
(University of Mumbai)
Dan Banik (University of Oslo)
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- Chair:
-
Shobana Shankar
(Stony Brook University (SUNY))
- Format:
- Panel
- Streams:
- Economy and Development (x) Futures (y)
- Location:
- Philosophikum, S84
- Sessions:
- Friday 2 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract:
This panel examines India's development cooperation with Africa - and African reactions - in fields such as education, health, and ICT. It stems from INDAF, a collaborative project between the universities of Malawi, Mumbai, and Oslo, funded by the Research Council of Norway and led by Dan Banik.
Long Abstract:
India's development cooperation with African countries has traditionally been through the framework of South-South Cooperation. Policymakers in New Delhi often make the claim that Indian models of development are more suitable to African realities that those emanating from the Global North and China. India celebrates its home-grown scientific expertise, capacity for 'frugal innovation', and ability to develop Triple-A (affordable, available, adaptable) technologies, which it showcases to other southern partners. New Delhi often refers to Africa as a 'true friend' and 'equal partner', and insists India's presence in Africa is 'demand driven', resulting in 'mutual benefit'.
Indian development cooperation has, over the last seven decades, changed in form from a largely state-controlled activity to incorporate a number of non-state actors, such as multinationals; small firms; NGOs; civil society, regional governments, and the diaspora.
India's modalities of development cooperation on the continent (after the country's experiments with liberalization in 1991), have also become more commercialized. This opens up debates about the role and impact of: the private sector; Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) /Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives; hybrid models of financing; Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), and Triangular Cooperation models.
This panel will seek to examine the extent to which India's 'South-South Cooperation' with Africa has changed over the past few decades, and whether African countries can use this interest from India to further their development agendas. Papers that focus on case studies of Indian investments in African agriculture, education, health, information and communications technology (ICT), infrastructure, and irrigation are welcome.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 2 June, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
Given a literature that rarely dissects the Indian presence in Africa, the paper follows fieldwork in The Gambia and Ghana and investigates India’s influence and whether it is considered a neo-colonialist, an underdog, or a smart influencer, especially in comparison to China.
Paper long abstract:
Since the mid-2000s, India has increased its presence in Africa many times over and is active now right across the continent and across many sectors. Despite this expansion, though, India still lives in the shadow of China and the West in Africa. Its activities and practices might also be seen as a half-way house between those of China and the West. However, the extent of the presence and influence of India in Africa is rarely dissected and even more rarely in a comparison of two African countries. This paper takes evidence from Gambians, Ghanaians, Indians, and others during fieldwork in the two African states and weighs up the Indian presence and influence in particular in comparison to China. It finds that India is regarded by some as just another neo-colonist with national interests paramount, and by others as an under-resourced power with poor capacity and limited public relations. There were some, however, who saw India as a smart actor which uses the resources and attributes it has - including a common language, Bollywood, connections built to local communities, a less aggressive and quieter approach, flexibility, training, and specialisms in certain key areas – to good effect, allowing India to punch above its weight. The paper thus considers India’s influence in The Gambia and Ghana and what this may mean further afield.
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines narratives, goals, strategies and practices of development partners in the context of south-south cooperation regarding how they give and receive aid. The paper contributes to the debate on how best a weaker partner can get quality aid from strong development partners.
Paper long abstract:
Development cooperation landscape has significantly changed with emergence of new players, changing goals of aid and evolved aid modalities. Aid givers and recipients have had to adapt to realities of competition hence embracing new ways and rules of the game around aid giving and receiving. This paper critically examines narratives, goals, strategies and practices of development partners regarding how they give and receive aid in the context of south-south cooperation. This paper focuses on India and China as aid givers from ‘Global South’ conduct their business with Malawi, a developing country in Africa whose national budget depends on 40% of funds from donors to implement development projects. The paper engages Gift Reciprocity theory to understand interaction between India and China and Malawi. Based on a qualitative data collected during field visits carried out in three years (2020 and 2022), the paper argues that there are similarities and differences in the way China and India engages Malawi on development cooperation. The paper establishes that similar prominent features between India and China in their approach to development cooperation with Malawi include Commercial Development Cooperation/Diplomacy and provision of credit line. India and China perceive their interest in cooperating with another country in the global south as an act of brotherhood and friendship. From south-south cooperation perspective, the paper contributes to the debate on how best a weaker partner such as Malawi can get quality aid from dominant development partners such as India and China.
Paper short abstract:
Analyzed here are three Indian development cooperation initiatives with Africa – the Entrepreneurship and Training Development Centre (ETDC) in Dakar; the Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICT (KACE) in Accra, and e-VBAB or e-VidyaBharati ArogyaBharati (Indian e-Knowledge and e-Health) in Kumasi.
Paper long abstract:
The ETDC, completed in Dakar in 2000, was conceived under a G-15 initiative. HMT International, an Indian public sector company, established it at the behest of the Government of India (GoI). Over 6,000 students have trained there, and currently 400 students are learning mechanical and vocational skills.
The KACE was inaugurated in 2003 in Accra through a bilateral partnership between India and Ghana. It offers beginner and advanced courses in ICT and programming of varying duration. Over 3000 students have been trained there.
An e-VBAB centre was opened at the Kwame Nkrumah University for Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi in 2019. e-VBAB seeks to build upon an older GoI project, the Pan-African e-network (PAN), which sought to offer tele-education and tele-medicine to African stakeholders from super-specialty facilities in India using satellite and server technology. e-VBAB offers African learners a number of online degree courses, from the humanities to social sciences to commerce, from public and private Indian universities, as well as online medical consultations.
The ETDC and KACE have becoming self-sustaining, successfully localizing their operational cultures to cater to local demand. e-VBAB has been less successful. This paper analyses these three projects in a comparative framework, looking at how they were designed to fit into their local milieux. What models were used to ensure their sustenance, continued training of staff, student recruitment, and relevance to local economies? What roles do Indian and host institutions play in the process? What learnings may be identified for future projects of this nature?