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SouthSouthNorth (SSN) is a network of organizations, research institutions and consultants grouped into one developmental organisation with considerable expertise to help public and private stakeholders and beneficiaries build capacity to reduce poverty in the context of global climate change. SSN operates in Brazil, South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, Bangladesh and Indonesia.
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SouthSouthNorth seeks to drive the sustainable development agenda by building the necessary capacity to develop climate change projects which are sustainable and which reduce poverty for the benefit of Southern beneficiaries. In the current era of SSN, known as SSN2, this is being pursued in projects which reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and in projects which help the poor to adapt to the impacts of climate change. SSN’s first era, now known as SSN 1, began when the rules of the Kyoto Protocol’s clean development mechanism (CDM) were still untested. It was an approach to build Southern capacity to harness the potential of this global climate solution. We perceived the need to stress the sustainable development requirement of this mechanism and helped to direct the flow of capital, expertise and technology into developing economies through the climate window. Host governments, CDM project owners, technical advisors and project beneficiaries in Brazil, South Africa, Bangladesh and Indonesia were thus helped to face some of the challenges and to seize some of the opportunities which the Kyoto Protocol offered. SSN added to the international body of knowledge on the CDM by facilitating pilot projects to build capacity through actual experience. These helped to test and improve the rules of the Kyoto Protocol and improve the livelihoods of those who benefit from them. SSN now operates in Sub Saharan Africa, Brazil and Asia, fostering capacity by providing training and technical support, providing opportunities for experimentation and growth, as well as by ensuring a flow of information and the forging of links between the countries in which we operate. |
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SouthSouthNorth enhances co-operation between countries of the South, so-called "developing countries". SSN is a uniquely SOUTHERN drive to promote capacity in countries of the South to seize the initiative in the climate arena, both in mitigation and in adaptation to climate change. This "South-South" link is then matched with the "North" link: to the investment and funding community and to our partners in the developed world. It is important that stakeholders in the South are able to identify suitable projects, build their own skills base, manage their own risks, foster the transfer of technologies and be ready to transact projects on their own terms. Northern stakeholders are unlikely to take this initiative or to understand the needs of Southern countries. Northern investors and funders are loathe to participate with countries which do not have the right conditions and capacity. Southern governments and project developers need to set their own pace and parameters for their own choice of projects and SSN builds the capacity for a Southern best practice to develop. |
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SSN provides the opportunities which assist stakeholders and beneficiaries in the South to develop a best practice for the project development. We achieve this by providing technical assistance and other support to all stakeholders, whether these are public bodies, public interest groups or private owners.
SSN provides support by:
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In SSN 1, phase 1 was funded by Gaz de France and phases 2 and 3 were funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Netherlands . Aspects of phase 3 were co-funded by GTZ, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, which assisted with the production of the SSN CDM Practitioners’ Practical Toolkit, much used by CDM project developers, consultants and host country governments. Core funding for SSN 2 is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Netherlands. Co-funding is now being sought to deliver our projects. |
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Since 1999 SSN has been working on climate change projects in a number of developing countries. The Kyoto Protocol requires that CDM projects result in measurable reductions in greenhouse gases and contribute to sustainable development of host countries. This phrase begs the question: "What is sustainable development and how is it measured?" The difficulties posed by this question prompted Helene Connor of HELIO International to invite two eminent thinkers in the field, Emilio La Rovere (of COPPE) and Steve Thorne (of Energy Transformations), to prepare and deliver a paper on the matter at COP 5, the 5th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Their paper formed a theoretical tool for appraising potential projects according to a list of criteria and indicators that could be used for measuring sustainable development. This met with the approval of Paul Hassing of the Netherlands’ Government who supported a suggestion that the tool be tested by experimenting with actual projects. Emilio La Rovere, with his institute attached to the University of Rio de Janeiro, and Steve Thorne, with his energy consultancy in Cape Town, encouraged BCAS, the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies in Dhaka, and Pelangi in Jakarta, to join in this exploration. Phase 2 of SSN's activities included a scoping of the country and of potential projects in each of our centres. Over 40 projects were assessed against the CDM Criteria and Indicators tool. This Phase concluded in May 2001 with the selection of a short list of over ten CDM projects that were considered viable. Phase 3 of SSN's activities involved the actual design, implementation and transaction of pilot projects by 2005. Thanks to the success of SSN1 during which projects have benefited the poor, SSN has developed its own capacity to reach beyond the CDM and sustainable development. Under SSN 2, therefore, the government of the Netherlands has entrusted us to find the links between poverty and climate change and to deliver projects which achieve poverty reduction in the context of climate change. From 2005 until 2008, 13 projects will be identified and implemented which reduce poverty and which mitigate or adapt to climate change. For SSN2, we have extended our operations under 5 Programmes and have developed regionally into Sub Saharan Africa, with the help of GED in Mozambique and TaTedo in Tanzania. |
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