Technical Cooperation

Solidarity is one of the basic principles of Brazilian foreign policy. Article 4, clause IX, of our Constitution prescribes that "the Federative Republic of Brazil is governed in its international relations", among others, by the principle of "cooperation among peoples for the progress of humanity". It is in this spirit that for over three decades, the Brazilian government through the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) has been cooperating with Latin American, Caribbean and African countries in a wide range of sectors. These include areas such as agriculture, public security, public health, environment, education and the struggle against hunger and poverty.

Dubbed South-South cooperation, the technical cooperation provided by Brazil is based on the relationship between equals and is driven by demand of the beneficiary countries themselves. In addition, Brazilian cooperation observes the principle of non-interference and respect for the sovereignty of the partner country. This is based on participatory practices, joint governance and with appreciation of local capacities of partner countries.

In the last few years, Brazil has been working with Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and other countries in the region to share national experiences and capacity building expertise in areas such as agricultural technology; including biofuels, technical education, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, health services and social protection, public policies, school feeding programs, among others.

Currently the main Brazilian cooperation initiative in the East African region is the “Cotton Victoria Project”. The objective is to contribute to improving the competitiveness of the cotton sector in Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi. Since 2016, experts from the Federal University of Lavras (Minas Gerais, Brazil) have been working in the Lake Victoria region with government officials and technicians from each of the partner countries. In the first stage, Brazil is working in close coordination with local institutions to improve the techniques of cotton farming through training of professionals and transfer of genetic seed material. The subsequent phase involves Brazilian experts passing on knowledge in rural extension to small farmers and evaluating the structure of the local cotton production chain. This Brazilian cooperation should generate good results and hopefully the application of the knowledge acquired on the shores of Lake Victoria will be disseminated to other regions in Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi.

In addition to the Cotton Victoria Project, Brazil is also responsible for the coordination of cooperation project on cassava in partnership with Kenya named “Supporting the increase of household production and consumption of cassava for food security and income generation in Kenya”. With the technical support from experts of Agronomic Institute of Parana (IAPAR), the project is focused on carrying out diagnosis on cassava production, post-harvest and small scale processing in order to define priority areas for technical bilateral collaboration.

For more information about Brazilian technical cooperation in East Africa and beyond, consult the Brazilian Cooperation Agency website.

Contacts

Ronney Almeida e Silva Filho
Head of Cooperation Sector
ronney.almeida@itamaraty.gov.br

Johnstone Katuta Katua
Technical Cooperation Assistant
johnstone.katua@itamaraty.gov.br