Sep 19 – For decades, international development cooperation was largely associated with financial assistance, major infrastructure projects and agreements between governments. That model is changing as developing countries increasingly seek something more durable: the skills, institutions, technology and knowledge needed to address their own development challenges.

India’s approach to development cooperation reflects this shift.

Rather than relying on a single instrument, India has built a broad partnership model combining concessional finance, technical assistance, professional training, technology transfer, institutional cooperation and knowledge exchange. Government agencies remain central, but businesses, universities, civil society organisations and international institutions are increasingly part of the process.

The approach is particularly significant for countries in the Global South, where governments are often looking for practical and affordable solutions that can be adapted to local circumstances.

India’s own development experience — from digital public infrastructure and healthcare to agriculture, financial inclusion and climate resilience — has increasingly become part of what it offers through international partnerships.

India’s development engagement is built around several instruments.

These include grants, concessional Lines of Credit, technical cooperation, humanitarian assistance and capacity-building programmes.

According to a 2025 UNDP study, India provided more than US$14.7 billion in grants and US$32 billion in concessional Lines of Credit between 2000 and 2023. The financing supported more than 600 development projects across 68 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific.

Africa has been an important destination for this financing. About 196 Lines of Credit worth approximately US$12 billion have been extended to 42 African countries.

The projects cover sectors including transport, energy, agriculture, healthcare, education, information technology and disaster management.

But the significance of India’s approach lies increasingly in what happens beyond the physical project.

A road, power plant or hospital can provide an immediate development benefit. Training professionals to operate institutions, manage systems and develop local solutions can create capabilities that continue long after an individual project has been completed.

That is where capacity building has become central to India’s development partnership.

The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme, established in 1964, is one of the clearest examples.

ITEC now works with more than 160 partner countries, offering training, study tours, expert support and institutional partnerships in areas ranging from agriculture and healthcare to governance, entrepreneurship, energy and technology.

The principle is straightforward: development cooperation should not only provide resources; it should also help countries develop the capacity to use those resources effectively.

This has particular relevance in areas where developing countries are confronting similar challenges.

Governments are seeking ways to expand digital services, improve healthcare delivery, increase financial inclusion, modernise agriculture and respond to climate pressures without necessarily adopting expensive systems designed for very different economies.

India’s experience provides examples that can be studied, adapted and, where appropriate, replicated.

The emphasis is therefore increasingly on knowledge exchange rather than one-way transfer.

India’s experience with the Sustainable Development Goals offers another example of this approach.

NITI Aayog has played a central role in coordinating India’s SDG implementation, while the SDG India Index has been used to track progress across states and Union Territories.

The process has also involved local governments, communities, civil society organisations and the private sector.

More than 250,000 Gram Panchayats have incorporated SDG priorities into local development planning through the Panchayat Advancement Index, while several states have established dedicated mechanisms for coordinating SDG implementation.

The experience demonstrates an important aspect of India’s development model: national goals can be translated into local action when institutions and communities are involved in implementation.

This experience is now increasingly being shared internationally.

In August 2025, India’s Ministry of External Affairs and the United Nations launched the India-UN Global Capacity-Building Initiative. The programme seeks to connect Indian institutions and development practices with countries across the Global South according to their individual priorities.

It represents a move towards a more collaborative form of development cooperation, where solutions are adapted rather than simply exported.

Digital transformation has become one of the most important areas of this cooperation.

India’s experience in building digital public infrastructure has generated international interest, particularly among developing countries looking for ways to expand access to public and financial services.

The same principle is evident in healthcare.

According to UNDP, India’s digital health systems, including U-WIN and eVIN, have been shared with countries such as Zambia and Lao PDR to support immunisation tracking, vaccine management and healthcare delivery.

India’s experience with crop insurance has also been shared with several countries.

These initiatives illustrate how technology can become a development cooperation tool in its own right.

Instead of financing only physical infrastructure, partnerships can help countries acquire systems, expertise and institutional knowledge that can be developed further locally.

Climate resilience has also become part of the partnership.

India and UNDP have collaborated on climate-resilient livelihoods, sustainable ecosystems and development financing, while the India-UN Development Partnership Fund and the IBSA Fund have supported projects involving renewable energy, healthcare, digital infrastructure and climate resilience.

For many developing countries, these issues are interconnected.

Climate change affects agriculture, livelihoods and food security. Digital systems can improve access to public services. Better healthcare systems can strengthen resilience to shocks. Stronger institutions can improve the implementation of development programmes.

A partnership model that brings these areas together can therefore address several development challenges at the same time.

India’s development engagement has also expanded beyond individual projects to include platforms for dialogue among developing countries.

The Voice of Global South Summit, launched in 2023, provided a forum for countries to discuss shared development priorities and communicate their concerns on the international stage.

The third summit, held in August 2024, was themed “An Empowered Global South for a Sustainable Future.”

India also proposed a Global Development Compact focused on areas including trade, capacity building, technology sharing and financial support.

The underlying idea is that developing countries should participate in shaping development solutions rather than simply receiving them.

That distinction matters.

Countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific have different economic structures and development priorities. A solution developed in one country may therefore require significant adaptation before it can work elsewhere.

Partnerships based on knowledge exchange allow that adaptation to happen.

The evolution of India’s development cooperation reflects a broader change in how development itself is understood.

Infrastructure remains important. Financing remains necessary. Governments remain central to delivering development.

But roads, railways, hospitals and power systems ultimately depend on people and institutions to operate them.

The long-term value of cooperation can therefore extend beyond the amount of money invested or the number of projects completed.

It can be found in the engineer who acquires new skills, the health worker who learns to use a digital system, the local government that improves its planning capacity, the entrepreneur who gains access to new technology or the institution that develops the ability to solve problems independently.

This is where India’s evolving approach is increasingly focused.

Its development partnership combines finance with training, technology with institutions and domestic experience with international cooperation.

For countries across the Global South, the value of such partnerships may ultimately be measured not only by what is delivered, but by what countries are able to do for themselves afterwards.

That places capability, knowledge and shared experience at the heart of development cooperation — and gives South-South partnerships a potentially broader role in shaping how developing countries address their own futures.