Switzerland invests about CHF 2.2 billion a year to combat poverty and promote economic development in countries of the developing world and Eastern Europe. Two federal offices coordinate international development cooperation on behalf of the Swiss Confederation: the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

All official development cooperation activities aim to improve living conditions for the world’s most disadvantaged people. Development cooperation focuses primarily on conflict prevention and transformation, social development, good governance, promoting economic structures and safeguarding natural resources. Swiss development cooperation also strives to strengthen the ability of its partner countries to take their own initiatives.

The SDC and SECO support Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in their transition to a market economy through know-how transfer and financial assistance. Since 2008, the institutions also implement the Swiss Contribution aiming to reduce the social and economic disparities in new EU member states, most of them located in Central Europe and the Baltic region.

The SDC’s Department of Humanitarian Aid and Humanitarian Aid Unit (SHA) responds to emergencies such as natural catastrophes, crises and armed conflicts.

While emergency aid isfocused on areaswith thegreatest need, SDC’s bilateral development cooperation takes a different approach. It concentrates on 14 priority countries and regions and on 7 special programmes. SDC’s development cooperation always strives for sustainable impact. In Eastern Europe, the SDC’s work focuses on 10 transition countries. The SDC works multilaterally with UN specialised agencies, the World Bank and regional development banks.

SECO is responsible for planning and implementing economic and trade policy measures with developing and transition countries and the new Member States of the EU. The primary aims of SECO are to integrate partner countries into the world economy and promote sustainable economy growth, making an efficient and effective contribution to reducing poverty. SECO’s priorities lie in strengthening the partner countries’ competitiveness and diversifying their trade, mobilising domestic and foreign investments, improving the basic infrastructure and promoting stable economic framework conditions. Special attention is given to climate change, energy and environmental issues. The mobilisation of private capital and know-how on-site and in Switzerland forms an important principle of SECO’s development cooperation.

The on-site activities of Swiss development cooperation are managed through about 50 Cooperation Offices. Currently, the SDC hasapproximately 1000 projects worldwide. Roughly 600 people in Switzerland and abroad work for the SDC along with 1000 employed locally in partner countries. The SHA has about 700 mission-ready members, of which around 100 specialists are on standby at any given moment.

Approximately 65 persons work at SECO’s Economic Cooperation and Development Division. They manage over 200 programmes.

More about the activities of SDC and SECO and the cooperation priorities in Eastern Europe: