Attachments
Madam President of the National Council
Mr President of the Council of States
Members of Parliament
As we near the end of the 2017–20 strategy period for Switzerland’s international cooperation, it is time to take stock of the outcomes achieved and the measures that have helped to deliver them. Both our own local impact assessments and independent evaluations confirm that we have met the majority of our objectives and achieved the target outcomes with our programmes. Swiss international cooperation has helped to save lives, give people living in poverty access to healthcare and education, create economic prospects, protect the environment as a basis for life, strengthen resilience to climatic, economic and financial crises and promote democracy, peace and respect for human rights.
However, global challenges such as climate change, food insecurity, poor cross-border water management, epidemics, unemployment and armed conflict threaten to undo this progress. Consequently, countering these risks with innovative solutions and contributing to sustainable development are, and will remain, the primary concerns of Swiss international cooperation. This commitment also benefits Switzerland’s own security and prosperity.
In the interests of effectiveness, it is important that Swiss international cooperation actions dovetail with the key concerns of priority and partner countries and are embedded in an international framework. Such a universal framework is provided by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Swiss international cooperation assists partner and priority countries in achieving their own development goals. Over recent years, multilateral cooperation has come to play an increasingly important role in this area, giving Switzerland’s actions greater leverage. However, democratisation, the rule of law and human rights are coming under increasing pressure.
This remains a challenge for Switzerland’s international cooperation and for Switzerland itself, because our country depends on a peaceful and just international order.
This final report focuses on the outcomes specified in the Dispatch and is based on results for the years 2016–19. It also deals with the three areas in which Parliament, through the federal decrees on the Dispatch and a motion put forward by the Council of States Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC-S), has more precisely defined Switzerland’s international cooperation mission: more robust impact measurement based on external evaluations, the strategic linking of international cooperation to migration policy, and the topic of mountains as a thematic priority.
The system used to measure the impact of Swiss international cooperation has been further extended in recent years. A 2018 review by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee gave Switzerland a positive evaluation. Despite the generally high level of effectiveness of the SDC, the HSD and SECO, some results are less satisfactory and these are considered with a critical eye.
Several examples in this report show how we deal with difficulties in project implementation and learn lessons from them.
Through programmes to improve the living conditions of disadvantaged people, create better economic prospects and jobs, develop good governance in priority countries and build peace, Swiss international cooperation has specifically addressed the causes of conflict and migration. Migration has been systematically included in all new cooperation strategies and enshrined in new framework agreements as a component of cooperation and political dialogue.
With this final report, the Federal Council proposes the dismissal of motion FAC-S 16.3624, which called for mountains to be considered a priority issue in the implementation of the Dispatch on International Cooperation 2017–20. Drawing on the valuable experience and expertise acquired in its own, often small, mountain regions, Switzerland has worked to promote better living conditions for population groups facing similar structural challenges.
In addition to governments and authorities in priority countries, key partners for Swiss international cooperation have included multilateral bodies such as UN organisations and development banks, the private sector, non-governmental organisations and academia. The period 2017–20 has seen cooperation with the private sector expanded, both by involving and promoting the local private sector and through project partnerships with Swiss companies committed to sustainable development.
However, international cooperation efforts alone cannot deliver sustainable development: indeed, sustainability is an issue that transcends such cooperation. With developing countries often disproportionately affected by issues of policy coherence, Switzerland seeks to identify where international cooperation objectives may conflict with other policy areas, such as international financial flows and tax issues, trade, investment, the environment or health, and to find solutions that are as coherent as possible. The 2030 Agenda is an important reference framework in this respect.
In February 2011, Parliament voted to increase Switzerland’s official development assistance (ODA) to 0.5% of gross national income (GNI) by 2015. However, owing to the 2017–19 stabilisation programme, the Dispatch 2017–20 was based on a lower percentage of 0.48.
In the 2018 budget, the Federal Council and Parliament decided to make further cuts to international cooperation funding. Based on available estimates, the average ODA rate for 2017–20 will work out at around 0.46%.
With this generally positive assessment of the past four years, we conclude the Dispatch period at the end of 2020 while also looking ahead to the next Dispatch on Switzerland’s Strategy for International Cooperation 2021–24 (International Cooperation Strategy 2021–24), which will see Swiss international cooperation build on its successes, further strengthen its effectiveness and become more focused both geographically and thematically. To this end, the SDC, the HSD and SECO will continue to work together in a strategic and operationally complementary way. These and other adjustments will enable Switzerland to go on making an effective contribution to sustainable development and to a peaceful world free of poverty.
Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch State Secretary and SECO Director Federal Department of Economic Affairs,
Education and Research
Pascale Baeriswyl State Secretary of the FDFA Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
Manuel Sager Ambassador, Director General of the SDC Federal Department of Foreign Affairs