<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This paper presents the context and background of local economic development (LED). The paper defines LED, looks at the development policy context and operating environments and addresses how donors are responding within a rapidly changing global environment. The paper also summarises lessons learned and the arguments for and against undertaking strategically planned LED as operational approach for employment creation, improvements in governance processes and poverty reduction.</p></div>

This information note discusses the relevance of monitoring and evaluation for LED. It summarises conclusions of a longer study "Evaluating Local Economic Development – In Search of Practical Solutions" and provides evidence of economic and governance gains from the programme APODER in Peru.

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The DCED Standard for Measuring and Reporting Results has attracted much interest and feedback. Based on this feedback, the Standard has now been further enhanced and streamlined. This new version is now available for consultation. You are welcome to provide your feedback to the DCED!</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>SDC&#39;s financial sector policy describes the strategic orientation, operational principles and instruments of SDC&#39;s activities in financial sector development. A must for everybody working in an SDC financial sector project!</p></div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">SDC ascribes the partnership with the private sector high value. The upcoming face-to-face event of the employment and income (e+i) network sets this issue as overarching topic. Previous e-discussions of the vocational skills development (VSD) network also centred on the important element of private sector participation in VSD. In this scope, the network discussed the topic of cooperation with the private sector in 2009, and in 2011 and 2012 the discussion revolved around the question of how to ensure that VSD programmes are labour market-oriented. In this context, one of the traditionally most important ways to collaborate with the private sector was discussed: participation in the development of occupational standards, certification and assessment. The discussion at hand aims to tie up to the precedent discussions, build-up on and further develop the previous findings and thereby focus on different roles of the private sector.</div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This introduction was&nbsp;made for VET practitioners in development cooperation who want to better understand and analyse how VET systems function and how their different elements interrelate.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Addressing <strong>governance issues in IED projects&nbsp;</strong>proves to be in an early stage and only a few regions and projects have tackled the issue explicitly. One team that has proven to be a thought leader within SDC is the Cooperation Office South Caucasus, which has produced some guiding documents for IED projects implemented in the region. Examples of projects that actively tackle governance aspects were also brought forward from Bangladesh and the occupied Palestinian territory.</div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This report <span style="font-size: 11pt;">shows how pioneer companies and organizations have sustainably increased the income and livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers around the world, by sourcing produce from them or selling products to them. This report</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">emphasizes smallholder farmers&rsquo; role as active partners rather than aid recipients by comparing the performance of 15 successful organizations worldwide.</span><span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">&nbsp;A report sponsored by&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">the<a href="https://hystra-consulting.squarespace.com/open-source-reports/">&nbsp;</a>Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation<a href="https://hystra-consulting.squarespace.com/open-source-reports/">,&nbsp;</a>Danone Ecosystem Fund<a href="https://hystra-consulting.squarespace.com/open-source-reports/">,&nbsp;</a>responsAbility Investments AG and C&amp;A Foundation.</span></p></div>

The "blue book" describes all aspects of financial sector development: policy and legal framework, regulation and supervision, access to financial markets of MFIs and describes different policy options for donors and practitioners.

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This Manual for Strategic and Operational Project Cycle Management (PCM) aims at improving Accountability for Results in SDC Financial Sector Development cooperation projects. The manual provides practice-oriented guidance to development professionals dealing with FSD projects. The manual focuses on planning, monitoring, evaluating and steering FSD initiatives. Its main audience is SDC programme management staff and partner representatives with whom projects are planned, monitored and evaluated.<a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Pages/FSD-PcM-Manual.aspx"></a></p></div>

A few years earlier, in 2003, SDC agreed to have a Donor Peer Review which you can download here. The document includes the appreciation of the Review by the Directorate of SDC and the resulting outline of the action plan based on the Review. Do you have any resources that you find of importance and relevance to this network, so please let us know at: <a href="isabelle.dauner@helvetas.org">isabelle.dauner@helvetas.org</a>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>A very brief (2 pages) overview on the topic, explaining the terminology, the constraints and the challenges</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>SUBTITLE &quot;Guiding principles for donors and governments&quot;. In 2010, SDC published a Project Cycle Management (PCM) handbook for preparing, implementing and evaluating financial sector development projects: A Manual on Managing Cooperation in Financial Sector Development. This paper provides complementary information specific to projects dealing with agricultural and catastrophe insurance (thereafter referred to as &ldquo;ACI&rdquo;). It aims to provide high-level guidance on designing or assessing ACI projects and includes a section on monitoring, too.</p></div>

This note presents all important concepts of social performance of microfinance institutions: definitions; benefits of social performance management; a presentation of social performance assessment approaches, including the presentation of 10 tools of poverty assessment/social performance management; the description of different social rating approaches. The publication contains boxes with case studies.

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The document complements SDC&rsquo;s implementation guide for governance as a transversal theme and provides hands-on tools for practitioners who are about to design a new development intervention (or review an ongoing intervention). It is not specific to PSD projects.</p></div>

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This case describes how GEMS3 has assessed the results of interventions to improve tax harmonisation, and how they assessed their impact at target enterprise level.

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Berufsbildung Factsheet Information 2 Seiten</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Voc<strong>ational skills development (VSD) is a cornerstone of Swiss development cooperation.</strong> Vocational training bridges the world of education with the world of work: graduates increase their chances of finding decent employment and earning a better income. A skilled workforce raises companies&rsquo; competitiveness. As such, VSD has a direct bearing on poverty alleviation and on social and economic development.</p><p>The Factsheet on VSD has been updated (English, german and french versions available!)</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Facteur d&eacute;terminant dans les r&eacute;volutions qui ont secou&eacute; les pays d&rsquo;Afrique du Nord en 2011, le ch&ocirc;mage des jeunes r&eacute;sulte de leur employabilit&eacute; d&eacute;ficiente sur le march&eacute; du travail. Un projet de la DDC vise &agrave; d&eacute;velopper la formation professionnelle en Tunisie. Les jeunes universitaires, notamment, ont l&rsquo;opportunit&eacute; d&rsquo;acqu&eacute;rir des comp&eacute;tences pratiques lors de stages effectu&eacute;s dans des &laquo;entreprises d&rsquo;entra&icirc;nement &raquo;, sur le mod&egrave;le d&rsquo;exp&eacute;riences men&eacute;es de longue date en Suisse.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">In 2010 the IED network launched a series of three e-learning cycles on M4P and Value Chain Development. It focused on &quot;planning, implementing and evaluating&quot; projects and programs related to M4P and Value Chain Development (VCD). This is the synthesis paper.</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This brochure is an introduction to Switzerland&rsquo;s development cooperation activities in the area of vocational skills development. It includes a select sample of the many different projects and contexts in which we operate today.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The objective of this paper is to provide guidance on good Monitoring and Measuring Results practice with respect to the process and the roles and responsibilities of SDC program managers managing PSD programs and to enable implementing partners to design, apply, and benefit from a monitoring and results measurement system that enables learning and reporting credible results and that complies with the DCED Standard for Results Measurement.</p><p>The Good Practices paper was developed in 2016 and in late 2018 we sought feedback using an online survey and conducting in-depth interviews with SDC program managers. Find the summary of the feedback and the &nbsp;changes we have made to the paper <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/HowTo/022019_Survey%20MRM%20Results%20final%20version.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>. We have revised the version in February 2019. The Good Practices Paper is with more than 750 unique downloads among the top three of the most-downloaded resources from the DCED website.&nbsp;</p></div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This note offers the ILO&rsquo;s preliminary assessment concerning the possible impacts of COVID-19 on the world of work and proposes a range of policy options to mitigate these impacts and facilitate strong and fast recovery. On this site you can find relevant information and key documents.<br><br></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>En 2012, la Suisse a lanc&eacute; un programme pour la promotion de la production de mat&eacute;riaux de construction favorables &agrave; la pr&eacute;servation de l&rsquo;environnement. A travers ce programme, la DDC veut contribuer &agrave; minimiser l&#39;impact de la fabrication de briques sur l&#39;environnement et le climat, tout en am&eacute;liorant les moyens d&#39;existence et les conditions de travail des fabricants de briques au Rwanda, au Burundi et autour de Bukavu. Ceci passe par de nouvelles techniques de production et la production de mat&eacute;riaux de qualit&eacute; &agrave; des prix abordables. </p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This guidance sheet is one of a series written to support SDC staff in ensuring that gender issues are taken into account transversally in different thematic domains &ndash; in this case, vocational skills development (VSD). It outlines key gender issues regarding VSD and how these can be integrated in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of cooperation strategies and project interventions.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Informed by lessons learned from past public health emergencies, CARE&rsquo;s analysis report shows that COVID-19 outbreaks in development or humanitarian contexts could disproportionately affect women and girls in a number of ways, including adverse effects on their education, food security and nutrition, health, livelihoods, and protection. It also includes recommendations for different actor groups such as health service provider, donors, and development and humanitarian organizations</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>NextBillion launched a resource page gathering information on emerging opportunity trends, and events that can help impact-focused businesses and initiatives weather the crisis.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>For the past six years, 60_decibels has been investing heavily in phone-based surveys to gather high-quality feedback and social performance data. Our belief has been that, when done correctly, phone-based phone surveys can get high-quality customer data at a fraction of the cost of traditional in-person surveys. Due to the current COVID-19 Pandemic, many of the organizations conducting face-to-face research are exploring shifting some or all of their work to phone-based surveys. This tool kit captures many of the most important lessons 60_decibels has learned in conducting phone-based surveys since 2014. While it is neither complete nor exhaustive, it aspires to be a useful resource to those who need it.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This Paper outlines the factors in the business environment that have a direct impact on women-owned and managed enterprises, and the employment of women. It also describes lessons from programmes, for DCED members to identify, measure and manage gender in BER.There is an <a href="http://www.enterprise-development.org/implementing-psd/business-environment-reform/#Donor_guidance_annexes" target="_blank">Annex&nbsp;</a>to this publication that focuses on the theme of how donor and development agencies can implement gender sensitive business environment reform programmes.&nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The concept paper on the Nexus Between Vocational Skills (VSD) and Migration and Development (M&amp;D) presents an analysis of the interplay between two highly complex areas of human development. It discusses the context, interlinkages and explores possible approaches for SDC&rsquo;s GPMD to engage with stakeholders and ensure effective policy dialogue and project implementation. Three types of migration scenarios are discussed: labour migration, temporary settlements and crisis.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><strong>This SDC guidance sheet</strong> outlines key gender issues regarding <strong>women&rsquo;s economic empowerment in MSD</strong> and how these can be integrated in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of cooperation strategies and project interventions. Some existing familiarity with MSD terminology is assumed.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This note is addressed to programme staff of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and other interested development professionals. Its aim is to help them to assess the effectiveness of their activities and their support especially with regard to the possible effects of subsidies. The paper consciously abstains from giving a comprehensive theoretical overview on the complex topic of subsidies, but focuses rather on common practical questions and concerns in development cooperation.</p><p><br>In Chapters 1 and 2, a short overview on the delimitation of subsidies is given, without going deeply into the theory of Economics and Social Welfare.</p><p>Chapter 3 lays out the rationale for subsidies especially with regard to governments and development agencies.</p><p>Chapter 4 provides an overview of the most common types of subsidies in development cooperation, with practical examples as illustrations.</p><p>Chapter 5 lists a series of important questions to be asked or looked into at the time of project and programme planning, implementation and monitoring.</p><p>Chapter 6 summarizes important lessons learnt with regard to objectives, policies and results. They build on the examples given in Chapter 4.</p><p>Chapter 7 draws attention to some readings on subsidies related to development work.</p></div>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt;"><font style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt;" color="#000000">The Global Programme Food Security and the Employment and Income Focal Point are pleased to share this Global Brief on “Agricultural Insurance: offering hope forthe future to smallholder farmers”. <o:p style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt;"></o:p></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p><font size="2" color="#000000">&nbsp;</font></o:p></span></i><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10pt;"><font color="#000000">For smallholder farmers in developing countries, extreme weather events, such as droughts or floods, can cause substantial losses and jeopardize their livelihoods. Supporting insurance schemes for smallholder farmers means offering them the possibility to manage the many risks confronting them more effectively, protecting their investments and increasing their resilience.</font></span></i></p>

<p><span style="color: rgb(47, 47, 47); font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The books&nbsp;main focus lies on the analysis of educational cooperation in the context of poverty reduction and economic assistance. The authors cover everything from the first programmes to a new generation of programmes yet to come. To order the book click <a href="http://www.hep-verlag.ch/exportartikel-berufsbildung" target="_blank"><font color="#2f2f2f" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12px;">he</span></font><font color="#2f2f2f" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12px;">re</span></font></a>.</span></p>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;'>We have closed a program called Market Access for the Rural Poor program through value chain support (MARP) 2012-2016. The project, results achieved and lessons learned are described in the reader-friendly Asia Brief on the MARP project. With the positive results achieved.</span></p></div>

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El encuentro se orientó por el siguiente objetivo y resultados esperados: Objetivo general.- Generar orientaciones útiles para la aplicación del enfoque sistémico de desarrollo de mercados a partir de lecciones aprendidas desde experiencias prácticas latinoamericanas, para contribuir a mayor sostenibilidad e impacto de las acciones de desarrollo. Resultados esperados.- 1. Se ha rescatado aprendizajes, dificultades y factores de éxito en la aplicación. 2. Se ha identificado instrumentos útiles para diferentes etapas del proceso. 3. Se ha construido pautas orientadoras para la implementación del enfoque a futuro. 4. Se ha generado un espacio de aprendizaje entre practicantes y se han definido temas relevantes y mecanismos útiles para intercambios y colaboraciones a nivel regional, posteriores al taller.

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The paper focuses on how the impact from development programming can be equitably distributed amongst male and female beneficiaries. It focuses on the Alliances Lesser Caucasus Programme (ALCP) in Georgia and examines how to put gender and Women&rsquo;s Economic Empowerment (WEE) into practice in M4P.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This guidance note provides an annotated outline of a program-specific MRM Manual illustrated with examples from actual programs. The note will provide readers with a good understanding and practical examples of what to include in a program-specific MRM manual. Annexed to the guidance note are full MRM manuals from various programs.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This case is part of a guidance paper that provides an overview of the most common attribution methods and offers guidance on how to select the most appropriate attribution method for the diversity of interventions within their given context. This paper also documents the ways in which four programs selected and implemented four different attribution methods. It explains how ALCP assessed their impact in the livestock sector and why ALCP considers this particular attribution method the most appropriate way to assess the impact of their interventions. It also explains how they carried out the measurements.</p></div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This case study was done less than two years after the project started supporting key market actors in the IT sector. It was therefore unlikely to already demonstrate the full eventual impact of the IT firms on jobs for young women and men. Two leading actors of the IT sector in BiH &ndash; HUB 387 and Bit Alliance &ndash; were used as entry to stimulate broader changes in the sector. The MarketMakers project were able to bring about greater awareness of IT as a career choice and an increasing number of students choosing IT education; improved public-private dialogue for changing perceptions of the IT sector in Government and the growth of trust between the Government and the private sector; and trust and interaction among IT private firms where entrepreneurship and innovation are valued, encouraging small companies and start-ups to grow more aggressively.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><span lang="EN-GB" style='font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;'>This case study outlines the experience of the FinMark Trust, an organisation formed in 2002 to address the problem of access to financial services. FinMark saw the solution to improved access as engaging better functioning financial markets &ndash; with &ldquo;making (financial) markets work for the poor&rdquo; (M4P) &ndash; and this has been the focus of their work. Their initial experience indicates considerable success, with potentially major implications for financial services interventions globally.&nbsp;</span></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 99.25pt; line-height: normal;">A review of insights gained by Samriddhi in its support to livestock-related and medicinal plant value chains in rural Bangladesh</p><p><br></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This publication provides a glimpse into how Katalyst is realising systemic change by making market systems more inclusive. As a result of these systemic changes, private companies are changing their business models as they recognise the vast potential of including small farmers in their customer base, the public sector is fulfilling its role of supporting the poor more effectively by creating conducive enabling environments, and small farmers are ultimately empowered to increase their incomes and improve their livelihoods</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This case study is part of a series of case studies which illustrate the potential of the market development approach and the challenges faced in its implementation. It presents Katalyst&rsquo;s experience. This case study is part of a series of case studies which illustrate the potential of the market development approach and the challenges faced in its implementation</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This case study is part of a series of case studies which illustrate the potential of the market development approach and the challenges faced in its implementation. This case study shares Katalyst&rsquo;s experience from 2005 to 2011 in working with relevant public and private sector players to make ICT work for farmers in Bangladesh. It demonstrates how innovative service offers can be delivered to farmers and what actions were taken to instill a greater degree of systemic change in this sector.<br><br></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This case study on rural marketing explains how to unlock economic potentials and how to create economic incentives to change the way entrepreneurs work. The study tells how to reach many of the entrepreneurs in an efficient way while asking if it really addresses the structural problems or just symptoms.<br><br></p></div>

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mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} </style> <![endif]--> This document deals with the experience of KATALYST and its partner, Syngenta, an input supplier, in seeking to redress very low production levels of vegetables in the Rangpur region. It highlights the importance of knowledge and information in improving agriculture performance - and the opportunity presented by this &ndash; and poses challenges for agencies in how to intervene effectively to stimulate more effective and large-scale market development.</p><p><br></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This Glossary includes the most important MSD/M4P terminologies and definitions.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Despite tremendous progress in access to life-saving medicines against HIV, TB, malaria and other diseases, large parts of the population in low- and middle-income countries still do not have timely access to essential therapeutic products. Reasons for this range from high prices to inadequate procurement and supply systems, and to the geographical inaccessibility of health products and poverty of people in need. Weak national medicines evaluation and registration procedures are a neglected dimension. The Federal Department of Home Affairs and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs have therefore joined forces to accelerate access to therapeutic products and other health interventions in resource-constrained countries by focusing on the regulatory approval process.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Le Guide Operationnel de la demarche &ldquo;Faire Fonctionner les March&eacute;s au Benefice des Pauvres (M4P)&rdquo;, 2015: The second edition of the well-known operational guide for the M4P/MSD approach is now available in French.&nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Gu&iacute;a operacional del enfoque &ldquo;Lograr que los mercados funcionen para los pobres (M4P)&rdquo; 2015: The second edition of the well-known operational guide for the M4P/MSD approach is now available in Spanish! Check it out here:&nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Back in 2004, the SDC published the first version of Mobilising savings&ndash; Key Issues and Good Practices in Promoting Savings. The document provided an overview of the needs and demands of low-income households for savings services, as well as savings mobilisation from the perspective of a financial institution and the regulatory financial authorities in developing and transition countries. It was conceived as a tool for SDC staff and partners as well as for all other persons involved in the promotion of savings services by financial institutions.</div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><br></div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">This publication was updated in 2018, showing the progress of the topic since 2004, providing a deeper insight on new trends and highlighting once again the importance of mobilising savings. The Savings &amp; Credit Forum on formal saving services held in September 2017 also revived the discussion on savings, from which insights fed into this document.</div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><br></div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">The below versions in Spanish and French are still the ones from 2004.&nbsp;</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>In 2017 the Donor Committee for dual Vocational Education and Training (DC dVET) wants amongst others proactively promote the thematic exchange among its members in the countries of Western Balkans, the Republic of Moldova and South Caucasus as well as francophone countries of West Africa. The exchange includes a regional workshop in each of the regions, i.e. on the 27/28 June 2017 in Tirana (Albania) and in late November 2017 in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). In addition, the DC dVET is conducting a study in cooperation with Prof. Dr. D. Euler (University of St. Gallen) that reveals the roles and responsibilities of the private sector in dual VET and illustrates concrete experiences of its members in development cooperation. For more information see Information Letter 2017 or the DC dVET Website (<a href="https://www.dcdualvet.org/" target="_blank">www.dcdualvet.ch</a>).&nbsp;</p></div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Economic development is essential for tackling unemployment and poverty. Small and micro enterprises are the backbone of most developing economies. An enabling business environment as well as properly functioning markets and institutions are needed to ensure that these firms can realise their potential and thus contribute to job creation and higher incomes.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><strong>Updated Version 2022&nbsp;</strong>- For SDC, education is a priority theme and comprises both basic education and vocational skills development. The SDC Education Strategy sets out how we will reach this objective through our bilateral and multilateral engagement. It provides guidance to the SDC&rsquo;s South Cooperation, Cooperation with Eastern Europe, Global Cooperation as well as Humanitarian Aid and inspires the SDC&rsquo;s cooperation strategies and its global and multilateral programmes.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The team from Handicap International produced a short and worth reading paper about their approach to achieve socioeconomic&nbsp; inclusion&nbsp;for&nbsp;victims of mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) and persons with disabilities in the departments of Cauca, Nari&ntilde;o and C&oacute;rdoba of Colombia.&nbsp;</p><p>Both VSD and PSD elements are applied, and a participatory approach is practised.&nbsp;We are happy to distribute their work and would&nbsp;<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 16.4067px;">encourage&nbsp;</span>other&nbsp;<span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 16.4067px;">practitioners&nbsp;</span>to share their experiences.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Paper presented to the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency Wednesday, 12 November 2014, Berne.</p><p>NQF policy proposals invariably consist of general design statements followed by claims as to what an NQF or NVQF will achieve. In other words, they tell the reader what a qualification framework is and what it is assumed it will achieve when implemented. What they do not address is the specific problems of the existing system and how developing an NQF or NVQF might help to overcome them. Instead, where frameworks are seen as desirable, policy makers should start by considering what qualifications can do, not all the problems in their system which they wish could be solved. Starting with a framework of outcomes and levels and then trying to make them &lsquo;proxies&rsquo; for skills is to invert the way that the most successful qualification systems have been developed.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This short tool was developed to help SDC practitioners and SDC partners in dealing with national (vocational) qualifications frameworks, a mega-trend spreading around the world. It is a small first-aid kit, not a comprehensive presentation and analysis of the topic. It&nbsp;puts together the basic ideas of NQFs, provides you with key analytical questions to be asked and key features to be supported, identifies typical vested interests, weaknesses and pitfalls of NQFs, suggests strategies to follow when engaged in concrete situations, and provides ideas on further reading.</p></div>

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This strategic paper has been supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). It is a contribution to the preparation of the new 2018-2022 SDC strategy for Southern Africa. It aims at helping SDC to identify relevant themes and critical issues to better take into account young people in its programs related to food security and agriculture in the region.

<p>GASTKOMMENTAR von Markus Maurer, Matthias Jäger und Martin Fässler 20.4.2017. Die «Dualisierung» ganzer Berufsbildungssysteme in Partnerländern muss skeptisch beurteilt werden.<br></p>

<p>Why and how formal savings services matter to low-income and vulnerable households<br></p>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><div class="page" title="Page 2"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="font-size: 9pt;">In the dispatch on Switzerland&rsquo;s International Cooperation 2017 &ndash; 2020, VSD is identified as a key theme, alongside basic education. At the end of 2016, the SDC was implementing 54 core Vocational Skills Development (VSD) projects and Private Sector Development projects with significant VSD components.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 12px;">This</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">&nbsp;document provides more information about the 2016 VSD&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: 12px;">portfolio</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">&nbsp;and its characteristics.</span></p></div></div></div></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>On 4th September 2017, SDC hosted an event to present and discuss the book &ldquo;Exportartikel Berufsbildung?&rdquo; (Export Article VET?) &ndash; a new and highly recommended standard work for VSD professionals. This is the summary of the discussion during the event.&nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>List of references - publications and websites</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); letter-spacing: 0.3pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These are the slides for the report:&nbsp;</span><span class="ng-binding" style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.3pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span><a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/To%20SORT/Themes/VSD/SDC%20-%20Report%20-%20Analysis%20of%20the%20SDCs%20VSD%20Portfolio%202016%20-%202017(en).pdf?web=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: underline; outline: 0px;" target="_blank">The SDC&#39;s portfolio in Vocational Skills Development: Key figures 2016</a>.&nbsp;</span></span></span></p></div>

This publication presents a collection of articles on technical and vocational skills development in the informal sector (TVSD). It spotlights practical project examples from different countries, using different approaches. By doing this, the publication disseminates contributions to the 4th Bonn Conference on Adult Education and Development (BoCAED IV) that focuses on analysing the unique setting of Youth and Adult Education and non-formal learning in TVSD in the urban informal sector, highlighting the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders involved and identifying best practices by fostering dialog.

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>the 2015 edition of the Global Inventory of Regional and National Qualifications Frameworks Volume II: National and Regional Cases serves as an observatory of progress made in the area of national qualifications frameworks (NQFs). Seven regional qualifications frameworks and the national cases of eighty-six countries, highlighted in the publication, illustrate that learning outcomes are useful tools for reforming education and training and promoting lifelong learning systems</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This is the report of an international research project conducted by the Skills and Employability Department of the ILO on the implementation of National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) and their use and impact. The research aimed to produce empirical evidence and analysis of countries&rsquo; experiences as a basis for advising countries on whether, and if so, then how, to introduce a qualifications framework as part of a strategy to achieve their wider skills development and employment goals.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Background paper prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2012.</p><p><strong>Read it <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/pdf/gmr2012-ED-EFA-MRT-PI-08.pdf">here</a>.</strong></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>International migration flows are not a new global trend. What is new is the number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) among these migrants. Around the world, more than 65 million people are currently displaced. That is almost 15 million more than three years ago (51.2 million in 2013).</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Based on a comprehensive approach that encompasses all forms of human mobility, the GPMFD ensures a coherent engagement on migration within the SDC and together with its partners in the Federal Administration. It allows consistent implementation of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus in line with Switzerland&rsquo;s foreign migration policy. The present GPMFD Programme Framework 2022&ndash;25 represents the strategic orientation of the SDC&rsquo;s engagement on migration. It focuses on the following three components: (i) safe labour migration, (ii) inclusion and social cohesion for migrants and their host communities, and (iii) migrants&rsquo; contribution to the sustainable development of their countries of origin.</p></div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This publication marks a quarter of a century of EU youth programmes accompanied by EU youth policy. It brings together a range of views and highlights best practices with the aim of stimulating debate about what youth work and non-formal learning can contribute, alongside other sectors, to European education. From diverse viewpoints, it reviews EU cooperation in the field, points to successes and sets out possible future scenarios, particularly in the context of the Erasmus+ programme (2014-2020).</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Globally, 73 million youth are registered unemployed. Considering how many aren&rsquo;t registered, this number is actually much higher. 620 million are currently not in employment, education or training (NEET), according to the World Bank. Meanwhile, with 600 million young slated to enter the job market in the next decade &ndash; with only 200 million jobs awaiting them &ndash; the youth unemployment crisis is not projected to improve anytime soon. The post-2015 development agenda is prioritising decent work and economic growth in its Sustainable Development Goal 8, but &ldquo;promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all&rdquo; requires targeted solutions.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><span lang="EN-GB" style='font-size:10.5pt; 107%;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;'>The guidance aims to help the projects to successfully design and manage MRM systems that are both solid and realistic. Unlike other MRM manuals, the focus is not on what project should do, but on what projects can do when facing certain challenges during the design or implementation of the MRM system. We have tried to use many practical examples to illustrate the various MRM challenges our projects are experiencing and to describe the solutions or strategies that are being used to overcome these problems. Download a <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/HowTo/PSD%20Summary_Guidance_Rightsizing%20MRM%20system.pdf" target="_blank">summary version here</a>. You might also enjoy a <a href="http://blog.helvetas.org/learning-expedition-with-15-projects-on-monitoring-and-results-measurement/" target="_blank">blog post</a> on the &quot;learning expedition&quot; that has let to this publication.&nbsp;</span></p><div><div><div class="msocomtxt" id="_com_1" language="JavaScript"><!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><br></div><!--[endif]--></div></div></div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Fragile Kontexte ver&auml;ndern die Art und Weise wie die Instrumente der klassischen Diplomatie und Entwicklungszusammenarbeit eingesetzt werden k&ouml;nnen. Eine empirisch informierte Auseinandersetzung mit der Wirkung von Fragilit&auml;t auf Ma&szlig;nahmen der internationalen Zusammenarbeit ist daher dringend geboten. Vor diesem Hintergrund fragt die Studie, wie Fragilit&auml;t von der deutschen Bundesregierung unterst&uuml;tzte Ma&szlig;nahmen der beruflichen Bildung beeinflusst.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This is the November newsletter of the Interagency Group on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The Report on Effectiveness 2017 presents the achieved results of the international cooperation of SDC and SECO in the field of employment between 2005-2014. Independent experts have assessed the effectiveness of more 72 projects and programs. The report also shows which factors have influenced the effectiveness. The SDC and SECO regularly produce reports on effectiveness in order to analyze the achieved results of their interventions in certain thematic fields.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>People tend to associate the cost of a job with the salaries and benefits paid to a worker. But for that worker to be able to do something useful, he needs to have the equipment and presumably a place where to operate. The business hiring the worker most likely will have to buy insurance and pay for different types of permits, plus basic services such as water and ... [<a href="http://blogs.worldbank.org/jobs/how-much-does-it-cost-create-job?cid=SHR_BlogSiteShare_XX_EXT">more</a>]</p></div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">The summary paper of the e-discussion recognizes &nbsp;that there are important synergies between work in local economic development and in democratization, decentralization and local governance (DDLG). LED is a relevant approach for SDC as the approach integrates inclusive economic development and local governance, two priority topics for SDC. LED allows SDC to have a closer connection to an area and its local communities. LED is a way to empower people and include them in decision-making, which can reduce causes for conflicts.</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Presentation on LED with examples from Honduras, Nicaragua, Mali, Georgia and Bangaldesh.</div>

<p>Our colleague Zenebe Uraguchi (HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation) has edited this book together with his colleague Essam Mohammed (IIED, London).&nbsp;</p><p><span style="font-size: 1.1em; letter-spacing: 0.4px;">The key objective of the book is to provide practical case studies of financial inclusion, rather than focus on academic debates such as the ideological basis of promoting microfinance. Using the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals as an overall framing of the issues, it shows how poor and disadvantaged women and men can be bankable if the right facilitation for maximizing opportunities and addressing constraints are in place.</span><br></p><p><span style="font-size: 1.1em; letter-spacing: 0.4px;">&gt;&gt; read <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Financial-Inclusion-for-Poverty-Alleviation-Issues-and-Case-Studies-for/Mohammed-Uraguchi/p/book/9781138102767" target="_blank">more </a>and have a look at the table of contents&nbsp;</span><br></p><p><span style="font-size: 1.1em; letter-spacing: 0.4px;">&gt;&gt; or read the blog post:&nbsp; "</span><font color="#519aa1"><span style="font-size: 15.73px;"><u>We wrote a book and this is what we learnt about financial inclusion"</u></span></font><span style="font-size: 1.1em; letter-spacing: 0.4px;">&nbsp;by Zenebe himself, giving the major findings of their book.</span></p><p><br></p>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>On the 6th of June 2018, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDCinvited for its already second side-event in the run up to the international VPETCongress in Winterthur: the SDC VSD Day. With the aim to bring the particularities of the Swiss Dual System and SDC&rsquo;s engagement in Vocational Skills Development (VSD) a bit closer to the guests, a full day-program dedicated to VSD was organized... [<a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/VSD/SDC%20-%20Summary%20-%20SDC%20Day%20VET%20Congress%20June%202018%20-%202018(en).pdf">more</a>]</p></div>

<p>The CEMETS Summer Institute is part of the <a href="http://www.r4d.ch/modules/employment" style="">Swiss Programme for Research for Global Issues for Development which has a focus on employment</a>. If you've you ever wondered if you should participate in the CEMETS Summer Institute of&nbsp;education system engineering, we've collected what this year's particpants they think about their participation... [<a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/VSD/Resource%20Box/CEMETS%20Courses/CEMETS%20-%20Summer%20Institute%20-%20Collection%20of%20participant%20quotes%20-%202018(en).pdf">more</a>]</p><p><b>Additional context info</b>: Learn more about the Cemets Summer Institute <a href="stitute: http://www.cemets.ethz.ch/education/courses.html">here</a>. Visit the R4D website <a href="http://www.r4d.ch/modules/employment">here</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><h3>Final version of the report</h3><p>The 2019 World Development Report (WDR) studies the changes impacting work across different country contexts. The report reflects on jobs that are likely to disappear due to these forces of change, as well as new jobs that may emerge. It considers the implications for human capital in different contexts by analysing data on human capital accumulation in school and work. The Report also provides suggestions on how individuals, firms, society and governments can capture the opportunities this new world of work can offer... [<a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2019" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">more</a>]</p></div>

The report details Cedefop’s first cross-nation study of apprenticeships in the European Union. The point of departure for the study is what countries define and offer as apprenticeship training. It then applies a purposive approach to identifying the changes that apprenticeships are undergoing in practice, based on their design characteristics... [<a href="http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/publications-and-resources/publications/4166">more</a>]

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><strong>IMPACT BONDS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: Early Learnings from the Field</strong></p><p>In 2015, the Brookings Institution published a report on the potential and limitations of impact bonds, which chronicled the development of the first 38 impact bonds in high income countries and analyzed the landscape (Gustafsson-Wright et al., 2015). This report takes the field further forward, exploring the lessons learned in the development of impact bonds in low- and middle income countries, bringing together the findings from interviews with stakeholders and research into the impact bond space conducted by the authors over the course of a year. In addition, the report draws on discussions from an intensive daylong workshop held in London in November 2016, in which impact bond practitioners from developing countries shared their experiences and early lessons learned. The report includes a Deal Book with detailed fact sheets for all impact bonds in developing countries, featuring both the four contracted and 24 in design phases, as of August 1, 2017.</p></div>

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<p>New and emerging forms of ‘non-standard’ employment are coming to dominate young people’s early labour market experiences. Amongst these, internships are increasingly becoming an integral part of the school-to-work transition. Yet little is known about their effectiveness in providing a bridge to longer term employment and/or employability. The paper builds on existing ILO work on contractual arrangements for young people undertaken by the Youth Employment Programme, and focuses on the impact of internships on young people’s labour market experiences. </p><p> The paper reviews the existing evidence and analyses primary survey data collected by the European Commission and the Fair Internship Initiative (FII) in order to assess the design features which contribute to better internships... [<a href="http://www.skillsforemployment.org/KSP/en/Details/?dn=EDMSP1_223024">more</a>]</p>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Chapter I argues for learning from traditional training systems and identifies aspects of the &quot;crisis of vocational training&quot; that influence the effectiveness of self-employment training programmes.&nbsp;</p><p>Chapter II comprises case studies which examine the working practices of three successful vocational training for self-employment programmes</p><p>Chapter III offers a brief overview of pertinent best practice in small enterprise development, and explores a number of the design issues which influence the success of vocational training for self-employment programmes.</p><p>Chapter IV is a response to Professor King&#39;s call for practical solutions to pressing problems. This concluding chapter opens with a summary of the basic characteristics of successful vocational training for self-employment programmes.</p></div>

This practical Policy Resource Guide is the first initiative to bring together a synthesis of knowledge, policy innovations and good practices facilitating transition to formality.

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This working paper theoretical, and policy debates on the informal economy. It gives a brief historical overview of the informal sector concept and related debates and then turns to recent rethinking of the concept, detailing the expanded statistical concept of informal employment and holistic conceptual models of the composition and causes of informality.</p><p>Read it <a href="http://www.wiego.org/publications/informal-economy-definitions-theories-and-policies">here</a>.</p></div>

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Technological development is accelerating the pace of change in the global economy. This has implications for issues ranging from how workers train to what the path of development will look like in the 21st century. Helvetas Project Director Tim Sparkman sat down with Dr. Vesselina Stefanova Ratcheva, a lead author of The Future of Jobs Report 2018, from the World Economic Forum, to discuss the report’s findings and its implications for development... [<a href="https://www.helvetas.org/en/albania/how-you-can-help/follow-us/multimedia-stories/Helvetas-Mosaic/Future-of-Jobs">more</a>]

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Did you know that you can look up relevant employment + income terms in our lexicon? Find the translations in German, English, French and Spanish</div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><br></div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Tags: glossary, terms, translation, &Uuml;bersetzung, terminology</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">The 2030 Agenda calls for the most ambitious financing strategy for sustainable development yet, with a dual challenge of mobilising unprecedented volumes of resources, and leaving no one behind. Beyond public resources, private, domestic and international sources of finance are increasingly also needed. This includes taxes, private investment, philanthropy and remittances. As the paradigm of development co-operation is changing, new models are emerging in sustainable development finance.&nbsp;</div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><strong>Social impact investment (SII) </strong>not only mobilises private financing to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but, most importantly, it catalyses innovative new approaches to social, environmental and economic challenges. In addition, SII brings accountability. Social impact investment is predicated on the intention of having a social impact in addition to financial return. Therefore, defining and measuring impact is critical. As investors increasingly engage in sustainable finance, it is imperative that impact is explicitly monitored, assessed and reported. </div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This compendium identifies how digital financial inclusion can ignite faster progress toward the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and create long-lasting social and economic impact for millions of people worldwide. If you are a decision-maker in government, business, or civil society this compendium could be of interest for you. It helps to make digital financial inclusion a priority, whether it is allocating financing to build digital infrastructure, digitizing your payments, or passing regulations to ensure digital financial services can be used by everyone.</p><p>Inclusive digital financial services refer to mobile money, online accounts, electronic payments, insurance and credit, combinations of them and newer fintech apps, that reach people who were formerly excluded. Digital financial inclusion, when provided responsibly and sustainably in a well- regulated environment, not only drives growth, but also enables faster progress toward many of the other SDGs, as this compendium shows.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><h3>English</h3><p>Engaging with the Private Sector (EPS) is the SDC&rsquo;s modality to develop partnerships at eye level with Swiss, international and domestic companies, social enterprises, impact investors and grant-giving foundations. The definition of EPS refers to joint activities of the SDC and the enterprise sector with a formal collaborative arrangement. &gt;&gt; <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/VSD/Tools/SDC%20VSD%20Project%20typology%20tool%20%20Add-on%20EPS%20Version%202019-03%20%28en%29.pdf?web=1">more</a></p><h3>Francaise</h3><p>L&rsquo;engagement avec le secteur priv&eacute; (ESP) correspond &agrave; l&rsquo;approche adopt&eacute;e par la DDC pour &eacute;tablir des partenariats &laquo; d&rsquo;&eacute;gal &agrave; &eacute;gal &raquo; avec des soci&eacute;t&eacute;s priv&eacute;es, des entreprises sociales, des investisseurs et des fondations donatrices qui op&egrave;rent &agrave; l&rsquo;&eacute;chelle nationale ou internationale. &gt;&gt; <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/VSD/Tools/SDC%20DCP%20Typologie%20des%20projets%20%20Add-on%20EPS%202019-03%20%28fr%29.pdf?web=1">lire plus</a></p><h1>For all VSD typology documents <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Pages/VSD/Documents%20VSD%20typology.aspx">click here</a>.</h1></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Responding to the need for a better structured and guided project application and assessment process, in which specific VSD challenges are properly addressed from the very beginning, the e+i network developed these guidelines. Their goal is to provide additional support and ensure high quality in the development of entry and credit proposals.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This is the summary from the Face-to-Face event organised by the e+i Network and the Competence Center for Engagement with the Private Sector.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>(from page 8)</p><p>Cambodia aspires to reach upper-middle income status by 2030 and high-income status by 2050. One of the strategies to achieve this is transforming and modernising the production base from low-skill labour-intensive to high-skill technology-intensive industry. The realisation of these goals will depend on having a well-educated and well-trained workforce. Studies have shown that, in addition to quality education at all levels, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is indispensable to upgrade workforce skills and that a skilled workforce helps sustain economic growth even in times of crisis. A large majority of the Cambodian workforce is concentrated in low-skill sectors such as agriculture and garment production and the number and quality of skilled workers produced by TVET providers still fall short of demand. It is therefore imperative that Cambodia strengthens its TVET to ensure the availability of a highly skilled workforce to support industrial transformation.<br><br></p><p><br></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Using the notion of continuum implies discontinuities between constituting entities, regardless of the scope. This Study hypothesizes that these discontinuities create all kinds of problems in the fields of Education, Training and Work &amp; Employment if they are not embedded in a continuum - the assumption being that these discontinuities create and reinforce Exclusion and Inequality for the Excluded. The Continuum should allow these Excluded to &ldquo;travel&rdquo; in any component of the Continuum at any time and in any order. It means that they have the open possibility to acquire values, skills and knowledge proposed by the multiplicity of public and private stakeholders belonging to the Continuum... [<a href="https://www.reseau-education.ch/sites/default/files/docs/continuum_study_reci_2019.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">more</a>]</p><p><br></p><p>There is also an executive summary available: <a href="https://www.reseau-education.ch/sites/default/files/docs/continuum_ex_sum_reci_2019_0.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">link</a>.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><strong>A summary of lessons learned by Market Systems Development Practitioners.</strong></div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">This document aims to capture some lessons and tips on how to form and manage partnerships with Private Sector Actors.</div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><strong>Topics:&nbsp;</strong></div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">&bull; Who to partner with?&nbsp;</div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">&bull; How to find and contact partners?&nbsp;</div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">&bull; Deal making: how and what to negotiate?&nbsp;</div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">&bull; Financing: what and how?&nbsp;</div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">&bull; Contractual arrangements: what to consider?&nbsp;</div><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">&bull; Managing partnerships</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">FoW 4 African Youth1 - a conference jointly organized by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in partnership with Jacobs Foundation - aimed to enhance the understanding of the current work situation for young people across Africa and the opportunities and challenges with regard to the changing nature of work. In addition to more than 80 online participants2 , approximately 100 participants from international organizations, private sector, academia, NPOs and civil society organizations joined the event at the ILO headquarters in Geneva.</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This document provides a brief and handy introduction on MSD, based on a practical example.&nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><strong>Here&#39;s what you need to know about linking results and resources <br>and dealing with uncertainties in project planning and management:&nbsp;</strong></p><p>The Cost Benefit Analyses (CBA) &amp; The DCED Standard for Results Measurement&nbsp;</p><p>What do they have in common? What are the differences? How do programs benefit from both tools?</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>In December 2018 BEAM&rsquo;s Evidence Map held over 150 such evidence documents &ndash; meeting BEAM&rsquo;s inclusion criteria to assure their quality. By interrogating this database, this Evidence Review examines what results MSD programmes have delivered, whether they deliver value for money, and how they achieve systemic change.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>La versi&oacute;n VIII del est&aacute;ndar CDDE para la medici&oacute;n de resultados (de abril 2017) ha sido traducido al espa&ntilde;ol. Esa gu&iacute;a presenta un resumen del Est&aacute;ndar CDDE, expone los puntos de control y &nbsp;provee mayor detalle respecto &nbsp;de los criterios de conformidad para cada uno de los puntos de contro</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This brief will help practitioners to understand how to select and use common business frameworks and metrics. It is based on practical experience coming from the AWEF programme and the wider market systems development (MSD) and private sector development (PSD) practitioner community.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This paper investigates how different investor motivations vary across forms of sustainable investment strategies, in particular between broad sustainable investments and targeted impact investments.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Ibda&rsquo;a Lebanon recognized the fact that foreign-born residents make up a third of Lebanon&rsquo;s population, yet remain largely excluded from access to financial services. This diagnostic study is an in-depth market assessment to provide insights for Ibda&rsquo;a Lebanon to expand services to these populations.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This project with La Poste du Burkina aimed to combine insurance, savings and money transfer services into an innovative, complete package for Burkinab&eacute; migrants to save and protect the income they generate while working as regional migrant labour in neighbouring countries. In the end, the insurance component and the money transfer services aspects were discontinued, partly due to the regional instability that erupted in 2015. Nonetheless two savings products (education and investment) were developed and rolled out across Burkina&rsquo;s postal network with just over 3&rsquo;700 accounts having been opened.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>By combining credit to invest in certified equipment and warranty services, microleasing promised to be a fruitful approach to boost productivity of MSMEs and certain agrarian sectors in Latin America. Following the completion of a study indicating the market potential for microleasing programs, three projects were launched, one each in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Peru. In El Salvador and Nicaragua microleasing did not catch on for a variety of factors, while the Peruvian programme continues.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">The guidance sheet outlines key issues regarding women&rsquo;s financial inclusion (WFI) and how these can be integrated in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of cooperation strategies and project interventions.</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The Swiss Programme for Research on Global Issues for Development (r4d programme), co-financed by SDC and the Swiss National Science Foundation, finances research partnerships between Switzerland and African, Asian and Latin American countries in order to provide policy-makers with scientific and development-relevant knowledge. The r4d programme focuses on five thematic areas: social conflicts, ecosystems, public health, <strong>food security and employment</strong>.<br><br>The latter two areas are of particular relevance for the readers of this newsletter. A dedicated session on the r4d programme took place at the F2F event of the e+i and EPS networks in May 2019 in Solothurn. In October 2019, the r4d program launched its new <a href="http://www.k4d.ch" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Knowledge for Development platform</a>. It portrays evidence-based research information tailor-made for an interested public and professionals in the field of sustainable development cooperation. A filter function helps you to find easily the content of your interests.</p><p>The platform will be constantly growing and fed with new outputs from the r4d projects and r4d syntheses are published throughout the next years. We invite you to visit the <a href="http://www.k4d.ch" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">platform&nbsp;</a>- a contribution to transformative knowledge societies taking forward sustainable development at local, regional and global scales.</p><p><br></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This guide will be discussed during the part 2 and part 3 of the webinars series ICT4VET.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Slides for the second <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/ei/Pages/Content/Profiles.aspx?SmartID=2449&item1=2019-09%20ICT4VET" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">webinar ICT4VET</a> (November 2019).</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Slides for the third webinar ICT4VET (December 2019). </p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Costing tool ICT4education presented during part three of the webinar series <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/ei/Pages/Content/Profiles.aspx?SmartID=2449&item1=2019-09%20ICT4VET" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ICT4VET</a>.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This document is a guidance paper for SDC head office and cooperation office staff.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>This is the updated version 2022 in English and French. The Spanish version is from 2017.</strong></p><p>The guidance document provides advice for SDC staff on how to manage projects using a market systems approach. Advice is provided for developing the initial project idea and formal entry proposal, the tender process, the inception phase, credit proposal and implementation phase, steering and monitoring, evaluation and preparation of a following phase.</p><p>Ce document est un guide d&#39;orientation interne destin&eacute; au personnel du si&egrave;ge de la DDC et des bureaux de coop&eacute;ration.</p><p>Ce guide fournit des conseils au personnel de la DDC sur la mani&egrave;re de g&eacute;rer des projets utilisant une approche des syst&egrave;mes de march&eacute;. Des conseils sont fournis sur les activit&eacute;s du personnel autour du d&eacute;veloppement de l&#39;id&eacute;e initiale du projet et de la proposition d&#39;entr&eacute;e en mati&egrave;re, du processus d&#39;appel d&#39;offres, de la phase de d&eacute;marrage, de la proposition de cr&eacute;dit et de la phase de mise en &oelig;uvre, du pilotage et du suivi, de l&#39;&eacute;valuation et de la pr&eacute;paration de la phase suivante.</p><p>There is also a <strong>short video&nbsp;</strong>with explanation and overview of the guidance paper &nbsp;- <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OJaQbJaWFo" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>see video in English</strong></a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7b4UD1FH3s" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>see video in French</strong></a></p><p>Further, there is a <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/PSD/Market%20System%20Development%20MSD/MSD_Guidance_Dissemination_Draft_Brief_Decision_Makers.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>brief for decision-makers</strong></a><a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/PSD/Market System Development MSD/MSD_Guidance_Dissemination_Draft_Brief_Decision_Makers.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a> and <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/PSD/Market%20System%20Development%20MSD/MSD_Guidance_Poster.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>poster</strong></a><strong>&nbsp;</strong>that can be printed and displayed in your office to make people aware of the guidance&nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) is a widely used approach for assessing whether the benefits of a particular action are greater than its costs over a given period of time.&nbsp;This also applies to VSD: In the application and assessment of a new project idea as well as in monitoring and project evaluations we would like to know if the expected benefits (for example: higher incomes for graduates) are greater than the costs of the project.</p><p>Therefore, a working aid and this rather simple Excel workbook have been developed. Their aim is to support SDC program officers, project implementers, consultants and other stakeholders in assessing costs and benefits of VSD interventions, be it in the planning stage of a project (ex ante), for monitoring purposes (ex inter) or as part of a mid-term or end of phase evaluation (ex post).&nbsp;</p><p>Both documents are currently available as beta-versions that need further testing and discussion. We (Andrea Inglin of the e+i focal point and Roman Troxler of the VSD backstopping team) would be happy to get your feedback with regards to its user-friendliness and applicability in your contexts.</p><p>&gt;&gt; have a look at the <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/VSD/Tools/2020%20CBA-WorkingAid_beta_version.pdf">Working Aid</a></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><strong>Vocational Skills Development (VSD)</strong> is a cornerstone of Swiss development cooperation. This paper aims to help SDC operations to clearly define the approach and orientation of their VSD interventions, to select the right partners, and thus to manage their Project (Portfolio) in line with the relevant SDC strategies, the policy goals of partner countries, and professional standards. The paper also supports the formulation of realistic and plausible expectations predominantly regarding the outcomes and Impact of VSD projects across time.</p><p>The <strong>translation&nbsp;</strong>of the SDC VET Typology Tool into Romanian and Russian was organized by the co-financed GIZ VET project in Moldova.</p><p>An <strong>english</strong>, <strong>french and romanian version</strong> and <strong>topic specific add-ons</strong> are available &gt;&gt;<a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Pages/VSD/Documents%20VSD%20typology.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Vocational Skills Development (VSD) is a cornerstone of Swiss development cooperation. This paper aims to help SDC operations to clearly define the approach and orientation of their VSD interventions, to select the right partners, and thus to manage their Project (Portfolio) in line with the relevant SDC strategies, the policy goals of partner countries, and professional standards. The paper also supports the formulation of realistic and plausible expectations predominantly regarding the outcomes and Impact of VSD projects across time.</p><p>The translation of the SDC VET Typology Tool into Romanian and Russian was organized by the co-financed GIZ VET project in Moldova.</p><p>Further information:<strong>&nbsp;</strong>An <strong>english</strong>, <strong>french and russian version</strong> and <strong>topic specific add-ons</strong> are available <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Pages/VSD/Documents%20VSD%20typology.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This note offers the ILO&rsquo;s preliminary assessment concerning the possible impacts of COVID-19 on the world of work and proposes a range of policy options to mitigate these impacts and facilitate strong and fast recovery.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The European Commission launched an online survey to capture the variety of initiatives undertaken on learning and teaching in times of Covid-19. This website lists useful tools, modules and links.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Ongoing e-discussion on Continuing online learning and skills development in times of the COVID-19 crisis by the ILO.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>An independent report on approaches to distance learning during the COVID19 school closures</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>ITC is providing insights and guidance to small businesses searching for ways to cope with the operational stress generated by COVID-19. This will also be a useful resource for business support organizations and policymakers assisting MSMEs in these efforts.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>DCED, a partner where SDC is actively involved, has a page that compiles ideas and resources on how donor and development agencies might adjust their private sector development (PSD) interventions to mitigate the negative social and economic impacts of the Coronavirus, and to stimulate economic recovery as well as resilience to future outbreaks.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>NextBillion launched a series of blog posts on &quot;Enterprise in times of Corona&quot; with posts varying from financial health to the role of the mobile money market. This series will explore how the pandemic is affecting communities and businesses in emerging and low-income markets, and how enterprises and development organizations can respond to the grave challenges it is raising.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Relevant extracts from ongoing discussions between practitioners on &quot;Markets and COVID-19&quot; and &quot;Saving Groups and COVID-19&quot; are shared on the BEAM Exchange website. The <a href="https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdgroups.org%2Fdfid%2Fmic%2F&data=02%7C01%7CAnnick.Vollmar%40helvetas.org%7Cce0376f635ee4bcdcbfe08d7daf4d99f%7C060d649d2c9344d28200a3eb9f3c4160%7C0%7C0%7C637218617474122661&sdata=crAhjnA4u7W1b7U6p6fRMREPdhnizolaoAQwpacGdmg%3D&reserved=0">Markets in Crises community</a> is composed of humanitarian practitioners with a diverse range of skills and experiences who use markets-based approaches to crises around the world. The currently most <a href="https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbeamexchange.org%2Fconversations%2F8509%2F&data=02%7C01%7CAnnick.Vollmar%40helvetas.org%7Cce0376f635ee4bcdcbfe08d7daf4d99f%7C060d649d2c9344d28200a3eb9f3c4160%7C0%7C0%7C637218617474132653&sdata=0VRKffeH%2F8CY%2BxXbj5M1ick4rE3Grgaji4e%2FlEwWSlA%3D&reserved=0">active thread</a> began with these three questions: What measures are being taken in our humanitarian/development market-based programmes to adapt to and prepare for the spread of Covid19? Any tips or advice for working with traders/FSPs and allowing market exchange to take place in a safe way? Any opportunities for collaboration and sharing of learning?</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This page contains links to resources on business resilience and disaster recovery. As the situation with coronavirus (COVID-19) evolves, Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship stands ready to help social enterprises navigate the significant challenges they are facing. This page contains Miller Center as well as external produced resources, funding opportunities and other support initiatives&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Ongoing e-discussion &laquo;Moving to online TVET learning in response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak &ndash; challenges and experiences&raquo; of UNEVOC</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Socialsuite is donating its impact monitoring technology to your organization for the purpose of monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on your people. This tool helps to (i) understand and act on the sentiment, fears and aspirations of your people during this critical time; (ii) gain ongoing insights on your people&rsquo;s greatest areas of need, and be able to allocate resources towards these areas; (iii) understand if your initiatives are working; and (iv) promptly refine and adjust initiatives based on your people&rsquo;s feedback</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">A blog by women&#39;s world banking: &quot;<strong>Continuity in a crisis - exploring reactions to the Covid-19 outbreak among providers of financial services for low-income women</strong>&quot;. It looks at main concerns among Financial Service Providers, at new opportunities to support clients, at what has been learned so far and gives a list of additional resources.</div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This case study describes how &quot;Skills for Jobs &quot;(S4J) launched and developed an apprenticeship system that meets the requirements of the private sector and describes the results in terms of graduates being more employable. This case also highlights how the program developed an appropriate monitoring system and how the program assesses the impact of this intervention, while dealing with attribution in this challenging context. We hope that different programs and stakeholders will be inspired by the learning acquired in the S4J program, both in terms of designing and managing sustainable interventions in VET and in terms of the ways in which an appropriate Monitoring and Results Measurement system helps to manage interventions and report credible impact.</p></div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) currently supports measures by privately owned companies that significantly alleviate the negative impact of the corona pandemic in developing or emerging-market countries. Suitable projects can be funded with up to 200.000 EUR, in exceptional cases and in compliance with EU law higher funding may be possible. The public contribution can reach up to 100% of the project costs.</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This policy brief shines a light on some of the key challenges faced by women during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and proposes early steps that governments can take to mitigate negative consequences for women and for society at large. Many of these policies affect both women and men, but special attention needs to be devoted to reducing rather than exacerbating existing gender inequalities.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><strong>Guide: How to design distance learning solutions</strong></p><p>The questions outlined in this document can help you finding out quickly, if it is possible to implement distance learning in your situation &ndash; and guide you in designing an effective online learning/teaching solution, avoiding some of the most common pitfalls.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Various actors in vocational skills development (VSD) have started to launch distance learning offers to support apprentices &amp; VET students under COVID-19 restrictions. Some could build on existing experience and solutions from the last years. Others have to start from scratch.&nbsp;</p><p>SDC e+i network supports project leaders and programme offices in the challenging task of designing, implementing and controlling distance learning offers during and after the corona crisis.</p><p><a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Pages/Content/Profiles.aspx?SmartID=759&item1=technology%20enhanced%20learning" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&gt;&gt; Read more</a></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><strong>Kick-off webinar ICT4VET Community of Practice &ndash; our response to COVID-19</strong></p><p>In this webinar we will start elaborating an overview of distance learning solutions and implementation approaches to tackle the challenge of maintaining VET under COVID-19 restrictions. The output of this webinar will form the basis for our future COP activities.</p><p><a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Pages/Content/Event-Detail.aspx?ItemID=1994" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&gt;&gt; Read more</a> and join us on the <strong>7th and 8th of May!</strong></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Mapping education and training responses to the health crisis in partner countries of the European Training Foundation (ETF).&nbsp;</p><p>Updated version</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This policy brief focuses on key issues, exploring how women and girls&rsquo; lives are changing in the face of COVID-19, and outlining suggested priority measures to accompany both the immediate response and longer-term recovery effort</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>How to support key learning activities under COVID-19 restrictions</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><strong>UNESCO COVID-19 Education Response Webinar #8 on Skills development during the COVID-19 pandemic and preparing for recovery</strong></p><p>This webinar will take place on Thursday, <strong>7 May 2020 from 13h00 to 14h30 (CEST).</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Pages/Content/Event-Detail.aspx?ItemID=1999" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&gt;&gt; know more</a> and join in!</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">The World Bank Group is deploying up to $160 billion in long-term financial support over the next 15 months &ndash; with an emphasis on policy-based financing and protecting the poorest households. This fact sheet gets updated regularly.</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Presentation of the ICT4VET Corona-19 CoP Kick-off: overview of design and implementation aspects</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">UNESCO organises weekly webinars about the educational dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The #8th one was on &gt;&gt;&nbsp;<a href="https://en.unesco.org/events/skills-development-during-pandemic-and-preparing-recovery-covid-19-education-webinar-8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">skills development during the pandemic and preparing for recovery.</a></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This link provides further information on the World Bank Groups long-term financial support of USD 160 billion over the next 15 months</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>ADA Microfinance website includes helpful documents for MFI&rsquo;s to deal with the COVID-19 situation. It includes for example, a tool to develop different scenarios and stress testing or a guide of good practices to adapt to face the risk of pandemic in the microfinance sector.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Devex provides an analysis of funding opportunities: Since the beginning of 2020, more than USD 4.6 trillion has been pledged by governments, bilateral donors, multilateral institutions, philanthropic donors, NGOs, and the private sector in the fight against COVID-19. Analysis of Devex funding data shows 1,619 funding activities, grants, and business opportunities specifically targeting &quot;COVID-19&quot; or &quot;coronavirus&quot; in funding announcements until May 17, 2020. &nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This note offers the ILO&rsquo;s preliminary assessment concerning the possible impacts of COVID-19 on the world of work and proposes a range of policy options to mitigate these impacts and facilitate strong and fast recovery.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Separate Shareweb page &ldquo;Technology enhanced learning&rdquo; on online skills development, distance learning and teaching under COVID-19 restriction</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The World Economic Forum blog posts provides interesting and practical information on how women in developing countries can harness e-commerce</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The International Trade Centre (ITC) launched a publication to support &ldquo;bringing SMEs onto the E-commerce highway&rdquo;. The publication identifies the bottlenecks and requirements of e-commerce participation and presents examples of best practices in regulating cross-border e-commerce.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Given the scale and scope of the global crisis caused by COVID-19, rapid responses and proactive adaptations are required. In Honduras, a deficit of quality, real-time information on the effects of the crisis, and the capacities of enterprises and other market actors to mitigate, adapt to and recover from this shock has undercut the effective response of relevant public and private decision-makers. A rapid survey has been developed to gather primary data to understand the impact and responses by enterprises to mitigate, adapt to and recover from the Covid-19 crisis. This survey generates primary data with the aim of knowing the impact and responses by enterprises to effectively mitigate, adapt and recover from the health and economic crisis of COVID-19. </div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This policy brief focuses on the immediate responses that countries can take to address the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on the informal economy at its early stages, while pointing to areas that will need sustained investment in the future in order to ensure well-being and decent work for workers and economic undertakings in the informal economy. This brief will be followed by another on mid- to long-term responses, once the rapid propagation phase of the virus has passed.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This brief presents a range of policy actions to support enterprises in dealing with the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic and response measures. It focuses on actions to enable business continuity and assist enterprises in laying the grounds for recovery, which are critical to mitigate expected massive job losses and pave the way out of the crisis. The brief draws upon policy measures various countries across the globe are developing and implementing during this pandemic.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Based on the principles of adaptive management, this blog post presents a framework to adjust development programmes and projects.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>According to the first long-term forecast for the apprenticeship market by the Leading House for the Economics of Education, the COVID-19 crisis is expected to have significant consequences in Switzerland. Depending on the scenario, the apprenticeship market will lose cumulatively between 20-35% of the new apprenticeships allocated in a given year over the period 2020-2025.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Kick-off: overview of design and implementation aspects</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>ILO blog: Learning in the times of COVID-19: Can distance learning become the new normal?</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Early results of the ILO-UNESCO Joint Survey on TVET and Skills Development during the time of COVID-19</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The &#39;Great Lockdown&#39; that is ravaging the global economy is quite unlike the financial crash of 2008 and requires a different and even bigger response, the IMF Chief Economist says. Also: a survey of 350 business leaders reveals what they see as the biggest risks from the pandemic in the next 18 months.</p></div>

<p class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">MSC has developed a series of conversational comic books for microfinance institutions to create awareness, influence precautionary behavior, and drive safety of the weak and the vulnerable during COVID-19.&nbsp;</p><p class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">These comics have been customized for different geographies. <strong>English and French</strong></p>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Smallholder farmers (SHF) always have great problems accessing the financial resources needed at planting season to purchase improved seeds and other inputs, as well as pay for labor needed at this peak work period. &nbsp;There are both supply side, as well as demand side, set of issues. &nbsp;In Mozambique, it is not easy for financial institutions to lend to SHF. &nbsp;Financial institutions face many legal requirements to .... &gt;&gt; <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Pages/Content/newsdetail.aspx?ItemID=1665" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">more</a></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Vocational skills development (VSD) supports individual development and is a powerful tool to integrate migrants and forcibly displaced populations into local economies and societies. The better educated and trained migrants are, the more they can take advantage of the opportunities migration offers and the greater the benefits for both countries of destination as well as countries of origin. &nbsp;Migration and VSD are both important topics of the Dispatch on Switzerland&rsquo;s International Cooperation 2021-24. This working tool brings the two topics together. It offers a structured analysis process that helps you to better integrate migrants into your VSD programs, or to use VSD as an intervention strategy in migration projects. The tool was developed jointly by the SDC Networks Employment and Income as well as Migration and Development.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><strong>New working aid on the use of indicators in VSD</strong></p><p>IED TRI 3, EDU ARI 2, VSD-COI&hellip; is it all Greek to you? To facilitate the management of your VSD projects we have reacted to the new SDC Guidance on Results Indicators (published in April) and revised the VSD Working Aid accordingly. All Aggregated Reference Indicators (ARIs), Thematic Reference Indicators (TRIs) and context-specific Common Outcome Indicators (COIs) relevant for skills development are summarised and the most important indicators per project type are shown. Helpful? We are looking forward to your feedback! I</p><p>Watch this very short <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U1ddrwTuNc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>video&nbsp;</strong></a>explaining the rational of the working aid.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/HowTo/Result%20Measurement/20220210_Working%20Aid_PSD-FSD_220318.pdf?web=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Working aid</strong></a> Result measurement in PSD and FSD programmes.</p><p><a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Pages/VSD/VSD-Reference-Indicators.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">The end-to-end process of a market systems analysis made simple</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The Markets in Crises community of practice has released a Covid-19 statement, reiterating core principles of market systems work in crisis settings, and laying out short, medium and long-term actions to consider in a market-based response to Covid-19.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">The Promoting Private Sector Employment (PPSE) Project in Kosovo informs in its May-Newsletter on four pages about some selected activities related to Covid-19 response.&nbsp;</div><p><br></p>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This short document includes recommendations emphasizing the the critical role that agri-enterprises play in maintaining functioning food systems during the crisis, as well as the important entry points they provide for sustainable transformation over the long term. Recommendations are structured around the components that agri-enterprises need to manage on a day-to-day basis, namely: <strong>strategic management and partnerships</strong> to leverage collective support; <strong>management of financial resources</strong>, including liquidity/cash, assets and credit on a daily, weekly and monthly basis; <strong>human resources</strong>, which refer to the staff and people the company depends on to get the job done; and, <strong>marketing and sales</strong>, which addresses how a company targets and communicates with its customers during the crisis. </p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">The SDC&#39;s Innovations for Agribusiness (InovAgro) project has worked to support relationships between market actors in Northern Mozambique since 2011. As COVID-19 restrictions change the ways businesses and farmers must operate, Mozambique&rsquo;s deeper and more diversified market systems are demonstrating their resilience and their ability to continue to service smallholder farmers who would normally fall out of the system. InovAgro&rsquo;s targeted support to build stronger market systems is allowing many agribusinesses to operate in conjunction with their private partners to continue to deliver their services for the benefit of smallholder farmers, without the need for outside assistance.</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This Newsletter Brief highlights first experiences how iDE Mozambique responded to the humanitarian and development needs of the post-Idai cyclone context and the Covid-19 pandemic with the Farmer Resilience and Rebuilding Initiative (FRRI). A short version can be found <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/PSD/200604_Newsletter_Short%20Version_iDE%20Field%20Perspectives.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.&nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Students from economically and socially vulnerable groups make up more than one-third of the graduates of vocational education and training (VET) programs in Georgia, according to new research. The study, prepared by UNDP in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), is the first-ever attempt to analyze the socio-economic status of vocational students in Georgia, examine whether vocational education and training lead to employment and explore the linkages between vocational training and the labor market.</p><p>&gt;&gt; Read the full <a href="http://georgiatoday.ge/news/21388/Vocational-Training-Offers-Pathway-to-Employment-for-Low-income-Youth-in-Georgia" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">news article</a> on the study on Georgia Today</p><p><br></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Read the summary of the lively exchange by e+i network members from the West Balkan region which took place on 09.06.2020.&nbsp;</p><p>Participants informed about the situation in their countries, how COVID-19 affects the tourism sector in the West Balkans and how the SDC funded projects are supporting key actors in the region.&nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Supporting work-based-learning: How can we support learning in practice with digital media?<br>This working paper documents the exchange within the ICT4VET Community of Practice (CoP).</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>How can we establish and maintain engaging and interactive online and blended learning?<br>Findings of the ICT4VET Community of Practice (CoP). With contributions of Erka Caro, Franz Kehl, Kurt W&uuml;thrich, Ivana Georgievska, Lukas Br&uuml;ck, Sidita Dibra, Stefan Butscher (in alphabetical order).</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This Brief examines best available knowledge about the liquidity challenges that SMEs in the emerging markets are currently facing, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and Multilateral Finance Institutions (MFIs) responses, challenges and measures taken in a few select emerging markets that support the economic and entrepreneurial environment in response to the crisis and related major United Nations Covid-19 initiatives. The Brief then summarizes the series of virtual meetings that brought together over 80 individuals from DFI, MFIs and private impact investors, hosted by the Ground Up Project and the SDG Lab at UN Geneva throughout the month of April and one of the most promising collaborative solutions that has emerged from these convenings.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This note summarises key trends in short-term adjustments made by Private Sector Development (PSD) programmes in response to COVID-19. &nbsp;It focuses on PSD themes and approaches covered by the DCED&rsquo;s Working Groups, which all have COVID-related work in progress. This note is complemented by a separate summary of donor and development agencies&rsquo; emerging economic recovery and resilience strategies.&nbsp;</p><p>For more detailed information on short-term adjustments to PSD programmes in response to COVID-19, visit the dedicated knowledge page <a href="https://www.enterprise-development.org/private-sector-development-and-covid-19/adjusting-psd-short-term/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>. &nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">How can we assess and monitor learners&#39; progress online?<br>This working paper documents the exchange within the ICT4VET Community of Practice (CoP).<br>Urs Gr&ouml;hbiel and Christoph Pimmer. With contributions of Erka Caro, Franz Kehl, Ivana Georgievska, Katrin Ochsenbein, Sidita Dibra (in alphabetical order).</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>How can we train and support trainers and business coaches?<br>This working paper documents the exchange within the ICT4VET Community of Practice (CoP).<br>Urs Gr&ouml;hbiel (facilitation), 21.7.2020<br>With contributions of Anica Aleksova, Bettina Jenny, Boris Trimcev, Erka Caro, Fabian Wolff, Katrin Ochsenbein, Kurt W&uuml;thrich, Ivana Georgievska, Sidita Dibra, Stefan Butscher (in alphabetical order)</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The ILO has started a new thematic page that highlights the importance of financial inclusion and risk management for businesses and households during times of a pandemic. Key content relevant to COVID-19, will be risk management, digital finance solutions, capacity building during the pandemic and more.&nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><strong>Covid-19 BRIEFING: Insights for Inclusive Finance&nbsp;</strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; A framework for identifying and assessing crisis responses must take account of the special characteristics of microfinance. This calls for an approach that is empathetic toward vulnerable clients, attuned to the specific risks of microfinance services, and open to communication and consultation with the industry. This leads to the question of how regulators should respond. A review of current practice in a range of countries suggests there are six key steps to be taken at the level of regulation and policy</p><p><br></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The consequences of the coronavirus crisis are devastating for poor countries in Africa, South Asia and Latin America. Quick and necessary response to the coronavirus crisis needs to be complemented with long-term systemic approaches for development. In this document, HELVETAS shares its experience in working in close cooperation with the local authorities and market actors in order to provide short term responses, connected to long-term development initiatives.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Read the short summary paper of the topics raised during the exchange event, with links by Adrien and by the participants.</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Have a look at the example mentioned by PPSE Kosovo (implemented by Swisscontact).</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Presentation with examples from Switzerland</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Meet the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation&rsquo;s thematic focal point for employment and income and discuss with peers on SDCs&rsquo; engagement in vocational skills development!</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>How can we evaluate and improve outputs, outcomes and impact of our projects?<br>This working paper documents the exchange within the ICT4VET Community of Practice (CoP).<br>Urs Gr&ouml;hbiel and Christoph Pimmer, 15.7.2020.<br>With contributions of Boris Trimcev, Daniela Lilja, Erka Caro, Kurt W&uuml;thrich, Ivana Georgievska, Roman Troxler, Sidita Dibra (in alphabetical order)</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>How can we provide guidance and support to partner governments and institutions?<br>This working paper documents the exchange within the ICT4VET Community of Practice (CoP).<br>Urs Gr&ouml;hbiel, 28.7.2020<br>With contributions of Daniela Lilja, Ivana Georgievska, Ralph Rothe, Sidita Dibra (in alphabetical order)</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This research brief looks at characteristics of labour markets in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and draws on lessons from programmes that use a market systems approach to make these markets work better for young people. The brief provides a synthesis of key findings for those looking to take a systemic approach to working with youth and labour markets in SSA or those more broadly engaged with the challenge of decent work for young people. It draws on learnings from six market systems programmes. In doing so, it builds on existing research and compares multiple projects across countries and continents to help development practitioners understand how they can more effectively use a market systems approach to create more and better jobs for Africa&rsquo;s youth.The brief provides a synthesis of key findings for those looking to take a systemic approach to working with youth and labour markets in sub-Saharan Africa or those more broadly engaged with the challenge of decent work for young people.&nbsp;</p><p>It draws on lessons learnt from six market systems programmes. It builds on existing research and compares multiple projects across countries and continents to help development practitioners understand how they can more effectively use a market systems approach to create more and better jobs for Africa&rsquo;s youth.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">The project Vocational Training for Young People at Risk of Exclusion (ProJoven) in Honduras aims to improve the efficiency of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system and to ensure the integration of vulnerable youth. Due to Covid-19 schools and TVET institutions in Honduras are closed since mid-March 2020. The project decided to digitize all curricula and teaching and learning material and introduce a platform to offer virtual training. Additionally, the young learners can use the physical equipment in the workshops on the day they are allowed to move freely. ProJoven also agreed to equip their fabrication laboratory, where students started producing personal protection equipment to prevent the spread of Covid-19 through the use of 3D printers. Have a look at the pdf to access the full story. &nbsp;</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>How can we finance additional cost for training &amp; support, infrastructure or connectivity?<br>This working paper documents the exchange within the ICT4VET Community of Practice (CoP).<br>Urs Gr&ouml;hbiel and Christoph Pimmer, 11.8.2020<br>With contributions of Boris Trimcev, Daniela Lilja, Fation Dragoshi, Kurt W&uuml;thrich, Lukas Br&uuml;ck (in alphabetical order)</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">Recording of the presentation of the ICT4VET Covid-19 CoP Kick-off: overview of design and implementation aspects</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This BEAM&nbsp;<a href="https://beamexchange.org/uploads/filer_public/1f/44/1f44ee59-59a4-4be0-8899-542a42c6e0c1/posthumus_et_al_2020_a_pragmatic_approach_to_assessing_system_change.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>short paper</strong></a> (19 pages) explores how to develop a system change strategy and intervention plans that lay the groundwork for system change assessment, including how to set system boundaries and how to identify the system changes a programme aims to catalyse; and assess system changes using both (i) an intervention lens focused on changes introduced by specific interventions, and (ii) a helicopter lens that provides a whole system view.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>A<strong>&nbsp;BEAM&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://beamexchange.org/community/webinar/assessing-system-change"><strong>webinar</strong></a> where the four authors provided an overview and answered burning questions was attended by 166 practitioners. After that, the authors published a more depth version &nbsp;<a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/PSD/MSD%20A%20Pragmatic%20Approach%20to%20Assessing%20System%20Change%20(long%20version).pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&quot;<strong>A pragmatic approach to assessing system change, how to put it into practice</strong>&quot;</a> (91-pages) . It explains in detail how to implement this pragmatic approach with worked examples and useful tips.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Provides a brief overview of impacts and responses related to women&rsquo;s economic empowerment to Covid-19 by governments, donors, the private sector and civil society, highlighting early examples of evidence, practices, and key issues for consideration.</p></div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The Skills for Jobs project in Albania is designed to address key challenges in Vocational Education and Training (VET). At the core of the Skills for Jobs approach are work-based learning, the application of industry standards in VET trainings and a business mindset in the management of VET institutions. Under Covid-19 the MESOVET online platform has become the core answer to assure distance learning and therefore the learning progression of Albanian students and trainees. To find out more about the project&rsquo;s response to Covid-19 have a look at the project description in the pdf.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The current phase of the Inclusive Markets project (2017-2021) in Bolivia has the main objective to improve the living conditions and reduce poverty of agricultural producers, craftsmen and women, young people and entrepreneurs in the Andean high plateaus and valleys who are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and food insecurity. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the food security in Bolivia has reduced and the access to markets and financial products and services has become more difficult. Read more about the measures the project has taken to bridge temporary liquidity shortages of farmers and producers and how an interruption of food supply chains was prevented.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This case study was undertaken in the framework of an SDC programme through which Master students from Swiss Universities were given the opportunity to do their final degree thesis on a topic related to SDC&rsquo;s financial sector development programme in transition and developing countries. The programme, implemented by Intercooperation, was part of SDC&rsquo;s contribution to the United Nations&rsquo; Year of Microfinance in 2005.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This How-to-Note provides an overview and explains the <strong>basic concepts of financial and economic analysis</strong> focusing on two frequently used methodologies: <strong>Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) and the Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA)</strong>.&nbsp;</p><p>As part of result-based-management CBA and CEA are important means to improve the effectiveness of SDC&rsquo;s interventions through the improved linking of results and resources. They should thus be increasingly integrated into planning and reporting tools whilst maintaining the pragmatic approach emphasised in this How-to-Note.&nbsp;</p><p>This document explains why financial and economic analyses of projects are useful and important in development cooperation. Staff and partners at the SDC head office and cooperation offices (programme managers, decision-makers, financial staff and in particular project implementers) need to acquire a basic understanding of financial and economic analysis in order to be able to decide without an excessive amount of effort in which cases what kind of analysis makes sense and how to carry it out.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This Glossary includes the most important FSD terminologies and definitions.</p></div>

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<p>The employment and income (e+i) network of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SCD) is hosting an e-discussion &nbsp;on youth-specific approaches in the context of VSD interventions. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">The event take places between 19-30 June 2017 on the DGroup platform of the e+i VSD community.&nbsp;</span>This is the intro paper for the discussion.</p><p>&nbsp;<br></p>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>&nbsp;This paper briefly describes the different possibles roles of the private sector in VSD systems.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>In 2012, the Swiss Parliament decided to strengthen the Swiss engagement in fragile contexts. According to the Message to Parliament on international cooperation (2013&ndash;2016), SDC is mandated to make a relevant contribution to improved living conditions; to the reduction of causes of conflicts; to the increase of crisis resistance; and to the respect for human rights in selected fragile contexts. This strategy outlines the strategic and operational dimensions of this policy commitment.</p></div>

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<p>The 2030 Agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals seeks to complete what the Millennium Development Goals did not achieve, particular in reaching the most vulnerable. Inclusive insurance as a risk protection mechanism can arguably support many of the SDGs. Being an integral part of financial systems development, inclusive insurance is a cross-cutting approach, adopted to contribute to the goals of other development agendas, such as food security, agricultural, rural and private sector development and gender mainstreaming.</p><div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><br></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This case study was undertaken in the framework of an SDC programme through which Master students from Swiss Universities were given the opportunity to do their final degree thesis on a topic related to SDC&rsquo;s financial sector development programme in transition and developing countries. The programme, implemented by Intercooperation, was part of SDC&rsquo;s contribution to the United Nations&rsquo; Year of Microfinance in 2005.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">The operational guide for the making markets work for the poor (M4P) approach (2nd edition 2015, co-funded by SDC)</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>In poor countries getting a job is one of the main reasons why people are able to rise out of poverty. To meet this goal, <strong>SECO promotes the development of skills</strong> that improve labour productivity and competitiveness in the specific sectors targeted by SECO. It also contributes to facilitate the dialogue in selected partner countries for developing more conducive working conditions and match the supply and demand for relevant technical skills in selected sectors. By doing so, it can build upon its expertise in economic, trade, and labour market policy within SECO.</p><p>The paper outlines SECO&#39;s position on vocational skills development.&nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.4px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;">The articles of this issue of the german journal &quot;Berufsbildung&quot; analyse from different perspectives how inclusion can be achieved by the means of VSD. You can&nbsp;purchase the whole issue or specific articles.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.4px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;The journal is published in German.</span></p></div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The powerpoint presentation: <strong>Responding to the Covid-19: Pandemic: Guidance for Financial Service Providers</strong> looks at the macroeconomic and regulatory environment, findings from partners and a crisis response plans for partners.&nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The COVID-19 crisis poses new challenges for women and insurers. This guidance note highlights best practices from insurance companies on how they can support female employees, customers, and agents during the pandemic. The publication also explains how women can contribute to the success of the insurance industry and how insurers can better engage with them during the crisis.&nbsp;</p><p>Women play key roles in their homes, communities, and businesses. If insurers develop targeted approaches and products for women, they have the potential to earn up to $1.7 trillion by 2030. They can also help increase women&#39;s understanding and willingness to buy insurance products to better protect their families or the companies women own or operate.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The Innovations for Agribusiness (InovAgro) project has worked to support relationships between market actors in Northern Mozambique since 2011. The project leads initiatives to develop stronger, more inclusive, commercially driven and competitive market systems for agricultural input supply, output marketing, agri-services and financial services. Covid-19 restrictions changed the ways businesses and farmers in Mozambique must operate. Learn more about how Inovagro and the related Farmers Resilience and Rebuilding Initiative have responded to these new challenges under Covid-19.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This case study was undertaken in the framework of an SDC programme through which Master students from Swiss Universities were given the opportunity to do their final degree thesis on a topic related to SDC&rsquo;s financial sector development programme in transition and developing countries. The programme, implemented by Intercooperation, was part of SDC&rsquo;s contribution to the United Nations&rsquo; Year of Microfinance in 2005.</p></div>

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<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">This case study presents the lessons learned by the Increasing Market Employability program (IME), implemented by Swisscontact and funded by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC), that applied the DCED Standard for Results Measurement in a relatively small Market Systems Development (MSD) Program in Macedonia.</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">SDC&#39;s networks on Migration and Development (GPMD) and employment and income (e+i) have joint forces to draft this exploratory paper. It provides an insight into projects, programmes and initiatives worldwide, which aim at improving the financial inclusion of migrants (FIM) and refugees.<br><br>It starts with an overview of the current state of global migration and financial inclusion, followed by an overview of the financial needs of migrant persons and their constraints to accessing financial services, it also includes different types of interventions and concludes with a summary of potential solutions, main actors (public and private) which intervene on FIM and recommendations.<br><br>The paper is mainly directed at SDC staff and partner organisations who can use it in programme design.</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><strong>Economic and Financial Analysis (EFA)</strong> is a widely used approach for assessing whether the benefits of a particular action are greater than its costs over a given period of time. This also applies to VSD: In the application and assessment of a new project idea as well as in monitoring and project evaluations we would like to know if the expected benefits (for example: higher incomes for graduates) are greater than the costs of the project.</p><p>Therefore, this working aid and a rather simple <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/_layouts/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc=/site/EI/Documents/VSD/Tools/Workbook%20for%20Cost-benefit%20Analysis%20in%20VSD%20projects.xlsx&action=default" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Excel workbook</strong></a> have been developed and updated. Their aim is to support SDC program officers, project implementers, consultants and other stakeholders in assessing costs and benefits of VSD interventions, be it in the planning stage of a project (ex ante), for monitoring purposes (ex inter) or as part of a mid-term or end of phase evaluation (ex post). <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/_layouts/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc=/site/EI/Documents/VSD/Tools/CBA-Tool_VSD.xlsx&action=default" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">This Website by the World Bank Group compiles the latest news, stories &amp; blogs and a list of further resources.</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The Opportunities through Technologies and Innovation (OPTIM) Project aims to stimulate Moldova&rsquo;s market systems and to generate better economic opportunities for women and men, particularly among excluded groups. OPTIM has selected two sectors, namely the information and communication technology (ICT) and the agri-food sector. In the full project description you will find out how the project has turned Covid-19 challenges into opportunities by supporting innovative solutions in the ICT and agri-food sectors and what initial experiences and lessons were learnt. &nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Cette &eacute;tude de cas &agrave; &eacute;t&eacute; r&eacute;alis&eacute;e dans le cadre d&rsquo;un mandat de la DDC durant lequel des &eacute;tudiants en Master d&rsquo;Universit&eacute;s suisses ont eu l&rsquo;opportunit&eacute; de r&eacute;aliser leur m&eacute;moire de fin d&rsquo;&eacute;tudes sur un sujet li&eacute; au programme de d&eacute;veloppement du secteur financier de la DDC dans les pays en transition et en d&eacute;veloppement. Ce mandat, ex&eacute;cut&eacute; par Intercooperation, s&rsquo;ins&eacute;rait dans les activit&eacute;s de contribution de la DDC &agrave; l&rsquo;Ann&eacute;e de la Microfinance 2005 des Nations Unies.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This Glossary includes the most important VSD terminologies and definitions.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Cette &eacute;tude de cas a &eacute;t&eacute; r&eacute;alis&eacute;e dans le cadre d&rsquo;un mandat de la DDC durant lequel des &eacute;tudiants en Master d&rsquo;Universit&eacute;s suisses ont eu l&rsquo;opportunit&eacute; de r&eacute;aliser leur m&eacute;moire de fin d&rsquo;&eacute;tudes sur un sujet li&eacute; au programme de d&eacute;veloppement du secteur financier de la DDC dans les pays en transition et en d&eacute;veloppement. Ce mandat, ex&eacute;cut&eacute; par Intercooperation, s&rsquo;ins&eacute;rait dans les activit&eacute;s de contribution de la DDC &agrave; l&rsquo;Ann&eacute;e de la Microfinance 2005 des Nations Unies.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The toolbox &lsquo;promoting equal participation in sustainable economic development&rsquo; intends to close this gap and to contribute to the wider dissemination of knowledge and best practice examples, both within GIZ and among partner organisations. Promoting equal participation in economic development and, in particular, equal opportunities in the labour market is a challenging task that requires a multiplicity of interventions.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This Glossary includes the most important terminologies and definitions about IED result measurement.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Market systems development (MSD) has become an important instrument in many of SDC&rsquo;s projects in the field of employment and income (e+i), notably in private sector development (PSD). Recently, organisations supporting MSD declared the aim to spillover the MSD approach into other sectors, such as education and VSD. SDC&rsquo;s Western Balkan Division has pioneered within SDC and launched a series of MSD projects under their overarching topic &ldquo;youth employment&rdquo; in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Macedonia. However, not all of these projects are addressing VSD directly. More projects applying MSD in VSD contexts are run in Bangladesh and Egypt. Other SDC projects using the MSD approach in the VSD sector are not on the agenda so far or not known to the working group.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><strong>A summary of lessons learned by Market Systems Development Practitioners</strong></p><p>This document provides practical tips on how to find and contact partners, how to make deals, what to finance and how, what to consider when making contractual arrangements and how to manage partnerships.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Cette &eacute;tude de cas a &eacute;t&eacute; r&eacute;alis&eacute;e dans le cadre d&rsquo;un mandat de la DDC durant lequel des &eacute;tudiants en Master d&rsquo;Universit&eacute;s suisses ont eu l&rsquo;opportunit&eacute; de r&eacute;aliser leur m&eacute;moire de fin d&rsquo;&eacute;tudes sur un sujet li&eacute; au programme de d&eacute;veloppement du secteur financier de la DDC dans les pays en transition et en d&eacute;veloppement. Ce mandat, ex&eacute;cut&eacute; par Intercooperation, s&rsquo;ins&eacute;rait dans les activit&eacute;s de contribution de la DDC &agrave; l&rsquo;Ann&eacute;e de la Microfinance 2005 des Nations Unies.&nbsp;</p><p>Avec la contribution d&rsquo;Edibi Ewedje, Universit&eacute; d&#39;Abomey-Calavi, B&eacute;nin</p><p><br></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This guidance sheet is one of a series written to support SDC staff in ensuring that gender issues are taken into account transversally in different thematic domains &ndash; in this case, vocational skills development (VSD). It outlines key gender issues regarding VSD and how these can be integrated in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of cooperation strategies and project interventions.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>In this document the Focal Point e+i listed all planned activites and topics for 2017. Important: there will be no global F2F in 2017! The Focal Point is planning to organize a F2F in spring 2018.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.4px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">Summary of the fourth day of our&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/ei/Pages/Content/Profiles.aspx?SmartID=2145&item1=2018-11%20VSD%20Webinar%20and%20e-discussion" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); letter-spacing: 0.4px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">e-discussion on the SDC VSD Typology Tool, 12 to 16 November 2018.</a></p></div>

<p><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.4px; text-align: justify;">In November 2017, SDC’s Focal Points (FPs) on Employment &amp; Income (e+i) and Gender decided to capitalize their experience on women’s financial inclusion. Both Focal Points realized that Women’s Financial Inclusion has little visibility in the strategic and operational work of SDC and that it is not always reported upon systematically. It has been decided to conduct a stock taking of SDC programs focusing on or contributing to women’s financial inclusion. 50 projects have been received and analyzed, out of which 10 were selected for an e-consultation and then, the working team opened the floor to a webinar and a two days long e-discussion to discuss women’s financial inclusion approaches – and what gaps need to be addressed and filled.</span><br></p>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Cette &eacute;tude de cas a &eacute;t&eacute; r&eacute;alis&eacute;e dans le cadre d&rsquo;un mandat de la DDC durant lequel des &eacute;tudiants en Master d&rsquo;Universit&eacute;s suisses ont eu l&rsquo;opportunit&eacute; de r&eacute;aliser leur m&eacute;moire de fin d&rsquo;&eacute;tudes sur un sujet li&eacute; au programme de d&eacute;veloppement du secteur financier de la DDC dans les pays en transition et en d&eacute;veloppement. Ce mandat, ex&eacute;cut&eacute; par Intercooperation, s&rsquo;ins&eacute;rait dans les activit&eacute;s de contribution de la DDC &agrave; l&rsquo;Ann&eacute;e de la Microfinance 2005 des Nations Unies.</p><p>Avec la contribution de Valeria R&igrave;os, Universidad Privada Boliviana</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;">This short, jargon-free video explains what the market systems approach is all about: how it differs from conventional aid, and how it can be used to help create widespread and lasting improvements in incomes, access to jobs, products and services for millions of people living in poverty.</span></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.4px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">Summary of the third day of our&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/ei/Pages/Content/Profiles.aspx?SmartID=2145&item1=2018-11%20VSD%20Webinar%20and%20e-discussion" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); letter-spacing: 0.4px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;">e-discussion on the SDC VSD Typology Tool, 12 to 16 November 2018.</a></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><strong>Guidance Paper</strong><br>The DCED believes that Green Growth, far from being a hindrance to recovery, represents a cost-effective and responsible way to promote post-crisis stabilization and recovery consistent with the transformational changes needed to reduce environmental harm. DCED members are committed to helping countries address these challenges following COVID-19 and to working together towards coordinated and effective action.</p><p>In this guidance paper, the DCED (through its Green Growth Working Group) sets out how Green Growth approaches in Private Sector Development (PSD) programmes can contribute to this commitment. It complements work of other organisations, such as by the Partners for Inclusive Green Economy.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>L&rsquo;&eacute;tude se base sur l&rsquo;exp&eacute;rience de SAHA, programme de d&eacute;veloppement rural financ&eacute; par la Direction du D&eacute;veloppement et de la Coop&eacute;ration (DDC) et mis en &oelig;uvre par Intercooperation &agrave; Madagascar. Elle a &eacute;t&eacute; r&eacute;alis&eacute;e par Intercooperation dans le cadre des &eacute;tudes de cas du r&eacute;seau th&eacute;matique Emploi et Revenu de la DDC.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The SDC is investing around CHF 60 million per year in financial sector development with a special focus on the financial inclusion of the most vulnerable.</p><p>This Factsheet gives an overview about SDC FSD approach.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><div>Este documento es un documento de orientaci&oacute;n interna para el personal de la sede central y de la oficina de cooperaci&oacute;n de la COSUDE.</div><div>El documento de orientaci&oacute;n original (entonces denominado &quot;<a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/HowTo/M4P-MSD/SDC%20-%20Internal%20Guidance%20-%20Managing%20MSD%20M4P%20Projects%20-2014-05.pdf">Managing M4P/ MSD projects</a>&quot;) se elabor&oacute; en 2014 y tuvo una acogida muy positiva. Sin embargo, a principios de abril de 2017 se llev&oacute; a cabo una consulta electr&oacute;nica din&aacute;mica sobre el documento de orientaci&oacute;n revisado para la gesti&oacute;n de los proyectos de DSM en COSUDE. Los miembros de la red, tanto de la COSUDE como de las agencias implementadoras, han compartido muy activamente sus observaciones sobre el documento de orientaci&oacute;n revisado, as&iacute; como sus experiencias y mejores pr&aacute;cticas en la implementaci&oacute;n de proyectos de DSM. Sus observaciones han sido incorporadas y esta es ahora la versi&oacute;n reestructurada, m&aacute;s f&aacute;cil de usar y de m&aacute;s f&aacute;cil acceso.</div><div>&gt;&gt; <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/HowTo/M4P-MSD/SDC%20MSD%20Guidance%20Document%20revised%202017%20-%20FR.pdf" target="_blank">franc&eacute;s&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</a>&gt;&gt; <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Documents/PSD/Topics/Value%20Chain%20Development/SDC%20MSD%20Guidance%20Document%20revised%202017-06%20(en).pdf" target="_blank">ingl&eacute;s</a></div></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.4px; text-align: justify;">Summary of the second day of our&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/ei/Pages/Content/Profiles.aspx?SmartID=2145&item1=2018-11%20VSD%20Webinar%20and%20e-discussion" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.4px; text-align: justify;">e-discussion on the SDC VSD Typology Tool, 12 to 16 November 2018.</a></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This case study is based on the experience of COOPFIN/CREAR, a microfinance project financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by SWISSCONTACT. The study was executed by SWISSCONTACT in the framework of the case studies of the Employment and Income Network of SDC.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The team from CEMETS conducted an extensive literature review on implementing VET reforms. The main conclusions are summarized in two blog posts. This is the first part... [<a href="http://www.cemets.ethz.ch/cemets-news/2018/03/entry-22--implementing-vet-reforms.html">more</a>]</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Summary of the first day of our <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/ei/Pages/Content/Profiles.aspx?SmartID=2145&item1=2018-11%20VSD%20Webinar%20and%20e-discussion">e-discussion on the SDC VSD Typology Tool, 12 to 16 November 2018.</a></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Roots of Impact, one of SDC&#39;s the networks prime partner, put in place &quot;Emergency SIINC&quot; to enable entrepreneurs to repay capital with positive impact. It enables public and catalytic funders to sustain what they have been building with a lot of effort over the years. Don&#39;t get us wrong, this is not a new solution. It&#39;s a quickly feasible application of our signature Social Impact Incentives for exceptional times of crisis.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage">The OECD is compiling data, analysis and recommendations on a range of topics to address the emerging health, economic and societal crisis, facilitate co-ordination, and contribute to the necessary global action when confronting this enormous collective challenge. This new series brings together policy responses spanning a large range of topics, from health to education and taxes, providing guidance on the short-term measures needed in affected sectors and a specific focus on the vulnerable sectors of society and the economy. Beyond immediate responses, the content aims to provide analysis on the longer-term consequences and impacts, paving the way to recovery with coordinated policy responses across countries.</div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Today, National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) are in the process of being developed and implemented the world over. The issue of formal skill specification and standardisation has been important for a long time for stakeholders in vocational and technical education and training (TVET) systems. In the context of accelerated economic globalisation and increasing international migration, skill standardisation has become one of the key domains of current reforms in the field of vocational skills development (VSD), many of which have also been formulated in order to promote lifelong learning and to thus facilitate the transition towards what has been called the knowledge society.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This study is based on the experience of the public-private development partnership for independent media, a joint initiative between the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Media Development Loan Fund, responsAbility Social Investments AG and Bank Vontobel. It forms part of a series of thematic case studies of SDC&rsquo;s Employment + Income Network.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The <strong>medium-term orientation&nbsp;</strong>defines the thematic and methodological priorities that SDC&rsquo;s focal point and network on Employment and Income (e+i) for 2015 - 2019.&nbsp;</p><p>A new medium-term orientation is in discussion for the new section Economy &amp; Education with the aim to start from 2023 and beyond.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>In this paper, Christian Br&auml;ndli from SECO and Luca Etter from SDC provide an overview on Social Impact Bonds (SIB) and put light on this &quot;new&quot; instrument for donors, listing critical questions and factors to consider before setting up a SIB.</p><p>&nbsp;A very well written must-read for everybody who participated at the <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Pages/FSD/Events/SC-Forum/SC-Forum-2016-09-Blended-Finance.aspx" target="_blank">Savings and Credit Forum on &quot;Blended Finance&quot;</a> in September 2016, and is impatiently awaiting the next in <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Pages/FSD/Events/SC-Forum/SC-Forum-2017-03-Social-Performance.aspx" target="_blank">March 2017</a> on Social Performance Management and Reporting Practices of Financial Institutions and Microfinance Impact Investors.</p><p>Social Impact Bonds (SIB) are a relatively &ldquo;new&rdquo; instrument for donors to finance development interventions. SECO and SDC have both launched projects that use a variation of SIBs in their partner countries. This paper explains the most important aspects of SIBs and lists critical questions and factors to consider before setting up a SIB. The paper is work in progress and aimed as an input for colleagues who are considering an SIB. It does not represent an official position.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.4px;">The employment and income (e+i) network of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SCD) hosted an e-discussion &nbsp;on youth-specific approaches in the context of VSD interventions.&nbsp;</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.4px;">The event took places between 19-30 June 2017 on the DGroup platform of the e+i VSD community.&nbsp;</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.4px;">This is the&nbsp;summary of the complete discussion.</span></p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The sixth Cedefop national qualifications framework (NQF) monitoring report confirms that NQFs play a key role in the European qualifications framework (EQF) implementation and in improving transparency and comparability of qualifications nationally and internationally. The 39 countries monitored (28 EU Member States, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Kosovo, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey) are developing and implementing 43 national qualifications frameworks... [<a href="http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/publications-and-resources/publications/5565">more</a>]</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><div>In November 2017 Alexandra Miehlbradt and Hans Posthumus conducted a <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Pages/newsdetail.aspx?ItemID=672" target="_blank">training workshop with advanced practitioners in results measurement</a>.&nbsp; Based on the presentations and discussions, they developed five Practitioners&rsquo; Notes.&nbsp; Each Note outlines key challenges and provides solutions and tips from the field.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>The topics are:</div><div>- Gathering Information from Businesses</div><div>- Using Technology in Monitoring and Results Measurement</div><div>- Monitoring</div><div>- Using Multipliers to Estimate Impact</div><div>- Assessing Systemic Change</div></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The complete version of the DC dVET Working Tool on the Engagement on the Business Sector is now available. The study (part 1) has been revised and offers an comprehensive overview on where, how and under what conditions the business sector can be involved in VET. The study is available in German, English, and French. The questionnaire (part 2) enables you to transfer key elements of the study to your work. It facilitates the systematic planning, analysis and further development of your VET project and ideas. The questionnaire is available as PDF in English and French and as Online-Tool in English. Get all documents from the DC dVET website... [<a href="https://www.dcdualvet.org/en/topics-experiences/engaging-the-business-sector/working-tool/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">link</a>].</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Cette &eacute;tude de cas est bas&eacute;e sur l&rsquo;exp&eacute;rience d&lsquo;un programme de promotion de mutuelles de sant&eacute; financ&eacute; par la Direction du D&eacute;veloppement et de la Coop&eacute;ration (DDC) et mis en &oelig;uvre jusqu&rsquo;en 2007 par le Centre International de D&eacute;veloppement et de Recherche (CIDR) et g&eacute;r&eacute; par la suite directement par le R&eacute;seau Alliance Sant&eacute; (RAS). Elle a &eacute;t&eacute; r&eacute;alis&eacute;e conjointement par le CIDR, le (RAS) et le centre d&rsquo;Appui aux Institutions de Micro assurance Sant&eacute; (AIMS).</p><p>En collaboration avec Radhid Aladji Boni Sylla, r&eacute;seau alliance sant&eacute; et D. Ismale Yacoubou, directeur de l&rsquo;AIMS.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This study is based on the experience of the PROFIN Foundation in the field of financial innovation and development of agricultural microinsurance products. It forms part of a series of thematic case studies of SDC&rsquo;s Employment + Income Network.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This study outlines a rating approach for microfinance investment vehicles as part of global initiatives supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in<br>promoting accountability and transparency on social performance in microfinance. It forms part of a series of thematic case studies of SDC&rsquo;s Employment + Income Network.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Summary of the webinar about the VSD Project Typology Tool.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This study is based on the experience of the partnership between the Women&rsquo;s World Banking Network (WWB) and the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC). It forms part of a series of thematic case studies of SDC&rsquo;s Employment + Income Network.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>These are the slides for the webinar on the SDC&rsquo;s VSD Typology Tool on November 12, 2018.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p class="MsoNormal">This case study is based on the experience of Fonkoze, a microinsurance project co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). It forms part of a series of thematic case studies of SDC&rsquo;s Employment + Income Network.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This case study is based on the results and lessons from Zurich Insurance Group&#39;s multi-regional publicprivate development partnership with SDC between 2007 and 2011. It forms part of a series of thematic case studies of SDC&rsquo;s Employment + Income Network.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Vocational skills development (VSD) is a cornerstone of the Swiss development cooperation, with a substantial increase of resources foreseen in the Federal Council&rsquo;s Dispatch 2017-2020. Another key area of this Dispatch concerns partnerships with the private sector and diversifying sources of funding for sustainable development. This paper outlines how the SDC&rsquo;s operations in VSD can intensify their collaboration with the private sector and manage their projects and project portfolio accordingly. It builds on a first VSD Typology Tool and focuses a) on the role of the private sector in VSD, b) on SDC&rsquo;s Engaging with the Private Sector (EPS) modalities and c) on the concept of dual Vocational Education and Training (dual VET).&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This case study is based on the experience of PROMIFIN (2003 &ndash; 2013), a programme promoting the access to financial services for the low-income populations in Central America, financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by TRIODOS FACET. It forms part of a series of thematic case studies of SDC&rsquo;s Employment + Income Network.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>The present paper gives the synthesis of the e-discussion on collaboration with the private sector in vocational skills development (VSD) hosted by the e+i VSD network of SDC in March 2015. The objectives of the e-discussion were to (i) exchange information and experience on good practices and innovative interventions in collaborating with the private sector, (ii) highlight the specific role of collaboration with the private sector in VSD, (iii) provide practice-orientated recommendations, and (iv) deliver key inputs and food for thought for the face-to-face event in April 2015. Starting point of the discussion was an input paper. The network discussed three areas of collaboration with the private sector. The synthesis follows this structure, brings out the main insights of the three discussion topics and concludes with selected open issues as food for thought.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>Vocational skills development (VSD) is a cornerstone of the Swiss development cooperation, with a substantial increase of resources foreseen in the Federal Council&rsquo;s Dispatch 2017-2020. Governance is a crucial element in VSD focusing on how the VSD system in given partner countries is organised, (e.g. who is responsible, involved and how decisions are made) and how it can be effective and inclusive in responding to different purposes and requirements, The Dispatch stipulates that Governance is a mandatory transversal theme in all SDC thematic priorities. This tool translates the SDC approach for Governance as transversal theme in vocational skills development.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This study is about one of 22 technical assistance supports for investees and their end clients to deepen the impact of investments funds under a public-private development partnership between SDC and responsAbility Investments AG from 2010 to mid of 2019. It forms part of a series of thematic case studies of SDC&rsquo;s Employment + Income Network.</p></div>

<div class="toAlignListElmntOnPage"><p>This <strong>VSD Project Typology tool</strong> aims to help SDC operations to clearly <strong>define the approach and orientation of their VSD interventions</strong>, to select the right partners, and thus to manage their Project (Portfolio) in line with the relevant SDC strategies, the policy goals of partner countries, and professional standards. The paper also supports the formulation of realistic and plausible expectations predominantly regarding the outcomes and Impact of VSD projects across time.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Further information:&nbsp;</strong>A <strong>french, russian and romanian version</strong> and <strong>topic specific add-ons</strong> are available <a href="https://www.shareweb.ch/site/EI/Pages/VSD/Documents%20VSD%20typology.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.</p></div>

In recent years, in many regions, there have been large inflows of both migrant workers and refugees fleeing conflicts and poverty, resulting in increased economic and social tensions. In order to build public confidence in migration issues, making strong evidence available is of the utmost importance for both informed public opinion and effective policy-making... [<a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_652001/lang--en/index.htm">more</a>]