To improve aid effectiveness, international development funding is shifting from traditional input-based methods to results-based approaches to maximize impact, and Switzerland is a frontrunner in this movement.

RBF conditions a portion of program funding to measurable results. Thereby, RBF incentivizes all actors to maximize the results that matter, fosters a culture of performance, and generates evidence for impact. SECO and SDC apply RBF with both private and public sector actors across a wide range of sectors and geographies to improve social outcomes. This document provides the rationale behind RBF, its progress, as well as a vision for the future of RBF.

A recent review by Instiglio, an independent advisory firm working closely with public and private sector on innovative financing, highlights 51 diverse Results-Based Finance experiences by the SDC and SECO. You can read the key findings here. Additionally, this overview of case studies provides an insight into Swiss RBF experiences in various countries such as Serbia, Colombia, Nepal, and Kenya.

If you want to hear more on how the SDC and SECO staff applies RBF to leverage impact in development cooperation projects, you can watch the following video where key learnings, and successes with RBF are shared as well as this video for the next steps in RFB.

Lastly, if you are keen to spread to word on this important topic, please feel free to like, comment or share the social media posts on Linkedin and X. Thank you very much!

Regional F2F Asia in Bangkok - 6-8 May 2024

The regional workshop on SDC’s future work on Private Sector Engagement (PSE) and Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) - co-organized by SDC’s Asia-LAC Division and the Economy and Education section, and hosted by the regional thematic hub in Bangkok – took place from May 6-8. 

Colleagues from the cooperation offices in India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and the regional thematic hub in Bangkok discussed approaches for integrating PSE and IGE in ongoing or in upcoming programmes. Three new financial-market oriented PSEs are being developed in the region this year and green skills is at the forefront of the TVET portfolios. 

The event also marked the first in person meeting of the regional E+E network and allowed for cross learning and thematic alignment of formerly different types of cooperation offices (traditional country offices; the TZ office in India; the former DRR hub in Bangkok) and strengthened the exchange between the topics E+E and CDE, including CEDRIG.

Objectives of the event: 

• Strengthen the collaboration between thematic and geographic divisions in line with F4P and promote thematic regional networks in Asia by sharing experiences among SDC staff working in the Asia region
• Familiarize participants with basic concepts of PSE and inclusive green economy (IGE)
• Develop project ideas for (i) new PSE and IGE projects in country; (ii) “greening” existing projects or looking at existing projects through a PSE lens; (iii) better integrate the activities related to PSE and IGE from a regional perspective;

For more information click here

Do you also wish to learn more about how development programmes can make a meaningful contribution to changing the existing economic system to an Inclusive Green Economic (IGE) system?

Then join the SDC Economy network’s upcoming series of consultation tables on Green Skills, Circular Economy and Green Finance.

You will find more information about the consultation process, outcomes and interesting reading materials on our newly created Shareweb page “Inclusive Green Economy”.

Looking at skills in the Inclusive Green Economy: The Donor Committee on dual VET (DC dVET) is conducting a series of interactive online Barcamps (Webinars) between October 2023 and June 2024. You can find more information on our new Shareweb page "Inclusive Green Economy". 

Graph: See the "Inclusive Green Economy Orientation paper" (2023), page 9, for complete graph.

The Section Economy and Education of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation has opened a Call for Proposal looking for innovations in Scaling up Social and Impact Entrepreneurships.

All the necessary information regarding this Call for Proposal is available in the following documents:

1 - Call for Proposal: Scaling up Social and Impact Entrepreneurship - here

2 - Standard contract: Federal contribution for project - here

3 - Standard contract: Contribution outside Switzerland - here

4 - General conditions for contracts concerning federal contributions for projects - here

Questions related to this Call for Proposals can be submitted by email to the following address kep@eda.admin.ch with the subject: “Scale up Social and Impact Entrepreneurship”. 

All questions and relative answers will be anonymously and openly available on this website.

Deadline submission of questions round 1: 22 December 2023

Publication responses to questions / round 1: 8 January 2024

- The answers to your questions are now avaliable here 

Deadline submission of questions round 2: 15 January 2024

Publication responses to questions / round 2: 24 January 2024

- The answers to your questions from round 1 and 2 are now avaliable here 

The proposals have to be submitted by 29 February 2024, 24:00 CET at the latest to the following email address: kep@eda.admin.ch with the subject: “Scale up Social and Impact Entrepreneurship”.

In August 2023, SDC organised a physical ideation workshop on SIEs together with some European-based SIE expert organisations, many of which SDC has already worked with on this topic. In September and October 2023, it shared and discussed the “take aways” from this workshop in four virtual brainstorming sessions with interested stakeholders, many of them regional and local organisations from the Global South, many of which expressed an explicit interest to SDC’s section E&E in collaborating within the framework of this upcoming project. 

The “take aways” from the ideation workshop are available here

The list of organisations who expressed an explicit interest to SDC’s section E&E in collaborating within the framework of the project is attached to the document “Call for Proposal: Scaling up Social and Impact Entrepreneurship”.

Updated E+E Information Package of the Topics Economy and Education - Fit for Purpose

Click here for the version in french

The Information Package is made for SDC staff and practitioners working towards the creation of inclusive economic development programmes as well as quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. It provides an introduction into E+E approaches and ways of systemic thinking through four interlinked priorities on system and beneficiary level: Education, Vocational Skills Development, Private Sector Development and Financial Sector Development and the modality of private sector engagement.

Updated version June 2023 - An easy to read introduction for a quick overview of the topics Economy and Education 

This two-pager provides a short introduction into the Economy and Education Network for SDCdecision makers.

This working aid (including toolbox) on social protection provides concrete guidance for the SDC staff to engage in social protection programmes and policies.

Social protection supports people in need at different stages in life and protects them against risks, such as illness, accident or unemployment. In this way, social protection helps to combat poverty and contributes to social equality and justice. By boosting human capital and productivity and supporting domestic demand, it facilitates structural transformation of national economies. The lack of access to social protection is a major obstacle to economic and social development.

Link to the social protection working aid.

Since September 2022, the Inclusive Economic Development and the Education teams of SDC joined forces to become the new thematic Section Economy and Education.

This two-pager provides a short introduction into the Economy and Education Network for SDC decision makers.

If you’d like to find out more about the particularities of the Swiss vocational training system registration for the SFUVET  course Understanding the Swiss VET system from the inside (12-15.09.2023) is still open !

Places are limited, so if you are interested, please fill in the online forms (link to forms available on the course page).

For more information, visit: Understanding the Swiss VET system from the inside | Swiss Federal university for Vocational Education and Training SFUVET 

AREAS OF TENSION IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN SWITZERLAND AND OTHER COUNTRIES – DEVELOPMENTS, CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL

The strengths of the Swiss education system include: a close match between training content in dual VET and the real-world needs of employers on the Swiss labour market; a low youth unemployment rate; and a large proportion of young people who complete upper-secondary level. In order to maintain these remarkable achievements, there is a constant need to strike a balance between VET and general education and to regularly review and readjust the proportion of workplace training and classroom instruction in education programmes. In this manner, Switzerland is able to meet future challenges associated with the rapid changes taking place in the labour market and society.

Link to the report. 

Registration is now open for the Swiss Launch of the Global Education Monitoring Report 2023 (GEM Report 2023). 

Please register here until 31 August 2023. An invitation letter with a preliminary agenda is attached. 

In the registration form, we welcome your proposals for specific topics and challenges that could inform the panel and break- out sessions during the Launch event and that are related to EdTEch in your specific context and experience. 

The following experts will join us to share their views on the opportunities and limitations of EdTech:

• Moderation: Urs Gröhbiel, Executive Director Swiss Network for Educational Innovation (SNBI)
• Manos Antoninis, Director of the GEM Report, UNESCO
• Diepak Elmer, Co-Head of the Section Economy and Education at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) 
• Sidita Dibra, Advisor Continuous Vocational Education & Training (C-VET) in the Products & Solutions global team of Swisscontact
• Barbara Class, Research and Teaching Collaborator at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (TECFA), University of Geneva
• Bernhard Probst, Education Development / Strategic Responsibility LerNetz AG

More information is available online here.  

We are looking forward to your participation.

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) - in collaboration with the Swiss Commission for UNESCO (SCU), the Swiss Network for Education and International Cooperation (RECI) and the Swiss Forum for Skills Development and International Cooperation (FoBBIZ)

About the Global Education Monitoring Report: 

Established in 2002, the GEM Report is an editorially independent report, hosted and published by UNESCO. At the 2015 World Education Forum, it received a mandate from 160 governments to monitor and report on the progress and implementation of SDG4 / Education 2030. Each edition of the report is dedicated to a highly topical subject, such as technology and education in 2023.

The bi-annual training workshop has gained a reputation for empowering the practitioners who are driving the field forward to meet new and on-going challenges in results measurement for improved management, greater accountability and better results.

This year's workshop will be in-person in Bangkok. It will bring together experienced results measurement practitioners for five focused days of learning practical approaches, sharing challenges and tips and contributing lessons to the field. The main theme of the workshop this year will be assessing system change including dimensions of system change particularly relevant to PSD programs today.

Link to the flyer. 

The factsheet provides an overview of how Basic Education is addressed at SDC. It discusses the main challenges faced, the strategic priorities pursued, and the partners supported at the international, regional, national and local levels. In addition, it presents the expenditure by education sector and by area within SDC. A map presents the geographic spread of SDC's Basic Education projects and is complemented by project examples that illustrate SDC's engagement in Basic Education.

Link to the factsheet

  French Version    German Version

This updated VSD Factsheet provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges in vocational education and training, SDC's approaches to promote vocational skills development in its projects, the partners , as well as project examples and facts and figures.  

Link to the factsheet

SDC's Quality Assurance and Internal Digitalisation Specialist Service, together with NADEL (ETH Zurich) and other partners,  updated the e-learning tool PCMi (Project Cycle Management interactive). PCMi consists of a series of modules introducing development professionals into the thinking of results-oriented project cycle management (PCM).

Go to e-learning platform

International Cooperation Forum Switzerland «Education4Future» - 15 February 2023, International Conference Centre Geneva (CICG), Switzerland - The event is free of charge, CO2-neutral and hybrid. Participation is open to all interested - On 16 February 2023, the «Youth4Solutions» will take place.

Register Now:  IC Forum 

Named 'Education for Future', the International Cooperation Forum Switzerland (IC Forum) on 15 and 16 February 2023 will focus on education. As part of «Youth for Solutions», the focus of the second day (16 February) will be on young people and their ideas and approaches.

Good basic education and training are crucial for sustainable development. And yet education systems around the world are facing major challenges. Even before the pandemic, six out of ten children were not reaching basic levels of proficiency in reading and maths. COVID-19 exacerbated this situation. Scores of schools were closed, children could no longer study, and young people had to abandon their training programmes.

Switzerland has been championing the right to education for many years. Both basic education and vocational skills development are vital cornerstones of Switzerland's international cooperation.

The IC Forum brings together diverse voices and perspectives. Representatives of politics, research, the younger generation, the private and financial sectors, NGOs and civil society work together to develop solutions to global challenges.

The hybrid event format with working sessions combining practice and theory as well as the interactive platform allow all interested parties to actively participate in the discussions.

Dear colleagues and E+E aficionados

We live in a world of overlapping global crises. After a tough 2020 and 2021, in which we were confronted with a global pandemic and the increasingly palpable impacts of climate change, we were faced with a new shock at the beginning of 2022. Just as a durable recovery from the global economic collapse following the COVID-19 pandemic appeared to be in our grasp, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought the consequences of conflict and rising living costs to our very doorsteps. More than a decade of economic and social progress was reversed in some regions. Beyond the immediate humanitarian impacts, the war will severely set back any global recovery, slowing growth and increase inflation even further. Many of our beneficiaries will struggle to retain their hard-won entry to the middle classes and risk falling back below the poverty line. Today, 222 million crisis affected children and young people worldwide see their access to education denied or disrupted.

Even more reason to focus on the inspiring, the positive and the possibilities of the new year 2023 ahead!

The positive – Since September 2022, the Inclusive Economic Development and the Education teams have joined forces to become the new thematic section Economy and Education (E+E). We have made our advisory services even more accessible and beneficial for all project managers in the field and at HQ. 

The inspiring – You as a member of the E+E network. The E+E Team has demonstrated great respect and appreciation for the project managers’ professionalism and dedication all over the world. You made the difference thanks to the positive way in which you and your team have worked through the difficult humanitarian and development challenges and embraced emerging opportunities.

The possibilities - The E+E Team stands ready to support you in your programme implementation and to help you attain the best possible project results and the highest level of beneficiary satisfaction in 2023.

We wish you all the very best for this festive season and the new year ahead. We are looking forward to a great year of working together - Happy 2023 to you and your loved ones!

Diepak Elmer & Patrick Egli and the entire E+E Team

Infrastructure and equipment of Vocational Education and Training (VET) are particularly expensive and VET systems constantly face financial limitations, in particular in countries of the global South. Investments in infrastructure and equipment for VET programmes are therefore a recurrent topic in development cooperation.

As there is a general interest to get more guidance on this topic, the SDC Economy and Education Team elaborated this guidance paper in close collaboration with other WOGA partners. It aims to shed some light on this issue to help SDC officers and their implementers to make informed and appropriate decisions and to avoid or at least mitigate risks.

The guidance paper does not intend to replace the various resources such as internal guidelines and documents dealing with infrastructure investments and procurement issues, but recommends approaching the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Competence Center in this matter.

The SDC is excited to continue the series of webinars on VET system development. 

Infrastructure and equipment of VET are particularly expensive and VET systems constantly face financial limitations. Investments in infrastructure and equipment for VET programmes are therefore a recurrent topic in development cooperation.

 
As there is an overall interest to get more orientation on this topic, the SDC Economy and Education Team elaborated a guidance paper in close consultation with the colleagues of the Expert Group Construction from the Swiss Humanitarian Aid. 

The webinar on 5 December at 11 am CET introduces you not only to this guidance paper but also to the Expert Group Construction as part of the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Competence Centre. 

Overall, several experts will provide practical orientation on key questions related to investments of infrastructure and equipment in VET.  

Link to the event

IED (now part of E+E) and FCHR thematic units have engaged on a workstream to provide SDC staff with practical guidance on        

i) how to plan and implement IED projects in fragile contexts, taking into account the particular challenges of fragile contexts and 

ii) how IED projects can go beyond the minimalist approach of doing no harm (working in conflict/ fragility) by explicitly contributing to reduce fragility (working on conflict/fragility).

Link to the guidance sheet

This practical guidance sheet should be used as additional practical tool together with the slide deck and FAQ published on the shareweb (links below): 

Slide Deck: Inclusive economic development (IED) in fragile contexts 

FAQ: IED in fragile contexts Slide Deck

Village Capital with the support of its partners at the Impact-Linked Finance Fund, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Austrian Development Agency have launched the Catalyzing Financial Inclusion: Gender-Inclusive Fintech Solutions for Migrants report. This report shares insight on the financial inclusion obstacles disenfranchised migrant populations (especially women migrants) face in Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and South and Southeast Asia – and highlights innovative, tech-driven solutions to these challenges.  

Link to the report

Four Case Studies about some of SDC’s innovative Private Sector Partnerships (PSE) were just published. They portray 1) Social Impact Incentives (SIINC), 2) Impact-Linked Finance Fund (ILFF), 3) Catalytic Market Facility Aceli Africa (Aceli), and 4) Product Development Partnerships (PDPs). The Case Studies provide an easy to read (and well-layouted) introduction to those projects and mechanisms and can also be shared outside of SDC. 

This report documents the evaluation of the Nepal Cooperation Strategy 2018-22 from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The evaluation entailed a qualitative inquiry into the development effectiveness of the Cooperation Strategy. Its purpose was to inform the formulation of the new Nepal Cooperation Program 2023-26. The evaluation was conducted by two external evaluators and two SDC staff.

Check ou the findings and recommendations for the bilateral inclusive economic development programmes in Nepal. It's a must read!

Updated Version 2022 - 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’s South Cooperation, Cooperation with Eastern Europe, Global Cooperation as well as Humanitarian Aid and inspires the SDC’s cooperation strategies and its global and multilateral programmes. - Click here for latest version.