The Government of Switzerland opened a permanent office in the Republic of Moldova in 2000. The Swiss Cooperation Office has the status of diplomatic mission and represents the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation based in Kyiv, Ukraine.
At an early stage of cooperation, the Swiss support focused on humanitarian aid for disadvantaged groups and rehabilitation of social institutions.
Since 2005 SDC has provided technical assistance through long-term programmes and projects in the fields of water and sanitation, and health.
SDC supported the construction of small water supply systems delivering safe drinking water from local sources for more than 45,000 rural inhabitants in 28 villages. Environmentally-friendly EcoSan dry toilets were built in public institutions serving 14,000 people in 32 communities.
The new technologies and management solutions were recognized both by people and authorities, and have been included into national policy documents on water and sanitation.
SDC has supported the modernization of mother and child healthcare since 2006. All maternities received new equipment and introduced advanced training, clinical and management practices.
Three regional paediatric emergency centres, established with the SDC support in the northern, central and southern regions, have got sufficient capacity to manage child emergency cases according to latest health quality standards.
Consistent with national development goals and international commitments of the Republic of Moldova, the SDC interventions has contributed significantly to their implementation, e.g. Millennium Development Goal “Reduce child mortality”, Protocol on Water and Health etc.