All news (849)
Syria: "You have to focus on each life saved"
08.11.2012
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Article
DEZA
Interview with Manuel Bessler, Humanitarian Aid Delegate of the Swiss Confederation
Since the outbreak of the conflict in March 2011, the humanitarian situation in Syria has continued to deteriorate. The violent confrontations are causing severe suffering in the civilian population; there are shortages of medical care, food, and water. More than 300,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries. We asked Manuel Bessler, Humanitarian Aid Delegate of the Swiss Confederation, about the support being provided by humanitarian aid actors in the field.
Burundi Conference in Geneva
29.10.2012
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Article
DEZA
A two-day conference is being held in Geneva at the end of October with the objective of mobilizing financial and political support for peace-building in Burundi. One of the representatives of Switzerland at this conference will be Paul Seger, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the UN in New York. As Chair of the so-called Configuration on Burundi, Ambassador Seger is vested with a key role in the consolidation of peace in Burundi.
Youth, actors of educational policy
25.10.2012
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Article
DEZA
Borhene Chakroun, Chief of UNESCO’s Section for Technical and Vocational Education and Training. In Bern for the launch in Switzerland on 25 October 2012 of the “2012 Education for All Global Monitoring Report”, this specialist granted us an interview on the education of youth at the level of international institutions.
Large tenders to be published in the coming months
19.10.2012
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Article
EB
Switzerland and the EU-10 sign the final infrastructure projects in autumn 2012. As a result, major tenders will be published in the coming months.
Partnership project in the domain of sports
15.10.2012
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Article
EB
The goal of the Partnership Fund is to support and expand institutional cooperation between Switzerland and the partner countries concerned. All told, over 150 small projects have been implemented in Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. In the majority of cases, the focus is on projects in the environmental or social domains, but not always. For instance, a small project in the Czech Republic is fostering cooperation in the teaching of sport between an Aikido school in Langenthal and a gymnastics club.
Inauguration of two permanent schools in Haïti
12.10.2012
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Article
DEZA
Programme of support for the reconstruction of school infrastructure
1,600 pupils were able to resume their school studies following the inauguration of the Ecole nationale de Dessources in Léogane and the Ecole fondamentale et Centre d’appui pédagogique (EFACAP) du Sacré-Cœur in Petit-Goâve on 10 October 2012. These are the first permanent school buildings that have been reconstructed in the country following the devastating earthquake of 12 January 2010. Both schools comply with anti-seismic and anti-cyclonic standards.
Kick-off to the Swiss-Romanian Research Projects
10.10.2012
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Article
EB
On 29 August 2012, an information event was held in Bern on the Swiss-Romanian research projects being supported by the Swiss Enlargement Contribution for the benefit of Romania. The moment has now come to get underway with the implementation of the 26 projects selected. As a rule, they are to last for a three-year period and be terminated by 2015. Switzerland is supporting the programme with an amount of CHF 10 million.
New publication «10 stories – 10 years of SDC engagement in Afghanistan»
09.10.2012
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Article
DEZA
People are the focus of development cooperation in Afghanistan
First and foremost, development cooperation is about people. So, too, in Afghanistan, a country that is coping with all the problems characteristic of a so-called «fragile» state. The brochure entitled «10 stories» introduces ten Afghans who are connected with the Cooperation Office of the SDC in Kabul: ten people working for their country.
Co-operation on research between Poland and Switzerland
24.09.2012
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Article
EB
In the framework of the Swiss-Polish Research Programme, two research teams from Bern are participating in projects on flood prevention and aspects of climate change. The Programme is financing a total of about 40 research projects which are being carried out by Swiss and Polish universities and research institutes. The programme has an overall budget of about CHF 30 million.
Securing land rights – a step toward eradicating hunger and poverty
13.09.2012
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Article
DEZA
SDC supports the utilization of Voluntary Guidelines on Land Governance
Weak governance of land tenure threatens food security, the environment as well as social development in many developing countries. The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Forests and Fisheries, adopted by the Committee on World Food Security in 2012, secure the rights of the rural poor to use, manage and control these natural resources. The SDC supports the application of these Guidelines with a contribution of CHF 3 million.
Promotion of community service work as an alternative to imprisonment in Romania
13.09.2012
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Article
EB
As part of its enlargement contribution to Romania, Switzerland supports Community Service Workshops as an alternative to imprisonment. This integrative and low-cost form of punishment is provided in four workshops. It provides Romanian judges with an alternative to short prison terms. The system is based on a model from Zürich that has been running successfully in Switzerland since 1998. Persons sentenced to short prison terms can keep their job and remain in their familiar environment. They do not need to be reintegrated into society because they do not go to prison at all. It also seems that the rate of recidivism is lower.
Message on Switzerland’s International Cooperation in 2013–2016
11.09.2012
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Article
DEZA
After the National Council, the Council of States adopted the Message on Switzerland’s International Cooperation in 2013–2016 on Tuesday, 11 September 2012. For the first time, the Message describes in one document the tasks of humanitarian aid, development cooperation, economic and trade policy measures within the framework of development cooperation, and cooperation with the countries of Eastern Europe.