Projects

Youth-Inclusive Rural Finance (YIRF)

01.09.2025 - 31.08.2028

Millions of Tanzanian young people living in rural areas, in particular young women, are affected by vulnerable employment. Building on successful Swiss experience in youth employment, this initiative aims at increasing gainful self-employment through enhanced financial inclusion. It will support the design, market entrance and upscaling of innovative digital financial products and services tailored to rural youth, including female youth. In order to ensure scale and sustainability, a partnership with the private sector will be developed.

Futuro Microbank

08.03.2021 - 30.06.2023

Limited access to financial services is a key constraint of rural micro and small women and men entrepreneurs (including farmers) to develop their business and to generate employment and income. The Swiss supported Banco Futuro is successfully providing affordable financial services to rural entrepreneurs (80% women), thus allowing them to enhance business and livelihood opportunities

Training for Skills and Employment (T4SE)

01.03.2021 - 31.12.2030

The main goal of the Training for Skills and Employment project is to create work opportunities for rural youth by strengthening their professional skills as well as advocating for an improved legal framework for Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training in the country. SDC’s contribution aims to support training provision through engaging with the private sector, which will allow young people to acquire marketable[1] skills leading to formal or self-employment and consequently increased productivity.

[1] Marketable skills are those which are in demand and can respond to existing and previously identified market opportunities.

Opportunities for Youth Employment (OYE)

01.03.2020 - 31.05.2024

Inspired by aspects of the Swiss Vocational Skills Development model, the Opportunities for Youth Employment project aims to improve the livelihoods of young rural and peri-urban out-of-school women and men. In addition to building youths' skills-set and connecting them with existing markets for gainful selfemployment in agriculture and renewable energy, this project will also contribute to a more youth friendly and effective market system and policy environment Co-funding is provided by the private sector.

Strengthening Agro-biodiversity in Southern Africa (SASA)

01.09.2019 - 31.08.2023

While governments have regional and national seed policies favourable to commercial certified seed

production, these are restrictive on farmers’ seed systems that are diverse and resilient. The project

capitalises on Swiss regional experiences on supporting seed systems in Southern Africa. This will include

the empowerment of civil society, farmers’ organisations and governments in developing inclusive agricultural

policies that ultimately contribute to sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity and improved well-being of

smallholder farming communities.

Social Accountability Programme 2019 - 2022

01.01.2019 - 31.12.2022

Against the backdrop of shrinking civic space in Tanzania, the Social Accountability Program supports four key accountability Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the country. It aims to enhance transparency and accountability of public resource management at national and local level and to empower citizens – including youth and women - and local organizations to engage effectively in public oversight, decision making and advocacy on social issues of concern.

Scaling Up Youth Employment in Agriculture Initiative

01.08.2018 - 31.10.2023

Education systems in Southern Africa do not prepare youth for work; they cannot access or create economic opportunities and ignore the available options. The project will scale up in Southern Africa a model already tested by Switzerland in Tanzania. It will improve (self)-employment of 20’000 young women and men in Zimbabwe and Zambia by strengthening their skills and matching them with existing job opportunities, thereby contributing to the implementation of youth policies in-country and regionally.

Inovagro Private Sector Led Rural Growth

02.01.2018 - 31.12.2021

Inovagro aims at increasing the incomes of poor farmers in Northern Mozambique, through ‘pro-poor’ private sector development. It improves farmers’ access to inputs and markets through local private, public and civil society partners. Phase III will consolidate the work of previous phases and focus on scale-up and replicability of successful interventions. There will also be a stronger focus on women inclusion, risk reduction, communication and knowledge sharing based on lessons learnt over the past years.

Regional Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis (RVAA)

01.08.2017 - 31.03.2022

The project supports the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and its Member States in reducing vulnerability of households to disaster risks by increasing their preparedness for response and recovery and in strengthening their resilience. This will be achieved through institutionalising and sustaining vulnerability assessments and analyses systems that enhance emergency and developmental responses at national and regional levels.

Rural Resilience in Southern Africa / R4 Initiative

01.07.2017 - 30.06.2021

The project builds resilience of smallholder farmer households in three countries in Southern Africa (Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe) by enabling their adaptation to climate risk through a community oriented and market based risk management comprehensive approach. The initiative combines improved resource management (risk reduction), insurance (risk transfer), livelihoods diversification and microcredit (prudent risk taking) and savings (risk reserves). The combined interventions are carefully adapted to each country context.

HortiSempre 2

02.01.2017 - 31.12.2021

Switzerland’s introduction of market focused and innovative solutions in horticulture, contributed to the growth of the sector in Northern Mozambique by improving productivity and de-seasonalization of production. Phase 2 of the project will consolidate and scale-up on these achievements in order to increase the annual income for 25’000 poor women and men producers. The introduction of beans and cassava will enhance the resilience against weather shocks and disasters.

Strengthening Social Accountability and Oversight in Health and Agriculture

01.05.2016 - 31.12.2025

The projected intervention aims at improving public resources management and services delivery in health and agriculture sectors through strengthening the oversight and social accountability roles as well as the capacities of selected parliamentary committees and civil society organisations (CSOs) in the region. It facilitates knowledge sharing and learning at regional level and supports collaborations between parliamentary committees and CSOs in five SADC countries.