Development cooperation with the South

The picture shows three people in a radio studio recording a programme.
Switzerland promotes free media in Tanzania. © SDC

The SDC's development cooperation with the South contributes to the efforts to reduce poverty in countries and regions across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and helps these countries and regions to meet global challenges. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the SDC is phasing out its bilateral development cooperation by 2024 in line with a development policy decision to focus on four priority regions.

Most of the SDC's priority countries and regions are considered fragile or affected by conflict; state institutions are weak and populations repeatedly subjected to violence and arbitrary treatment. In line with the goals of the 2030 Agenda, the SDC is stepping up its development activities to improve this situation in ways that benefit all local communities. Its development cooperation with the South places a special emphasis on crisis and conflict transformation, democratic governance and fighting corruption.

With its partners and developmental actors on the ground, the SDC supports projects in the areas of democratic governance and social inclusion, health and education, employment and income creation, local economic development, and state and administrative reform to strengthen the rule of law. Furthermore, it encourages various public and private actors to take ownership of sustainable development and opens up opportunities for young people and women by supporting their integration in social, political and economic life. 

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the SDC is phasing out its bilateral development cooperation by 2024 in line with a development policy decision to focus on four priority regions. In the final phase of the programmes, care will be taken to ensure the sustainability of the progress achieved to date.

As instructed by Parliament, Switzerland's international cooperation will continue to pursue a strategy of linking migration with development, through activities that focus even more strongly on the root causes of migration in migrants' countries of origin.