Swisscontact programme contribution South 2015 - 2016

Swisscontact considers a solid economic de­velopment as prerequisite for ongoing reduc­tion in poverty as it creates additional opportu­nities for employment and income. Over and above this, the affected population must be capable of directly participating in the devel­opment ("pro poor growth"). In order for this to take place, it must be recognised that poor people are not isolated, but live in economic systems - as producers, workers and consum­ers. Of crucial importance therefore are the roles of the people in these systems and the benefits that can be gained from a change of system. It is therefore most of all a question of overcoming access barriers for poor people -
in other words access to: a: skills (capabilities and knowledge); b: markets; c: finances;
d: natural resources.

Rational: Reduced disparities and vulnerability of Livelihoods.

Impact: Widespreads improvements in livelihood, measured in terms of increase of at least one asset dimension (income and employment).

The majority of the target groups earn incomes that are less than USD2/person/day and therefore live in poverty.

Skills development: Apprentices as well as the own­ers of the involved SMEs, private sector organiza­tions, training institutions and ministries involved in the TVET system.

Enterprise Development: smallholder farmers/SMEs, national and local governments, academic sector (universities and research institutes) business based associations, NGO’s and medias.

Financial Services: Vast majority of poor rural people in East and Southern Africa (smallholder farmers), Members of save- and lending groups, SACCOs, banks and educational institutions (universities), government ministries and regulation bodies.

Resource Efficiency: city residents, SME’s local ministries, universities and research institutes.

• Skills development: Enhanced formal and non-formal skills and employability of youth and adults.
  
  
• Enterprise Development: Enhanced competitive­ness of business and producing households.
  
  
• Financial Services: Enhanced benefits from sav­ings, loans and risk management opportunities.
  
  
• Resource Efficiency: Enhanced benefits from sustainable and efficient natural resource man­agement.

Expected results:  

Skills development: Capacity of private and public providers to develop and deliver rele­vant, demand-oriented training and skills de­velopment services increased.

Enterprise Development: Capacity of private and public providers to develop and deliver services related to information, skills inputs, production, product markets and business col­laboration increased.

Financial Services: Capacity of private and public providers to develop and deliver innova­tive, inclusive financial service products in­creased.

Resource Efficiency: Capacity of private and public providers to develop and deliver sus­tainable and resource efficient services and solutions for natural resource management increased.

Results from previous phases:  

Outreach: Project activities reached about 49‘000 direct and 8’500 indirect beneficiaries in Skills development and 19’000 direct and 13’000 indirect beneficiaries in Enterprise de­velopment. 475’000 people profited from waste management improvements and more than 41’000 from financial services.

Impact: Monitoring and result measurement showed a significant increase in income (be­tween 15% - 100%) and a positive impact on social status and self-confidence of beneficia­ries. Waste volume per household could be reduced by 50% and 28’000 tons of CO₂ equi­valence have been saved. Volume of credits and savings increased by more than 300%.

Skills Development (SD) / Vocational Educational Training (VET): In Albania, Bangladesh, Kosovo, Mali (Training Institute for Technical Instruction) and Niger (rural skills development), Tunisia

Enterprise Development: In Bangladesh (M4P Katalyst / Making markets work for the chars), Bolivia Honduras and Nicaragua (Rural value chains), Kosovo (Women Business development Project), South Africa (Local Economic Development), Kenya, Mozambique

Resource Efficiency: in Bolivia, South Africa (clean air, Biogas, Biofuel),

Financial Services: in Ecuador