Innovative development cooperation

Economic growth is at the heart of the International Cooperation Forum (IC Forum) 2025. Over the course of two days, experts from the fields of science, business, politics and civil society will examine topics relating to sustainable economic development. Innovative approaches to international cooperation will also be discussed at the event in Zurich. The aim is to promote dialogue between all participants and to use shared knowledge to find solutions to current challenges. All interested parties are invited to take part in the discussion, either online or at the venue (link to registration).

Economic growth provides the basis and impetus for sustainable development, and is a key part of international cooperation. Sustainable economic growth creates jobs, helps to mitigate the consequences of climate change and offers people prospects. The focus here is on the economic framework conditions, private sector development, and innovative partnerships with the private sector.

The strengthening of a peaceful and just international order and the creation of stable and investment-friendly economic conditions that support sustainable development are integral to Switzerland's international cooperation (IC) strategy. The IC strategy is founded on three pillars, for which the FDFA and SECO are responsible: humanitarian aid, development cooperation and the promotion of peace and human security. Switzerland's IC is thus an investment in freedom, security and prosperity at home and abroad.

Like its predecessor, the IC Strategy 2025-28 focuses on the four priority regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.

In Kenya, which is an SDC priority country, development cooperation includes private sector support in the form of an innovative financing approach known as Impact-Linked Finance (ILF). The approach links financial incentives for market-based organisations with the goal of achieving positive social results.

Farmers in Kenya who live in remote and rural areas lack access to high-quality and affordable agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilisers and pesticides, which they need to improve their yields. This issue stems from the lack of retailers serving these areas. For retailers, selling in remote and rural locations is associated with higher transport costs, longer travelling times and lower income.

Shamba Pride, a Kenyan distribution company for agricultural products and services, provides agricultural inputs in such remote areas. It is supported by the Impact-Linked Fund for Eastern and Southern Africa (ILF ESA), via the SIINC financing model. ILF ESA, a partner organisation of the SDC, supports organisations with a social impact in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Shamba Pride buys agricultural inputs directly from manufacturers at preferential prices and sells them to local agricultural traders known as DigiShops, who operate based on a franchise model. Shamba Pride offers farmers access to high-quality agricultural inputs at affordable prices.

Alongside the competitively priced products, franchisees also receive access to technology, including for efficient and transparent order processing and electronic invoicing. In addition, key performance indicators are agreed and reviewed annually between ILF ESA and Shamba Pride, namely: growth in the number of DigiShops in rural regions, in the percentage of DigiShops offering climate-friendly products, and in the percentage of organic agricultural inputs sold. The associated incentives mean that Digishops are operated in places where there would otherwise be no offer, which in turn allows clients to improve their earnings and income. Once they are open and integrated into the system, the impact of the DigiShops is long-lasting.

The sixth session of the IC Forum 2025 will examine a range of issues, including how international donors and philanthropists can use innovative opportunities such as ILF to help unleash the potential of the private sector in reducing poverty and inequality.

Innovative approaches to international cooperation can also be found in urban development projects, for example in Sarajevo. The capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina is like a time capsule: even today it bears the traces of Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian rule, of its time in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and of the siege of Sarajevo, which lasted 1,425 days. Each era has left its mark on the city and, in the absence of a standardised urban concept, has created a highly fragmented infrastructure.

The Urban Transformation Project Sarajevo (UTPS) provides such a concept and offers a vision for the development of Sarajevo until 2040. It aims to use a computer-assisted 4D model of the city and canton of Sarajevo to help with urban planning. The model combines quantitative and qualitative data and provides information on infrastructure, mobility, energy, water, air and soil quality, as well as on people's behaviour and the city's demographics.

The concept is being developed and implemented by the UTPS team, which is supported by SECO. Its members include ETH's Chair of Architecture and Urban Design and its Laboratory for Energy Conversion, as well as SwissAI, the University of Sarajevo, and the planning offices of the Canton of Sarajevo and the City of Zurich.

The aim is to promote the sustainable and climate-resilient socio-economic development of the city of Sarajevo. Future-oriented urban planning is essential to ensuring quality of life in cities. A number of Sarajevo's challenges, such as its excessive traffic volume and high air pollution, can be tackled with sustainable urban planning.

As well as benefiting Sarajevo's urban development, UTPS can also help other cities by sharing the project's experience and findings. This also applies to cities destroyed by war, and an initial exchange of information with political representatives from Ukraine took place last year.