Transferring Knowledge and Practical Experience
Volunteers of the Senior Expert Corps (SEC) are retired professionals who can be called in to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries and Eastern Europe. Experienced and highly motivated Senior Experts provide immediate on site practical support in solving technical and operational problems. Senior Experts promote occupational and technical skills of personnel and management. Their appointments last a maximum of three months.

Successful Development

The foundation for the Senior Expert Corps was laid in 1980 with three projects: one in Indonesia and two in Lesotho. Since then the number of assignments has continued to grow and in 2010, 30 years after its founding, it had the largest number to date with 168 assignments in 27 countries. Since its foundation, the Senior Expert Corps has organized more than 2‘000 consulting assignments. In order to be able to match the amount of requests from developing countries and Eastern Europe, we continuously increase the pool of retired specialists.

112 experts gave their experience on a voluntary basis and with a lot of commitment

We want to thank all the 112 experts, who have accomplished a Senior Expert assignment in 2010. They all have made a practical and concrete contribution to the development process and poverty alleviation in developing countries and Eastern Europe. A very warm thank you also goes to all experts, who are ready to provide the Senior Expert Corps with their skills and experience, but did not yet have the chance for an assignment. We highly appreciate your understanding and your patience.

High Client Satisfaction 

Whether in Benin, Ecuador, Honduras, Nepal or Ukraine, the client surveys of the expert assignments produce a uniform picture: 95 percent of respondents indicate that their level of satisfaction was high or very high and the suitability of the expert was very good (83 percent) or good (11 percent). 88 percent request a second assignment.

Assignment Opportunities

Even without active acquisition efforts, the amount of experts interested in an assignment remains high. Actually, the demand is higher than the effective offer of adequate assignments. Experts may have to wait a long time, depending on the professional field of expertise.

Financing – The Senior Expert Corps is financed by donations and institutional funds. Thank you very much for your contribution to this successful form of development cooperation.