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Swiss Foundation for Technical Cooperation – We create opportunities.

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Ready for a Better Future

Being given the opportunity to take responsibility for your own actions is not a privilege granted to everyone. Indeed, only those who are able to create new opportunities by themselves are ready for a better future. This is the reason why we support SMEs in southern and eastern countries by providing them with advice and training. In addition, we are actively involved in creating a better economic environment in these states.

Development is sustainable when it is based on the local people taking their own initiative. We therefore work on long-term projects with local partners, such as village banks in rural Ecuador.

Village Banks for Ecuador's Rural Population

Environment – Rural Ecuador , and in particular its highland regions, suffer from serious structural problems. Much of the agrarian population is living below the subsistence level. The most significant employers in the countryside are the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). If these are to compete and develop economically, they will need a fully functioning finance system, with services tailored to suit the needs of the people and the SMEs.

The project – The aim of this project is to give poor members of society, in rural areas, the opportunity to save money in a secure way, and also to receive favourable credit terms. If this is to be achieved, the local savings and credit cooperatives must be provided with targeted support. These small village banks constitute a key pillar of the local economy: they provide SMEs and producers with credits and they guarantee that the funds saved in this way will be invested in the region. To ensure that the village banks comply with the legal requirements and are able to stay in business, they must professionalize their operating procedures, as well as their bookkeeping. In many rural regions, people qualified to carry out these tasks are few and far between. Given this state of affairs, Swisscontact is developing specifically tailored training and further education courses, with the help of Swiss banking experts. Online lessons have proved to be particularly appropriate. Thanks to these, the bank officers are able to get training in exactly the areas, in which they feel uncertain. One such area is that of micro credits. These enable local SMEs to make investments and to grow, thus generating urgently required jobs.

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Main partners of this project
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC
Kanton Zürich

29 March

Micheline Calmy-Rey visits Swisscontact project in Kosovo

Calmy-Rey welcomed by Swisscontact’s Johann- Peter Porten . Photo: Swisscontact.

After the inauguration of the embassy in Prishtina, foreign minister Calmy-Rey visited a business school which is supported by Swisscontact.

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18 October

UN environmental organisation rewards a Swisscontact project

The United Nations Environment Programme has recognized the finished project for the replacement of CFCs in cooling appliances in India for its contribution to the protection of the ozone layer.

» | Press Release

August 23, 2007

Swisscontact Knowledge Management Award

Ambulant Knowledge in West Africa

The Swisscontact Knowledge Management Award 2007 goes to West Africa. Also receiving awards were the proposals from Indonesia, Kenya and Sri Lanka.

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