Through its international cooperation work, Switzerland is engaged in crisis prevention and providing emergency aid in a number of countries. SDC and SECO projects and programmes achieved a wide range of outcomes in 2015.
Selected results 2015
Emergency aid and reconstruction measures supported by Switzerland directly benefit around 3.5 million people a year.It is estimated that around 1 million people in conflict zones benefit from Swiss support to the ICRC. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which also receives Swiss support, in turn provides assistance to almost half of the world’s 67 million displaced persons, refugees and asylum seekers. Each year, Switzerland appoints 80 to 100 specialists from the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit (SHA) to support its UN partners.
Sri Lanka
Die Wiederaufbauhilfe der Schweiz konzentriert sich auf die ärmsten und bedürftigsten Gemeinschaften. Die unterstützten Bevölkerungsgruppen umfassen schätzungsweise 1 Million Menschen pro Jahr. In Sri Lanka beispielsweise erhielten dank des Engagements der DEZA, das 2015 auslief, in den Provinzen Jaffna und Kilinochchi über 5000 Familien, die Opfer des Bürgerkriegs waren, Unterstützung beim Wiederaufbau ihrer Häuser.
Nicaragua und Honduras
Reconstruction measures concentrate on the poorest communities with the greatest need. An estimated 1 million people benefit every year. In Sri Lanka, where Switzerland’s engagement came to an end in 2015, more than 5,000 families affected by civil war in the provinces of Jaffna and Kilinochchi benefited from Swiss support in rebuilding their homes.
African Great Lakes region
Switzerland makes a pertinent contribution to reducing the root causes of conflicts and increasing crisis resilience in targeted fragile contexts. In the African Great Lakes region, Switzerland supports seven social organisations that manage “maisons d’écoute”, centres that provide refuge, care and counselling for victims, primarily of sexual violence. The SDC covers the cost of these support and legal services. To date, these efforts have allowed more than 19,000 victims of sexual violence, 87% of whom are women, to receive psychosocial support and legal advice.
