Selected results 2016
Through its international cooperation work, Switzerland works for globalisation that promotes development in a number of countries. SDC and SECO projects and programmes achieved a wide range of results in 2016.
Global
Low productivity remains a major problem for Colombia and other partner countries, and hinders them from integrating in global markets. SECO has therefore supported the ILO SCORE (Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises) programme in Asia, Africa and Latin America for many years. The programme seeks to increase productivity through training and advice, and improve working conditions in small and medium-sized enterprises. In Colombia, the working conditions of over 3,300 employees in the clothing, textile, flower and agricultural sectors were improved in 2016. The number of companies involved rose by 70 SMEs in 2016 (taking the total to 166 companies since 2010). Gender equality was also promoted, with women now playing a leading role in business improvement teams and projects in 64% of companies.
In 2016, Switzerland chaired the UNAIDS Board in Geneva and co-facilitated the High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS in New York. The SDC played a major role in the adoption of the UNAIDS Strategy 2016–21 and the Political Declaration of the High Level Meeting. Both documents reflect Swiss priorities in the area of sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equality.
Since 2012, in all its addresses to the Board and committees of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the SDC has recommended that the Fund should not focus exclusively on a targeted response to these three epidemics, but should also work to sustainably strengthen the health systems of the countries concerned. This conviction, which is also echoed by other countries, has paid off as building resilient and sustainable systems for health is now a strategic objective in the Fund’s strategy for the period 2017–2022. This will help boost the Fund’s impact and ensure its efforts are sustainable
