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In Ekong’s view, international development aid should work to strengthen existing local efforts, instead of launching new projects. “Especially in Africa, we have seen great progress in a short time thanks to social entrepreneurship: people have invested in their own communities, they know what is needed, they are more trusted, and they are not held up by formalities and reports.” The advances made are also more sustainable, as those involved feel personally responsible for the project. This is by no means the only way forward for development aid, Ekong concludes, but it is a useful complement that deserves more attention.
Switzerland gives funding to all
This is exactly Switzerland’s approach. Switzerland is the only country that publicly awards bilateral development aid projects in accordance with World Trade Organization (WTO) guidelines. This means that any aid organisation in the world can apply for Swiss funding – not just a Swiss or American NGO, but also a Ugandan micro-organisation like “Youth Coffee Talk Africa”.
In other countries, governments mainly award contracts to national NGOs. According to the NGO Peace Direct, it is mostly the “usual suspects” that receive public funds; in other words, those aid organisations that already have a relationship with the donors.
Swiss NGOs, meanwhile, are not happy with Switzerland’s approach. Critics say it puts them at a disadvantage compared to foreign competition.
There is no international obligation to publicly tender development aid projects. The Swiss parliament decided this on its own initiative. And it upholds the principle firmly: lawmakers recently rejected a motion calling for Swiss NGOs to be given priority.
From a Swiss perspective, it may be frustrating when a British NGO, and not a Swiss one, snaps up a contract financed by Swiss taxpayers’ money; but for NGOs from developing countries, the Swiss approach is – at least in theory – an opportunity. Thus, a Colombian NGO can apply for funding for a project in Colombia; it probably has more expertise and local knowledge, for instance, than a French-run organisation.
What the figures show
This doesn’t mean NGOs from developed countries are losing out on Swiss funds. On the contrary. According to the foreign ministry, a total of 141 development cooperation projects were publicly awarded between 2017 and 2020. Of these, 80 went to Swiss providers, 44 to providers from developed countries and 17 to local providers.
The application requirements for contracts are stringent. There are rules on compliance, monitoring, reporting and so on.
“Meeting these demands is challenging and requires institutional capacities,” a spokesperson for the foreign ministry wrote in a reply to SWI swissinfo.ch.
Peace Direct criticises the Western – mainly bureaucratic – requirements, which are based on Western values and knowledge systems and automatically devalue local knowledge, thereby excluding local organisations from receiving funding.
However, Switzerland fares far better than other Western countries when it comes to channelling funds closer to the needs of local population.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) analysed data from 2018 to 2019.
“After European Union institutions and the United Kingdom, Switzerland provided the third-largest amount to NGOs in developing countries,” an OECD spokesperson replied on request. Switzerland is among those States that allocate a high proportion of the budget for aid organisations to NGOs in developing countries.
According to the OECD, NGOs from developing countries still receive the smallest share of official development aid money. Most of the funding goes to aid organisations that are based in the donor countries. Bwaita Aggrey carries on regardless. Thanks to digitisation, he can reach out to people all over the world.
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Sibilla Bondolfi studied law, then worked as a journalist at the newspapers NZZ and Zürcher Oberländer, and the magazines K-Tipp, Saldo, and Plädoyer.
Source: SWI swissinfo.ch; the international unit of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC)
