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South Africa and southern Africa
Website of the SDC in South Africa and southern Africa: www.swiss-cooperation.admin.ch/southernafrica/
The Southern Africa Regional Programme has been designed to make a contribution to the fight against poverty, to rural development, and to conflict prevention in South Africa and in the member States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The idea is to tackle challenges such as governance, HIV/AIDS, and the management of natural resources by utilizing a regional approach. The SDC Special Programme for South Africa was launched in order to make a contribution to transition to the post-apartheid era with as little social tension and violence as possible. It wound up
at the end of 2004 after having flanked the first 10 years of the transition process. Subsequently it was transformed into a Regional Programme Southern Africa (RPSA), while maintaining a South
Africa component. The Programme focuses on governance, HIV/AIDS, and food security. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), on the other hand, is active in supporting the development of
small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition to its activities within the Regional Programme, Switzerland continues to support bilateral programmes in South Africa on themes such as, for instance, youth unemployment and climate change |
| The Swiss Government's bilateral commitment | 2010 |
2011 |
2012* |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDC | |||
| Bilateral development cooperation | 18.94 | 24.49 | 18.00 |
| Humanitarian aid | 8.30 | 7.41 | 7.55 |
| State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) | |||
| Economic Cooperation and Development | 2.80 | 2.84 | 3.50 |
| Total SDC/SECO commitment | 30.04 | 34.74 | 29.05 |
| Other Federal Offices | |||
| FDFA Human Security Division and Directorate of International Law | 0.30 | 0.04 | – |
| State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) | 0.06 | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Total other Federal Offices | 0.36 | 0.08 | 0.04 |
| Total | 30.40 | 34.82 | 29.09 |
Bilateral development cooperation excluding programme contributions to NGOs
– = nil or amount < 5'000 CHF
Development Cooperation: Priorities
Since the end of the apartheid regime, SDC has been supporting a cooperation programme with South Africa. With the new Regional Programme Southern Africa (RPSA), the accent has shifted towards regional priorities. In this way, SDC is following the SADC regional, as well as South Africa's own, trend towards regional cooperation, which is also to be observed with other donors in the SADC region. The frame for SDC’s engagement is laid down in the Message to Parliament in which SDC defines its activities as being focused on five thematic priorities, i.e., crisis prevention and management, good governance, income generation and employment, increase of social justice, and sustainable use of natural resources.
The regional approach embodied by the RPSA boasts several advantages:
- The up-scaling of successful experiences and lessons learnt from the Swiss cooperation programmes in South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, and other regional initiatives.
- The catalyzing and promoting role SDC can play in strengthening regional public and private partners.
- The existing civil society and governmental-organization networks that can help promote joint regional problem solving for selected transnational issues (HIV/AIDS, governance, management of natural resources).
- South Africa’s role as a regional leader and as Switzerland’s most important partner in sub-Saharan Africa, along with the quality of its human resources, are favorable arguments for the Regional Programme.
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Good governance |
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This objective can be attained by:
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HIV/AIDS |
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This objective can be attained by:
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Rural development |
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This objective can be attained through:
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The South-Africa component |
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Cooperation with South Africa is marked by the end of the SDC's Special Programme (end 2004) and the ”phasing over” towards the Regional Programme Southern Africa (RPSA), which includes a South Africa component. This objective can be attained though:
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The following crosscutting issues apply to all domains of the Regional Programme:
- HIV/AIDS: Mainstreaming will be done in all domains of the Regional Programme Southern Africa based on the experiences and good practice of SDC and others, and taking into account the causes and effects of the epidemic in order to contribute to controlling the epidemic’s spread and to mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS.
- The Gender equality issue will focus on mainstreaming, strengthening of the partners’ capacities, and support in the compilation of gender-specific data.
- Culture is seen as an important development dimension. Specific cultural activities are financed in South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Madagascar.
The Regional Programme will be managed by the Swiss Cooperation Office Pretoria, supported by a "Cooperative Network" among the SDC Offices in the Southern Africa region. The Pretoria Office has the lead in this network and works in close co-operation with Maputo (Mozambique) and Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), each engaging in policy dialogue, assessment and consultation with potential regional partners in their countries.
Humanitarian Aid: Priorities
The humanitarian situation in southern Africa – first and foremost in Zimbabwe - continues to be characterized by the devastating combination of a lack of food security, the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, and inadequate government services. Swiss humanitarian aid supports efforts in the region which aim to improve the food security of the most vulnerable communities and to stem the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Efforts are concentrated primarily in Zimbabwe, a country which has been beset by a dire humanitarian crisis for the last few years, as borne witness to by the following statistics:
- Currently over half of Zimbabweans are dependent on food aid;
- 94% of Zimbabwe’s population is unemployed;
- Life expectancy is now barely 40 years;
- There are a good one million AIDS orphans.
Switzerland helps the people of Zimbabwe by providing emergency food aid, which is distributed by the World Food Programme (WFP) and by NGOs. It has also sent experts to the country, and funds the supply of seeds and fertilizers to smallholders in order to help kick-start domestic food production again.
As regards the health-care sector, Humanitarian Aid supports Swiss NGOs (Solidarmed, Swiss Aids Care International) which distribute anti-retroviral drugs to HIV/AIDS sufferers living in the slums of the capital Harare and in rural areas. These organizations supported by the Swiss programme also train public health workers in the most isolated parts of the country to ensure that retroviral treatment is accessible to anyone who needs it.
Cholera epidemics regularly sweep through the most destitute parts of the country. During the period between August 2008 and February 2009, around 90,000 people contracted cholera and more than 4,000 subsequently died. Swiss Humanitarian Aid has provided UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration (OIM) with experts to carry out tests on the drinking water and to devise emergency measures to minimize the impact of the epidemic. In the area of well construction Swiss Humanitarian Aid has seconded a member of the Swiss Humanitarian aid Unit (SHA) to the IMO, and provides financial support to the well-construction project. Priority is given to the sustainable improvement of the quality of drinking water and to the access to water in those rural areas which were hardest hit by the cholera outbreak of 2008/2009.
The SDC’s humanitarian aid programme in Angola was concluded at the end of 2006. The SDC nonetheless maintains an office in Luanda in order to implement the “Angolan-Swiss Socio-humanitarian Programme”, based on a bilateral agreement signed between Switzerland and Angola to follow up the restitution of Angolan assets that had been frozen in Switzerland. Sustained by a budget of some USD 21 million, the programme accords priority to professional training in the agricultural sector and to the strengthening of Angolan capacity in the domain of de-mining.
Background information
Background
information provided by the BBC: Africa
General Information – countries of the Southern Africa region
| Inhabitants | GDP per capita (US $) | Rank in HDI | |
| Madagascar | 18'600'000 |
932 |
145/182 |
| Angola | 17'600'000 | 5'385 | 143/182 |
| Malawi | 14'400'000 | 761 | 160/182 |
| Mauritius | 1'300'000 | 11'296 | 81/182 |
| Mosambique | 21'900'000 | 802 | 172/177 |
| South Africa | 49'200'000 | 9'757 | 129/182 |
| Swaziland | 1'200'000 | 4’789 | 142/182 |
| Tanzania | 41’300’000 | 1’208 | 151/182 |
| Zambia | 12’300’000 | 1’358 | 164/182 |
| Zimbabwe | 12’400’000 | -- | -- |
| Botswana | 1'900'000 | 13'604 | 125/182 |
| Namibia | 2'100'000 | 5'155 | 128/182 |
| Lesotho | 2'000'000 | 1'541 | 156/182 |
| RDK | 62'500'000 | 298 | 176/182 |
Source: Human Development Report 2009, UNDP
Local SDC contact address:
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South Africa and southern Africa (Pretoria) |
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Swiss Cooperation Office South Africa |
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| Phone | +2712 36 22972 |
| Fax | +2712 36 22971 |
| pretoria@sdc.net | |
| Website | www.swiss-cooperation.admin.ch/southernafrica/ |
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Additional Information and Documents Here, you will find more publications, links, documents and articles about Swiss development cooperation and humanitarian aid in this country. |