Employment and income Employment and income – honey for a better future

Honey and wax production is a source of new hope for beekeepers in Darfur.

When war broke out in Darfur in western Sudan in 2003, thousands – including Abdul-Aziz and his family – sought refuge in camps for internally displaced persons.

When the smallholder farmer and his wife left their village, they lost everything they had.

However, the Mukjar camp for internally displaced persons in West Darfur was bereft of opportunities for Abdul-Aziz, not least because it was extremely overcrowded.

The couple decided to return to their village, Bindisi, in the hope of taking up farming and beekeeping again, knowing full well that the situation wasn’t better there either.

Yet, Abdul-Aziz was lucky – he was able to join a new type of beekeeping association.

“Thanks to the project, I can now feed my family. I produce honey and wax which I sell at the local market.”

Numerous women take part in the project and its courses – including 21-year-old mother of six, Nor Elsham Abdlgadir Mohamed.

“I process 50 to 60 portions of beeswax every week, earning 28 francs per week. It is enough to support the whole family.”

The honey project – implemented with financial support from the SDC – has given people a new glimmer of hope, combining emergency humanitarian assistance with longer-term reconstruction and development.

Education Education – empowering people through Swiss expertise

The population of the Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya is around 185,000 – a touch more than the number of people who live in the city of Basel.

At present, the average length of time that people live in refugee camps worldwide is 17 years.

People in camps also need opportunities, employment and income to avoid being completely dependent on outside support.

While refugees are often not allowed to integrate into the local job market, local inhabitants in turn have no access to the help and assistance offered to refugees.

Aimed at promoting integration, ‘Skills 4 Life’ is a project in Kakuma open to both the residents of the camp and the local population.

Participation in the project is voluntary. Those involved receive neither money nor free meals; all they need is the motivation to improve their individual situation.

Informal and inexpensive training based on the principles of ‘learning by doing’ is available in 12 disciplines, including farming, masonry, refuse management, computer and mobile phone repair, laundry, tailoring and weaving.

Reading and arithmetic courses and business and social skills training are also provided.

The basic training element lasts four to five months and is practice-based. Besides obtaining a great deal of knowledge, participants gain self-confidence and get a certificate to show for it at the end.

Around 55% of the project participants are female.

“A number of project learning groups in the project have already teamed up to start small businesses, which is very gratifying.”

“The pilot project is the preliminary to an informal vocational education and training package, which can also be applied on a modular basis to other refugee situations in future.”

The project – implemented by the Swiss foundation Swisscontact on behalf of the SDC – gives people dignity, reduces poverty on a small scale, and generates opportunities.

Human rights Afghanistan – women’s rights are human rights

Afghanistan is one of the world’s poorest, most unstable countries. Through a wide range of programmes to strengthen local government structures, promote human rights and support socio-economic development, the SDC makes a sustainable contribution to reducing poverty in Afghanistan.

Women’s rights are human rights

Poverty, the trauma of war, and a lack of experience in harmonious gender interaction mean that domestic violence in Afghanistan is rife. The consequences for women can be fatal.

Switzerland also regards the training of policewomen as a priority in Afghanistan. In particular, qualified policewomen are necessary for liaison purposes in relation to domestic violence.

Switzerland also supports both the Afghan Human Rights Commission, which investigates specific cases of domestic violence, and Medica Afghanistan, a local NGO that provides psychological and legal help to victims of domestic violence.

The right to education is an important human right.

Some 87% of women can neither read nor write. However, there is increasing demand among Afghan parents for their daughters to receive an education, while local populations are taking a courageous stand against the closure of schools in areas influenced by insurgents.

Switzerland supports two projects to increase school enrolment for girls in four provinces in northern Afghanistan. The projects involve raising awareness among local populations and religious leaders (mullahs) of the importance of education for girls, and specifically promoting female teachers at secondary level.

Women’s rights also extend to politics. Thousands of women voted in the presidential elections in mid-June 2014. After queueing for hours in front of polling stations, they proudly held their ink-stained fingers aloft as proof of having voted.

Before the elections, measures were taken to enable women to vote. Human rights organisations increased women’s awareness of their political rights, urging them to go to the polls, while money was invested in training for female security staff to ensure that women could vote in safety.

Switzerland thus supports greater female representation in, and equal access to, government at both national and provincial level.

Inclusiveness is a prerequisite for development and the alleviation of poverty.

Swiss support for socio-economic development in Afghanistan’s rural areas focuses on promoting the role of women as producers and market participants.

Women farmers harvest wheat, vegetables, fruit and potatoes, and sell it at the market. This earns them a small wage and helps them improve their families’ lives in the process.

Climate change Worldwide demand for climate knowledge ‘made in Switzerland’

Millions of people who are forced to leave their homes as a result of natural disasters or poverty do not receive refugee status under the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and therefore have no right to protection.

The Nansen Initiative, which was launched by Switzerland in partnership with Norway in 2012, addresses this issue.

The Nansen Initiative is a protection agenda that lists specific measures to prevent future climate change induced displacement. It also features programmes for better adaptation to climate change.

This is precisely where Switzerland’s proven expertise and innovations come into play, e.g. in relation to glaciology, water management, risk prevention, energy conservation, forestry and reducing air pollution.

Glaciers in India, China and Peru melt just as rapidly as ours, which is why these countries are interested in working with Switzerland.

“We have a sound base of climate knowledge thanks to our studies in the Alps. We pass on this expertise to local scientists, who are then able to observe the behaviour of glaciers in their own countries.”

“Scientists on the ground are familiar with the social context of their own countries. This is key to taking adaptive measures and can help to save lives.”

In Peru, the implementation of an early-warning system for the glacial lake Laguna 513 benefited from this approach. The collapse of huge ice blocks has already pushed the lake over its banks a number of times, resulting in devastating floods.

A few kilometres away, the town of Carhuaz now receives information in real time, enabling the inhabitants to be evacuated in an emergency.

Particle filter technology is another area of Swiss expertise. In the 1990s, Switzerland was one of the first-ever countries to address the problem of harmful diesel engine emissions.

The Confederation – aiming to protect the health of construction workers – ensured that filters in construction machinery nowadays trap more than 97% of particulate matter.

In an initial project implemented by the SDC between 2004 and 2009, over 3,000 public buses in the Chilean capital of Santiago were equipped with filters. The success of this project attracted the interest of Chinese and other South American cities wanting to modernise their bus fleets and construction machinery.

“Today, we know that particulate matter is carcinogenic and causes respiratory disease.”

“What is less well known is that soot particulates are also a key contributor to global warming and that soot deposits are making glaciers melt faster.”

Resilience through work Helping to restore livelihoods in Syria

Only a few years ago, Syria was a country with a functioning economy and a high level of education.

As a result of the Syria conflict, over 13 million Syrians have fled their homes, more than six million of whom are displaced within their own country and almost five million have sought refuge outside Syria – mostly in neighbouring countries.

Syrians already account for 17% of the total number of refugees worldwide, which is in excess of 65 million – the highest figure for refugees since the Second World War, according to the United Nations.

In Syria, over 13 million people are currently in need of humanitarian assistance. In all likelihood, there is hardly a family in Syria that has not been affected by the civil war.

The level of destruction in Syria is enormous. Homelessness as well as dependence on humanitarian assistance are steadily rising.

Through partners, Switzerland is delivering emergency humanitarian assistance on the ground. It is also directly committed to strengthening the resilience of the affected civilian population in Syria and neighbouring countries.

Specifically, strengthening resilience means increasing the ability of people and the society they live in to cope more effectively with crises and disasters, and to recover from them faster.

This is precisely where Switzerland, together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), can make a difference – helping the affected Syrian population to restore their livelihoods and build a new, independent life.

For example, by restoring infrastructure through road clearance work and waste disposal.

By giving financial support to small businesses, so these companies can work productively and the local market starts functioning again.

By helping the local population to restore their water supplies, which are dilapidated and destroyed.

By integrating women into the job market. These are mainly women, who are now solely responsible for their households as well as for providing for their entire family.

By providing support in relation to food production and seed distribution.

By providing training in handicrafts to help people rebuild their livelihoods.

Peace-building Nigeria and Libya – cross-border dialogue aids conflict transformation

Since the fall of the Gaddafi regime in 2011, the situation in Libya has been confused and uncertain. This uncertainty has brought instability to the entire Sahel-Sahara region.

Armed militias control large parts of Libya and are fighting each other. In the Fezzan region, there have been regular violent clashes between Tuareg, Tubu and Arab armed groups for over two years.

The same populations, tribes and even families live on both sides of the border between Niger and Libya. In Niger they live together peacefully.

Niger can play an important peacekeeping role throughout the Sahel-Sahara region thanks to its relative stability.

In order to prevent the conflict in southern Libya from spreading to other countries, Switzerland is helping Niger to hold cross-border dialogue that aims to resolve conflicts peacefully.

Switzerland works on this initiative launched by the NGO CASPA (Cabinet d'Analyses et d'Actions pour la Sécurité et la Paix au Sahel), which brings together politicians, intellectuals and former members of various rebel groups from Niger.

The dialogue seeks to prevent tensions between the Tubu, Tuareg and Arabs in Niger and encourage their peaceful coexistence in southern Libya.

In December 2015, some 200 leaders from the Tuareg, Tubu and Arab populations met with representatives of the government at the initiative's first forum in Agadez. Agadez is a hub for migrants from across West Africa on their way to Europe.

Niger's prime minister, Birgi Rafini, chaired the forum. The participants called for Niger's government to be actively involved in the ongoing dialogue.

The leaders of the different population groups signed an undertaking to work actively to consolidate peace in Niger and take part in resolving conflicts in the region.

The process, which is supported by the Human Security Division of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, supports peace in Niger and works across borders to help peoples to coexist peacefully. It is thus helping to counteract the causes of displacement.