Information for Potential Partners

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is a part of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland. SDC has been working in Bangladesh since its independence. At present, SDC in Bangladesh is working the two thematic areas of Employment and Income Generation and Local Governance. 

SDC’s cooperation principle is to concentrate its development effort on limited areas of activity in order to achieve the greatest possible impact. Typically, SDC does not take on projects on short-term basis; rather, tries to establish long-term partnerships to achieve greater effectiveness.

Therefore, scope for new contributions and partnerships is limited. Nonetheless, institutions, registered in Bangladesh may submit enquiries, requests, organizational profiles or other relevant documents at the reception of SDC office. Requests should be consistent with SDC programme priorities in Bangladesh and should only be made after careful review of all relevant information.

Organizations are requested to provide e-mail/ mailing addresses. SDC reserves the right to take any decision about the submitted documents and is not obligated to return the same. SDC will respond by e-mail or post, only when it deems necessary.

SDC does not offer individual scholarships or internships in Bangladesh.

Based on the assumption of an overall stable political and economic context and considering Switzerland’s modest general leverage in Bangladesh, Swiss development assistance will contribute to systemic change and reform processes through facilitation, capacity building and advocacy in multi-stakeholder processes at field and policy level.

Direct synergies between the Swiss-funded interventions in the three domains of intervention will be exploited when interventions are conducted in the same geographic area, whereby projects in the fields of Market Development and Local Governance are particularly well positioned for such interaction. Mutual enforcement as well as close exchange and learning among interventions within and across the domains will be fostered systematically, in particular through intra-portfolio cooperation and coordination around mainstreaming and results management processes. Synergies and mutual reinforcement between Swiss-funded interventions and projects/programmes implemented by other donors within the core domains will be achieved through pro-active coordination and cooperation among development partners.

SDC will apply a balanced mix of implementation modalities ranging from mandated projects, contributions to local NGOs, co-financing arrangements with IFIs and UN organisations as well as co-financing partnerships with like-minded bilateral donors. Adjustment of this mix – i.e. an increase in mandates at the expense of co-financing initiatives with involvement of the government – will be the main mitigation measure to respond in the event of a deteriorating development context.

To ensure alignment of the Swiss development assistance with Bangladesh’s national priorities, the Embassy of Switzerland and SDC will continue to play an active role in the Local Consultancy Group and its relevant working groups and to actively engage with key government stakeholders in the spirit of the Busan Partnership. Coordination with the country’s leading development partners, in particular within the constituency of European donors and with UN organisations and IFIs, will continue to be very close.

Partnership in Bangladesh: A Working Aid (PDF, Number of pages 110, 42.9 kB)