SWITZERLANDPriority sectors for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and for the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) are agriculture and food security; health; water; climate change; and migration. Over 7.5%of Switzerland’s aid budget is allocated to water projects and programmes and nearly 65% of SDC’s water budget is allocated to WASH.

SDC has a number of programmes that focus on decentralisation within focus countries and these programmes include a larger, cross-sectoral agenda; some will include a WASH component.

The development programme of the SECO focuses more on Middle Income Countries while the target group of SDC’s work is mainly the rural populations in Low Income Countries. Most aid is delivered directly through partner organisations; nearly 20% of aid is delivered through multilateral organisations. There is pressure to reduce the number of countries and sectors that SDC works in.

Specific TargetThe Swiss Parliament raised the aid budget in 2011 to 0.5% of GDP. For 2011 and 2012 the additional funding was dedicated to water and climate change, known as ‘the 0.5% bill’, which SDC has to report against separately. Spending targets for Switzerland’s WASH aid are CHF145 million in 2013; CHF150 million in 2014; CHF150 million in 2015; and CHF150 million in 2016.

Drinking water remains the main priority, however sanitation and hygiene received increasing attention in SDC and SECO’s agenda. There are some programmes that have a specific sanitation focus such as the Global Sanitation Fund implemented by WSSCC (SDC) or building of wastewater treatment plants (SECO in Tunisia, Egypt, Peru, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Vietnam).

Most of SDC’s projects include hygiene promotion programmes integrated with drinking water and sanitation programmes. However SDC’s global program has piloted an innovative hand-washing campaign in India and is now testing the concept in Africa (rural Burundi & urban context in Zimbabwe). In addition to the provision of infrastructure, SECO systematically supports related institutional strengthening activities, corporate development of the water companies and policy dialogue initiative that will improve the sustainability of the operation of the water infrastructure.

SDC is piloting wastewater treatment plants for rural small towns and for waste water reuse for agriculture. SECO is engaged in wastewater management in urban settlements.

WASH AID PRIORITIES: DISTRIBUTION OF AID COMMITMENTS (2010–2012)

least developed country

other low income

lower middle income

upper middle income

13%25%

28% 34%

by income group

AID POLICY FOR WASH/TARGETS ASPECTS OF WASH AID

SDC developed a successful rural WASH implementation model in Nicaragua that catalysed investment by the government and the World Bank. In Peru, SDC piloted a decentralised, integrated implementing mechanism for investments in water and sanitation services. This approach was adopted by the government as the implementing model for decentralized service provision and rolled out country-wide with massive government and multilateral funding with consequent leverage and scaling up effects.

The positive outcomes of the application of corporate development measures are perceivable for a sustainable management of the water utilities, notably in SECO projects in Macedonia and Kyrgyzstan where this approach is applied together with the introduction of new water investment programs. In the city of Khujand (Tajikistan), the payment collection rate increased from 60 % to 84 % despite substantial tariff increases, and the public utility results increased from a loss of EUR 752,000 to a profit of EUR 53,100 within two years.

EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS

by mdg region

northern africa western asia

south-eastern asia

sub-saharan africa oceania

southern asia not applicable

latin america and caribbean caucasus and central asia

eastern asia developed countries

<1%

0%

6%

9%

9%

10%

11%

4%1%

note: an additional 42% of swiss sanitation and water oda is targeted to sector or multi-country programmes

Source: OECD-CRS, 2014 7%

Source: OECD-CRS, 2014

EXTERNAL S U P P O R T A G E N C Y H

IGH

LIG

HT

S

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/glaas/en/

20%

10%

60%

10%

new services

repair/replacement

improve service levels

sector strenthening

17%

24%

59%

basic systems

large systems

other

BASIC VS. LARGE SYSTEMS (2010–2012) NEW VS. EXISTING SERVICES (2012) WATER VS. SANITATION (2012)

[ No disaggregated data available. ]

johan gely

senior policy water advisor

global program water initiatives

swiss agency for development and cooperation (sdc)

freiburgstrasse 130

ch–3003 berncontact

deta

ils email: johan.gely@eda.admin.ch

tel: +41 58 462 3331

FUTURE OUTLOOK

In the future, the issue of corporate development of the water companies will be increasingly supported by SECO in order to improve the financial and operational sustainability of the water infrastructure. In particular, SECO is developing similar projects in Colombia and Peru.

ALIGNMENT AND HARMONISATION

grant vs loan

100% Grants.use of country results frameworks

All projects use country results frameworks.

use of country procurement systems

The procurement procedures currently followed in SDC and SECO projects in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe vary, with 40% using the country procurement system, 30% using Swiss system, 25% consist of contributions to organisations and 5 % are direct awards.

ACCOUNTABILITY

ReportingSDC and SECO report expenditures in the annual report of Swiss cooperation. In 2008 a Report on effectiveness in the Water Sector was developed. A report on the results of the increased funding for water through the ODA increase up to 0.5% of GDP will be made in December 2014.

Mutual Assessment ExercisesCarried out in Moldova, Ukraine, Kosovo, Mozambique, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru.

FOCUS ON EQUITY

SDC funding tends to target rural more than urban populations.

Generally SDC support is focused on poor, rural communities whereas SECO focuses on urban services, institutional strengthening and national water policy dialogue. Marginalized groups and people living with disabilities are identified and taken into account at the programming stage. SDC has been one of the core advocates for the Human Right to Water and Sanitation and is currently developing practical tools and guidance on how to foster the rights based approach in the WASH sector.

OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY

Funding is generally spent within the allocated implementation period for the projects. SDC and SECO keep a tight supervision on spending rates and adjusts budgets if the implementation capacity of partners falls short. SDC and SECO maintain an element of competition between recipient municipalities and programme implementing partners that helps to ensure good disbursement rates. Project implementation periods would normally only be extended if there were good reasons for delays in achieving the initially defined project goals.

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

commitment

disbursement

58 57

2010

140

2011

332

162

2012

178

0

Source: OECD-CRS, 2014

wash aid commitments and disbursements, constant 2011 (us$ million)

average commitment

average disbursement

Source: OECD-CRS, 2014

ten highest wash aid recipients, ranked by average commitments, 2010–2012 (us$ million)

|35

|0

|5

|10

|15

|20

|25

|30

29

South of Sahara, regional

Bilateral, unspecified

North and Central America

Peru

Africa, regional

Bangladesh

Albania

Tajikistan

Kosovo

Kyrgyz Republic

2112

3

3

3

3

115

10

108

94

66

6

6

Sector budget support may be considered in some countries where SDC has a long-standing presence and sector collaboration. For example in Nicaragua, SDC supports the Social Investment Fund that directs funds to WASH in rural areas against set criteria. Half of programmes supported by SDC and SECO are three to five years in length while 40% are of less than three years duration. SECO has a programmatic approach in countries where it has a a long-standing presence (e.g. Albania, Macedonia, Central Asia).

PREDICTABILITY

Source: OECD-CRS, 2014 Source: GLAAS 2013/2014 ESA survey

7

5

Developed and coordinated by the Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health (WSH) Unit at the World Health Organization (WHO) in preparation for the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) High-Level Meeting (HLM), April 2014.

Results contained in this ‘ESA Highlights’ have been compiled by the GLAAS External Support Agency (ESA) Focal Point and the GLAAS Team using data from the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) Creditor Reporting System (CRS)1, estimates and text provided in the responses to the GLAAS 2013/2014 ESA survey, and interviews conducted with ESA representatives at World Water Week in Stockholm, September 2013.

The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the World Health Organization concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dotted lines on maps represent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement.1 OECD-CRS (2014) online database available: http://stats.oecd.org/

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