OECD country report on Switzerland
High quality, but insufficient resources, and shortcomings in policy coherence for development – such are the findings of the OECD concerning Switzerland's official development assistance.
The country report by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) has much praise for Switzerland’s development cooperation work. It is deemed to be practice-oriented and innovative and well targeted towards poverty reduction. Yet because it is dispersed over so many topics, Switzerland could lose sight of that focus.
The DAC refers specifically to the fact that economic aid provided by the State Secretariat for the Economy (Seco) is being concentrated on advanced developing countries. Switzerland should carefully monitor the consequences of this new orientation and expressly set poverty reduction as the overarching objective of development aid, the DAC recommends.
The OECD is dissatisfied with the amount of Swiss aid. The DAC urges Switzerland to meet the 0.5 per cent target by 2015, as decided by the Parliament. It is known that the Federal Cabinet is extremely reluctant in that regard. It will therefore be just as unenthusiastic about the OECD's recommendation to set a time frame for the 0.7% target thereafter.
In the view of the DAC, Switzerland's development policy coherence leaves something to be desired in terms of efforts to orient policies in the areas of agriculture, finance or migration towards developmental objectives so as not to undermine the aid being provided. According to the OECD Development Committee, Switzerland belongs in this respect to the worst-in-class amongst donor countries. The Federal Administration has neither the understanding nor the binding mechanisms required to move forward.
Michèle Laubscher, Alliance Sud
Article published in: Alliance Sud News No. 62, Winter 2009/10
