Hundreds of thousands children and young people were supported in Switzerland and abroad last year. For the first time ever, the year-end Cœur à Cœur, Jeder Rappen zählt and Ogni centesimo conta campaigns organised by Swiss Solidarity and the SSR raised funds for children in Switzerland who are victims of violence. Over the course of the year, two fundraising days were held in support of the Rohingya in Bangladesh and victims of the tsunami in Indonesia. In 2018, Swiss Solidarity raised a total of 32.2 million francs.
Vulnerable children were central to Swiss Solidarity’s activities in 2018. Outside Switzerland, SwS’s permanent Child relief fund provided help for over 738’000 children through 21 projects in 15 countries, which focused primarily on protection, health and education. Addressing child labour in the mines of Burkina Faso, treating malnourished children in Afghanistan and helping children with disabilities in Guatemala are just a few examples of the actions that were launched by our partner NGOs and funded by Swiss Solidarity.
In Switzerland, Swiss Solidarity has helped over 400 disenfranchised children and youth thanks to funds raised by 2017’s year-end activities—Cœur à Cœur, Jeder Rappen zählt and Ogni centesimo conta—which were held in conjunction with the SSR. For the first time in its history, SwS used these same operations in 2018 to raise funds for children who are victims of violence within their own families, right here in Switzerland. The 3.8 million francs raised will be used to fund activities aimed at providing these children with assistance.
Swiss Solidarity held two national fundraising days in 2018: one for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh (11’708’725 francs) and another for victims of the tsunami in Indonesia (13’648’479 francs). The funded Swiss partner NGOs, all of which are experienced in complex emergency situations, immediately partnered with local NGOs and were thus able to intervene quickly and effectively to assist the affected populations.
Taking into account the funds raised in previous years and disbursed in 2018 for economic recovery, rehabilitation or reconstruction projects in for example Haiti, Nepal, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, Swiss Solidarity financed 235 projects in 43 countries, for a total of 73,953,109 francs.
Swiss Solidarity’s new Innovation fund made it possible for the organisation to provide 389’200 francs to finance four projects which use unprecedented means to deliver assistance to people in seven foreign countries. Through this fund and a platform set up to foster discussions among experts, SwS wishes to encourage the development of initiatives which will enable the humanitarian sector to work more efficiently while meeting established standards. Above and beyond recognised methods such as the use of leading-edge technologies for medical aid records in remote areas, these initiatives include the creation of a network of ambulances for pregnant women in rural areas of Mozambique and a system of taps which recycle water automatically to provide children with better hygiene while optimising resource utilisation in Nigeria.
In 2018, Swiss Solidarity’s specialists conducted in-depth field visits to Burkina Faso, Lebanon, Indonesia, Jordan, Haiti, Bangladesh and Colombia to ensure that funds were being used judiciously. An evaluation of health-related projects in Bangladesh was conducted last fall.
Swiss Solidarity’s work was made possible thanks to the collaboration of 26 Swiss partner NGOs and 45 associations which run projects for children and youth in Switzerland.
The 2018 Annual Report, along with the detailed financial report, will be published in the first quarter of 2019.
Swiss Solidarity, 1211 Geneva 8
