Switzerland - Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation (SDC)

SDC is the foreign aid and international development arm of the Swiss federal government, and is part of the foreign ministry. Its operations in the Middle East aim to promote democratization and to "contribute to the development of a pluralist and democratic Palestinian society, to respect for constitutionality and to the creation of public institutions capable of assuming their responsibilities in a future Palestinian state."

The 2005 budget included CHF28.24m (~US$22m), and funding was provided to such NGOs as al Mezan, the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ), Dev.tv, Swisspeace (linked to World Vision, Badil and PNGO), Medicines Sans Frontieres and Caritas.

More information:

• NGO Monitor Report on SDC - October 20, 2005
  - French translation of the NGO Monitor report
  - Correspondence between NGO Monitor and SDC as a result of NGO Monitor's report

•  "Why are SDC activities in the Palestinian territories facing criticism again?", Valérie de Graffenried, Le Temps (Switzerland), January 17, 2007 (French)

  In response: "The SDC in Israel," Gerald Steinberg, Le Temps, January 23, 2007 (French). English translation

• SDC InfoFile