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Chad
Website of the SDC in Chad: www.swiss-cooperation.admin.ch/tchad/
Chad is a priority country for bilateral aid. Ever since cooperation with this country began back in 1965, Switzerland has provided support for rural development, basic education and healthcare. Swiss aid programmes were initially intended to bolster public-sector development structures as well as the capacity of central government institutions. Over time, however, these programmes became more centred on helping family-owned agro-pastoral businesses and rural communities to better their living conditions and improve dialogue with state institutions and public services, the aim being to create conditions that would favour sustainable development. Still coming to terms with its recent past, Chad remains politically fragile to some extent and goes through periodic cycles of instability. Antagonism and political infighting affect the way the country is run. Early in February 2008, during a fresh outbreak of tension, the main armed opposition groups launched an offensive that rocked the government in power. This event, together with the continuing crisis in Darfur, serve not only to destabilize the country, but also dangerously exacerbate tensions with neighbouring Sudan. The risk of destabilization of the entire region continues to exist, but at present seems to have been averted (at least for the time being) thanks to the peace agreement signed by both States in February 2010.
| Swiss International Cooperation | 2011 |
2012 |
2013* |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDC | |||
| Bilateral development cooperation | 8.25 | 11.73 | 13.00 |
| Humanitarian aid | 2.11 | 2.33 | – |
| State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) | |||
| Economic Cooperation and Development | – | – | – |
| Total SDC/SECO | 10.36 | 14.06 | 13.00 |
| Other Federal Offices | |||
| FDFA Human Security Division and Directorate of International Law | 0.11 | 0.20 | 0.17 |
| Total other Federal Offices | 0.11 | 0.20 | 0.17 |
| Cantons and municipalities | 0.07 | .. | .. |
| Total | 10.54 | 14.26 | 13.17 |
SDC figures excluding program contributions to NGOs
.. = figures not available | – = nil or amount < 5'000 CHF
Development Cooperation: Priorities
The SDC’s strategy focuses on national poverty reduction policies as well as sectoral development policies in three priority sectors, i.e., the rural economy, healthcare, and basic education).
Through its regional development programmes, the SDC is active in the main regions of the country, particularly those with the least access to education, healthcare and economic infrastructure.
Issues concerning governance are also taken into account as a crosscutting theme of the SDC, and in a more targeted manner within the context of a Programme for Conflict Prevention and Peace
Promotion run by the Political Affairs Division IV of the FDFA.
Switzerland’s cooperation programme in Chad is directed at strengthening the capability of family-owned agro-pastoral businesses, socio-professional associations, rural communities and
municipalities, and decentralized public services and operates in three priority areas.
- Rural economy: The programme supports the creation of a thriving rural economy by encouraging production systems that are financially, environmentally and socially viable. The programme also uses a coherent approach to combat the erosion of rural transport routes and restore them where needed. This ensures the promotion of exchanges and commercial links between rural communities and gives them access to basic healthcare and education.
- Education and training: The programme supports the development of a decentralized system offering quality education that takes into account the economic and cultural realities of the local population and is mainly managed by municipal structures and local community associations.
- Healthcare: Improving access to basic healthcare services is essential. The programme provides a broader range and better-quality preventive and curative healthcare services. Here too, municipalities and communities are closely involved.
This vision is underpinned by certain principles of implementation:
- Mobilization of the partners to increase their own capacity and resources.
- The promotion of a better gender balance between men and women, particularly aimed at helping more women gain access to education, training, and services.
- The strengthening of dialogue and cooperation between communities, local authorities, and decentralized public services in order both to enhance decentralization and appropriate local governance, and to stimulate the national debate on developmental issues that directly concern the regions.
The SDC is unanimously recognized for its grassroots approach with rural populations, its efficient action and pioneering efforts to bring about effective decentralization. Through its Cooperation
Office, the SDC also maintains political dialogue with Chad’s national government and various international organizations that provide technical and financial aid to the country (i.e. UNDP, World
Bank, European Union, USAID, the French Development Agency, GTZ, etc.). Through constant dialogue, the SDC seeks to promote the potential lever effect of its grassroots programmes on national
development choices and policies and programmes in the priority sectors.
Geographical priorities
The programme is centred on three focal points designed to tap the potential and complementarities of the country's main regions and reduce regional inequalities:
- the wadi oasis in the north-east (Ennedi region) and the east (Wadi Fira region) where livestock breeding and horticulture are growth sectors;
- the Sahel zone in the central (Batha region) and western (Kanem region) parts of the country where livestock breeding is the main source of income;
- the Sudan focal point in the south-east (Logones region) and south (Moyen Chari, Mandoul and Pandé regions) of the country where the main activities are rainy season agriculture and tree cultivation.
Humanitarian Aid: Priorities
Between the years 2006 and 2008, the humanitarian situation in Chad continued to deteriorate, and since then has not improved at all. This is due to developments related to the conflicts in
Darfur, the Central African Republic and Chad ( Information about
Sudan).
On 28 January 2008, armed opposition groups launched an offensive against the Chadian government which carried the fighting to N'Djamena. The humanitarian consequences of these hostilities were particularly serious in N'Djamena and in north Cameroon where over 20,000 persons from Chad sought refuge. In the aftermath, Switzerland took part in the setting up of refugee camps and financed humanitarian operations in the healthcare sector.
The risk of destabilization of the entire region continues to exist, but at present seems to have been averted (at least for the time being) thanks to the peace agreement signed by both States in February 2010.
Since 2003, approximately 235,000 people fleeing persecution in Darfur have taken refuge in eastern Chad in an environmentally fragile Sahel-Saharan region. Therefore, since 2004, Swiss Humanitarian Aid has been making financial contributions to support the programmes of the ICRC, the UNHCR, and the WFP to the tune of between CHF 3 to 5.5 million per year. Experts are being seconded to UNHCR to set up refugee camps and guarantee appropriate management of the environmental resources and water supplies, both for refugees and the local population. Water and the environment, the sectors on which SDC/HA contributions focus, are crucial for protecting the refugees and meeting the vital needs of the local population.
Violent clashes between the Army (FACA) and the armed opposition in the north of the Central African Republic have driven some 75,000 persons to seek refuge in the south of Chad. The number of internally displaced persons – living for the most part in the south-eastern of the country – comes to some 170,000 persons. Switzerland contributes to alleviating the humanitarian needs by making contributions to Doctors without Borders Switzerland, the ICRC and the WFP.
Country profile: Chad
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| Source: World Bank's World Development Indicators 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Background information provided by the BBC
Local SDC contact address:
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Chad (N'Djamena) |
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Bureau de la Coopération Suisse au Tchad |
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| Phone | +235 251 73 14 |
| Fax | + 235 22 51 74 16 |
| ndjamena@sdc.net | |
| Website | www.swiss-cooperation.admin.ch/tchad/ |
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Additional Information and Documents Here, you will find more publications, links, documents and articles about Swiss development cooperation and humanitarian aid in this country. |