Sudan

Website of the SDC in Sudan: www.swiss-cooperation.admin.ch/sudan

With the independence of South Sudan on 9 July 2011 two sovereign states were created: Sudan and South Sudan. The SDC has been supporting United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in Sudan since 1994. In 2003, the growing humanitarian needs in Darfur prompted the SDC to scale up its efforts. The SDC’s humanitarian programme focuses on emergency aid for internally displaced persons and refugees. Central concerns are food security, access to drinking water, health services and the protection of civilians, with Darfur and South Kordofan as the priority regions. Switzerland’s humanitarian programme in Sudan is coordinated by its representation in Khartoum at the Embassy of Switzerland.

The Swiss Government's bilateral commitment	2009 Mio. CHF	2010 Mio. CHF	2011* Mio. CHF

SDC
Bilateral development cooperation	0.83	0.39	0.40
Humanitarian aid	12.43	12.29	12.50
State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO)
Economic Cooperation and Development	–	–	0.04
Total SDC/SECO commitment	13.26	12.68	12.94

Other Federal Offices
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA (Political Affairs Division IV and other)	2.33	2.40	2.71
Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS)	0.28	0.81	0.73
Total other Federal Offices	2.61	3.21	3.44

Total	15.87	15.89	16.38

* planned; total based on available data
Bilateral development cooperation excluding program contributions to NGOs
– = nil or amount < 5'000 CHF
The figures include expenditure for Sudan and South Sudan

Development Cooperation: Priorities

While Sudan is not a priority country for SDC’s development cooperation, Switzerland’s Humanitarian Aid and the Political Affairs Division IV, Human Security both are engaged in Darfur, responding to the protracted conflict with a medium-term approach that includes support to programmes with a strong Early Recovery component, for example, construction of health posts, honey production and marketing, among others.

Humanitarian Aid: Priorities

After the outbreak of conflict in the province of Darfur in 2003, over 230,000 people fled to the neighbouring country of Chad and more than 2.7 million people sought refuge as internally displaced persons (IDPs) in camps in Sudan. Armed violence, systematic destruction of infrastructure and large-scale expulsions have had such a devastating impact on living conditions in the Darfur region that enormous humanitarian needs continue to persist, despite the signing of the Darfur agreement in May 2006 and the mediation efforts of the United Nations and the African Union. According to the UN, of the 8 million people in Darfur today, 4 million receive humanitarian assistance.

Since mid-2003, Switzerland’s Humanitarian Aid has been working to ensure that the population affected by the conflict in Darfur receives support and protection. It finances programmes in Darfur and Southern Kordofan run by the World Food Program (WFP), the UN’s Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and several NGOs, including MSF, Medair, Terre des Hommes and Caritas. Since 2004, a number of Swiss experts have provided their expertise to UN organizations.

The current Medium-Term Programme 2010-12 for Sudan was elaborated by Switzerland’s Humanitarian Aid in 2009. It continues to build on its current activities, namely food and livelihood security, basic services and protection of civilians. The annual budget per year is approximately CHF 10 mio.

Background information

Facts and figures

	Surface area
	Population
	Annual population growth rate (since 1990)
	Life expectancy at birth women / men
	Adult illiteracy rate: women / men
	Gross Domestic Product GDP per capita
	Percentage of population with less than 2 USD per day

1'882'000

33.42

2.2

60 / 57

40 / 11

1353

km2

mill.

years

USD

Source: World Bank's World Development Indicators 2010

The information applies to Sudan and South Sudan

Background information provided by the BBC

Local SDC contact address:

Sudan (Khartoum)
Swiss Cooperation Office Khartoum c/o Swiss Embassy Amarat, Street 15, House No. 7 PO BOX 1707 Khartoum - Soudan
Phone	+249 183 471 010 +249 183 471 115
Fax	+249 183 472 804
Email	khartoum@sdc.net
Website	www.swiss-cooperation.admin.ch/sudan

Additional Information and Documents

Here, you will find more publications, links, documents and articles about Swiss development cooperation and humanitarian aid in this country.