Central America (Nicaragua, Honduras)

Website of the SDC in Central America (Nicaragua, Honduras): www.cosude@org.ni

Central America is a priority region for Swiss development cooperation, with SDC development efforts focusing on Nicaragua and Honduras. Thanks to regional projects with the potential of involving the other countries in the region, cooperation is fostered between countries in a good number of priority thematic areas.

In the humanitarian aid sector, SDC's commitment focuses mainly on prevention and preparedness, given the repeated threat of natural disasters.

The Swiss Government's bilateral commitment	2010 Mio. CHF	2011 Mio. CHF	2012* Mio. CHF

SDC
Bilateral development cooperation	25.01	33.24	36.00
Humanitarian aid	1.97	2.75	1.48
State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO)
Economic Cooperation and Development	14.04	3.59	2.93
Total SDC/SECO commitment	41.02	39.58	40.41

Other Federal Offices
FDFA Human Security Division and Directorate of International Law	0.43	0.45	0.14
State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER)	0.07	0.07	0.07
Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN)	0.11	0.01	..
Total other Federal Offices	0.61	0.53	..

Total	41.63	40.11	40.62

* planned; total based on available data
Bilateral development cooperation excluding programme contributions to NGOs
.. = figures not available

Cooperation Strategy: Priorities

Development cooperation with Central America is focused on the following thematic priorities: promoting small enterprises, governance / public budget and infrastructure /local public services. The SDC's Humanitarian Aid Department supports the countries in the area of risk reduction with respect to natural disasters. SECO too is engaged in all of the above three priority thematic domains and, in addition, provides general budgetary assistance for Nicaragua's national finances (financial help and technical advice). SDC's average annual expenditure in Central America over the last few years comes to approximately CHF 23 million. To this, we can add some CHF 10 million coming from SECO. SDC also provides programme contributions to Swiss relief agencies. Most of its support goes to Nicaragua and Honduras, the two most impoverished countries of the region, but it also backs selected institutions and initiatives operating in several Central American countries.

Cooperation strategy covers the three above-mentioned thematic priorities, within which SDC provides support in the following areas:

Promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs):
- provision of financial services for poor population segments (SDC: strengthening of micro-finance institutions; SECO: investment funds;
- consultancy services and promotion of small businesses (SDC: consultancy services for small businesses and technological innovations in the domain of agriculture; SECO: quality standards and export promotion);
- professional training (SDC);
- improvement of the framework conditions and of trade policy (SECO).
  
  Percentage of the SDC's budget for Central America: approximately 40%
Governance and public budget:
- general budgetary assistance and advice in planning of public finances (only Nicaragua, SECO);
- support in the implementation of poverty reduction policies (national development planning, risk-reduction measures with respect to natural disasters) (SDC and SECO).
  
  Percentage of the SDC's budget for Central America: approximately 30%
Infrastructure and local public services (above all, drinking water and energy):
- Clean drinking water and sanitation in rural areas, including local, sustainable management (SDC);
- decentralized use of hydroelectric power (SDC);
- Infrastructure enhancement with contributions from the private sector (SECO);
- capacity building in terms of risk reduction in face of natural disasters on both communal and national levels (SDC).
  
  Percentage of the SDC's budget for Central America: approximately 26%

In all of these thematic priorities, SDC fosters the formulation of national strategies and plans, towards which it subsequently targets cooperation, supporting their implementation by providing consultancy services, financial means, and the integration of its own time-proven experience in the region. In so doing, the SDC acts in agreement and cooperation with other multilateral and multilateral donors. These principles of alignment (keeping cooperation activities in line with national programmes) and harmonization (bringing interventions and procedures in tune with each other, among donors, and in adjustment with the country) are being discussed and fostered internationally. Analogously, this is also being pursued on the regional level where the Central American Integration System SICA (Sistema de Integración Centroamericano,) is a prime partner.

With regard to the crosscutting themes of governance (good governance) and gender (gender equality), which are binding for SDC, focus is particularly directed towards transparency and accountability in the public sector, citizen participation on the local and national levels, and promotion of equal opportunity for women and men.

SDC Humanitarian Aid supports several multi-year plans for prevention and preparedness in relation to natural disasters in Central America. These take their lead from the successful strategy known as "Integrated Risk and Disaster Management" (IRDM). This action method aims to assist partner countries not only to manage crises and disasters in the short term, but also to support them with medium-term reconstruction and, within the framework of long-term prevention and preparedness, to help them in the analysis of natural hazards and risks and in the development of appropriate protection measures. The integrated programme approach is seen explicitly as a contribution to poverty reduction and sustainable development of the region.

Background information Central America

Facts and figures

Nicaragua

Honduras

	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

	130'000
	5.7
	1.3
	76 / 70
	22 / 22
	1163
	32

km2

mill.

years

USD

	112'000
	7.3
	2.0
	75 / 70
	17 / 16
	1'823
	30

km2

mill.

years

USD

Source: World Bank's World Development Indicators 2010

Background information provided by the BBC (Nicaragua)

Background information provided by the BBC (Honduras)

Local SDC contact address:

Central America (Nicaragua, Honduras) (Managua)
Oficina de Cooperación Suiza en America Central - Nicaragua Rotonda Jean Paul Genie 900 mts al Oeste, 100 mts al Norte Apartado Postal RP-34 Sucursal Douglas Mejía Managua - Nicaragua
Phone	+505 266 3010
Fax	+505 22 6666 97
Email	managua@sdc.net
Website	www.cosude@org.ni

Additional Information and Documents

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