Visit Swiss Cooperation Office websites.
Cuba
Website of the SDC in Cuba: www.cooperacion-suiza.admin.ch/cuba/
Switzerland began its humanitarian aid
work in Cuba in 1997, focusing mainly on the medical field. At the end of 2000, Swiss development cooperation also began implementing a special programme designed to support Cuban society in its
efforts to further develop the country peacefully and on participative lines, based on safeguarding existing social achievements. Encouragement is given to local initiatives geared to concrete
solutions for improving living conditions or helping to strengthen institutional structures. To enable further opening up of Cuba, Switzerland also promotes dialogue and exchanges of information at
international level.
| The Swiss Government's bilateral commitment | 2009 |
2010 |
2011* |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDC | |||
| Bilateral development cooperation | 3.57 | 5.17 | 6.50 |
| Humanitarian aid | 1.04 | – | – |
| State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) | |||
| Economic Cooperation and Development | – | – | – |
| Total SDC/SECO commitment | 4.61 | 5.17 | 6.50 |
| Other Federal Offices | |||
| Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA (Political Affairs Division IV and other) | 0.06 | 0.01 | 0.08 |
| State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) | 0.11 | 0.14 | 0.14 |
| Total other Federal Offices | 0.17 | 0.15 | 0.22 |
| Total | 4.78 | 5.32 | 6.72 |
Bilateral development cooperation excluding program contributions to NGOs
– = nil or amount < 5'000 CHF
Development Cooperation: Priorities
The SDC began cooperation activities in Cuba towards the end of 2000 based on the assumption that Switzerland can play a constructive role in ensuring the further development of Cuba takes place
peacefully and on participative lines, thus safeguarding existing social achievements. In this context, the SDC supports local initiatives based on concrete solutions for improving living conditions
and strengthening institutional structures.
The Swiss development cooperation programme in Cuba focuses on two themes:
- Sustainable economic development: creating income and employment as well as increasing production by introducing new technologies and sustainable production methods; increasing food security
- Local development: promoting new models for administration and grass-roots participation in local development; increasing the efficiency of local government and improving access to basic services, particularly health care
Switzerland supports initiatives taken by the Cuban people and collaborates with organizations, associations, universities, research institutes, state institutions, municipalities and international organizations. Its activities are concentrated on the provinces of Villa Clara and Holguin, and on Havana the capital.
Humanitarian Aid: Priorities
SDC humanitarian aid is active mainly in the following areas:
- In the eastern provinces where nutritional problems are most prevalent, efforts aim to improve food security via a bilateral programme in conjunction with the Cuban government and contributions to the World Food Programme (WFP) at the multilateral level.
- Contributing to programmes sponsored by the Swiss NGO mediCuba-Suisse in the health sector: the goal is to alleviate the consequences of the economic crisis in this area and to improve basic medical services for the population. Priority is given to strengthening the local production of medicines (traditional medicine), to improving hospital infrastructures and to prevention (HIV-Aids).
- Participation in disaster relief in the event of natural catastrophes (hurricanes, etc.).
Background information Cuba
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| Source: World Bank's World Development Indicators 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Background information provided by the BBC
Local SDC contact address:
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Cuba (Havanna) |
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Oficina de Cooperación Suiza en Cuba |
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| Phone | +537 20 41353 +537 20 41130 |
| Fax | +537 20 40234 |
| habana@sdc.net | |
| Website | www.cooperacion-suiza.admin.ch/cuba/ |
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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. |