Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation (SDC) (NGO funding source)

Activities

• Website: www.sdc.admin.ch
• Foreign aid and international development arm of the Swiss federal government, part of the foreign ministry.
• 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.” 2005 budget included CHF28.24m (~US$22m).
• Funds such NGOs as al Mezan, the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ), Dev.tv (producers of such documentaries as “Bedouin Ghetto” and “Everyday Violence in Gaza”), Swisspeace (linked to World Vision, Badil and PNGO), Medicines Sans Frontieres and Caritas.
• For NGO Monitor’s latest digest entry on SDC, click here