Summary of Funding Opportunities - Switzerland
Draft document prepared by
Catherine Bernier
Intern, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity
Sponsored by the
Ministère des Relations internationales du Québec, Canada
Summary of Funding Opportunities
Switzerland
TABLE OF CONTENTS
GOVERNMENT RELATED FUNDS ............................................................................ 2
PROGRAMME ENVIRONNEMENTAL GLOBAL .................................................................... 2
PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS / NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
(NGOS)............................................................................................................................... 3
ROLLEX AWARDS ............................................................................................................ 3
HELVETAS........................................................................................................................ 5
NOVARTIS FOUNDATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ........................................... 6
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 8
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Summary of Funding Opportunities
Switzerland
Government Related Funds
Name of Fund
Source of Organization
Program Policy Goals
Example of financed
projects
Program Futures Plans
Target recipients/
Geographic Focus
Type of Support
Specific Areas of Support/
Thematic priorities
Amount of Funds
Available per year
Modalities of Operations/
Selection Criteria
Web Site
Programme Environnemental Global
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Support developing countries in their efforts to implement the
United Nations Conventions related to global environment.
The Stratégie 2010 paper foresees that the sustainable
management of natural resources will remain a priority in
cooperation.
Priority will be given to the priority countries of the SDC:
Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad, Mozambique,
Tanzania, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua/Central America,
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam/Mekong.
There are three specific areas of support:
 Climate protection and rational management of energy
 Biodiversity conservation and rational management of
natural resources
 Rational management of toxic substances
Approximately 20 million Swiss Francs per year
(approximately USD 11 million).
http://194.230.65.134/dezaweb2/root/Publications/
Themen_und_Fachwissen/Natuerliche_Ressourcen/F_PEG.doc
Contact Information
2
Summary of Funding Opportunities
Switzerland
Private Foundations / Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs)
Name of Fund
Source of Organization
Program Policy Goals
Example of financed
projects
Target recipients/
Geographic Focus
Type of Support
Specific Areas of Support/
Thematic priorities
Amount of Funds
Available per year
Modalities of Operations/
Selection Criteria
Rollex Awards
The Rolex Awards for Enterprise aim to encourage a spirit of
enterprise in individuals around the world by supporting
outstanding efforts in areas that advance human knowledge and
well-being.
The Rolex Awards provide financial assistance to people who
want to implement concrete working projects.
 Maria Eliza Manteca Oñate, Ecuador - Destructive
farming practices and the overexploitation of timber
have destroyed over 90 per cent of Ecuador's native
forest, causing severe erosion and soil degradation.
Determined to protect the remnants of indigenous
forests, while at the same time improving living
standards for rural people, Maria Eliza Manteca Oñate
has established a nature reserve near her home village in
the north of the country. She has also launched a
successful education programme, whereby adults and
children learn sustainable farming techniques at a model
farm.
International
The 2002 Selection Committee invites applications for projects
that fall into the following areas:
 science and medicine;
 technology and innovation;
 exploration and discovery;
 the environment;
 and cultural heritage.
Projects must expand knowledge of our world, improve the
quality of life on the planet or contribute to the betterment of
humankind.
The Selection Committee will choose five Laureates, who will
each receive a cheque for $100,000 and a specially inscribed
gold Rolex chronometer.
The Selection Committee may also decide to grant a number of
second prizes to other individuals worthy of support, the
Associate Laureates. The amount of these prizes will be
determined at the discretion of the Committee.
Applications may be submitted by individuals only. Only one
individual may appear on each application form. If a project
represents the efforts of several individuals, one person must
represent the group and sign the application form (available on
the Website).
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Summary of Funding Opportunities
Web Site
Contact Information
Switzerland
http://www.rolexawards.com
P.O. Box 1311
1211 Geneva 26, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 308 22 00 Fax: +41 22 308 25 85
e-mail: secretariat@rolexawards.com
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Summary of Funding Opportunities
Name of Fund
Source of Organization
Program Policy Goals
Example of financed
projects
Target recipients/
Geographic Focus
Type of Support
Specific Areas of Support/
Thematic priorities
Amount of Funds
Available per year
Modalities of Operations/
Selection Criteria
Web Site
Contact Information
Switzerland
Helvetas
Helvetas promotes self-reliant and sustainable development in
the countries of the South, and within Switzerland itself works
towards development in a spirit of solidarity.
 Bhutan - Integrated Agricultural, Livestock and Forestry
Training in the Natural Resources Training Institute
(NRTI)
 Vietnam - Ba Be National Park: Empower Local People
for Managing Natural Resources
 Cameroon - Promotion of Sustainable Agriculture
 Lesotho - Sustainable management of natural resources
The organisation focuses on countries in Africa, Asia and Latin
America:
Bhutan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka,
Vietnam, Benin, Togo, Cameroon, Mali, Mozambique, Lesotho,
Tanzania, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti,
Paraguay.
The three central areas:
 Improvement of the rural infrastructure
For instance: rural water supply, settlement hygiene,
access roads, trail construction, suspension bridges,
schoolhouses, municipal buildings, energy supply.
 Promotion of the sustainable exploitation of natural
resources
For instance: ecologically sound agriculture, husbandry
and forestry, coastal fisheries, bio-diversity, rural credit
systems, promotion of peasant organizations.
 Promotion of education and culture
For instance: adult education, professional training,
teacher training, methodology and didactics,
management training, theater projects, media promotion,
painting, literature, music.
In 1999, the amount allocated for projects abroad was
CHF 34,341 million (approximately USD 19 million).
http://www.helvetas.ch
Helvetas, Swiss Association for International Cooperation
St. Moritzstrasse 15
CH 8042 Zurich
Phone ++1/368 65 00
Fax ++1/368 65 80
E-mail: info@helvetas.ch
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Summary of Funding Opportunities
Name of Fund
Source of Organization
Program Policy Goals
Example of financed
projects
Target recipients/
Geographic Focus
Type of Support
Specific Areas of Support/
Thematic priorities
Switzerland
Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development
The Novartis Foundation is ready to collaborate with any and
all social agents working in good faith at the local level to
secure basic needs and improve economic conditions, health,
and food security among the world's poorest people. The
philosophy of the Foundation is based partly on the conviction
that only autonomous development can constitute sustainable
development. Accordingly, we support efforts made by poor
people themselves to satisfy their basic needs, until such time as
they can take initiative to this end under their own power.
Eritrea: Sustainable Land Management in a Sahelian Country
International
Financial and technical cooperation
Co-financing
Small-scale projects support
The Novartis Foundation has chosen to focus on three sectors:

Rural and agricultural development, in this sector the
Foundation support development programmes that
o
Aim to achieve food security through efforts
made by developing countries, while
simultaneously ensuring protection of the
resource base;
o
Ensure rehabilitation, preservation, and
improvement of productive natural resources;
o
Have the potential to build up locally
appropriate land use systems in harmony with
the ecological, economic and social demands
of agricultural development and forestry
development;
o
Foster rehabilitation, preservation, and
promotion of productive potential and social
functions in rural areas;
o
Help reduce poverty and marginalization,
partly through greater exploitation of the
potential for self-help in rural regions.
Projects in this sector focus on improving
conditions among the rural poor themselves, while
also enabling them to make positive contributions to
overall development.

Health care

Social development
Amount of Funds
6
Summary of Funding Opportunities
Available per year
Modalities of Operations/
Selection Criteria
Web Site
Contact Information
Switzerland
Projects and programmes supported by the Novartis
Foundation should:

Have a direct relation to poverty, i.e. focus on developing
neglected productive resources among a target population
defined as poor, rather than focusing, for example, on
expanding existing potential without clearly linking such
expansion to the target population;

Take account of the core problems in a particular
developing country (rather than focusing on problems of
little relevance); core problems are those which pose the
greatest obstacles to economic and social development;

Consider a partner country's potential for development
(rather than making an effort where the potential for
development tends to be low);

Consider the partner country's priorities (rather than
pursuing priorities in which the partner country has no
interest);

Take account of the conditions under which development
objectives are to be attained, in addition to considering
the effectiveness and the sustainability of an intervention
(rather than making an effort where the pressure of
problems is great but the conditions tend to be
unfavourable);

Consider the need for external assistance (rather than
choosing areas of development in which the country
concerned is capable of self-help);

Take account of experience in the partner country (rather
than making commitments in areas where previous
experience has been somewhat problematic or where the
Foundation has little expertise);

Consider the commitments of other donors (in negative
terms: avoid duplicating the efforts of other donors; in
positive terms: determine whether the commitments of
other donors can be effectively complemented to benefit
from the effect of synergy);

And last but not least:

Consider the amount of resources available to the
Foundation (since this determines the extent and the
focus of the contribution the Foundation can make in
solving a significant problem).
http://www.foundation.novartis.com
Tel.: ++41 (0)61 697 72 00
Fax: ++41 (0)61 697 71 04
Email: novartis.foundation@group.novartis.com
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Summary of Funding Opportunities
Switzerland
References
Websites
General information
Funders Online (Foundation database) http://www.fundersonline.org/
Government related
Programme Environnement Global
http://194.230.65.134/dezaweb2/root/Publications/Themen_und_Fachwissen/Natuerliche
_Ressourcen/F_PEG.doc
Private sector
Rolex Awards for Enterprise http://www.rolexawards.com
Helvetas http://www.helvetas.ch
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