The price of gold rose steadily in 2024, while in Swiss parliament the value attributed to development aid fell – with parliament ultimately deciding to cut the annual budget for 2025 by CHF 110 million. Our gold study, published in May 2024, was unable to counter this. Despite raising awareness that 435 tonnes of gold are smuggled out of the African continent every year – due to a lack of regulation and no obligation to declare the origin of gold – we were not successful in preventing the budget cuts.
Together with our Sufosec Alliance, we also provided parliament with solid data demonstrating the effectiveness of agroecology – and here again, our efforts were unable to achieve their desired effect. The same applies to the tireless efforts of our employees, who devoted months of hard work under intense cost pressure in the hope of countering the cuts.
But none of this changes the fact that development cooperation works, and that the people engaged in this field achieve a great deal. The federal government has proof of this effectiveness –but is unfortunately reluctant to make it known. NGOs – us included – are cutting back on the information work that no one wants to fund. People are unsettled, and have worries of their own. It’s no surprise then, that the perception of development cooperation has slowly deteriorated, and that it is now grossly undervalued.
The urgency of humanitarian aid may be undisputed, but this outlook needs to be matched by public emergency funding, so that this course can be corrected. We need a Federal Council that represents the sector with conviction. An administration that actively communicates the panoply of results on effectiveness. NGOs that dare to take a stand, to correct and to contradict. People who are open to the needs of their fellow human beings in the Global South – and are proud to defend them.
A course correction in development aid following the sharp decline of 2024 would be the right thing to do. Let’s start moving in that direction now. Thank you for supporting us as we do so.
