Donors

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) is a government agency with a mission to strive to reduce world poverty as a part of Sweden’s national policy on global development.

Through cooperation with civil society and multilateral organisations, public agencies and the private sector, Sida works on behalf of the Swedish parliament and government to ensure sustainable development and helps to create the conditions that allow people living in poverty and oppression to improve their living conditions. 

Sida works on both long-term development cooperation and humanitarian aid and its mission includes the realisation of cooperative reform in Eastern Europe. 

In 2020, UN Women launched the four-year regional initiative ‘Transformative Financing for Gender Equality in the Western Balkans’ to support Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo[1] and Serbia in advancing the integration of gender equality at all stages of national and local policymaking and budgeting processes. This regional project is financed by Sida.

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is Switzerland’s international cooperation agency within the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). Operating with other federal offices, SDC is responsible for the overall coordination of development activities and cooperation with Eastern Europe as well the humanitarian aid delivered by the Swiss Confederation.

Swiss international cooperation, which is an integral part of the Federal Council's foreign policy, aims to alleviate need and poverty around the world, foster respect for human rights, promote democracy and preserve the environment. It fosters economic self-reliance and state autonomy, contributes to the improvement of conditions for production, helps address environmental problems and works to ensure better access to education and basic healthcare services.

Switzerland has supported the political, social and economic transition of North Macedonia since 1992. SDC supports the work of UN Women North Macedonia through the project titled ‘Promoting Gender Responsive Policies and Budgets: Towards Transparent Inclusive and Accountable Governance in the Republic of North Macedonia‘. The aim of the project is to improve the lives of women and support the inclusion of the most vulnerable groups through systematic and sustainable integration of the gender perspective at all stages of national and local policymaking and budgeting processes. 

The Swiss Cooperation Programme was prepared in close coordination with partners in North Macedonia and will continue to support gender equality as well as other themes such as social inclusion and digitalisation.

For more information please visit:

www.enterprise-development.org/agency-strategies-and-coordination/switzerland/. 

www.eda.admin.ch/deza/en/home.html. 

www.eda.admin.ch/countries/north-macedonia/en/home/international-cooperation/strategy.html.

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[1] For UN Women, references to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of UN Security Council resolution 1244 (1999). For the European Union, this designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UN Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence