News

As highlighted by a former course participant: “this course provides materials that are essential for and needed by those who would like to establish and manage a network. By joining this course, we can learn a lot about how to build a communication strategy and a relationship with others who have passion on a specific field of interest and those who are willing to share the vision, objective, values, and principles with you.  We can also experience and learn how to work together as a group and communicate virtually through various communication tools that are very common these days”.

The course will start on April 26 and will last until the 4 of July 2010. It is designed for a group of approximately 25 participants. As a selection process will take place, candidates are requested to fill out a registration form and send it including an updated CV and a motivation letter to sba@sba-int.ch by 16 of April 2010.

Download:
Course Brochuere
Registration Form

For the implementation of the ApaSan project, the Swiss Government’s contribution to Moldova, provided through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, SDC, encompasses both the provision of international expertise and a financial support of CHF 4 million, or 47,877 million converted into local currency. The Austrian Development Agency is co-funding the project with an amount of Euro 1.2 million (MDL 21,060 million) . The ApaSan project implementation in Moldova is managed by the SKAT foundation, an offshoot of the Swiss Resource Center and Consultancies for Development.

 Opening the meeting, the Minister of Environment, Georghe Salaru, expressed thanks for the Swiss contribution in meeting the environmental challenges of Moldova. “The first stage of cooperation, which started in 2009, has already brought concrete results in villages. We gladly join up the project’s noble goal to secure access to drinking water in a sustainable way, and to create environmental sanitation facilities of European standards for rural residents”, the Minister Salaru said. “Moldova is a warm country, yet with numerous problems linked to water and sanitation,” he added. According to the latest official statistics, out of the 2 million people living in rural areas of Moldova, 80% have no access to safe drinking water and to adequate sanitation.

Referring to the entered engagements, the Minister of Environment pledged to contribute with timely release of the legal and regulatory acts, to promote national dialogue between the central authorities and the civil society, and, as important, to facilitate cooperation between the development partners through the practical functioning of the Coordination Council.

In response to the Minister’s statement, Georgette Bruchez, SCO Country Director, pointed out that the Water and Health domains are the two main pillars of the Swiss Cooperation Strategy with Moldova for 2010-2013. “We really appreciate all the encouraging words extended to us. We’ve seen great motivation from those who work here, in the Ministry of Environment,” Mrs. Bruchez noted.

As representative of the SDC Headquarters in Bern, Veronique Hulmann, Head of the CIS Division, shared her thoughts on her first visit to Moldova. “I had the opportunity to see the project results in villages and I saw the needs and the difficult lives of people. I’m happy that many of them have got better conditions and standards of quality. For the time being, the project covers a limited zone and we hope that, in cooperation with the Government of Moldova, it will be possible to expand activities to include a greater number of localities. I am positive that the potential and the energy of the Moldovan people will push the country forward. You may regard me as an Ambassador of your country’s needs in Switzerland,” Mrs. Hulmann said.

From 2001 till 2009, the SDC Water and Sanitation Programme in Moldova focused its activities in the rural area of four raions located in the central part of the country (Hincesti, Straseni, Nisporeni and Ialoveni) building 19 water supply systems for 25 thousand citizens, 23 septic tank toilets and eight EcoSan sanitation facilities, and four constructed wetlands (ecological waste water treatment plants) for social institutions.

The "Focus on Mobility" provides half-yearly information on relevant news, current issues & trends, SDC project milestones, recommended readings, upcoming events as well as new web pages regarding development cooperation in the transport sector. The newsletter is a service provided by Skat within the SDC Support Mandate in Mobility. Click on the link below to read the latest issue.

Focus on Mobility - Issue N°12, November 2009

The electronic newsletter of Skat is sent to you approximately three times each year. Skat News provides you with brief summaries of recent and ongoing projects, links you to further information and documents, and provides you with relevant contact addresses.

Skat News - October 2009

The electronic newsletter of Skat is sent to you approximately three times each year. Skat News provides you with brief summaries of recent and ongoing projects, links you to further information and documents, and provides you with relevant contact addresses.

Skat News - September 2008

The objective of this study tour was to expose project partners (Ukrainian Governmental officials as Parliamentarians – national and Oblast and Rayon level, social mobilisers, community leaders) to successful experiences with decentralised community-based water supply and other public services delivery in Switzerland.

On 18 - 22 June 2007, the 23rd AGUASAN workshop took place in Gwatt (Switzerland). The presentations, discussions, learnings, and results are summarised in a workshop report.

During five days, 46 development professionals from all over the world delved into the issue topic of “Opportunities and Challenges for the Water and Sanitation Sector in a Decentralised Context” and explored how shifting of power, competen­cies, responsibilities and resources from the central government to local levels particularly affects the way water supply and sanitation (W&S) issues are dealt with.

Looking at four topic cases dealing with decentralised models for service delivery and an analy­sis by a concept working group, the workshop brought up several findings: the W&S sector needs to be flexible to respond to the dynamic decen­tralisation processes, which includes a lobbying and negotiation process amongst the players, and to find its niche. Decision-making power, institutional capacity, fiscal and technical resources for services delivery and their management have to be devolved concommitantly and in an adequate way. In addition, roles and responsibilities in the sector should be devolved to the lowest appropriate and competent level. And finally, an effective decentralisation process should be part of a broader governance and democratisation reform, and neither an isolated nor a universal remedy to W&S sector needs.

The report can be downloaded or ordered in the publications section of the Skat website.

 http://www.km4dev.org/journal/index.php/km4dj/issue/current

The catalyser for this issue on capacity building for networking was a workshop on the 'Management of international networks for knowledge sharing', organised by Skat and Helvetas on the 25-28 April 2006 in St. Gallen (Switzerland). Two contributions ensuing from this workshop can also be found in this special issue that comprises articles and case studies ranging from analysis of what kind of capacity building is needed, to insights in capacity building programmes for networking from a grassroots perspective, as well as from the perspective of networking practitioners.

We hope you will enjoy reading this issue and find some insights that inspire you in your work.
 
The Guest Editors
Urs Karl Egger, Georg Buchholz, and Marc Steinlin
together with Chief Editor Lucie Lamoureux

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