The main areas of operation of SDC are bilateral and multilateral development cooperation, humanitarian aid, especially with the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit (SHA) and cooperation with Eastern Europe. What is the basis of selecting these areas?
The basis for Swiss Development Cooperation is a federal law, dated from 1976. Already at this time, Swiss Legislators set the overarching goal of poverty reduction. The law thus helps us to focus and also enables us to operate with a mix of instruments towards that goal. Multilateral and Bilateral Cooperation, be it in the east or in the south, are different instruments that serve the same endeavor and complement each other. We set ourselves to focus on certain thematic and geographic priorities in order to use the resources effectively. Humanitarian Aid is essential to alleviate rapidly the sufferings in natural and man-made disasters and by its nature has a different approach than development cooperation. Even so, both activities are very tightly interlinked and we work hard to achieve an appropriate continuity in countries where we have a humanitarian intervention and then engage in longer term development activities.

What are the strategies of SDC to ensure coordination of development cooperation and humanitarian aid with other responsible federal offices?
Policy Coherence for Development is a key challenge for SDC. The federal law on Development Cooperation attributes the overall coordination of Swiss development policy and implementation to SDC. There are a number of coordination mechanisms in place to ensure coherent decisions. For example, on an operational level, different committees with our main partner in the Swiss administration, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (seco), meet regularly. On a broader level, SDC chairs an inter-ministerial committee which includes all federal offices concerned with development policy. On a political level the federal law has called into existence an advisory commission, composed by eminent personalities with interest in development cooperation, who represent the private sector, NGOs, academia and the political arena. This commission serves as consultative body to the federal council. These and other mechanisms together form a tightly woven web of communication between all relevant actors, in order to ensure coherence in our decisions.

It is stated that the main objective of all development cooperation activities is to improve the living conditions of the most deprived people on our planet. How does SDC explore the areas of maximum need?
At a global level, needs have been identified in the Millennium Declaration and Switzerland has committed to contributing to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as the other donor countries have done. The transformation of these goals into concrete action follows a country per country approach. For an effective poverty reduction, it is essential to have an in-depth knowledge of the context and conditions specific to each country. This is why SDC has established offices in each of the countries in which it is mainly working. In these Cooperation Offices, poverty analysis of the Government and of other stakeholders are gathered and specific needs as well as target groups are identified with the support of local professionals. Based on these assessments and SDC’s own experience in ongoing projects and programmes, medium term strategies are being developed for each of SDC’s partner countries. The main criteria are needs and potential.

What are the strategies and policies SDC implements for good governance? In which nations good governance has been effectively implemented and what role SDC has played in their success?
SDC’s approach to good governance is anchored in one of the objectives of Swiss Foreign Policy: The promotion of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The promotion of human rights and gender equality is a crosscutting issue in our development cooperation. This means:

The empowerment of poor and marginalized people, promoting equality and inclusion on the one hand and – on the other hand - strengthening capacities of governmental institutions to better promote basic rights. Our support to good governance focuses on two major strategies which are closely interlinked: The support to decentralization processes aiming at improving a democratic culture and strengthening accountable and efficient public institutions. Note that the promotion of access to information is an important means to enhance these processes. We try to design appropriate programs carefully together with our partner countries, according to their particular context and needs.

This brings me to the second part of your question: The notion of good governance is a broad concept and the promotion of good governance is a dynamic process. Therefore it is difficult to say “good governance has been implemented”. However, SDC has prioritised this in majority of its partner countries. Be it in Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Bolivia, Southern Africa or Southern Europe – our support to decentralization, democratization and enhanced access to justice is an important and welcome support. SDC’s particular strength lies in its focus on poor and marginalized women’s and men’s needs and rights.

For the effective implementation of Millennium Development Goals at the local level what kind of support does SDC make?
SDC intervenes not only on national and international levels, but, through its projects and programmes, directly at the local level. Our projects and programmes in the countries of intervention are based on comprehensive medium term strategies and annual programmes, which take into consideration the countries’ specific context, their priorities and their contribution to the achievement of the MDGs. In May 2005, the Swiss federal council has released the progress report of Switzerland on the MDGs, where our contribution to the MDGs is explained exhaustively.


For the developing nations, what are the main constraints associated with achieving MDGs?
The challenges that have been there for some time, such as fighting corruption and building capacity, remain important. But moreover, and much more pronounced than before, development policy today cannot be seen isolated from other policy areas. When important decisions are taken on an international level, the inter linkages between development policy, security policy and human rights policy are essential for decision makers in the capitals. This has led to the conditions in which we work that have become even more complex. To be successful in our quest to reach the MDGs, we have to do many things right, and among others these three policy areas have to be brought into a balance.

SDC has played a key role in ushering in a developmental perspective in the WSIS processes, in Phase I and in the preparations to Phase II events. What are some of the critical issues that still remain unresolved?
There are two critical issues still open for discussion: one is the financing of ICT for Development (ICT4D) initiatives and programmes. Certain initiatives, such as infrastructure projects, can be financed through the private sector. However, in rural or remote areas, market-based approaches often fail to work and specific efforts by national governments, donors and other actors are needed to ensure the implementation of ICT4D projects.

Another important issue is Internet Governance. Many developing countries have been pushing for a more democratic, transparent and multilateral approach to Internet Governance mechanism. WSIS Tunis (November 2005) will have to propose new recommendations for the governance of the Internet both at the technical and the policy level, whilst ensuring that the Internet continues to function well.

The ‘Global Knowledge Partnership’ (GKP) has grown into a successful example of multi-stakeholder partnerships, with SDC backing the idea right from the beginning. What are some of the positive lessons for a knowledge society in developing countries?
If we really are to make a difference in development work, and achieve the goals that are set internationally, all stakeholders have to pull on the same string. Multi-stakeholder partnerships offer a dialogue, common solutions and action, that ensure a cooperation that goes beyond what every stakeholder group can achieve alone. This can be seen locally, regionally, and also globally, as the example of GKP shows. It is a global network of governmental, civil society and private sector institutions with the common goal of exchanging information and knowledge and advocating for the effective use of ICTs for poverty reduction.

Particular focus has been laid, within the GKP, to explore the functioning and experiences made in establishing successful multi-stakeholder partnerships, and it is one of the core tasks of the network to facilitate the support of its members in this endeavor.

What are the benefits of using the synergies offered by public-private partnerships?
SDC usually seeks four main objectives, when engaging in and supporting public-private partnerships, being: generating employment and income, as well as the development of broad-based prosperity, securing of access to adequate and affordable basic services, strengthening of sustainability of natural resource utilization and the improvement of access to knowledge and skills. All these areas are key to development and of particular concern to both the public and the private stakeholders. The idea is to create a situation advantageous for all of the parties involved and the utilization of complementary strengths for ongoing cooperation and sustainable development.

In disaster management issues, what kind of services does SDC offer to the countries affected by the disasters? Is there any initiative taken so far for disaster preparedness of those nations, which are frequently affected by natural disasters?
As an immediate response, SDC’s Humanitarian Aid offers emergency relief (rescue and survival) which saves lives and covers the basic needs of the victims. In a second step of rehabilitation and reconstruction (recovery) SDC supports the return and reintegration of persons hit by a disaster. Reconstruction is always an excellent window of opportunity to introduce preventive and preparedness measures in order to reduce risks, limit damage and destruction and prepare for disasters. In the field of preparedness, SDC is forming, training and supplying equipment to local rescue teams or neighborhood groups and building up coping capacities in disaster prone countries.

To maintain a long-term environmental sustainability, keeping a balance with the developmental activities, what strategies must be followed by the nations all over the world? How can organisations like SDC support them to initiate such process?
A healthy environment is the very fundament of life. Natural resources are prime but limited production factors and as such essential elements underpinning the sustainable economic development in many poverty regions of the globe.

Often however environmental changes can aggravate poverty and deplete common goods such as water, soils or forests Local ecosystems are the foundation for the livelihood of many subsistence farmers and landless users of common property resources. Growing environmental stress is exposing these groups to the shocks of intensified climate variations. With no survival reserves and devoid of alternative income sources, they will be forced into migration.

As a consequence of the foregoing, SDC’s overall aim is to support economic activity in such a way that resource regeneration is ensured. Resource utilization should be regulated and more equitably shared.

Since global aid for development is actually reducing or being re-prioritised for disaster mitigation issues or fighting calamities, what are your views on long-term support to development agencies and NGOs engaged in sustainable development activities? What are some of the global trends in the field of ICT4D?
Humanitarian aid and development cooperation are to be seen as two complementary areas, interlinked in many cases. Generally, SDC is tied to the strategic, legal and political basis. In view of financial constraints, we continue our work while setting priorities according to the resources available.

The effective use of ICTs for development should not stand on its own, but be integrated into solutions for communities with a felt need, ensuring access to information or communication flows. This applies to any area of development cooperation and also humanitarian aid, where ICTs can be a tool for reaching specific goals for clear cut purposes.

Finally, what would be your vision for the i4d magazine, and the community of practitioners who represent a wide range of ICT project implementers, and tell their stories through this magazine?
My vision is that the benefits of the information society could be fully used for reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. There is tremendous potential in knowledge and access to relevant information, in so many ways. This would, however, mean that this potential should be widely recognized, and that stakeholders should stick to their engagements made during WSIS and other international fora. For getting nearer to achieving this vision, it will be crucial for each country to implement the WSIS action plan as committed. However, while implementing, a special focus needs to be laid on pro-poor policies, as well as the transformation of lessons learnt by practitioners into concrete common action.

Brief Biography of Walter Fust Walter Fust, born in 1945 in Mosnang/St. Gallen, studied at St. Gallen University and graduated with a Master of Political Science. He entered the diplomatic service in 1975 and was assigned to Berne, Geneva, Baghdad and Tokyo. From 1976 to 1979 he was in charge of economic affairs at the Swiss Embassy in Baghdad. In 1979, he was transferred to Tokyo, responsible for economic, commercial and industrial affairs. In September 1983, he was appointed deputy head of the Integration Office, dealing with the Swiss government’s relation with the European Community and the EFTA countries. From 1984 to 1986 he was appointed as personal adviser to Federal Councillor Dr. Kurt Furgler, Minister of Public Economy. In 1986, he was elected as Managing Director of the Swiss Office for Trade Promotion. From 1990 to August 1993 he served as Secretary General of the Ministry of the Interior. Since September 1993 he is Director-General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Fust is Chairman of the Board of the “Global Knowledge Partnership GKP”, a network dealing with information and communication technologies (ICTs) within the scope for cooperation. He is also a member of the Panel of Advisors of the United Nations Task Force on ICTs. Furthermore he is member of the Steering Committee of the “Global Governance Initiative” of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and of the Policy Committee of the Global Coalition for Africa.