Helvetas Is Growing — But Cutbacks Threaten Development

The gap between rich and poor is widening worldwide. At the same time, public funds for development cooperation and poverty reduction are becoming increasingly scarce. Helvetas, the Swiss organization for development cooperation and humanitarian response, implemented projects worth CHF 153.2 million in 35 countries in 2024 — more than ever before, as the recently published annual and consolidated financial reports show (see below). 

Thanks to broad support from the general public and philanthropy, Helvetas received donations, legacies and contributions from private foundations totaling CHF 46.7 million in 2024. This is the second-best donation result in Helvetas' 70-year history and represents growth of 7.3% compared to the previous year. 

In addition to donations, Helvetas also received contracts from government donors and contributions from Swiss Solidarity totaling CHF 110.3 million — CHF 3.5 million more than the previous year. Helvetas' institutional donors include the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and state institutions from other countries. Administrative expenses remained at a low level of 4.1 percent; fundraising expenses fell to 5.5 percent of the funds used. 

Helvetas warns against austerity plans in development cooperation

The positive result for 2024 should not obscure the fact that austerity measures adopted by the SDC and other state donors, both in Switzerland and abroad, will inevitably lead to reduced support for people living in poverty — and in some cases, to the termination of essential programs.  

In Bangladesh, for example, Helvetas recently had to end a major vocational training program as a result of USAID's funding freeze. A solid education enables people in need to earn a secure income. With the discontinuation of the project, thousands are losing hope of escaping poverty and finding prospects locally. Furthermore, due to a lack of funds, Helvetas will have to withdraw from Sri Lanka by the end of 2025, where the organization has been successfully active since the 1980s and was committed to peaceful coexistence and reconciliation after the civil war, among other things. 

No security without development 

Helvetas sees development cooperation as part of a comprehensive security policy, which is also in Switzerland's interests. Where basic needs like healthcare and access to drinking water are met, people have job prospects, and everyone has a voice in decision-making, there is less conflict and migration. 

Together with 1,500 partner organizations in the respective countries, Helvetas works effectively and efficiently to overcome hunger, poverty and injustice — now more than ever. 

Helvetas focused on four areas in 2024: 

• Basic needs secured: Almost 3 million people gained access to clean drinking water, sanitation or better nutrition in 2024 and benefited from more harvests and climate resilience. 

• Prospects created: More than half a million young people benefited from basic or vocational training and found work or became self-employed. Helvetas promotes practice-oriented training in many countries, based on the successful Swiss model of dual vocational education and training and in cooperation with local companies. From 2021 to 2024, around 200,000 people completed vocational training. In Ethiopia, Albania, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal and other countries, an approach developed by Helvetas has initiated structural reforms in vocational education and training.  

• Empowerment: Over 160,000 women and men have learned to assert their rights vis-à-vis the authorities or to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence.   

• Emergency support delivered: Helvetas supported almost half a million people with humanitarian response — families suffering from the war in Ukraine as well as those affected by disasters in Bangladesh, Nepal and Ethiopia.  

Further information:  

Annual report