Results and Impact

Vocational education and training

During the past five years, 477 925 people have completed vocational education and training across 109 projects. These people have also received support in labour market insertion or to develop opportunities for self-employment.

During this period, 179 811 people have found a job or started their own business, generating a total 155.6 million Swiss francs in additional income. 

Business promotion

Thanks to 124 enterprise promotion projects implemented from 2019-2023, 7.7 million farmers and SMEs gained access to better products and services aimed at increasing their productivity and competitiveness.

This has resulted in 3.7 million farmers and SMEs generating 669.2 million Swiss francs in additional income over the past five years. Additionally, during that same period, 239 323 jobs were created or maintained.

Financial inclusion

Over the past five years, more than 1.7 million farmers, SMEs, and graduates of vocational education programmes have gained access to financial services totalling more than 1.3 billion Swiss francs. Of these individuals, 50% were women or women-led businesses. 

Environmental responsibility

Swisscontact promotes solutions for efficient and sustainable use of resources. As part of environmental development, we have helped reduce, capture or avoided CO₂ emissions by more than 144 598 tonnes and either recycled or reduced 28 412 tonnes of waste. 

Gender equality and social inclusion

Gender equality and social inclusion significantly help to eliminate poverty and foster economic growth. In the past five years, the percentage of women participating in our vocational education and training projects was 48.2%. More than half of the total number of people who then found jobs or started their own businesses have been women (51.4%). In our business development projects, the share of women-led agricultural enterprises and non-agricultural SMEs has been steadily over a third, exceeding 38% in 2023.