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Senior Expert Contact

Promoting entrepreneurship through expertise – passing on technical skills through hands-on volunteer work.  Senior Expert Contact (SEC) experts provide direct and uncomplicated support to companies and institutions who aim to grow.
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Swisscontact Benin
6.3558488
2.3979877
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swisscontact peru
-12.107061
-77.03224689999999
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swisscontact nepal
27.6870248
85.31423079999999
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swisscontact kosovo
41.3310337
19.8078796
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swisscontact Bolivia
-16.5097753
-68.1310622
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Swisscontact cambodia
11.5437912
104.9215138
Benin, Bolivia, Cambodia, Kosovo, Nepal, Peru
Project website

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The project

By undertaking volunteer assignments, Senior Expert Contact (SEC) experts pass on specialist knowledge exactly where it is needed. In this way, the benefits of professional support are accessible to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and institutions in developing countries and Eastern Europe.

An SEC expert can be requested by an SME, training centre or other institution, which requires professional expertise to solve an operational challenge but which couldn’t afford this advice at market prices.

Results

Each year, around 140 SMEs and institutions benefit from expert consultancy assignments. 
Today, more than 700 mainly retired technical experts, ranging from craftspeople to hotel managers to marketing specialists, share their expertise and valuable professional experience. 
Since 1979, SEC has carried out over 3,000 assignments, with experts having provided roughly 1,200,000 hours of voluntary work. This is equal to an estimated 45 million Swiss francs.

SEC assignments result in:

  • Improvements in product quality
  • More efficient workflows
  • Improved working conditions
  • Higher competitiveness in the local market
  • Job creation
  • Poverty reduction

Financing partners

This project is part of the Swisscontact Development Programme, which is co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA. 

Project links

News

View all news from SEC
Cambodia
Entrepreneurial ecosystems
05.04.2023
Senior Expert Contact (SEC) THANK YOU EVENT
Swisscontact organised a THANK YOU event on March 14, 2023, at Raffles hotel to thank all the Senior Expert Contact (SEC) experts and programme partners. The event was attended by 54 participants namely the SEC clients in Cambodia as well as SEC strategic partners including private companies, associations, and government partners.
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Nepal
Sustainable agriculture, Entrepreneurial ecosystems, Labour market insertion, Initial vocational education and training
08.03.2023
Women’s Economic Empowerment Leads to Stability and Equity
Every year on March 8, we globally celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) to highlight women’s achievements and shed light on the importance of equity. This year, IWD’s slogan is #EmbraceEquity, aiming to question why and how equality is not enough and just.  
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Kosovo
Entrepreneurial ecosystems
31.01.2023
Swiss cheesemaking expertise in the region of Sharri Mountains
Eco-farm "Rakita" in Dragash Municipality is a small producer of Sharri cheese and employs women from the region. They also contribute to the local economy by contracting farmers that provide fresh milk. Senior Expert Contact (SEC) expert Carlos Marbach – professional cheesemaker with experience in 55 countries all over the world – trained the employees of "Rakita" in producing several new dairy products.
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