A Background and Rationale
Switzerland has long been active in international efforts to reduce poverty through various worldwide
development schemes. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is Switzerland’s
main development assistance body and is active in several countries. In Nigeria, however, the SDC has
no cooperation office, as Nigeria is not considered a low-income country. However, the Embassy of
Switzerland in Abuja offers an annual credit of up to 100’000 USD to support five to six small-scale
projects per year in various fields. Experience has shown that even on a small scale, development
assistance can have considerable effects.
B Approach
The Small-Scale Embassy Projects in Nigeria are designed to assist local initiatives of groups or of
organisations whose works contribute to the country`s overall socio-economic progress. Dynamic actors
of the civil society, especially women and minority representatives, are thus helped in their efforts to
generate sustainable reforms and overall improvement of living conditions in the country.
C Eligibility Criteria for Small-Scale Project Grants
In the selection process of projects that will receive support, the Embassy adheres to the following
guiding principles:
- Self-help: The Embassy supports local initiatives in the area of capacity building.
- Sustainability: It prioritises projects that promise long lasting effects even after their completion.
- Innovation: It encourages innovative and original initiatives.
- Local needs: It favours projects that particularly meet the needs of the local population and
reinforce existing structures.
- Subsidiarity: Applicants are expected to contribute to the project first; support from the Embassy
only comes second.
- Choice of target group and impact: The project applicants need to clearly state who will be the
beneficiaries of the project, what impact they intend to make and how they aim to reach their goals.
- Organizational competence: The project applicants need to have sufficient organisational
competences in order to conduct the project by their own capacities.
- Pertinence: The project should be clear, comprehensible and should consist of simple but effectual
measures.
- Timeframe: The project should form a one-time intervention that is fully administered and
conducted by local organisations or agencies within one year.
Projects of the following kind are NOT supported in the framework of the Embassy’s scheme:
- Profit-oriented enterprises
- Schemes with religious purposes
- Propositions that only and exclusively consist of material supply
- Projects that involve only a single person
- Scholarships or study grants
- Foreign consulting missions
- Charity events / Campaigns
- Projects that have been supported before
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D Previous Projects
Over the last years, the Embassy has supported five to six projects per year
