Scaling Up Youth Employment in Agriculture Initiative

01.05.2024 - 30.04.2028

In Zambia and Zimbabwe, due to a mismatch between the skills they have and those in demand, youth cannot access or create economic opportunities and overlook those available. The project builds skills and matches youth with firms, markets and finance to create more and better (self)-employment in agri-food, renewable energy and emerging sectors, contributing to Swiss priorities on human and economic development and climate change. This is a contribution implemented by SNV.

Switzerland aims to improve health and psychosocial outcomes for adolescents and young people infected with HIV through support to the Zvandiri peer-to-peer programme. Peer interventions positively influence HIV testing rates, treatment uptake, retention in care and viral suppression. This programme is integrated within and seeks to strengthen the public health system. SDC will partner with Africaid, the primary government partner for this approach, and support Africaid’s ambitions to expand the model to Zambia.

01.11.2021 - 31.10.2025

African Risk Capacity Programmes in Zambia and Zimbabwe

01.11.2021 - 31.10.2026

This programme will contribute towards strengthening national systems for disaster preparedness through support to drought insurance premiums and capacity building. Switzerland is thus consolidating its engagement in climate change mitigation and disasters risk reduction with the aim to sustainably minimize risk to loss of lives and assets for vulnerable men and women. The Africa Risk Capacity, a specialized agency of the Africa Union, will implement this programme. 

Rural Resilience in Southern Africa / R4 Initiative

01.07.2021 - 30.06.2025

The R4 Rural Resilience Initiative for Southern Africa enables smallholder farmers’ adaptation to climate risk through improved resource management, insurance, livelihoods diversification, microcredit and savings. Through R4, Switzerland has become a credible and trusted partner in resilience building and its learnings have fed into policy dialogue. The emphasis of this final phase is on strengthening government and private sector, as well as the gender approach.  

Urban Food Security and Resilience Building programme

15.10.2020 - 31.10.2024

Drawing on learnings by Switzerland in rural areas in Zimbabwe, this program addresses food insecurity in 3 secondary cities through a contribution to a World Food Programme initiative that combines humanitarian and resilience building solutions. Focused on the latter, this contribution provides food insecure urban people a comprehensive support including skills, finance and market linkages aimed at more gainful agriculture. It also supports the coordination and strengthening of related stakeholders, including policy makers.  

O3+ Our Rights, Our Lives, Our Future

01.10.2020 - 14.09.2025

This project uses targeted interventions in post-secondary educational institutions in Zambia and Zimbabwe to improve access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) among 18-24 year-olds. Working with UNESCO and Ministries of Higher and Tertiary Education, the project brings Switzerland’s lengthy experience in the HIV/SRHR field to bear by targeting an often neglected cohort of young people with tailored interventions to reduce HIV infections, unintended pregnancies, and gender-based violence. 

Safeguard Young People – Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

01.01.2020 - 30.06.2023

The UNFPA Safeguard Young People programme contributes to the reduction of HIV infections and improved sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people (aged 10-24) in eight Southern African countries. It supports the adoption, domestication and implementation of regional policies and helps increase young people’s knowledge, skills, agency, and equitable access to integrated HIV/SRHR services. The SYP leverages one of Switzerland’s 15 priority multilateral organizations to achieve the Swiss goal of wide regional impact.

Strengthening Agro-biodiversity in Southern Africa (SASA)

01.09.2019 - 30.06.2024

While governments have regional and national seed policies favourable to commercial certified seed production, these are restrictive on farmers’ seed systems that are diverse and resilient. The project capitalises on Swiss regional experiences on supporting seed systems in Southern Africa. This will include the empowerment of civil society, farmers’ organisations and governments in developing inclusive agricultural policies that ultimately contribute to sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity and improved well-being of smallholder farming communities.

Accountability in Health & Agriculture

01.07.2019 - 31.12.2024

While governments have translated regional policies on Food Security and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) into national policies, these are poorly implemented and the public lacks capacities to act effectively upon them. The project will improve the accountability and gender responsiveness of public resource management and complement the ongoing Swiss funded projects in ensuring that policy/advocacy work developed at national, regional and global levels is disseminated and implemented by relevant SADC and governmental institutions.

Scaling Up Youth Employment in Agriculture Initiative

01.08.2018 - 31.12.2023

Education systems in Southern Africa do not prepare youth for work; they cannot access or create economic opportunities and ignore the available options. The project will scale up in Southern Africa a model already tested by Switzerland in Tanzania. It will improve (self)-employment of 20’000 young women and men in Zimbabwe and Zambia by strengthening their skills and matching them with existing job opportunities, thereby contributing to the implementation of youth policies in-country and regionally.

Safeguard Young People (SYP) – Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)

01.02.2017 - 31.12.2019

The UNFPA Safeguard Young People programme (SYP) will contribute to the reduction of HIV infections and improved sexual and reproductive health and rights status of young women and men aged 10 to 24 in eight Southern African countries: Zambia, Swaziland, Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho. UNFPA will scale up SRHR/HIV prevention models and youth friendly health services (YFHS) in order to equip young people with knowledge, skills and values to protect themselves and capacitate member states to improve the legislative environment to address young people’s health issues.

Safeguard Young People – Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRHR)

01.08.2013 - 31.01.2017

The UNFPA Safeguard Young People Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights/HIV (SRHR) programme will contribute to the reduction of HIV infections and improved sexual and reproductive health status of young women and men aged 10 to 24 in 8 Southern African countries1. UNFPA will scale up SRHR/HIV prevention models in order to equip young people with knowledge, skills and values to protect themselves from HIV infections and capacitate member states to improve the legislative environment to address young people’s health issues.