Helping others to help themselves

The Senior Expert Corps is a service of  Swisscontact, the Swiss Foundation for Technical Cooperation. Swisscontact was founded in 1959 by personalities from  the Swiss private sector and Swiss universities. The primary goal of Swisscontact is to support enterprises and entrepreneurs with social responsibility, who create sustainable jobs and income. Over 600 experts, from craftsmen and hotel managers to the marketing specialists – all qualified practitioners – offer their know-how as volunteers. They are prepared to share their comprehensive skills and knowledge where it is required. Their experience abroad, language abilities, and a lifetime of professional experience, help them to quickly adapt to new living and working conditions.

Providing a service

Volunteers from Swisscontact Senior Expert Corps advise entrepreneurs in the solution of clearly described problems. Small and medium enterprises, training centres and other institutions can profit from the services offered by the Senior Expert Corps. All those who need to help themselves can request support from Swiss volunteers.

Our experts provide rapid and pragmatic support. Their strength is in consulting and the transfer of knowledge in a wide variety of areas ranging from quality improvement, marketing and management to staff development. They not only strive to solve technical and business problems, but also to contribute to sustainable development by training and qualifying local employees.

Friendly and Market-Oriented

The retired experts, who carry out over 150 assignments each year, are assisted by the Swisscontact office in Zurich and locally by ten country representatives or the Swisscontact project offices.

Their high degree of motivation and financial independence enables senior experts to provide their services as volunteers without remuneration. The Senior Expert Corps thus provides a meaningful service, in the process of supporting Switzerland’s cooperation with developing and Eastern European countries. In their work, the priorities of Swiss federal law regarding development cooperation as well as Swisscontact policy are taken into consideration.

Inexpensive and Fair

A Swiss senior expert’s assignment lasts from few weeks up to three months. The customer bears his share of the costs; this comprises all expenses incurred on site. The remaining costs are covered by Swisscontact, as long as the assignment meets specific criteria. The experts work as voluteers without remuneration, and receive only a modest amount of pocket money to cover personal expenses.

 

The basis for an assignment is a formal request from a small or medium size enterprise (SME) with our assignment profile. This includes a detailed description:

• The enterprise (SME) requesting assistance
• The problem to be solved
• The basic aim of the assignment
• The necessary qualification of the Senior Expert

In the selection of assignments we apply the following criteria:

• Countries and regions with Senior Expert Corps representatives (Latin America: Central America, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru; Asia: Nepal, Bangladesh; Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali; Eastern Europe: Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Ukraine) and/or Swisscontact offices
• Priorities of the Swiss federal law regarding development cooperation as well as Swisscontact policy are taken into consideration
• Improving the skills of local personnel
• Improving productivity and effectiveness
• Contributing to the creation and safeguarding of jobs
• Contributing to environmental protection
• And that the function cannot be performed by local consultants

Exclusion criteria include:

• The filling of line functions with Senior Experts
• Assignments within international hotel chains and multinational companies
  

What does a Senior Expert cost?

• As a minimum requirement, the client has to bear all local cost for board and accommodation, laundry and local transport. Under certain conditions Senior Expert Corps also requests a contribution to international flight cost etc.

Application Forms:

A2a_Client_Assignment_Request_E_FORM

2011_SEC_Guidelines_E

SEC Brochure

Please submit completed application forms to: rl@swisscontact.co.za