Swisscontact is a non-profit organisation founded in 1959 by personalities from the Swiss private business sector and universities, with the goal of helping to grow the private sector in selected developing countries and thereby contributing to poverty reduction.Since entering South Africa in 2003, we have worked closely with our funders, partners and clients to improve the competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) and to improve the environment in which these businesses operate so that they can grow and thrive.

Partnering to fight poverty - 2009 in review

During 2009, Swisscontact South Africa furthered its mission of promoting private economic and social development through advisory service, training and continuing education. We made significant progress in all our existing projects and also initiated a number of new ventures with the help of our partners. Our results-driven approach has attracted much interest in South Africa.

During the year under review, we initiated promising new project contracts, such as the Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln Programme with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). We extended others, such as the Mentoring project funded by Credit Suisse and the Alfred Nzo District Municipalitiy pro-poor development planning project that is funded by the Austrian Development Agency.

We are pleased with the progress of each of these projects, and believe that we are already making a difference for the partners and communities they target. Some projects - such as a partnership with the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs to promote growth-oriented SMEs in the Western Cape - came to a conclusion after successfully meeting their goals. Details about these projects and others can be found in this report.

Together with some of our key partners, we hosted a number of round-table sessions during 2009 to share best practices. These sessions - where experiences and approaches were shared - proved to be invaluable to our clients, partners and Swisscontact itself. We also undertook a number of short-term consulting assignments that delivered quick benefits to a range of client companies during 2009.

Swisscontact South Africa could not have achieved everything it did during the course of 2009 without the support of all our funders, partners and clients as well as the commitment of our employees and board of trustees. We would like to thank every person and organisation that contributed to our success during the year for their loyalty, encouragement and help throughout 2009. We look forward to an even stronger working relationship with our partners in 2010 as we work together to contribute to job and income creation and smooth the way to a better future.