OrganizationPublished on 24 March 2025

Foundations and Quality Division

The Foundations and Quality Division coordinates central processes to ensure international cooperation is sustainable and effective. It compiles the financial data and statistics required for management, monitors strategic guidelines, initiates research partnerships, promotes digitalisation and quality assurance, and provides support in political negotiations and communication.

The Foundations and Quality Division is responsible for a variety of transversal tasks and dossiers at the SDC. It manages core processes and ensures the cohesion of evidence-based interventions for effective and sustainable international cooperation. The division prepares decisions for senior management and guides SDC business in the political negotiation process. It also compiles the financial data and statistics necessary for management, oversees the strategic direction of SDC activities and promotes policy coherence for sustainable development, particularly with regard to economic policy issues.

A key component of the division’s work is the initiation and maintenance of research partnerships to develop solutions for implementing the 2030 Agenda. It continuously monitors new trends in international cooperation and steers the development and implementation of Switzerland’s International Cooperation Strategy. The division ensures the methodological soundness of international cooperation and drives forward the process of internal digitalisation. It supports and advises the SDC on innovative processes, factual questions and the implementation of digital foreign policy.

The division coordinates the preparation and publication of data on official development assistance and other financial contributions, communicates these statistics to the Federal Administration, Parliament and the public, and represents Switzerland on the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It works as part of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) to increase the transparency of

development assistance, promote international exchanges and improve the quality of data.

The division is also responsible for quality assurance and internal digitalisation. It oversees and develops tools for impact-oriented project and programme-cycle management and supports senior management in monitoring the management system. It promotes efficient, agile and data-oriented working methods and coordinates the SDC’s digital transformation in cooperation with internal and external stakeholders.

The division attaches great importance to institutional learning and the anchoring of knowledge and innovation across the entire SDC. It ensures access to the SDC’s institutional memory and promotes a vibrant culture of innovation. The division uses evaluations as well as management and impact analyses to support strategic management and document the SDC’s effectiveness. It also assists the SDC in areas such as results attainment, efficiency, human resources and finance.

The division also acts as the SDC’s interface for policy communication in relation to Parliament and the Federal Council. It coordinates responses to parliamentary procedural requests and prepares speeches and background documents for parliamentary committee meetings. To ensure policy coherence for sustainable development, it also coordinates SDC statements on the business of other offices relating to sustainable development.

Finally, the division organises the meetings of the Interdepartmental Committee for International Development and Cooperation (ICIDC), thereby helping to ensure consistent development policy.