The federal government wants to support the reconstruction of Ukraine from the development aid pot. This has met with widespread criticism. Christian organizations are also calling for aid not to be provided at the expense of the Global South. The high-circulation newspaper "reformiert." prominently on the front page - and Mission 21 also has its say.
Swiss organizations active in development cooperation are forming a broad alliance to demand that the Federal Council finance the planned reconstruction aid for Ukraine with additional funds. The newspaper "reformiert." newspaper reports on this in its February issue, which is distributed to 700,000 households, on the entire front page and online.
In the Main article explains what is at stake. The Federal Council would like to largely remove reconstruction aid from the pot for international cooperation. This would mean that development cooperation contributions for countries in the global South would be drastically reduced. As a result, "the poorest people on earth" would suffer, criticize the representatives of the church-affiliated organizations Heks and Fastenaktion in the text.
"That would be unworthy of Switzerland and inhumane."
On behalf of Mission 21, Katharina Gfeller, Head of the International Relations Department, takes part in the Interview position. She emphasizes how necessary Mission 21's interfaith peacebuilding work is in countries such as Nigeria, South Sudan and Indonesia. Fewer contributions from the federal government, i.e. from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC, would mean the loss of many years of trust-building work in conflict regions: "We would have to stop entire projects and country programs."
The federal contributions are very important for the development cooperation of
Katharina Gfeller therefore chooses clear words to comment on the impact of the Federal Council's plans: "Putting tried-and-tested partnerships at risk and abandoning people in the global South is not only unprofessional, but also unworthy and inhumane for a country like Switzerland." Mission 21 therefore supports the campaign #MoreSolidarityNow of the competence center for development cooperation Alliance Sud.
â–ºRead the whole interview on reformiert.info
