Links

Categories:

Swiss Government Agencies Portals
Swiss Organizations Projects/Programs
International Organizations Publishers
Development Banks  

Swiss Government Agencies [back to categories]

Link to SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
www.sdc.admin.ch
General information on policy, activities, and publications of the Swiss government agency for Development and Cooperation mandating the SED mandate. Information on the Employment and Income Division

Link to Seco SECO Staatssekretariat für Wirtschaft
www.seco-admin.ch
The website of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs offers information on the Swiss economy, promotion activities, cooperation with developing and transition countries, SME Task Force.

Swiss Organizations [back to categories]

Link to Intercooperation Intercooperation : Swiss Organisation for Development and Cooperation
www.intercooperation.ch
Intercooperation executes both the SED mandate and the Financial Services Mandate for SDC. Intercooperation is a Swiss organization for development and cooperation specialised in the field of rural development.

Link to VETNET Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
www.vetnet.ch
SDC has mandated KODIS Consult GmbH to carry out the Vocational Education and Training Backstopping Mandate in order to extend its working capacities and to strengthen its learning and dissemination potential.

Link to Swisscontact Swisscontact
www.swisscontact.ch
Swiss organisation specialised in crafts and industry promotion in the South and East. The website informs on projects and guiding principles.

Link to Fundes Fundes
www.fundes.org
Fundes supports small businesses in Latin America through providing information, training and credit. The website shows Fundes' services (courses, consulting), offers downloadable documents, a directory of enterprises and countries' pages.

Link to Skat Swiss Centre for Development Cooperation in Technology and Management (SKAT)
www.skat.ch
Swiss consultancy firm specialised in urbain development, architecture & building, water & sanitation and transport infrastructure.

Link to Sippo Swiss Import Promotion Programme (SIPPO)
www.sippo.ch
SIPPO helps small and medium-sized companies in emerging countries and countries in transition to improve their market access to Switzerland and the European Union and assists Swiss importers in finding new products and sourcing new markets.

Link to SOFI SOFI Swiss Organisation for Facilitating Investments
www.sofi.ch
The website provides information for Swiss companies searching partners in developing and transition economies. It offers relevant links, directories and addresses on developing and transition countries.

Link to cinfo Center for Information, Advice and Training (cinfo):
Professions relating to International Cooperation
www.cinfo.ch
cinfo offers information and advice to people who are interested in employment options and opportunities in international cooperation, or who would like to commit themselves to improving the relations between the countries of the North and those of the South and the East.

International Organizations [back to categories]

Committee of Donor Agencies for Small Enterprise Development
www.sedonors.org
Information on activities and publications of the Donors' Committee. The brochure 'What is it? What does it do?' can be downloaded at oracle02.ilo.org/images/empent/static/seed/download/about.pdf (PDF Document)

Link to ILO International Labour Organization (ILO)
www.ilo.org
'The International Labour Organization is the UN specialized agency which seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights.'
Particularly interesting for the SED community:

SEED Programme: Boosting employment through small enterprise development
www.ilo.org/seed/
'SEED seeks to unlock the potential for creating more and better jobs in the small enterprise sector.' The website offers information on the following themes: policy environment, market opportunities, business development, association building, informal sector, best practices, job quality and gender equality.

Business Development Services (BDS)
www.ilo.org/dyn/bds/bdssearch.home
Inter-Agency Site for BDS.

A database of the Donor Committee's Business Environment Working Group
www.businessenvironment.org/dyn/be/BEsearch.home
For sharing documents and information about donor-supported work to enhance the business environment to achieve pro-poor growth.

Annual seminar on Business Development Services
learning.itcilo.it/bdsseminar/
They also provide online documents gathering the key concepts related to BDS (the BDS reader), as well as an annual update following the seminars.

Link to OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) : SMEs
www.oecd.org/dsti/sti/industry/smes/
A small website on the news, activities and publications on SMEs by the committee of Science, Technology and Industry.

Link to UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
www.unido.org
Information on UNIDO's SME policy framework as well as women entrepreneurs and publications related to this topic.

Springfield Centre for Business in Development
www.springfieldcentre.com
Presents the activities of the Springfield Centre, an organisation specialised in private sector and small enterprise development.

Enterprise Development Impact Assessment Information Service (EDIAIS)
www.enterprise-impact.org.uk
Funded by DFID and managed jointly by the Institute of Development Policy and Management at University of Manchester and WISE (Women in Sustainable Enterprise) Development Ltd.
EDIAIS' aim is to help develop best practice in assessing the impact of interventions designed to help micro, small and medium enterprises in developing countries.

Development Banks [back to categories]

Link to Worldbank The World Bank: Small- and Medium-Scale Enterprise Development
www.worldbank.org/privatesector/

The World Bank: Small and Medium Enterprise Department
http://www2.ifc.org/sme/
The World Bank Group's Small and Medium Enterprise Department combines the market perspective of the International Finance Corporation with the policy expertise of the World Bank to promote local small business growth in developing nations. The website covers the following areas: project development facilities, capacity building facility, business enabling environment, e-business and linkages, diagnostic tools, SME publications.

Link to IDB Inter-American Development Bank (IDB): Sustainable Development Department
www.iadb.org/sds/
Select the chapter 'SME' www.iadb.org/sds/SME/ or 'Microenterprise' www.iadb.org/sds/MIC to find information on the Bank's strategies, best practices, news and publications on this topic.

Link to ADB Asian Development Bank (ADB)
www.adb.org
Use the search facility to find documents on small enterprise development.

Portals [back to categories]

Link to Enterweb EnterWeb
www.enterweb.org
An excellent gateway by Jean-Claude Lorin where websites on small business, finance, international trade, entrepreneurship, enterprise development and the economy are listed thematically and geographically. All websites are rated from 'average' to 'outstanding'.

WorkSavvy! Business Startup
www.worksavvy.ws
This website provides you with helpful information on the following topics: support for the would-be & early-stage entrepreneur, guidance on personal & business plan development; getting your business to start sooner, grow stronger and last longer; free material on business startup and how to get help & advice - cost-effectively.

Projects/Programs [back to categories]

Link to MBP Microenterprise Innovation Project: Microenterprise Best Practices Project
MIP is an USAID project that conducts research and produces publications on microenterprise development, finance, policy, and impact.
One component of MIP is the Microenterprise Best Practices Project where a lot of information is offered on microenterprise practices in developing countries. Full reports (in pdf format) and a newsletter are available: www.microlinks.org/ev_en.php?ID=2134_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC

Link to CEFE Competency based Economies through Formation of Enterprise (CEFE)
cefe.gtz.de
CEFE uses a comprehensive set of training instruments designed to stimulate positive interventions in the small and medium enterprise development process. It uses experiential learning methods to develop and enhance the competencies of these existing and potential entrepreneurs.
The site presents CEFE's courses, learning activity packages and publications (full-text).

Link to SEEP Small Enterprise Education and Promotion Network (SEEP)
www.seepnetwork.org
Mission statement: 'The Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network is an association of more than 40 North American private and voluntary organisations which support micro and small enterprise programs in the developing world. The Network's mission is to advance the practice of small and microenterprise development among these organisations, their international partners, and other practitioners.'
This website offers information on the working groups as well as some publications and the newsletter NEXUS.

Link to Promopme Le cercle pour la promotion de la Micro Entreprise (CPME)
www.promopme.net
Le cercle pour la promotion de la Micro Entreprise (CPME) est un réseau de structures d'appui à l'artisanat et aux PME en Afrique de l'Ouest financés par la Cooperation Suisse (DDC).

Publishers [back to categories]

Link to Pact Pact Publications
www.pactpub.com
Catalogue of Pact Publications. Do a search of the category 'microenterprise' to see a list of books on the topic.

Do you know a good website? Please contact sed@intercooperation.ch and tell us!