History of Swiss Assistance

 The early highlights

1940s         Her Royal Highness, the Queen Mother, Ashi Kesang Choden  Wangchuck, and the daughter of Mr. Fritz Von Schulthess (a Swiss industrialist and trader) met in Cambridge, England during their studies, which was the beginning of a lasting friendship between the two countries, Bhutan and Switzerland. 

1952 -65     Mr. Fritz Von Schulthess and his wife visited Bhutan as Royal guests frequently. A Swiss was employed to introduce a wireless communication system in Thimphu.

1968-71      The first Swiss expatriates were employed to promote agriculture (through the import of horses, bulls and potato seed) and a programme to eradicate gid disease was set up.

1972-75      Mr. Von Schulthess set up the private “Foundation Pro Bhutan”  to raise funds for the expanding development activities that started in the Phobjikha area, and later concentrated in Bumthang. New activities included dairy, cattle & fodder, forestry development and medical services. A mobile medical clinic for Trongsa, Zhemgang and Geleyphu began. A mechanical workshop and a saw mill started in Bumthang.

1.7.1975     After retiring, Mr. Von Schulthess handed over the activities of the “Foundation Pro Bhutan” to Helvetas.

1976-80      The activities at Gogona and Phobjikha were handed over to the Royal Government of Bhutan. All activities in Bumthang related to agriculture, animal husbandry and forestry were integrated into the Rural Development Project. Some of the executive posts were entrusted to Swiss experts. Further consolidation of Swiss programmes was made, and road construction to Phobjikha was started. Ground work for the Tashila ropeway to harness the resources of Khotokha was begun.

The 1980s

During the 1980s, the financial contributions of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) increased, which enabled a substantive expansion of activities, both financially and thematically. SDC support was not only granted to Helvetas, but also included co-financing of projects implemented by multilateral agencies like the World Bank and various UN agencies. As first steps towards decentralization, posts like the District Agriculture Officer, District Animal Husbandry Officer, and Zonal Medical Officer were created, and trusted to Swiss experts due to the lack of suitably trained nationals.

In 1983, Helvetas and SDC jointly opened a Coordination Office in Thimphu. The first General Agreement on development cooperation was signed between the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGOB) and Helvetas. As a result of this, the scope of several Bumthang projects was expanded to national level (livestock and fodder), and several new projects were launched by Helvetas/SDC, like the National Potato Project, the construction of the Bumthang Hospital, High Altitude Area Development Project in Bumthang, Trongsa and Wangdue, and the Integrated Forestry Development Project in Bumthang. The first in-country training project established by Helvetas was the Logging Training Centre at Bumthang, which trained more than 300 loggers before being handed over to the Government in 1988.

The impact of the Swiss assistance in Bumthang necessitated the establishment of support services, including workshops, sawmills, fruit and milk processing units, cable-crane and road construction units. These were later privatized to the original managers under the concept of “learn and own your own business”. The repayments were ploughed back into similar ventures under the small-scale industrial revolving fund scheme. In 1988, to avoid competition, this successful venture was institutionalized with the Bhutan Development Finance Corporation. 

 The 1990s

During the late 1980s, Helvetas and SDC, together with RGOB developed a sector concept in order to focus the programme better, and to make the Swiss programme complementary to those of the increasing number of other donors. As a result, Helvetas phased out the Health Programme in Bumthang during the early 1990s and focused on three sectors: Renewable Natural Resources, Education and Culture, and Rural Infrastructure (bridges only).

Education and Culture: The main objectives of this sector-support are the qualitative and quantitative improvement of the education system, the fostering of cultural cohesion, skill and management development at different levels, and strengthening of small-scale enterprises.

Human Resource Development (HRD) has always received very high priority throughout the entire Swiss assisted programme. The training of nationals, either on the job, or short- and long-term courses both in Bhutan and abroad, has been a major element in all projects. Apart from project related sponsorship, there were specific HRD programmes, like the Human Resource Development support to the Ministry of Agriculture (1992-1999) and the training support to the Royal Audit Authority to promote good governance and controlling in projects (1996-2000).

The capacity of the education system has been greatly enlarged as a result of the  construction of the Teacher Training Institute in Paro (today's National Institute of Education) between 1993 and 1999. The new academic complex and the hostels enabled the intake of primary teacher trainees to be increased from 150 to 300. Including 133 day scholars, the institute housed 444 primary teacher trainees in 2000 - over utilizing its capacity. It is encouraging to notice that the majority of the teacher trainees are young and motivated women. 

A demand based Skill Development Programme was launched in 1996, with the objective of self-employment for early school dropouts. It has gained good recognition, although saturating quickly. More than one hundred people received training in hair cutting, house electrification, plumbing, masonry, and cooking. It phased out in 2000 as another donor became more active in vocational training.

Helvetas has supported the restoration of a very old building in Thimphu, in connection with the setting up of a living museum in order to preserve the artifacts, skills and tradition of Bhutan. It was a very modest effort to assist the government in the preservation of a fast changing culture, especially in Thimphu.

Renewable Natural Resources : Given the fact that 75 % of adult Bhutanese are still farmers (although an increasing proportion of the income results from non-farm activities, such as pottering, remittances, business, etc.), the RNR sector has seen the strongest assistance by Helvetas. The objective of this sector is to contribute towards sustainable food production increase and diversification, more efficient utilization of natural resources, and the promotion of organizational, institutional capacities at the farmer, dzongkhag (districts) and ministerial levels.

Swiss involvement in agriculture has continued for more than 30 years, and has included livestock, forestry and agriculture projects. Engagement in the livestock/fodder sector was gradually reduced during the 1990s. A Brown Swiss Cattle Farm, the Haflinger Horse Breeding Programme and the National Fodder Seed Production Centre were handed over to the government.

In the forestry sector, the Integrated Forestry Development Project, started in 1986 and  phased out in 1998, engaged in the establishment of forest management units, forest road construction, implementation of management plans, logging operations on a sustained yield basis, silviculture research in conifer forest, and training. The last phase concentrated on the consolidation and self-financing mechanism to sustain necessary investments (e.g. in forest roads) from the income of timber sales.

A policy to promote the development of farm-households in a more integrated manner led to the vision of a Natural Resources Training Institute (NRTI) in 1988. SDC  financed the construction of this school complex in Lobeysa between 1990 and 1994, while Helvetas supported the training of a teacher cadre. The first batch of the three-year training course started in 1992 with 79 students in the three sectors: agriculture, forestry and livestock. Around 450 have graduated so far. They have been placed as extension agents in the 200 geogs (communities of Bhutan). An Extension Programme in Bumthang and Trongsa followed up many of the earlier initiatives and aimed at development at the grass root level through extension services in the geogs in form of direct inputs and training to farmers and contribution to the construction of farm access roads.

In order to diversify agricultural production, enhance productivity and improve household economy on a sustainable basis, four research centres, each with different national and regional mandates, have been established in Bhutan. Three of these centres are supported by Helvetas/SDC: Jakar with the national livestock research mandate, Yusipang with the national forestry research mandate and Bajo with the national field crops mandate.  In 2000 Helvetas won a World Bank Bid for an Institutional Development Initiative in the Forestry Sector (BH 50) aiming at fostering the programme approach in the forestry sector towards preparing the 9th FYP.  Its main objective was to strengthen the capacity of Bhutanese institutions to undertake forestry planning: policy and economic analysis, participatory forest management, private sector development, forest management information systems, forestry research and nature conservation.  The final WB/SDC Supervision mission  held in April 2002 rated the performance of the project as "highly satisfactory".  

Rural Infrastructure :  The objective of this sector is to ease access to main roads and market places through the construction of bridges. Helvetas and SDC started support in building suspension and suspended bridges across the country from 1984. By the middle of 2001, 257 bridges (of total 377 bridges) have been built with financial and technical assistance from Switzerland (through UNCDF and Helvetas). 

In 1995, Helvetas committed to build the Arch Bridge in Wangdue across Puna Tsang Chhu, the most important bridge linking east and west on the national highway.