The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has announced the International Cooperation Forum 2026, to be held on 26–27 February 2026 at the Geneva International Conference Centre. Organised by the SDC of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), the forum will address the future of humanitarian aid amid growing global crises and shrinking funding. High-level participants include Federal Councillors Ignazio Cassis and Martin Pfister, as well as UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher. Discussions will focus on humanitarian principles, international humanitarian law and Switzerland’s role in International Geneva.

The Solution-Oriented Research for Development (SOR4D) programme is a joint programme of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). It invites researchers and non-academic actors from policy and practice to collaborate in transnational, transdisciplinary consortia on solution-oriented research addressing global challenges and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The SOR4D programme is entering a second round. The SNSF and the SDC support projects that combine research and practice to reduce poverty and strengthen sustainable development worldwide.

Helvetas hosts the hybrid launch of the 2025 Global Hunger Index in Bern and online. Under the theme “It’s time to recommit to Zero Hunger,” the event reflects on two decades of tracking hunger trends and lessons for achieving SDG 2. Speakers include Regula Rytz (Helvetas President), Agnes Mahembe (Helvetas Tanzania), Shruti Patel (ETH Zurich), and Alessandra Roversi (SDC). A networking reception will follow.

A SWISSAID partner project in Karnataka has won the UNDP Equator Prize 2025. Since 2018, the Bibi Fatima Self-Help Group has revived millet cultivation, created community seed banks preserving 250+ indigenous varieties, and promoted agroecological practices across 30 villages. The initiative improves food security, nutrition, and women’s empowerment while reducing slash-and-burn farming.