Helvetas USA

🌱 Cocoa farmers in #Madagascar, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, struggle with pests, diseases and recurrent natural disasters. See how they're applying a tool that assesses climate risks. Learn more in this Agrilinks article about the farmers on the frontline of #climatechange, and how this tool developed by Helvetas can guide adaptation and response 👉 https://lnkd.in/gbPimj4w Maya Wolfensberger Malo Christina Aebischer Julia RANDIMBISOA 📸: Patrick Rohr

📑 NEW RESOURCE: The Water Insecurity Experiences (WISE) Scales User Manual is now available. It's a guide for practitioners on using the Scales and analyzing and presenting the data gathered. This open-access manual on how to better understand how people feel about their water access is the years-long product from the learnings of 29 authors, including water experts from Northwestern University, The Water Institute At UNC, and Christina Barstow, PhD and John Brogan from Helvetas. Download the manual 👉 https://lnkd.in/g-vRgDgP Sera Young Joshua Miller Bernita Doornbos

♻ 💵 The journey to a net-zero economy starts with empowering small and medium-sized enterprises to adapt, innovate and thrive. How can this goal become a reality in the Western Balkans? Yesterday Helvetas joined the Government of Montenegro in co-hosting a #COP29 side event on this topic: "Transition in the Western Balkans: Empowering SMEs for a Net-Zero Economy." See the International Institute for Sustainable Development's Earth Negotiations Bulletin, which provides in-depth coverage of panelists' perspectives on how to build the right ecosystem for businesses — and the climate — to thrive 👉 https://lnkd.in/gaEPZhYH Dragana Radulovic Teodora Obradovikj Grncharovska Milena Rmus Nayoka Martinez-Bäckström Nenad Vitomirović Lollo Darin Tamara Brajovic Sabin Selimi RECONOMY Anastasia Bekish Christina Aebischer Md. Abul Basar Matthias Herr Elene Tkhlashidze 📸: IISD/ENB | Angeles Estrada Vigil

This year's UN Climate Conference has been dubbed "the finance COP," but don't let that label distract from looking more closely at the human cost of #climatechange — including its impact on #migration. 🧳𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? Helvetas developed a guidance paper to provide an overview on the topic and operational recommendations. Read our blog and download the paper👉 https://lnkd.in/dEwa3rH4 🏙 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞-𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭? Read our blog for insights on challenges for migrants in urban settings 👉 https://lnkd.in/giXGViKH #COP29 Régis Blanc Jana Junghardt Md. Abul Basar Christina Aebischer Sabin Selimi Masha Scholl 📸: K M Asad

More critical climate action questions were explored in a #COP29 panel today: 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑫𝑹𝑹 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒅𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏? 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅? 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒔? 𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕? Helvetas’ climate advisor Christina Aebischer joined the panel on mitigating and addressing climate-related loss and damage, and shares her takeaways below on where the panelists found common ground. (𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘵: 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 99.9% 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘱.) The panelists agreed: ❇ Let’s go beyond pilot phases! Pilots often focus only on a few selected communities or hazards, which can do harm and create confusion. There is ample evidence that anticipatory action pays off. ❇ Impacts of climate change require capacity building: Floods, drought and other hazards appear in regions where these have not been seen before, or not in that frequency and magnitude. Awareness must be raised among communities, authorities and the private sector—this awareness is fundamental for effective early warnings and early action. ❇ Reliable, accurate and accessible local weather forecasts are key. Without this service, trust in forecasts and alerts is not possible. ❇ Locally led adaptation principles also apply for anticipatory action. The repeated and hard work of disaster response must happen locally and include the involvement of all concerned people for effective, adequate action. A special thanks to GNDR for hosting the event, the Swiss NGO DRR Platform for supporting this learning journey, and to fellow panelists for their insights: Zakir Md. Hossain from Farmer's Voice Bangladesh, Farah Kabir from ActionAid Bangladesh, Blalogoe C. Parfait from Université Nationale des Sciences, Technologies, Ingénierie et Mathématiques (UNSTIM Abomey), and Adessou Kossivi and Jekulin Lipi Saikia from GNDR.

Is your community prepared to respond efficiently and effectively in an emergency? 🎥 See how a village in Moldova's Stefan Voda district practices responding to flooding, a recurrent natural disaster in the region.   As part of the USAID/Moldova BHA Building Resilient Communities in Stefan Voda Rayon Activity, Helvetas is working with local authorities, the private sector and educational institutions to improve disaster preparedness. This includes: 🚨 Simulation exercises 🚨 Development of emergency disaster plans that clarify roles and responsibilities 🚨 Recommendations for risk preparedness   Up next: In 2025, we'll move into Phase II of this activity with our new program partner and fellow Alliance2015 member, Acted.   Anton Muntean Yuliia Y. Valeria Botnari Ion Grădinari Thomas Mauget Jana Junghardt Timothy Lann

With powerful cyclones and unpredictable rainfall, Madagascar is a key front line in the battle against #climatechange. A new article shares a look at how a project is guiding mitigation efforts to preserve the country's cocoa industry. Read the full SWI swissinfo.ch article by Dominique Soguel 👉 https://lnkd.in/gifqG8nF 📸: Gianluigi Guercia Rija Andriamasinandro Julia RANDIMBISOA Maya Wolfensberger Malo Christina Aebischer Katrin Hafner

Our fascinating journey to #Tanzania is still unfolding, offering incredible insights into the impact of Helvetas programs. Together with Helvetas President Regula Rytz, our Executive Director Melchior Lengsfeld, and board members from both Helvetas and Helvetas USA, we are witnessing firsthand the ways Helvetas is empowering thousands of people to create pathways to better lives. We began in Dar-es-Salaam, where we had the privilege of meeting with Ambassador-designate Nicole Providoli and Holger Tausch, Head of Cooperation at the Swiss Embassy. Their insights into the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation approach in Tanzania set a valuable context for our work here. Throughout this trip, it’s been inspiring to see how Helvetas collaborates with local governments, civil society, and private sector partners to foster locally-led development, resilience and growth. From climate change mitigation & adaptation initiatives to market systems development, each project is focused on helping youth and communities build stronger, more sustainable futures. As we continue this journey, I am grateful for the opportunity to witness the dedication and vision behind Helvetas Tanzania's programs, and I'm hopeful that we can find financial support to address the rural isolation that keeps many villagers cut off from access to markets, healthcare facilities and schools for large parts of the year. Thank you to everyone making this experience possible, including Regula Rytz, Melchior Lengsfeld, Joerg Frieden, Danièle Castle, Clare Ignatowski, Ph.D., Michael Huber, Jamie McAuliffe, Shobhini Mukerji, Ansu Tumbahangfe, Deborah Kistler, Felix Bachmann, and Daniel Kalimbiya. USAID Tanzania, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, AGCO Corporation, Swiss American Chamber of Commerce Southern California

The Swiss American Chamber of Commerce Southern California recently celebrated a wonderful milestone with its 3rd annual Avantgarde Gala at the California Club in Los Angeles, where 180 attendees gathered in the spirit of Swiss-American collaboration. As the newly appointed Head of Philanthropy, I’m both excited and honored to be part of this community. It was a joy to organize our first silent auction, which reflects our dedication to giving back. This year’s auction raised funds for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation—represented by Danielle Fragalla, MSE—supporting their vital work in developing safer treatments for children battling cancer. Congratulations to the winners of our exclusive auction prizes, including a raclette dinner with Swiss Ambassador and Consul General Balz Abplanalp and a signed racket from Olympic Gold medalist and three-time Grand Slam champion #StanislasWawrinka, amongst others. A heartfelt thank you to my wife, Laira Rodríguez, and our daughter, Lia Steiner Rodriguez, for volunteering to run the auction. Their support was incredible, and I couldn’t have done it without them. I’m also deeply grateful to my fellow SACC SoCal Board of Directors members—Mathias H., Veronica Besmer, Paolo Gregorini, Helena Arjuna Suter, Alexander Frey, MBA, Markus Bohi, Hannes Scheidegger, Jon Jenni, Richard W. Henson, and Rinaldo Dieziger—for making this event possible. For those interested in joining our dynamic community, we invite you to explore our upcoming events. Learn more at www.saccla.org.

♻️🌳 How can we build a greener #Kosovo? Learn more about three programs that are paving the way for the country's green transition. Kosovo has ample potential for a green economic transformation — but challenges such as a heavy reliance on coal, limited green financing and gaps in environmental governance remain. Helvetas is working with local organizations to maximize green growth opportunities and overcome these challenges through: ❇ The RECONOMY program, which is transforming the construction sector by promoting energy-efficient technologies and eco-friendly building materials ❇ The Decentralisation and Municipal Support (DEMOS) project, which focuses on building climate-resilient infrastructure ❇ The Enhancing Youth Employment (EYE) project, which aims to build a skilled, inclusive workforce that can expand Kosovo's renewable energy sector Read the full article about Kosovo's pathway to sustainable growth: https://lnkd.in/gSx5DYEe Majlinda Jupolli Violeta Hyseni Kelmendi Sabin Selimi Helvetas Kosovo Helvetas Eastern & Southeastern Europe 📸: Christian Bobst