Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, 2011
The Swiss Development Agency SDC started to engage with the ASGM sector in the early 90s. Four major projects in Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Mongolia over the past two decades have contributed to shape the evolution of development approaches for ASGM. Starting out from initial technology-centric ‘appropriate technology’ approaches, the impact of projects increased by incorporating community-centric ‘livelihoods’, ‘empowerment’ and ‘human rights’ approaches. Approaches are evolving towards incorporating market-based ‘social and environmental certification’ as a driving force.