What to do?

Our working group notes that the difficulties arise essentially in three stages of the process, which need to be instrumented and for which appropriate training must be developed and made available:

• the documentation and formulation of requests by project promoters
• regular or end-of-project reporting, with documentation of the social impacts achieved
• controlling the effectiveness of the funds and the efforts made

In reality, these difficulties have been well known since the days of academic projects financed by national or European funds. However, it is important to recognize that project leaders have not necessarily had this type of experience. The same applies to the staff of donor organizations, as a business has little in common with a research project description.

To this end, the working group proposes the establishment of a foundation intended to act with advisory and monitoring functions as a "bridge" between project sponsors and donors. This foundation and its internal monitoring service should not only facilitate work with both donors and beneficiaries but also carry out controlling tasks. The aim of this foundation is to facilitate interactions and increase the quantity and quality of projects.

ATTENTION: The functions of this foundation strictly fall within Swiss regulatory frameworks, are complementary to public functions, and must be ratified in their final version by a legal and regulatory review. To this end, we will consider the study of two possible models:

1. the advisory function,
2. the function of a non-custodian sub-manager of dedicated donor fund envelopes for SDG projects, in partnership with a registered financial institution qualified for custodial fund management.

The management of the Foundation’s fees and revenues will be separate from the management of funds for SDG projects. The Foundation must be equipped with a methodology, working tools, a dedicated structure, and the necessary staff.