SDC Reference Indicators

Switzerland contributes to the official development assistance deployed in low- and middle-income countries, with a global mandate and the overarching aim of reducing poverty and fostering sustainable development. Approved by the Federal Council in May 2024 and currently subject to discussion in the Parliament (as of October 2024), the International Cooperation Strategy 2025-2028 foreseen four development objectives, namely human development, sustainable economic development, climate and environment and peace and governance. One of the specific objectives for the period 2025-2028 is related to Health systems (IC goal human development, specific objective 2).

The International Cooperation Strategy contribute to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). SDC Health activities directly contribute to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, «Good Health and Well-being,» as well as SDG 1 «End poverty», SDG 2, «Zero Hunger», SDG 4 «Quality education», SDG 5, «Gender Equality»; SDG 6, «Clean Water and Sanitation»; and SDG 10, «Reduced Inequalities.»

To better communicate its results worldwide, the SDC uses Aggregated Reference Indicators (ARIs) at the output level and Thematic Reference Indicators (TRIs) at the outcome level. Both ARIs and TRIs should be considered when designing a result framework, a program or a project and selected when they are applicable.

Health-specific Reference Indicators

After 10+ years in use, the thematic sections proposed an improved set of ARI TRIs per theme to remain as consistent as possible while taking into consideration the practicality of indicators and focus of the upcoming IC strategy 2025 – 2028.

For health-specific interventions, the following 2 ARIs and 8 TRIs have now been established as the reference indicators. For further details, please refer to the fact sheets in the table below, which include specific guidelines and definitions.

Further Indicator Suggestions

Your health-specific intervention might not always be captured by the 2 ARIs and 8 TRIs mentioned above. In that case, you are invited to consider the following indicators from:

WHO: A comprehensive list of WHO indicators, categorized by theme, is available here. We particularly recommend reviewing the indicators related to:

• Health financing
• Child mortality
• Vaccine-preventable communicable diseases
• Nutrition
• Neglected Tropical Diseases
• HIV
• Mental health
• Maternal and reproductive health
• Health Workforce
• Sexually transmitted infections
• Non-communicable diseases

Global Fund: see the See the key performance indicators Handbook of the global fund

UNAIDS: a complete list can be found here.

Other SDC reference indicators

Additionally, we encourage you to consider reference indicators under other thematic priorities from SDC, as many ARIs and TRIs cover cross-cutting themes or link to multiple sub-objectives or SDG targets. The complete list of these indicators for all SDC themes is available on the RDM browser - internal access only. Below are some examples:

• Healthy diets (Agriculture and Food Security)
• Local community involvement in water and sanitation management (Water)
• Improved awareness and capacities on climate change (Climate change)
• Women's Economic Empowerment (Inclusive economic development)
• Reconstruction and rehabilitation support (Disaster Risk Reduction)
• Social Protection (poverty)
• Sexual and Gender Based Violence (Gender)
• Social behavior change in favor of gender equality (Gender)