How Swiss cities are stepping up as foreign aid budgets shrink Local governments in Europe are defying state cuts to development assistance and helping cities in lower-income regions tackle common challenges like climate change. Such efforts are mutually beneficial, cities like Zurich insist. Every day, the Nuevo Abasto wholesale market in Bolivia’s biggest city delivers up to 13,000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables to merchants, restaurants and families – and leaves the municipality dealing with 20 tonnes of organic waste. The market is a vital resource for the people of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, one of the fastest-growing metropolises in the Americas. It’s also an example of how cities across the world can learn from each other’s experiences in coping with common problems. The Swiss city of Zurich has provided the Nuevo Abasto market with funds and expertise to set up giant compost bins that produce fertiliser from rotting vegetables. It’s also assisting with Santa Cruz’s plans to create a system for collecting organic waste across the city. Switzerland’s largest municipality is among a growing number of local and regional authorities in rich countries that are defying their national governments’ cuts to foreign aid and directly maintaining or expanding development programmes of their own. Together, their contribution to international assistance jumped nearly 40% after 2015, reaching $2.8 billion (CHF2.8 billion) in 2021 across 11 donor nations, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) latest available dataExternal link. It’s not just money. Rich cities’ experiences in dealing with problems of growth mean they can be uniquely placed to aid sustainable development, especially in urban communities of the world’s low- and middle-income regions. “Cities are laboratories for innovation – we are simply forced to find concrete solutions for the people,” said Christina Wandeler, head of international relations at