The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has mandated CDE to provide services in the field of GIS and Earth Observation with regard to international development cooperation. These services include:

• Backstopping upon request, including the preparation of maps and posters for conferences and workshops, on-the-job training, or rapid mapping requests for disaster management (e.g. during the Tsunami disaster in 2005, or the flood disaster in central Europe in 2006).
   
• Brokerage and networking, including the representation of SDC’s interests in relevant GIS and earth observation competence networks, the updating of SDC about current trends in GIS and earth observation and the communication of lessons learnt in the application of GIS and earth observation for international co-operation.
   
• Capitalisation of experiences gained with the implementation of GIS and earth observation in the frame of the projects of CDE and other institutions. The capitalisation of experiences should help SDC and its implementing partners to assess the possibilities offered by these tools in various project contexts.