Helvetas was founded in 1955 as the first private development organization in Switzerland. Helvetas is a non-partisan, politically and confessionally independent association supported by 43,000 members and 40,000 regular private sponsors. It actively works through its 16 program offices abroad to improve the living conditions of disadvantaged people in 20 partner countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

In Kyrgyzstan, Helvetas started its activities in November 1994 with the Agroproject — restructured as the Kyrgyz-Swiss Agricultural Programme (KSAP), operating in close cooperation with the Kyrgyz Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources. Today, Helvetas is running 5 projects in Kyrgyzstan.