Our people

After growing up in Italy, studying law in German-speaking Switzerland and spending time in the United Kingdom, I decided to be a lawyer in Geneva. I am involved in all kinds of cases, and appear before the national and arbitration courts. I often look after creditors and debtors in difficulty.

Outside the business world, it seemed natural for me to make a modest contribution to the humanitarian sector. I wanted to share my knowlege and time with those who needed it most, showing my solidarity with them. This is why I have made my services available to the Tdh foundation for the past 15 years. I am honoured to have presided the foundation's Council for the past several years.

For many years I directly witnessed what words like protect, reassure, care, ease, soothe and aid meant to children in difficult and sometimes appalling situations. Tdh’s presence at turning points in these young people’s lives is a key factor in them being able to build trust in a fragile existence.

This trust is an essential step in building or rebuilding a decent life and social awareness. This process requires a lot of heart, commitment and courage, but also methods, professionalism and wide coverage to directly benefit children, their parents and their entourages.

My life has been shaped by the knowledge I have gained of others through traveling (ARTOU), working in humanitarian management and finance (SDC and Swiss Solidarity) and managing media organisations (radio stations and the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation), as well as my role as a father and grandfather. This has given me the distance, faith and trust necessary to believe in the meaning, knowledge, knowhow and actions of my colleagues at Tdh.

I joined the Tdh Council in 2006 as a member of the audit committee. I wanted to experience life inside a humanitarian organisation by making my financial and accounting knowledge available to the Council. In 2008, I joined the Supervisory Board in order to play a greater role in the organisation’s management. I am now in regular contact with the financial department and auditors.

During these years, delegation visits have allowed me to witness the high standard and importance of our colleagues’ work in the field, often in extreme and dangerous situations. I have been impressed by their unfailing motivation and commitment to supporting destitute children and their families. This has in turn given me even more reason to invest in Tdh.

Defending the most vulnerable children is about dignity and action. This is why Tdh exists. We put all our strength and knowledge towards ensuring that these children obtain better living conditions and respect for their rights on a long-term basis.

I am honoured to be part of the Council of the Foundation. Its priorities and values correspond with my own. I am a social worker, trade unionist and Member of Parliament. I was the State Councillor for Public Instruction, Culture and Sport in the Geneva Canton between 2003 and 2013. I am currently the Chairman of the Pro Helvetia foundation and a lecturer at Geneva’s Haute École de travail social (graduate school of social work).

I work alongside Tdh's professionals and volunteers to protect children and support the application of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This helps me further my commitments. It is a duty, a desire and a privilege!

Terre des hommes initiatives are all about geopolitics. Committing to the largest Swiss NGO for child welfare is an obvious choice for a father of three. At Tdh we react in a practical way to what’s happening in the world, and our core concern is children. Deploying projects in health, education, legal defence, that type of applied geopolitics impresses me. What are we doing in Iraq, in South Sudan, in Dadaab? How should one behave in a dictatorship? It’s hard to be more concrete than that. As a former presenter of “Géopolitis”, I’m particularly interested in projects linked to humanitarian crises.

I am currently the director of a company that specialises in management training. I have spent most of my career working in communications (written, spoken and visual). This has allowed me to meet many people who have strengthened my humanist view of the world.

What happens on this planet concerns me. For this reason, I refuse to give up in the face of selfishness, cynicism, indifference, intolerance and violence, which I have all too often witnessed in different countries and different fields. I have long contributed to causes that work towards politically “libertarian”, social or humanitarian goals. The focus of these causes has often been the weak, fragile, destitute and defenceless. I feel I have a duty to put my modest abilities and my energy to good use for children here and abroad – they are our future.

In Switzerland and around the world, children are vulnerable and at risk of abuse. They must be protected as much as possible. This is the main reason I chose to specialise in paediatric medicine. In addition to working at Lausanne University Hospital, since 1983 I have also taken part in many emergency humanitarian operations run by the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit (SDC-FDFA) in response to major disasters. When I retired in 2008, I wanted to continue my humanitarian activities supporting children in developing countries. For this reason, I offered my services to Tdh. I joined the medical group and, as a health resource person, I take part in many overseas missions. I have also actively participated in the development of nutritional programmes and activities in the fields of emergencies and humanitarian crises. 

As a former judge for minors, I evaluated several of Tdh’s juvenile justice projects and programmes. Later, when I became a member of the United Nations’ Committee on the Rights of the Child, I realised how much impact the organisation had in the field. Generally it operated in very vulnerable countries where humanitarian aid, protection activities and support for children were characterised by difficulties in accessing sites and politico-administrative hurdles. Despite this, Tdh was a benchmark – and sometimes the last NGO still operating.

I have a deep respect for the work this organisation has performed for such a long time. I also have a deep respect for the people who work there, who seek to create a better existence for thousands of children, to include children in decision-making processes and to support these children’s families.

It was not a difficult decision to become one of the people who contribute their time and skills to the foundation’s Executive Board, playing their part in this joint effort.