Felix Bollmann, or a professional life centred around two passions: humanitarian aid and the radio. Active for a long time in development and cooperation, he takes over as director of Espace 2 (Swiss French-speaking Radio) prior to directing radio affairs in the head office of the SRG SSR (Swiss broadcasting corporation). But it is the job as managing director of Swiss Solidarity which permits him to combine his two passions. In December, after 12 years spent at the head of the Foundation, Felix Bollmann retires. It calls for a brief assessment.

Daniela Wittwer, Corporate Communications SRG SSR

SRG SSR: Humanitarian aid is the guiding line of your professional path. What does this aid mean to you?
Felix Bollmann: Before entering the RSR (Swiss French-speaking Radio), I worked for almost two years for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (www.deza.ch) specifically in the humanitarian area (coordinating the Ghana intervention in 1983) as well as in tourism and development (India, Himalaya and Bhoutan). The work I undertook for Swiss Solidarity was, so to speak, a sort of synthesis between my work in the media field and that of the humanitarian one. For me, humanitarian aid implies a job which is useful to people who need help at a specific moment in their lives such as the aftermath of a catastrophe. It also implies a demanding rigorous job with its professional rules.

Swiss Solidarity has for 65 years not only been helping victims of catastrophes and children but also supporting the needy in Switzerland. What is your recipe for this longevity?
There is no recipe because I think no one anticipated in 1946 or in the early fifties that Swiss Solidarity was destined to last for so long. A very special chemistry exists which is conducive to this longevity. It is composed of the unfailing confidence of the public who give importance not only to SRG programs and the voices which make the appeals but also to the serious professional backing whether it be Swiss Solidarity or that of the Swiss mutual aid partners who provide help to victims or beneficiaries. Without the commitment of the SRG, its program planners, its technicians and all the departments who support us each time, Swiss Solidarity would not be here today. Inversely, Swiss Solidarity is a credibility element as well as a credibility test for the programs themselves.

Implicitly, the message is «yes we can all do something to help in response to the horrible images imposed upon us by a catastrophe or a war». Having said this, Swiss Solidarity is not only 65 years old but has never been as strong for as long a period. It is therefore certainly not the moment to let self congratulation hamper our efforts or tempt us to rest on our laurels.

Values such as solidarity and sharing seem to be disappearing in our society marked by individualism. In this context, where does Swiss generosity stand?
I do not at all think that the values of solidarity or sharing are lessening, on the contrary, but these values are changing. One proof of it , amongst others, is precisely the generosity of the Swiss population and the meaning given to their generosity by the programs themselves. Switzerland is ranked as one of the three most generous nations in the world, depending on the cause. The Swiss share this position with the Norwegians and the Dutch.

In the last few years, the fury of the elements has been unleashed giving rise to tsunamis and violent earthquakes. As for world peace, it continues to remain a distant mirage. Isn’t this frustrating at times?
It is totally frustrating but one can contribute to the improvement of living conditions of the populations concerned. The conviction that aid is not useless, despite all the constraints and difficulties, allows us to continue and to hold on to certitude and to a sense of work. The hardest situation to feel useful, however, remains the case of war.

In January, it will be two years since the earth trembled in Haiti. How far has the reconstruction progressed?
Despite all the contrarieties, cyclones, rains, cholera, weaknesses of the State etc, aid has been organised. Progressively the large projects for reconstruction are taking shape. The work is sometimes slow but tangible results are visible. In the first phase, aid was concentrated on the urgency caused by the earthquake and the cholera outbreak. Then, international aid had to take over from the deficient state services such as medical aid. At the present time, it is the reconstruction which has become the focal point.

Mid December, the movement JRz (Jeder Rappen zählt) «every centime counts» in partnership with the SRF will take place for the third time. What are the main advantages of this new way to collect donations?
Firstly, JRz is an initiative of the SRF programs (DRS 3, SF 2 and the online media). Swiss Solidarity does and will do everything in its power to make the operation a success, a timely reversal of situation.. How often have we been the ones to ask...

JRz permits us to mobilise the funds for causes and people who do not hit the media headlines but are just as serious. The rapidity with which the funds are accorded is a proof of success, just the same as the good collaboration established between our team and that of JRz.

In general: what role do the SRG radio and television media play in the fund raising?
For Swiss Solidarity, originally a radio program, the commitment of the SRG media is vital not only from the reputation point of view but for the means collected. Without the SRG, Swiss Solidarity would not exist or at least not in its present form. But even more than the creation of a broadcast program, it is the commitment of the broadcast people who embody Swiss Solidarity such as Jean-Marc Richard, Ladina Spiess, Claudia Cathomen, Carla Norghauer or Michele Ferrario which counts.

As director of Swiss Solidarity, you have had a close view of poverty. How has this experience changed your view of life?
The sight of poverty has not changed my way of seeing the world. However, it puts into perspective our many small daily worries and encourages our SRG collaborators not to remain passive and to commit themselves to Swiss Solidarity. I can say their work is truly useful and meaningful. 

Which project makes you particularly proud?
Many projects have made me proud. One in particular, amongst others, is a large fishing village in southern India which was more or less wiped off the map on 26 December 2004. The village was helped and rebuilt by Caritas with identical houses for all the inhabitants. Today, this village is unrecognisable: the houses have been painted and sometimes modified, cableTV has been installed, garden plots have been cultivated, covered with flowers and trees for shade and a few motor bikes, sometimes a little car are parked in the street. New houses have been built and new people have arrived and, on top of all this, the village now has a bus stop and a postal code. To use an image, everything which gave rise to the changed living conditions began one day on the radio and TV of SRG. These few hundred fishermen who had lost everything now find themselves, six years later, in living conditions which we could all find perfectly acceptable.

Which is the most beautiful image of hope you have retained?
It will always be the image of a gathering in an Indian village which was helped and reconstructed during the 90’s, well before I took on the job at Swiss Solidarity, a village I wanted to go and see for myself. Spontaneously, in front of us, a little man wearing a simple loincloth stood up and began a long explanation. The translation related the following account: «In 1996, you helped us; so in 2003, following the earthquake in Gujarat, our village rented a truck and twenty men left with their tools and food to help clear the village, approximately 1000 km from here. After eight days, the women rang us to say we had to start harvesting the rice crop, so we returned. The food we had brought with us - not to depend on the victims of the catastrophe - had just sufficed». This anonymous, ageless little man had perfectly understood the spirit of Swiss Solidarity ‘s first program on Radio Lausanne in 1946.  

What are the main challenges for your successor Tony Burgener?
The world is not only changing but doing so, rapidly. It is quite unnecessary to mention here the changes in the media world except to say that similar phenomena take place in the sphere of mutual aid: the emergence of large groups of NGO professionals who give the tone and the rhythm as well as the emergence of new actors such as the NGO indians who are beginning to work in foreign countries and the role of the armies who carry out humanitarian aid in the form of humanitarian «military strikes».... I am delighted that a man with such a wide range of experience in collecting funds and a profound humanitarian experience after more than ten years at the IRCS will be my successor. He will be a choice negotiator for the SRG and knows perfectly the affiliation between the diffuser of the public service and the Foundation. It will also be an important change in fund raising techniques. I am therefore passing on my testimony, but the race continues. It is his turn to carry on with the testimony.

What are your next challenges?
Firstly, to accept the idea of retiring, then to take up some different work in the NGO field and, hopefully, culture; then lastly, to build a house.