The Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) is not the only Swiss organization to be active in mine action, but it is the only one which actually does the work of locating and removing mines in the field. We talked to Hansjörg Eberle, Director General of FSD, about their work.
As Director of the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action, can you please give us some background information on FSD and yourself?
The organization was created in 1997 by seven private Swiss Citizens, including me. We all had very different personalities, but shared the same humanitarian motivation and found great personal satisfaction in spending our spare time on our ambition of creating a professional demining group. The organization was first set up as an association and then later, we changed it into a Foundation according to Swiss law. FSD is an international, private, non-political and non-religious charity. We have implemented a large number of mine clearance projects in 15 different countries which are contaminated by mines and unexploded ordinance.
I am the Director General of this foundation and a company economist by training. I started my professional career with the ICRC,where I worked many years, and my career here at FSD almost came about by accident. First, it was a part time endeavour as I founded the organization with friends while I was still an IT consultant in HR and finance. We developed the FSD idea, it grew bigger and bigger until it finally became my main occupation.
FSD is the only Swiss organization which actually removes the mines and works with professional de-miners in the minefields of affected countries. There are several other Swiss organizations which are active in advocacy against the use of mines, but they do not actually remove mines themselves.
Mine clearance vehicles
Photo : © FSD
Approximately 150 countries have signed the Ottawa convention which bans the use, production, stockpiling and trade of landmines. Some of the countries which have not signed are the ones which are still producing the mines (such as the USA, China, Russia, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan).
How does your experience of working for such large and then such small organisations compare?
When I was working with the ICRC, I enjoyed the impact of the vast Red Cross operations in the field tremendously. Later, when I was working in the commercial sector for banks and insurance companies, it was again the operations, the capacity to make things happen and change, that brought satisfaction to me. This is exactly the same again today with FSD.
I believe you were also working for an HR company in Geneva for a while?
Yes indeed. I spent over a year coaching senior managers who had lost their jobs, in order to get them back on the job market. Our candidates in “Anticipe” were mostly over 50 years old. Many of those job seekers were looking and applying for a new position for the first time in their lives. Before, they had often managed to take their next career step within the same company or through their network. My main job was to open their eyes; first about themselves, their competencies and preferences; and then also to explain to them the realities of the current job market and try to enable them to find the right fit between both. This was a difficult, but also very rewarding challenge.
What skills does FSD look for?
The job situation in our Foundation fluctuates a lot. It depends on the number and type of international projects we are involved in around the world . What we usually require is experts with sound technical training and professional experience, particularly of course professionals who have work experience in humanitarian or commercial projects. The absolute minimum of experience we expect is 3 years in senior management positions. In addition, we look for people with good negotiation and communication skills, leadership and experience within multi-cultural environments in Geneva or abroad. Very often we require technical skills which we unfortunately cannot find on the Swiss Labour market.
Can you give us examples of the main types of professions required by FSD?
FSD recruits project managers, operation managers, mechanical engineers, paramedics, medical advisors and finance and logistics officers.
