Fondation Hirondelle’s partners contribute critically to the financing, development or implementation of our actions. We thank them for their trust and support. We are always open to new collaborations to fulfill our mission.

Institutional partners

Our projects are based on a relationship of trust with the public institutional donors that fund them. We are supported by governments (such as Switzerland as part of a multiannual cooperation agreement), the European Union (EU Transparency register identification number : 318360828103-95), and international organizations.

Contact : Céline Kohlprath, Communications and External Relations Representative, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Strategic Partnerships

In addition to funding specific projects, Fondation Hirondelle offers interested donors the opportunity to engage in strategic partnerships on the basis of its global and multi-annual program. This means contributing to our overall work. Our first strategic partne, since 2013, is the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC). At the beginning of 2021, we renewed our institutional partnership contract with the SDC on the basis of our 2021/2024 strategy. More than 20 Swiss NGOs with recognized expertise benefit from this type of partnership. This contract increases the institutional and financial stability of Fondation Hirondelle. It helps us to consolidate our projects, and to develop new operations and sectors of activity that are not covered by the funding linked to ongoing projects.

It is a priority of the Foundation's executive management to develop this type of strategic partnership on the basis of our program, shared values, and objectives. To talk about this subject or to know more about our actions, do not hesitate to contact us.

Contact : Caroline Vuillemin, Executive Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Private partners

Individuals, foundations and private organizations trust us and commit themselves to support our projects, or our global action. Each year, we receive individual donations and funding from Swiss and international foundations.

We wish to develop new partnerships with private organizations and foundations with whom we share common values or complementary objectives. To talk about this subject or to know more about our actions, do not hesitate to contact us.

Contact : Sarah Rohner-Jermann, Fundraiser, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Operational partners

Fondation Hirondelle implements its projects in close consultation with media, humanitarian, or civil society partners, at local or international level. On the ground, we work in partnership with local media organozations, such as URTEL (Union of Free Radio and Television of Mali).

We develop partnerships with NGOs and international organizations whose actions can benefit from our media input. These partnerships may include the production and broadcasting of communication campaigns on topics of general interest, or the co-production of programs on priority themes for us and for our partners. For example, with the Swiss NGO Terre des Hommes, we have created a podcast on children's rights in Mali. These partnerships can also take the form of long-term agreements. We currently have global partnership agreements with the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross); with Interpeace, to promote synergies between journalists, researchers and peacebuilders in societies in crisis; and with DCAF, the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance.

If you are a media development, humanitarian or civil society organization and are interested in our work, please contact us for more information or discuss potential collaborations.

Contact : Nicolas Boissez, Director of Operations, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The United Nations

Fondation Hirondelle has more than 20 years of operational and media experience with the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions. At the request of the United Nations, we have created, managed, or taken over several UN radio stations in countries at war or in post-conflict situations, in Kosovo, Timor-Leste, Sudan and South Sudan, Central African Republic, and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). We have also collaborated with UN stations by providing them with programs, such as in Sierra Leone. Our joint management of these media, with the UN teams in the field has sometimes extended over a long period of time, 12 years in the case of Radio Okapi, the UN radio in the DRC, which is also the largest radio station in French-Speaking Africa (see description of our support for Radio Okapi here).

The collaboration between the United Nations and Fondation Hirondelle is part of a «memorandum of understanding » negotiated with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) at UN Headquarters in New York and the missions concerned in the field. In countries where Fondation Hirondelle and the UN have independent media, we develop collaborations when they are relevant to our respective objectives. Finally, in consultation with the United Nations, we are currently conducting research and analysis on models of media intervention that could be applied in future United Nations peacekeeping missions.

Contact : Sacha Meuter, Legal Adviser and Research Coordinator, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Swiss radio and television (RTS)

Fondation Hirondelle has a close and longstanding relationship with the Swiss public Radio and Television, “Radio Télévision Suisse” (SSR-RTS). Two of its founding members, Jean-Marie Etter and Philippe Dahinden, were journalists in the Swiss French-speaking public service. Several journalists, producers, or technicians from the RTS have supported and continue to intervene regularly in Fondation Hirondelle’s projects to share their expertise or lead training courses. This relationship has been formalized since 2010 by a partnership agreement which allows Fondation Hirondelle to benefit from an annual financial contribution from RTS. Both organizations develop collaborations between their teams. For example, Fondation Hirondelle journalists in the field contribute to RTS programs on a provisional basis, depending on current events or topics of common interest.

Networks

Fondation Hirondelle is a member of several networks and professional organizations :

• The Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD), which brings together more than 190 organizations active in 100 countries to support free, professional, and pluralistic media
• CDAC (Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities), a global alliance of humanitarian and media development organizations committed to putting the power of humanitarian action in the hands of communities.
• FEDEVACO (Fédération Vaudoise de Coopération), the umbrella organization of 49 organizations active in development cooperation in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland.
• “En Quête d'ailleurs”, a Swiss association in which Fondation Hirondelle is a founding member, which promotes collaboration between the media and journalists from Switzerland and the countries of the South and the East, through the production of joint reports