Patricia Danzi - Director General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and former Regional Director for Africa at the ICRC
/Three pieces of advice:
Learn to adapt and always look ahead.
Don’t wait for people to like you. Approach them instead.
It is important to have a genuine interest in people, and their lives.
CV in brief
Education: M.A. in Agricultural Economics, Geography and Environmental Science from University of Zurich | CAS in Development Studies at the Graduate Institute Geneva
Career so far: Delegate at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) | Deputy Head of Operations for the Horn of Africa and Political Advisor to the Director of Operations at ICRC Headquarters in Geneva | Head of Operations for America at ICRC |Regional Director for Africa at ICRC | Director General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Date of Interview: September 2020
Author: Lara Twerenbold
When did your interest in a career in international cooperation start? How did your training in athletics prepare you for such a career?
As a high school student, I was already interested in what was going on around me - I was never just studying. When there were mudslides in the Alps and I knew people affected, I would help to raise awareness about the cause and provide support. I was always concerned about how I could positively change the lives of others. Later, during my studies in agricultural economics, geography and environmental science in Lincoln (Nebraska) and Zurich, I taught young adults in special classes of whom many were migrants or refugees who were too old to enter the regular school system. I was hardly a few years older than them. I learned a lot from their personal stories and their experiences.
At the same time, I was training to become an athletics champion. Sport prepares you to be focused, always ready to learn about defeat and victory and to be persistent in what you want to achieve. You set yourself a goal every year. Sometimes you reach it. Sometimes you don't. My experience has taught me to learn to adapt and always look ahead.
Shortly after the Olympic Games in 1996, you were hired by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), where your first mission took you to the war-torn Balkans. What motivated you to join the ICRC as a delegate?
When I was 15 years old, I saw a documentary film about the work of an ICRC delegate, and I immediately realized that this was exactly the combination of things I wanted to do. Firstly, one would have the opportunity to work in the field - with visits to refugee camps and prisons - to bring about immediate change on the ground. But this is not enough to achieve a truly profound and lasting change. To do so, you have to influence those in power who are calling the shots, and this is also one of the missions of the ICRC. The combination of these two tasks was exactly what I wanted to do which is probably the reason I stayed with the ICRC for 23 years.
During your time with the ICRC, you were promoted from delegate to Regional Director for Africa. Can you tell us about your experience at the ICRC, especially from the perspective of a woman?
When joining the organization as a young delegate, you will get to do more work on the ground. You make changes with the people, locally or regionally. The more experienced you become, the more you will be given leadership responsibility as you try to connect with and influence the authorities, the military and donor countries. Over the years, you will increasingly take on roles with greater influence. When you are at the headquarters in Geneva, you look for strategies for an entire continent - what does the organisation want to change or achieve in an entire region? And then it is up to the country director to make this happen. At every level, however, you will always remain very connected to what is happening on the ground. That is the beauty of it. If you want, and if you take the time, you can always return to the field. Always staying in touch and not losing sight of what is happening on the ground is part of the ICRC's credibility.
Being a woman ICRC delegate - and this is actually a very interesting bit - can be an advantage. The actors of war are a very masculine society. To enter these contexts as a woman, is not what the local government or the armed actors would expect. Because it is considered courageous, you gain respect. On the other hand, the majority of the victims are female. Women make up two-thirds of the population in camps for internally displaced people. Being a female ICRC delegate facilitates access to this part of the population. At the same time, as a woman in conversation with the warring parties, you can use your feminine side to ensure that the conversation is less aggressive and that your side of the story is being heard. However, there are also negative sides of being a woman working in this male-dominated environment of war and violence. Women delegates may be attacked or asked for sexual services by men on the street or the authorities. This is something I have always talked about with the younger delegates to make them understand that it is their right to say no in such situations, no matter who is asking for it.
You have grown up in Switzerland as the daughter of a Swiss teacher and a Nigerian diplomat. How has this interculturality shaped you in your career?
It has shaped me in my life. My mother is a very practice-oriented person. She was active in refugee issues and has always stood up for women's rights. My father gets what he wants in a more diplomatic, gentle but persistent way. And this combination of qualities reflects that of the ICRC. The will to change things in the long run through influence and diplomacy, as well as through working on the ground with the local population. My parents represent these two sides of the ICRC very clearly, which has had a strong influence on me.
As far as multiculturalism is concerned, growing up as a mixed-race child in Central Switzerland in the 1970s is not exactly what you want to experience twice in life. It is hard. It showed me that you have to approach people in order to convince them of yourself and make them like you, at least to give them the chance to get to know you better. This has also helped me to find my way in an international working environment and to approach people in places unknown to me. Because no matter where you end up when you work for a Western organization, you are considered a foreigner, regardless of the colour of your skin. In this sense, it helped me to convince people who didn't like me and my organisation of the opposite and trained me to be able to receive critical feedback.
In 2019, you have been appointed the first woman Director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Do you perceive the gender issue as having had an impact on your working experience/career and if so, in what aspects?
Appointing a woman as Director of the SDC should not be a surprise. It is rather astonishing that there has never been a woman in this position before. As Director of the SDC, you deal with cooperation, development, humanitarian aid and multilateralism. These are all areas in which women have repeatedly proven that they are as competent as men. Appointing a woman as the new Director was important to the team because it was long overdue. But being mixed-race was certainly more of a surprise, especially in the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs where there has never been a person of colour on the director level. Nevertheless, until now, I don't think that the colour of my skin has had a negative impact, given that the feedback to my appointment in December 2019 was largely positive - also from the corners, where another reaction could have been expected. This might be because for the Swiss taste I have a certain Swissness despite the colour of my skin. I believe that the fact that I represented Switzerland at the Olympic Games, went to school in Central Switzerland and worked for the ICRC, which is perceived as something closely linked to Swiss identity, helped me a lot to be accepted in this new position. I can build bridges to the Swiss-German part, where I'm originally from. I've worked in Geneva, "la Suisse Internationale". I was married to a Swiss Italian so my two kids are half from Southern Switzerland. So I have a connection to all Swiss corners which is helpful. If it was only Geneva it would probably have been more difficult.
You speak seven languages and hold a master’s degree in agricultural economics, geography and environmental science. What qualifications and assets do young women need to pursue a career in the humanitarian sector?
The first that comes to mind, and something I have already mentioned, is persistence. Additionally, it is important to be yourself and not to try to be someone else. In this field, it is important to have a genuine interest in people, for which a certain self-confidence is needed. Be aware of who you are, as a woman, as a person and with regard to your background. Another important point is flexibility, especially for women. It is difficult to impose flexibility, not only on yourself but on your partner, on your kids and on the whole system you're depending on. You have to make choices and you'll have to accept that you won't be able to do everything perfectly though it is also important to set out priorities, in order not to do everything half-heartedly. You'll have to make those decisions all the time, several times a day and set priorities quickly as you won't have time to rethink your decisions. However, having a family and a career in humanitarian work is possible. A lot of women have proven it, myself included.
We are currently living through a pandemic. What impact do the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis have on your work as Director of the SDC and international cooperation more broadly?
We had to reorganise and readjust immediately and ask for additional funds. If we look at it from a long-term perspective, we have to ask ourselves what will happen to the systems we have tried to support, such as health systems, but also good governance and human rights, and whether there is anything we need to adapt to in the longer term.
Specifically, the coronavirus crisis has altered the way people communicate and connect, ultimately changing the shape of diplomacy. It is now more difficult than ever to talk to people in the field and to share information. It also changes how we access communities. How do we know if their needs have changed if we don't have access to them? Are we prepared for these new realities and are we able to adapt to them? These are many of the questions we need to ask ourselves.
But there have also been positive developments. It has now been proven that it is possible to work from home, even with children and homeschooling, which is particularly helpful for women and their careers. So why should it not be possible in the future? We should maintain these good changes. And as for the other things, we should try to find the best way to adapt as well as possible.
In your opinion, what is the role of Switzerland - and yours as Director General of the SDC - in advancing the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development?
I am very impressed by the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. All the countries of the world have signed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that represent global challenges for all of us. To this end, each country has developed a plan in which it tries to put these goals into practice. As a development agency, you can rely on this plan for any cooperation. In this way, a more equal and non-hierarchical relationship is created, making it easier to support the country in achieving its goals. This in itself is a good basis for cooperation and development. Now we must assess what has been lacking in the implementation of the goals, where the setbacks lie and how we can work together to ensure that they do not collapse completely. I believe that Switzerland has something to offer for all 17 development goals. We can contribute innovative technology and knowledge that will be necessary to achieve some, if not all, of the goals. But Switzerland also has much to learn - for example, other countries are much better at promoting the SDGs. On the 5th anniversary of the SDGs this September, some countries raised the SDG flag instead of their national flag. Switzerland is far from this commitment, so there is still much to be done to raise awareness of what the UN Agenda 2030 means for Switzerland and what we can do to better promote them both inside and outside the country.
