MARCO KIRSCHBAUM 

Marco has worked on human rights and humanitarian issues since 1985. As a student, he worked for the protection of refugees and detainees. After an MA in Chinese studies in Berlin in 1991, Marco joined the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), with missions in Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Djibouti and Israel as a delegate, head of mission and protection coordinator. At the ICRC’s HQ in Geneva, he served as head of sector Protection for the Middle East from 1998-2003, and for Asia from 2003-2007.

 

He co-founded the NGO Management Association in 2001 with Daniel D'Esposito, a colleague from the humanitarian sector, and its NGO Management School in 2009 with Roberto Palo, a training specialist, and served as NMA's executive director until 2014. From 2014-2018, he was in Ukraine with the OSCE. 2018-2021, he worked as Executive director for Handicap International Switzerland in Geneva. From 2021-23, he was the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Adviser of the UN in South Sudan. Marco currently serves again as NMA's Executive director and is also the president of the board of NMA.