As 2025 comes to a close, we reflect on a year of growth, learning, and a strengthened sense of purpose. In this conversation, our Board Chair, Elsbeth Müller, and our CEO, Andrea Studer, share their thoughts on how the year and its developments have shaped Fondation Botnar’s direction. They discuss how we have consolidated our strategic alignment to create meaningful momentum and laid the groundwork for the future.
If you had to describe 2025 in one sentence or symbol, what would it be and why?
I would describe it as a crossroads. The global situation has changed significantly. Many perceived certainties have been eroded, and people have become aware that the politics of the fittest are increasingly coming to the fore. We must recognise our responsibilities in this environment and ensure that we remain responsive and connected to the communities with which we work closely.
You’ve been leading the Management Office for just over a year now. What stands out most to you when you look back at 2025?
It has been an intense year for the team and our Board at Fondation Botnar. Our refined strategy, ‘Pathways to young people’s wellbeing’, calls us to think beyond individual projects and toward coherent portfolios, increasing our impact based on the results and learnings of the past years.
This shift requires deeper coordination and collaboration — within our team, with our Board in its strategic oversight role, and with our committed partners and young people, who bring valuable insights from the contexts and areas in which we work.
As we think about what it means to be a modern philanthropic actor today, what shifts do you believe philanthropic foundations need to make — and why?
During our Board trip to Ghana this year, we were impressed by our interactions with young people. The future of their country depends on their opportunities today—on their access to education and healthcare, their voices being heard equally, and their ideas, skills, and aspirations being reflected in policies at all levels.
For a foundation like ours, this means investing with the aim of enabling impact together with our partners and young people. This is no easy task and requires an openness to different perspectives and evolving situations. As a foundation established by an entrepreneurial family, deciding where, in which areas, and with what funds impact should be achieved is part of our DNA. It also challenges us – as it does the broader sector – to stay adaptive and courageous.
What decisions or developments this year helped most shape our alignment for the future?
For me, the open and regular dialogue within the team and with the Board was key in the last few months. As the refined strategy guides us into the next phase of Fondation Botnar’s development, we have been working to consolidate the results, approaches, and lessons learned from our early years.
We have discussed limitations, opportunities and ways forward with partners and stakeholders, as well as our internal collaboration and our role as a partner and in the philanthropic sector.
This reflexivity and agility are essential in a world that has not remained unchanged – marked by significant reductions in funding for development cooperation, shifting values, and the fragility of once universally agreed-upon principles.
Looking ahead, what are you personally energised to move forward in early 2026?
In recent months, we have taken key steps to strengthen the implementation approach for our refined strategy. Now it is time to do our part in cooperation with other foundations, our project partners, young people, and policymakers.
Only by recognising what we have in common and our own strengths can we achieve complementarity. I look forward to joint reflection and discussion at the board level, as well as dialogue with our team, and the implementation of projects that will make a difference for young people, their rights, and their wellbeing.
Is there a partnership, team, or community that especially inspired you this year? Let’s give them a moment of appreciation.
I am deeply inspired by young people around the world who stood up this year to protect rights, democracy, and the rule of law, ensuring that their voices are heard and that they are increasingly and meaningfully included in shaping the future.
Many took risks and exposed themselves for their communities and future generations. This gives me hope and energy and shows me that our work with and for young people is not only necessary but also highly relevant. Their resolve inspires ours as we step with purpose into 2026.
As we move into 2026, the momentum built in 2025 fuels our commitment to the wellbeing of young people. We are reminded that our shared purpose, bold choices and the communities and young people we work with and for will shape the journey ahead, and we are energised to move forward together.
