New partnerships, relevant projects
From mid-May Eliane Kiener will take over as managing director of SolidarMed, while previous MD Jochen Ehmer will take on a new role within the organisation as head of medicine and public health. We sat down with them to talk about their new roles.
Jochen Ehmer, Eliane Kiener, Solidar-Med is a non-prof it organisation working in development cooperation in healthcare. What does SolidarMed mean to you?
Jochen Ehmer: SolidarMed has made great progress in the last 20 years. We now work with a wide variety of different partners: from hospitals, health authorities and ministries, to local organisations, universities and private sector actors. SolidarMed is a modern and agile organisation that helps improve people’s health in difficult or neglected contexts and makes health systems more efficient in the long term.
What sets SolidarMed apart in my eyes is its resolute focus on improving equitable access to basic primary healthcare for all.
Eliane Kiener, new managing director of SolidarMed
Eliane Kiener: What sets SolidarMed apart in my eyes is its resolute focus on improving equitable access to basic primary healthcare for all, its efforts to establish local partnerships on an equal footing, and its great capacity for innovation. I also find the organisation’s marked ability to evolve and adapt really impressive. In the almost 100 years since its foundation, SolidarMed has developed to become a well-placed and recognised organisation with a great deal of expertise.
What do you think the future holds for SolidarMed?
Eliane: The organisation should continue to grow, but in a healthy way. The saturated donations market and the cutting of public funds are having a major influence on financial stability and mandate fulfilment. New, longerterm approaches based on partnership and forms of collaboration are set to become increasingly important to reduce dependencies. In this context it is also important to step up investment in local capacity building.
Jochen: SolidarMed is a specialist organisation. We will continue to hone our skills, in the South and in the North. This will allow us to remain relevant going forward and to offer true added value. At the same time, a growing number of partner countries are affected by crises, climate impacts and wars. To show solidarity in these settings too, expertise is needed on operating in fragile contexts. This is where we can get even better.
There is now a head of medicine and public health at SolidarMed. Why was that necessary?
Jochen: The demands of our partners and donors are growing – and that’s a good thing. We therefore need to ensure that as many employees as possible have very good knowledge of the relevant topics, ranging from technical aspects such as measuring viral loads and modern tuberculosis diagnostics to epidemiology, clinical research, health social sciences and approaches from the private sector. I feel extremely privileged to be able to stay at SolidarMed and to bring my medical expertise to a new role. And I’m very much looking forward to working with Eliane.
I feel extremely privileged to be able to stay at SolidarMed and to bring my medical expertise to a new role.
Jochen Ehmer, head of medicine and public health SolidarMed
Eliane: This setup is a luxury and can generate real added value. I’m really happy that Jochen’s experience and expertise are staying in the organisation and that this will allow us to ensure a smooth transition. Thanks to his expertise and my longstanding experience in international development cooperation, we can work together in a very complementary way.
Jochen: It’s also interesting for our partners in the South and North if an organisation like SolidarMed can manage a change like this without it being disruptive. We’re ensuring continuity while bringing in fresh ideas. This wouldn’t be possible without our forward-thinking Board of Directors.
