Career Advice in International Cooperation

Simon Plüss has more than 25 years of experience in humanitarian aid, development cooperation and public communications, holding senior positions both in operational environments and at headquarters. His humanitarian career began as a volunteer and evolved into roles with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP), where he served as spokesperson and field delegate in Africa and the Caribbean. He also led global organisational development and emergency response for the World YMCA Movement. A certified adult trainer, coach and NLP Master, Simon has led extensive management training programmes, including for ICRC managers.

At cinfo, he now offers his extensive expertise in career coaching and training, helping individuals and institutions in international cooperation to maximise their impact. Simon's goal is to help others build meaningful careers in the sector, drawing on the valuable mentorship he received during his own professional journey.

Simon is fluent in German, English and French.

Shazia has coached individuals, as well supported civil society organisations and social enterprises on issues related to their professional development, leadership and management skills and organisational transitions. She has 25 years of professional experience in humanitarian, human rights and development action within the UN system, with the ICRC and NGOs, including senior management in emergency operations, and thematic expertise roles (protection, human rights, youth employment).

She has experience with multi-disciplinary teams and a good cross-sectoral knowledge (health, water, agriculture) as well as experience in advocacy. Having worked and lived in fragile contexts across Africa, the Middle East and Asia, collaborating with people from different cultural and professional perspectives, she understands the reality of work and life away from home and the importance of collaboration and partnership.

Shazia is fluent in English, French and German.

Beat has coached individuals and groups in career development, career transitions, work-life balance and job applications for 15+ years. Originally trained as a forest engineer (ETH Zurich), he worked in the field for various development cooperation organisations, mainly with NGOs in Africa and South America.

Thanks to his knowledge of the sector and his extensive experience in talking to people from very different backgrounds, Beat has developed a thorough understanding of the links between personal expectations, individual circumstances and the reality of working in international cooperation. He is a certified coach (Trigon).

Beat is fluent in English, French, German, Spanish.

Gabriela has been involved in counselling and supporting people for 15+ years, mainly in international cooperation. She has master's degrees in International Relations (Geneva) and Southeast Asian Studies (Bangkok). She lived in Asia, Africa and Southeast Europe for 10 years, working with humanitarian organisations such as the ICRC, UNHCR and SDC/SHA, as well as for a UN peacekeeping mission.

After returning to Switzerland, she gained in-depth knowledge of the federal administration and the asylum sector. She has complemented her many years of experience in intercultural communication with a CAS in Systemic Counselling, which she has also used outside of international cooperation. As an advisor at BNF, a programme of the University of Bern, she has supported job-seeking academics in their reintegration into the Swiss labour market. She is also an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) recognised by the International Coaching Federation.

Gabriela is fluent in English, French, German.