Forging local alliances

The notion of working toge­ther to achieve great things for their own coun­try was concei­ved by H.S.H. Prince Max von und zu Liech­ten­stein and hono­rary trus­tee Michèle Frey-Hilti, who happened to sit next to each other at a phil­an­thro­pic event. They quickly agreed that LGT Private Banking and the Hilti Family Foun­da­tion may well be active world­wide, but that Liech­ten­stein also deser­ved atten­tion. H.S.H. Prince Max von und zu Liechtenstein’s request arose from a perso­nal reflec­tion: after seve­ral years abroad, he saw his home­land and the chan­ges there with fresh eyes – a beau­tiful place worth living in, but also a place that was vulnerable. Michèle Frey-Hilti, in turn, spot­ted the oppor­tu­nity to bundle toge­ther the count­less pre-exis­ting initia­ti­ves in the coun­try and thus enhance their impact. Toge­ther, they laid the foun­da­ti­ons for the new foun­da­tion ‘Lebens­wer­tes Liechtenstein’.

Inter­ac­tion between all stakeholders

The foun­da­tion has relied on alli­ances from the outset. Foun­ded in 2019, it was clear that real change could only succeed if civil society, busi­ness, science and poli­tics came toge­ther. In addi­tion to its two foun­ders H.S.H. Prince Max von und zu Liech­ten­stein and Michèle Frey-Hilti, various other indi­vi­du­als from the sphe­res of busi­ness and society were invol­ved from the off. All were driven by the aware­ness that the high quality of life in Liech­ten­stein cannot be taken for gran­ted, and that joint efforts are needed to safe­guard this for future gene­ra­ti­ons. Change takes time – and trust. This insight has proven to be decisive for the foun­da­tion, says Michael Meirer, its mana­ging direc­tor.

‘We’ve learnt that successful alli­ances don’t come about under pres­sure. They have to be based on rela­ti­onships, dialo­gue and genuine parti­ci­pa­tion,’ he says. Proces­ses are rarely linear. Instead, they have to be itera­ted – and you need to be willing to make adjus­t­ments if neces­sary. From the start, the foun­da­tion has focu­sed on four areas: energy and resour­ces, food and agri­cul­ture, mobi­lity and social cohe­sion. ‘In prin­ci­ple, our aim is to make posi­tive chan­ges in all four areas, but not by force,’ says Meirer, ‘which is why the foun­da­tion regu­larly reviews our stra­tegy and why we are not afraid to make tweaks should circum­s­tances require.’

Small and tightly networked

With a popu­la­tion of around 41,000, Liech­ten­stein is small, closely connec­ted – and charac­te­ri­sed by close proxi­mity. Many stake­hol­ders wear seve­ral hats, and insti­tu­ti­ons are in direct cont­act with each other. The exam­ple of Finance Against Slavery and Traf­fi­cking (FAST) shows just how much impact this can gene­rate. The inter­na­tio­nal initia­tive against modern slavery and human traf­fi­cking began here in Liech­ten­stein, as Simon Tribel­horn, Mana­ging Direc­tor of the Liech­ten­stein Bankers Asso­cia­tion, recalls. At that time, people were wonde­ring how best to prevent human traf­fi­cking and modern slavery. One thing was clear: banks play a key role in this. ‘Finan­cial centres are repea­tedly used for money laun­de­ring and cover-ups, which is why they bear a special respon­si­bi­lity,’ says Tribel­horn. ‘Traf­fi­cking and modern slavery leave finan­cial traces. By iden­ti­fy­ing these and moni­to­ring tran­sac­tions, banks can help to stop ille­gal finan­cial flows. If we could prevent illi­cit funds from such acti­vi­ties from finding their way back into the normal finan­cial cycle, the busi­ness model of human traf­fi­cking would collapse.’ At the moment, howe­ver, it is still a huge indus­try, accor­ding to Tribel­horn, and it is happe­ning right on our door­step, as speci­fic cases in the course of the war in Ukraine have made clear.

Liech­ten­stein takes the initiative

Based on this insight, Liech­ten­stein, as a banking centre, deci­ded to play an active part in the initia­tive. LGT was the first bank to get invol­ved and displayed a high level of commit­ment. Prompted by the Liech­ten­stein Embassy in New York and the Liech­ten­stein govern­ment, seve­ral chari­ta­ble foun­da­ti­ons such as Hilti and the Medicor Foun­da­tion, as well as LGT and the Bankers Asso­cia­tion, quickly signal­led their willing­ness to support the project. The result was a public-private part­ner­ship (PPP) that paved the way for the FAST initia­tive. Liech­ten­stein thus played a key role, and part­ner count­ries, such as Austra­lia, the Nether­lands and Norway, soon came along. Initi­ally, the secre­ta­riat was loca­ted at the UN Univer­sity Centre for Policy Rese­arch. In 2024, the initia­tive was handed over to the UN Deve­lo­p­ment Programme (UNDP) in New York, putting it on an even more secure footing. For Tribel­horn, FAST repres­ents an exem­plary display of colla­bo­ra­tion between a wide range of stake­hol­ders: ‘A PPP is ulti­m­ately nothing more than a reflec­tion of our society. Modern slavery and human traf­fi­cking affect us all, so we all have a respon­si­bi­lity to tackle these issues decisively.’ 

Fami­liar – but not always easy to find

Despite the close proxi­mity that shapes Liechtenstein’s foun­da­tion land­scape, there are also chal­lenges. ‘Liech­ten­stein does not have a regis­ter of foun­da­ti­ons, and not all foun­da­ti­ons have a website,’ says Ange­lica Stöckel, Mana­ging Direc­tor of the Fürst­li­cher Kommer­zi­en­rat Guido Feger Foun­da­tion. ‘It’s some­ti­mes tricky to find the infor­ma­tion you need about a parti­cu­lar foun­da­tion.’ Purpo­ses are writ­ten in very broad terms in the commer­cial regis­ter, while inter­nal guide­lines or advi­sory statu­tes narrow down the group of bene­fi­ci­a­ries. At the same time, this also offers oppor­tu­ni­ties, says Stöckel: ‘The country’s small size ensu­res that we are tightly networked. We often know each other perso­nally – from school, trai­ning or asso­cia­ti­ons – which makes it easier to build trust and opens doors.’ In addi­tion, grant giving foun­da­ti­ons bene­fit from the lively dialo­gue within VLGST, where a viable network has been formed between the foun­da­ti­ons. Meirer, who points out the strong networks that start during people’s school days, also sees close proxi­mity as an advan­tage. These ties are streng­the­ned further down the line in people’s profes­sio­nal life and in the many clubs, be they rela­ting to sports, culture or the NGO sector. The only disad­van­tage he sees in this regard is that the population’s tight networks and diverse invol­vement could lead to conflicts of inte­rest. Howe­ver, he imme­dia­tely puts this into perspec­tive, adding: ‘Since the Lebens­wer­tes Liech­ten­stein Foun­da­tion only gets invol­ved in issues with a broad social bene­fit for Liech­ten­stein, we rarely have a problem here.’

Alli­ances in the Global South

Liech­ten­stein-based foun­da­ti­ons have a long tradi­tion of working in the Global South in areas such as educa­tion or health, or in food secu­rity. This work frequently focu­ses on child­ren, young people and young women and aims to improve their ability to shape their own lives, with parti­cu­lar heed paid to people whose voices would other­wise hardly be heard. Parti­ci­pa­tory, long-term and syste­mic approa­ches as well as consis­tent bottom-up stra­te­gies are adopted. Foun­da­ti­ons’ commit­ment is parti­cu­larly signi­fi­cant in areas where they have colla­bo­ra­ted in project groups over many years. Viable alli­ances can be created.

A joint effort

It is clear that sustainable social change does not come about through stan­da­lone projects: work in indi­vi­dual areas, such as voca­tio­nal trai­ning, school educa­tion or maternal/infant health, often falls short because socie­tal proces­ses are closely intert­wi­ned. These findings are promp­ting foun­da­ti­ons to incre­asingly turn to funding alli­ances that combine diffe­rent areas – from tech­no­logy to health and educa­tion to social rights. The aim is to achieve a holi­stic trans­for­ma­tion in colla­bo­ra­tion with local orga­ni­sa­ti­ons that contri­bute their speci­fic expertise.

Start­ing small

The holi­stic approach invol­ves start­ing small in the commu­ni­ties them­sel­ves. If you begin with commu­nity-based projects, projects with fami­lies, you can disco­ver what people really need and where the gaps in the system are. This basic idea high­lights that further initia­ti­ves can evolve in this way. Broad commu­nity invol­vement is essen­tial: if you want to bring about holi­stic change, it is important that all stake­hol­ders can ulti­m­ately come toge­ther – and that includes local autho­ri­ties as well as the local private sector. Foun­da­tion experts suggest that over­ar­ching local colla­bo­ra­tion is parti­cu­larly effec­tive today. Curr­ently, the alli­ances consist mainly of NGOs, but social enter­pri­ses, compa­nies and new busi­ness models could also be included in the medium term. It is crucial that each parti­ci­pa­ting orga­ni­sa­tion contri­bu­tes its strengths and does not have to shoulder the burden alone.

Essen­tial coordination

Smooth coor­di­na­tion is key to the success of such alli­ances – and this is about much more than just admin: coor­di­na­tors keep ever­y­thing toge­ther, put forward ideas, mediate between the part­ners and ensure that the focus is not only on indi­vi­dual projects but on the bigger picture. This is essen­tial, espe­ci­ally in the context of the Global South, where proces­ses require pati­ence and constant tweaks. It gives the alli­ance a direc­tion, promo­tes open­ness and ensu­res that growth is jointly supported.

A labo­ra­tory for alliances

Forging alli­ances between orga­ni­sa­ti­ons from diffe­rent sectors is chal­len­ging – precis­ely because the stake­hol­ders, such as foun­da­ti­ons, states and NGOs, act in very diffe­rent ways. While govern­ment agen­cies are accoun­ta­ble to taxpay­ers, foun­da­ti­ons can act more freely within their purpose, trying new things and gaining valuable insights even if they don’t achieve all their goals. This inter­play is chal­len­ging, but it can also be produc­tive: it opens up scope for inno­va­tion and shared learning.

Embo­dy­ing transparency

Trust is the key currency here. ‘Buil­ding trust takes time, first and fore­most, along with regu­lar and open commu­ni­ca­tion – just like in your perso­nal life, too,’ says Ange­lika Stöckel. ‘Extern­ally, it certainly helps to set mile­sto­nes and commu­ni­cate partial succes­ses that you reach en route to your goal.’ Trans­pa­rency and parti­ci­pa­tion are just as essen­tial, Stöckel empha­si­ses, with reci­pi­ents being opera­tio­nally invol­ved and closest to the project. After all, if a project does not quite go to plan or if, for exam­ple, third parties criti­cise the project, donors should be able to argue against this, she adds. The mana­ging direc­tor of the Fürst­li­cher Kommer­zi­en­rat Guido Feger Foun­da­tion empha­si­ses: ‘If there is a lack of trans­pa­rency and parti­ci­pa­tion, there is a risk that follow-up projects will no longer be supported.’

Shaping the future

Liech­ten­stein offers a good over­ar­ching frame­work for phil­an­thropy, one that also supports new, inno­va­tive funding models. ‘Over the course of the 20th century, Liech­ten­stein has come a remar­kably long way from being an agri­cul­tu­ral society to a globally networked indus­trial and finan­cial hub. This deve­lo­p­ment is due to factors like its legal foun­da­ti­ons and poli­ti­cal stabi­lity, but also to the entre­pre­neu­rial spirit and hard work of its popu­la­tion. With coura­ge­ous ideas and commit­ted people, this vision of a new reality no longer seems that far away,’ says Stöckel.

Liech­ten­stein is on the way to beco­ming a model in terms of alli­ances: small enough to try out new things, yet well networked enough to have an impact beyond its own borders.