Our team
Vanja Crnojević
Founder and Managing Director
Vanja is the heart of Borderfree. As the linchpin of the organization, she manages operations, connects partners, and ensures that help arrives quickly and directly where it is needed.
Samir Shalabi
Managing Director Serbia & Project Manager Syria
Samir has been the managing director of Borderfree Serbia since 2016. There he has successfully implemented several of our projects and is also very dedicated to our work in Syria and Lebanon.
Rabija Efendic
President
Rabija has been involved with Borderfree for many years – first as a volunteer, now as president. With her wealth of experience, she is committed to ensuring that the organization successfully implements its projects.
Daria Jenni
Board
With her expertise in communication and fundraising, Daria supports the team in promoting the organization's work to the outside world and inspiring donors for the projects.
Adriana Hefti
Fundraising, Communication & Administration
Adriana converts project outlines and activities into eligible funding applications. At the same time, she keeps the administrative threads together.
Michael Heger
Communication
Michael gives Borderfree a voice, keeps the creative chaos in balance, and ensures that stories end up where they make a difference.
Project Manager Lebanon
Nassib coordinates the mobile clinic in the Beekaa Valley. He acts as a liaison between Lebanon and Switzerland and provides us with direct information from our ongoing project work.
Mission & Values
The Borderfree Association is committed to a world in which refugees and people in need are treated with dignity and receive support quickly, efficiently and without bureaucracy.
Unbureaucratic aid
Fast and direct support without compley decision-making processes.
Transparency & Trust
Transparent communication about projects, finances, and challenges.
Humanity & Dignity
Support on equal terms – regardless of origin, religion or status.
Commitment & Community
Collaboration with volunteers, donors and partners as a "Borderfree Family".
Flexibility & Innovation
Adapting to crisis situations and new challenges.
Annual reports
Our annual reports show the impact of our work and your donation.
They contain the most important projects, results, and the complete annual accounts. This allows you to see at a glance how we use funds and how aid is reaching its destination.
In August 2015, Vanja Crnojević had had enough of the horrific scenes at the EU's external border. The young woman, who herself had to flee Bosnia as a child, wanted to help – directly on the ground. Alone, with a backpack and 2'000 Swiss francs in her luggage, she traveled to Serbia, thus laying the foundation for todays Borderfree Association.
A few weeks later, Vanja, together with women from the Balkans and Switzerland, founded the association of the same name. Initial aid projects supported refugees along the Balkan route. Soon after, we launched a school and a mobile dental clinic.
In 2019, the largest project to date opened its doors in Serbia: the House of Rescue, where unaccompanied refugee children found a safe place including protection, care and perspectives..
That same year, Borderfree ventured into Lebanon. The situation in the refugee camps of the Bekaa Valley was dire: makeshift tents, a lack of infrastructure, and virtually no medical care. Until today we organize distributions of food, hygiene products, clothing, and heating oil. Women and children gained access to education in our own schools, and a mobile and a stationary clinic ensured medical care.
Borderfree always reacts quickly and without efficiently to crises. Whether it's the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the earthquake in Turkey, or the war in Gaza – Borderfree provides aid to people in need, regardless of their origin, religion, or ethnicity.
Borderfree has also started to be active in Syria since 2025 – thus completing a circle: We help where the need is greatest.