HEKS/EPER is making a difference in the «Intercultural interpreting and mediation» in Switzerland
Through its work in Switzerland, Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER) fosters social inclusion for disadvantaged people, promotes equal opportunity and supports asylum seekers and other socially deprived people with legal advice.
HEKS/EPER operates five regional offices in German-speaking Switzerland and one in French-speaking Switzerland, which together manage over 50 projects in 13 cantons.
Intercultural interpreting and mediation are indispensable if people are to understand one another across language and cultural divides. Intercultural interpreting enables patients, for example, to understand their doctor. Intercultural mediators for their part conduct workshops on health promotion or parent education. HEKS/EPER provides intercultural interpreters and intermediaries in the regions of Basel Stadt/Baselland as well as Aargau/Solothurn, and runs parent education projects with intercultural intermediaries, as well as basic and advanced training courses in intercultural interpreting and mediation.
HEKS Linguadukt – Intercultural Interpreter Services
Linguadukt serves as a language bridge between foreign-language speaking people and qualified staff from the health, social and education sectors to surmount language and cultural barriers and to elevate participation chances of migrants in general and to also lower costs (e.g. in the health sector).
Project Basel-Stadt and Baselland
Vitalina provides important health information to foreign language speakers who are parents of pre-school children in the Basel region.
Project Basel-Stadt and Baselland
MEL – Parent Work and Adult Education with Migrants
MEL offers an acknowledged training course for intercultural interpreters and training courses in cross-cultural mediation.