HEKS/EPER is making a difference in the «Social inclusion» 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.
Ever more people are being excluded because of their social background, ethnicity, age, gender or religion. Integrating people with a migration background can be compounded, for example, by the lack of the requisite language proficiency, ignorance of Switzerland's cultural specificities or by disadvantages on the job market. HEKS/EPER works actively to ensure that the affected people have access to education, work, government programmes and services. But integration is incumbent on society as a whole, which calls for openness as well as regulatory structures that ensure the right of social participation for all. This implies that everyone has the same rights and opportunities and that features such as gender, age, social background, nationality or religion do not give rise to discrimination.
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).
HEKS-Visit Zurich/Schaffhausen
«HEKS-Visit» offers welfare recipients a regular, but unpaid part-time employment within social welfare.
Brückenbauerinnen Gundeli
As a pilot project for outreach work with parents, «Brückenbauerinnen Gundeli» supports and accompanies migrants with pre-school and school-age children in their role as fathers and mothers.
«HEKS/EPER MosaiQ» advises and accompanies qualified migrants in obtaining recognition of their foreign diplomas so that they can bring their professional potential to the Swiss job market.
Project in Baselland und Basel-Stadt
HEKS AltuM – Age and Migration in Basel (both sides)
The HEKS/EPER «AltuM» Project assists older migrants 55 years and over. Through preventive action, it prepares them for potential health problems and difficulties in old age.
Project Eastern Switzerland
HEKS/EPER Eastern Switzerland Triangle
The HEKS/EPER Eastern Switzerland Triangle project is geared towards unemployed speakers of foreign languages. They are given information, their personal vocational situation is assessed and they receive individual job application training, all of which helps improve their chances of re-entering the job market.
Project Basel-Stadt and Baselland
New gardens in both Basels
HEKS/EPER leases allotment gardens at various locations in the Cantons of Basel-Stadt and Baselland and cultivates them together with refugee families.
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.
HEKS/EPER leases allotment garden at different locations in the Canton of Berne and works them together with migrants.
Project Eastern Switzerland
HEKS/EPER Visit Eastern Switzerland
«HEKS/EPER Visit Eastern Switzerland» places long term unemployed people in meaningful part-time positions, thereby fostering their social inclusion.
Project Eastern Switzerland
HEKS/EPER AltuM – Age and Migration Eastern Switzerland
«HEKS/EPER AltuM Eastern Switzerland» enhances the health and social inclusion of senior migrants 55 years and over through counselling and leisure activities.
HEKS Visio provides support for the long-term unemployed from the Burgdorf region.
Projects in French-speaking Switzerland
HEKS/EPER manages eight New Gardens in French-speaking Switzerland intended for migrants in precarious situations, as a way of fostering their social integration through gardening.
Projects in French-speaking Switzerland
Through Chèques-emploi, HEKS/EPER promotes access to social rights for persons working in private households in the Canton of Vaud by improving their working conditions.
Projects in French-speaking Switzerland
The HEKS/EPER Espace Parents project provides a place of encounter, support and guidance for parents in Neuchâtel.
Projects in French-speaking Switzerland
InfoSuisse 50+ is a HEKS/EPER integration project for asylum seekers 50 years and over, who have recently arrived in Switzerland. It promotes the learning of practical French.
Project Eastern Switzerland
New Gardens Eastern Switzerland
«HEKS/EPER New Gardens» leases allotment gardens at various locations in Eastern Switzerland and works them together with migrants.
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.
«HEKS/EPER InfoSchweiz» supports temporarily admitted persons and recognized refugees through a variety of social integration courses and information programmes.
Deutsch Intensiv – Français Intensif
«Deutsch intensive - Français Intensif» provides tailor-made language courses for recognized refugees in order to enhance their social and professional integration.
