PROJECT-SUPPORT SWITZERLAND

Association Equilibre, Altdorf, Switzerland

Country / Place

Switzerland, Canton Uri, Altdorf / Schattdorf

The association is based in the town of Altdorf. Altdorf is the capital city of the Swiss canton of Uri.  

The production facility for the KoKoTé products is located in the industrial area of the neighbouring town of Schattdorf.

General

The non-profit organisation Association Equilibre is committed to education and work integration projects for older refugees in Switzerland. In addition, the association is ideally and materially committed to sustainable and ecological action and to meaningful measures for the preservation of living space. The global migration crisis affects us all. Migration flows caused by wars, social and economic imbalances are a global challenge.

Beneficiaries

Action instead of lamentation - the Association Equilibre launches and supports projects that are put into action on the ground; Simple, humane and direct.

Association Equilibre’s projects are mainly designed for refugees who are older than 26 and have no vocational training recognised in Switzerland. They include internships with potential assessment and integrated education, intermediate years for catch-up education, and pre-apprenticeships. All projects give refugees a concrete career perspective and enable a long-term life in Switzerland, independent of social welfare.

Education and labour integration: KoKoTé

KoKoTé is an ordinary business and at the same time an extraordinary company. Ordinary because KoKoTé produces bags and accessories of the highest quality, and extraordinary because it brings together a wide variety of people - an entrepreneur, a designer, and refugees, who have come to Uri from all over. The work integration of the refugees is done through internships, which are combined with practical, as well as school-based educational opportunities. Online shop: www.kokote.com/shop

Project-support: Women's empowerment

Individual education for refugee women with family responsibilities over the age of 26, with the aim of achieving a vocational training qualification.

For female refugees and women with household and family responsibilities, there are few sustainable education offers that meet their special situations and requirements. This is primarily because this target group is very heterogeneous for successful professional and social integration and the programmes must be modulated accordingly. The competencies and potentials of the women are very different. Often, they were unable to attend school in their countries of origin or attended only irregularly. Therefore, some lack the necessary basic education, others the opportunity to continue what they once learned. After completing a German course, there is a lack of opportunity to apply what they have learnt or even to consolidate it in a targeted manner. In addition, prior knowledge in the areas of maths and general education is also very different. The unique project for women's empowerment aims to counteract this situation.

For each woman participating in the project, an individual education and learning plan was drawn up, which shows the path to achieve the desired vocational training goal. Catching up on education until a vocational qualification is obtained can take several years, depending on previous education and potential, learning capacity, and performance. With this tailor-made approach, a woman's chances of successfully obtaining a vocational training certificate EBA/EFZ increases considerably. The women also benefit from the association's mentoring project. It is an important component both for learning and repeating the German language as well as for practising mathematics in depth.