14 May 2019 | News,

Collaboration between the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation and the State of Vaud for the professional integration of refugees

The Swiss Philanthropy Foundation (SPF) is pleased to announce the launch of a new project under its “Education and Employment” thematic fund, whose objective is the professional integration of refugees. This project, carried out by the 1951 Association, is co-financed by the Office for the Integration of Foreigners and the Prevention of Racism (BCI) of the canton of Vaud, and is the first co-financing of its kind in the canton.

Over a three-year period, the project will train and integrate a total of 153 refugees into the labour market. The Swiss Philanthropy Foundation’s commitment will contribute to “French and Professional Integration (FIP)” training courses including language classes, mathematics, IT and job search techniques, as well as two professional internships for each beneficiary. In addition, SPF will finance the replication of the 1951 Association model in another French-speaking canton.

 

 

As part of this project, SPF is collaborating with WISE – philanthropy advisors to maximize its impact. The particularity of the initiative stems, among other things, from its sustainability, thanks to the individual and personalised follow-up of each beneficiary 12 months after their training, a key element for successful professional integration.

The collaboration with the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation and WISE will enable us to help refugees to integrate themselves into the labour market in a sustainable way by empowering them, but also to build and develop our work on a solid foundation. I would also like to point out the strong relevance of the tools used by WISE to define and manage projects, which greatly contributes to the professionalization of our association.

Stephan Steiner, President, Association 1951

 

The commitment of the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation alongside the BCI in financing this project represents an opportunity for the Canton to enable young refugees to take a step closer to the world of work or training in order to integrate better in Switzerland. This collaboration, which is unprecedented for us, will certainly have made it possible to pool financial resources but will also have made it possible to develop new impact indicators together. ” Katel Giacometti – Project Manager at BCI