Short portrait of the ECAP Foundation
The ECAP Foundation is a non-profit charitable institute for adult
education and research, which was founded by the Italian labor union
CGIL. ECAP has been active in Switzerland since 1970. In 1984, the
institute legally became a foundation, entered into an agreement
of cooperation with the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (SGB/USS)
and afterwards with the Spanish union Comisiones Obreras as well
as the Portuguese union CGTP.
Our goals
The foundation's activities are oriented towards its supporting organizations'
values of solidarity and the basic right to education. Its goal is
to promote education and training for younger and older adults, especially
for migrants and lowly qualified workers in Switzerland, in order
to:
-
support the private and occupational
integration of immigrated persons in our society;
-
promote the acquisition
and strengthening of the cognitive means and knowledge that are
useful for leading an autonomous and responsible
life in our modern society.
Our activities
Our activities, which are geared to pursuing and reaching the foundation's
goals, thus comprise the following sectors:
-
General education, language and
occupational training for foreign workers living in Switzerland
-
Training
of adult education instructors as well as language and cultural
mediators
-
Research on the need for education
and on the social effects of education
-
Planning, implementation
and evaluation of new educational models
-
Participation in and promotion
of trans-border educational activities
-
Organization of conferences
and student seminars
-
Publication of research, essays
and didactic materials
Our organization
The foundation's diverse range of training programs is accessible in
fourteen cantons. It is managed and coordinated by eight regional
centers with offices in Aarau, Basle, Berne, Lamone, Lucerne, Solothurn,
Winterthur and Zurich. Our strength lies in the daily deployment
of over four hundred motivated and trained employees.
Our funding
The funds for our activities stem from:
-
Contributions from Swiss public
institutions
-
Contributions from institutions
from migrants' countries of origin
-
Course costs
-
Income from the
sale of books and didactic materials
Our Partners
The ECAP Foundation is a member of:
-
Associazione SMILE, Rome
-
Swiss
Federation for Adult Learning (SVEB)
-
Swiss association of organizers
of active job market measures (SVOAM)
-
EUNETZ, a European economic
interests organization
-
and other organizations
ECAP works together with:
-
Swiss institutions at federal
and cantonal levels
-
migrants' countries of
origin and their representations in Switzerland
-
migration organizations
-
trade
unions
-
numerous public and private
companies
-
and other organizations
Furthermore, ECAP belongs to networks of European educational institutes,
which cooperate on the development of educational projects, train their
own instructors and exchange experiences and didactic materials.
Zurich, 15 February 2005
