Ch Foundation for Federal Cooperation
The ch Foundation for Federal Cooperation is a foundation under private law and was established in 1967. The sponsors are all 26 cantons in Switzerland, each of which is represented by one member on the foundation board. Since its inception, the ch Foundation has been committed to promoting cooperation among the cantons and with the Confederation as well as strengthening Swiss federalism and internal cohesion.
The tasks and areas of activity include the following areas:
- ch series as a bridge between language communities and the preservation of a diversity of languages and cultures. It has supported literary translations between the national languages since 1974 with grants for printing costs, thus promoting literary exchange across language barriers. Every year, five to eight books by Swiss authors are translated into another national language.
- Promotion and further development of federalism. With the federal monitoring tracks the ch Foundation as Swiss federalism evolved and what measures can be strengthened.
- Services within the framework of cooperation between the cantons and with the federal government. For this purpose, the ch Foundation has been running the secretariat of the Conference of Cantonal Governments (KdK) on a mandate basis since 1993 . The tasks of the KdK include:
- Renewal and further development of federalism
- Division of tasks between the Confederation and the cantons
- Formation of opinion and representation of interests towards the federal government
- Execution of federal tasks by the cantons
- Foreign and European policy
- Educational events for members of cantonal governments.
Today the foundation offers a wide range of exchange programs in Switzerland, Europe and internationally for general and vocational education as well as extracurricular youth work. The Swiss exchange programs include Pestalozzi (compulsory school), Rousseau (middle school) and Piaget (vocational training). The European programs are called Comenius (elementary to middle school), Erasmus (university), Leonardo da Vinci (vocational training), Grundtvig (adult education) and Jugend in Aktion (extracurricular youth work).
GO, the Swiss competence center for exchange and mobility of the ch Foundation , advises and supports interested parties before, during and after projects. It also arranges contacts for them and supports them with funding depending on the program. These offers are based on two federal mandates: that of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation from 2010 for the implementation of the European programs Lifelong Learning (LLP) and Youth in Action , and that of the Federal Office of Culture for internal exchange (since 2011).
The President of the ch Foundation has been the St. Gallen Government Councilor Benedikt Würth since 2013 , and Sandra Maissen is responsible for the management .