Reducing youth unemployment: inclusive mentoring in Basel, Switzerland

Change Management

The programme was established 11 years ago, with initial funding coming from the Büro für Gleichstellung (the Kantonal Office for Gender Equality), who set about looking for future partners. As with many new programmes, time, patience and persistence was required to get the programme up and running. However, politicians in the Basel area were conscious of the youth unemployment problem and as such were willing to contribute resources to the programme. Since 2003, the two kantons in the Basel area, Basel Landschaft and Basel Stadt, as well as the federal agency, Bundesamt für Berufsbildung und Technologie  (Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology) have jointly funded the programme. Similar programmes have been established in Kanton Zürich, with programmes in other Swiss kantons following. Today, all the mentoring programmes meet on a yearly basis to discuss their achievements and challenges, which helps to assure their quality and strengthen the various programmes across the country.

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