Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Albanians move to build integration bridges

Refugee children receiving lessons in Albanian language in Solothurn in 1999
Image Caption: Refugee children receiving lessons in Albanian language in Solothurn in 1999 (RDB)

Two major initiatives have been recently launched to help the Albanian-speaking community integrate in Switzerland and improve mutual understanding.

There are around 270,000 Albanian speakers currently living in Switzerland, of whom 100,000 are under 16. The diverse populations from Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, and Serbia and Montenegro form the second-largest foreign community after the Italians.


“Things are definitely happening at the moment,” said Bashkim Iseni, a 39-year-old political scientist from Lausanne University.

Iseni is head of the team of journalists behind www.albinfo.ch, a new information website in Albanian, French and German for the Albanian-speaking community in Switzerland that started in mid-October.

The project, financed by the Swiss government and conceived in partnership with the media group Edipresse, offers Swiss news, Balkans politics, features on the Albanian community in Switzerland and a wealth of practical information...... see more:

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/foreign_affairs/Albanians_move_to_build_integration_bridges.html?cid=28797982

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