Since 1 January 2011, Switzerland officially participates in the EU education and youth programmes Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) and Youth in Action (YiA). These two programmes were set for the period 2007-2013 and will be replaced by an integrated programme for education, training, youth and sport called ‘Erasmus for All’ for the period 2014-2020.
Before 2011, Switzerland was indirectly involved in these programmes taking part in individual projects on the basis of agreements with EU project coordinators or partner institutions. Since the official association, Switzerland is able to take part in the decision-making process for these programmes and Swiss education actors can launch and coordinate projects, with the same rights and obligations as their counterparts of the EU Member States.
The ch Foundation for confederal collaboration in Solothurn was mandated by the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) for the implementation and the management of the LLP and YiA decentralised projects. Each of the 33 countries participating in the LLP and YiA programmes have a similar structure.