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Social innovation

Overview

Many citizens in vulnerable, deprived neighbourhoods live in isolation and have to deal with multi-problem situations concerning finances (debts), work, parenting and health. Many of them don’t reach the right care organisations. The reasons for this are varied: people aren’t familiar with these organisations and/or aren’t fully informed on their work method or they are afraid of these organisations (they could take away your children). Access to these organisations is also hindered by the fact that not all care workers have the right skillset to adequately help people from other cultures. Sometimes clients and care workers literally do not speak the same language. The gap between the system of the organisations and the lifeworld of the citizens is often too big in deprived neighbourhoods. In order to bridge this gap, Moms for Moms (Schilderswijk Moeders) have been active in the Schilderswijk neighbourhood of The Hague for several years. Moms for Moms consist of 20 trained contact women who support other mothers in smaller and larger problems regarding isolation, finances, parenting, health, housing, etc. in exchange for a small volunteer compensation. They for example help with filling out forms, or support women who have been subjected to domestic violence. When necessary, the neighbourhood moms (wijkmoeders) make sure that care is provided. This way, they literally function as a bridge between the lifeworld of citizens and the system of the organisations. They are able to do this because they are familiar with the background of the women in the neighbourhood, speak their language, are themselves well-trained and are well supervised. During the last four years, the neighbourhood moms have helped more than 700 women/families in the neighbourhood. In the past year, scientific research was conducted into the social and economic impact of the neighbourhood moms. The result of this research was that this method is both economically and socially beneficial.(http://www.verwey-jonker.nl/publicaties/2017/bereikt-en-geholpen)

Creation date: 27/11/2017

Bloc onglets

Description
Bloc 1

Overall objective

The neighbourhood moms project focuses on mothers in vulnerable neighbourhoods within the 2 Seas area. By using trained contact women, vulnerable families are identified and supported. The neighbourhood moms make sure that these families have better access to regular care. The counselling of neighbourhood moms activates isolated women, solves their problems or makes them manageable, and enables them to participate in society. Active, mentally healthy mothers are vital to the next generation: by empowering mothers, families in vulnerable regions within the 2 Seas area will function better and won’t slip into more serious problems.

Bloc 2

Outputs

- A model for empowering mothers from families in vulnerable regions so they can participate in society. - A training programme for volunteer neighbourhood moms. - An evaluation report to enable a Europe-wide rollout.

Bloc 3

Expected result

- Participation of mothers in vulnerable neighbourhoods in the 2 Seas area. - Making care-providing organisations more accessible to vulnerable citizens in deprived neighbourhoods within the 2 Seas area.

Bloc 4

Cross-border added-value

Cross-border cooperation is necessary because there are vulnerable neighbourhoods all over the 2 Seas area where families are deprived, mothers are isolated, can’t deal with their multi-problem situation, can’t reach the right care organisations and don’t participate in society. There is no single solution for these problems yet. The different countries have different approaches to developing methods to empower mothers in deprived neighbourhoods. With the tried and researched concept of neighbourhood moms from the Netherlands, we can, together with the experiences from other countries, create a new method which can be implemented throughout the whole 2 Seas area; Neighbourhood Moms 2.0.

Documentation

Documents