COSCO: Commons, Schools, Collaborations.

COSCO’s main objective is to develop a new model for out-of-school care, that offers high-quality and usable, inclusive and accessible activities for children and families, and supports transitions between school and leisure for children and between employment and family for parents. To create a service that answers to the needs of local families, we test new methods that are based on the idea of “commons” (e.g. Bravo & De Moor, 2008). Commons (or common-pool resources) can be defined as a social practice of governing a resource, not by state or market, but by a community of users and stakeholders that self-governs the resource through institutions that it creates. New important uses of commons should be tested on ecological and leisure services, especially for vulnerable neighbourhoods. Therefore, we aim to (1) set up new after school networks or ‘commons’ in vulnerable neighbourhoods for improving the work-life balance of families. (2) From these new commons, we will co-create collaborative networks in order to support the after school needs of the families. By co-creating leisure activities for the children and solving the mobility and scheduling issues of the parents, families can self govern their work life balance better in collaboration with the community. (3) In order to make the project results sustainable and applicable in other contexts, we will upscale the developed family oriented methods for neighborhood commons on work-life balance in a handbook, and formulate policy recommendations on the local, regional and European level.

- Tested methods for setting up commons (citizen initiatives) in vulnerable neighbourhoods for improving families’ work-life balance - Tested methods for setting up collaborations with local organisations from within the commons (citizen initiatives) to support the work-life balance of families in vulnerable neighbourhoods - Feasibility study to make family oriented neighbourhood commons durable

- A number of tests of the new service in primary schools across the 2 Seas region - An increase in participation of children and parents in vulnerable circumstances in after-school offer - A better work-life balance for parents

This project is ambitious. It will need the expertise of several project partners and 2Seas countries to be feasible and sustainable. The Netherlands has expertise with the so-called “Kindercentra” that already work in an integrated manner, nut does not reach vulnerable families enough. In Belgium, the new decree on the organization of after-school care urges schools to experiment with new services and models of organization, but experience is lacking. In the UK, the after school offer is expensive and socially stratified and there is a need to experiment with more flexible models of offering activities for children and parents after school hours. In France, the offer differs greatly between areas and cities. Community centers organize after school care locally and have experience with experimenting with mobility solutions.