Researcher Ruben de Cuyper: 'The knowledge we acquire flows back into the training courses'

Until this year, Zeeland was a blank spot on the map, but now it is getting a Social Domain Workshop. HZ Knowledge Centre Zeeland Society (HZ KCZS) and the Social Work and Pedagogy programmes of HZ University of Applied Sciences hope to establish such a workshop through two pilot projects.

It is the sixteenth workshop in the Netherlands. The workshops, which were all initiated by universities of applied sciences and are subsidized by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, must help to realize three goals. Firstly, that is to deal more intelligently with social challenges such as loneliness, poverty and refugee problems. The workshops must also help to solve problems through targeted programs and they must promote cooperation in a region. Each workshop in the Netherlands takes on its own themes from the social domain, a theme that fits the area in which the workshop is active.

'Each workshop takes up a theme that fits the area in which the workshop is active'

Urban versus sparsely populated

Ruben De Cuyper of HZ Kenniscentrum Zeeuwse Samenleving (KCZS) has conducted research into whether HZ can join the national network of workshops. Two pilot projects emerged from his preliminary work. The first is about refugees in sparsely populated areas. “There is already a workshop about refugees in Amsterdam, but the urban area is clearly a different issue than in a sparsely populated area like ours,” De Cuyper explains. “In Zeeland, housing, the social network around a refugee and accessibility are important themes.” In order to explore the theme in more depth, the initiators entered into discussions with organisations, partners and stakeholders. A meeting was also organised in the asylum seekers’ centre in Middelburg. After all the meetings, seven issues related to the theme were on the table.

Work turned out to be the most urgent. “How can refugees find work as quickly and effectively as possible, turned out to be the most important theme for both the refugees themselves and for organisations, stakeholders and employers, who are concerned about the tight labour market. In Zeeland, the number of vacancies is high, while the province has one of the lowest unemployment rates. New residents are therefore a valuable addition to the labour potential in the region. Moreover, work not only provides structure and meaning, but also contributes to the well-being and mental well-being of refugees. So from multiple perspectives, it is a win-win situation.”

'Practical partners have problems and share them with the network. We work on an answer and the knowledge we gain benefits education'

Grassroots

The ministry has now given its approval and a subsidy until 2026. In the meantime, the Zeeland workshop partners have started working on a second theme: Grassroots initiatives in the village and neighbourhood. “Grassroots means that these are initiatives that are started by residents themselves. The elaboration of this theme within the workshop is still in its infancy, but it responds to the regional and national desire to provide customised solutions for the design of one's own living environment”, says De Cuyper. “We will work this out in the same way as the first theme, so via meetings where various issues are raised.”

Ultimately, a learning network must be created. Each affiliated party must be able to submit problems or issues. Ideally, other practical partners can think along about this and come up with advice or solutions. However, some problems will be too complex to solve directly. In such cases, action research can provide a solution: analysing the problem together, developing solutions, carrying out interventions, monitoring and evaluating. The knowledge gained in this way also flows back into the HZ courses. In addition, students can participate in the projects and thus apply their knowledge in practice. “There is a three-stage rocket. Practical partners have problems and share them with the network. We work on an answer through action research and the knowledge we gain benefits education.”

The Social Domain workshop has three goals:

HZ Center for Community Research Zeeland

HZ Center for Community Research Zeeland conducts research on social and, if required, economic issues in Zeeland. The researchers thus recognise, describe and analyse trends and developments in Zeeland.

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