Knowledge by, for and about newcomers
Knowledge by, for and about newcomers
Expert pools reception of Ukrainians, strategic session stakeholders
Municipality of Almere
April to June 2023, follow-up fall 2023
Action agenda from empathy to perspective
Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, more than 75,000 Ukrainians have fled to the Netherlands. The Municipality of Almere is hosting about 1,350 Ukrainian displaced persons and wanted to develop a good plan of action. To this end, we organized two expert pools and a strategic stakeholder session to gather broad knowledge.
The expert pool methodology is a participatory approach developed by Open Embassy, in which a group of newcomers share experiential knowledge together with their network. In this case Ukrainian newcomers living in the reception center in Almere. The expert pool is used to develop solutions together with the people concerned, so that these will better meet real needs.
Together with key parties from the city of Almere, we are developing a systemic approach to the successful long-term reception of Ukrainians. Such as municipal officials, volunteer organizations, employers, language schools, site managers, health care professionals and Ukrainian veterans.
The stakeholders devise together possible solutions for housing, language, work and integration. From these, they choose an action agenda for successful reception of Ukrainians.
We gathered input from 23 expert pool members and conducted interviews with around 60 people in their networks. In the ensuing strategic stakeholder session, the shared insight was "From empathy to perspective." From a "we want to help with 'bed-bath-bread' mindset, to providing Ukrainians with perspective for a life in the medium term.
Several topics appeared on the action agenda with related actions. The Ukrainian experts gave feedback on these. Housing, Work & Retraining, Integration and Language appeared to be the most important, both for short-term and long-term reception.
Because of its success, the municipality wanted a follow-up. In addition to a transfer of the expert pool methodology, we design and organize welcome meetings. In these, newcomers get to know each other and what is on offer in the municipality for language, work and social connections.
project manager
Newsletter
Stay up to date with news & knowledge by, for and about newcomers.
Contact
Open Embassy
Marineterrein Amsterdam
Kattenburgerstraat 5
Building 003-C
1018 JA Amsterdam
General
© OpenEmbassy
Newsletter
Stay up to date with news & knowledge by, for and about newcomers.
Contact
OpenEmbassy
Marineterrein Amsterdam
Kattenburgerstraat 5
Building 003-D
1018 JA Amsterdam
General
