“You should actually think in terms of possibilities and not in terms of barriers”

Report inspiration meeting “Successful working with newcomers”

July 1, 2021Participating organizations: Markant, Buurthulp West, GroeneBuurten, de Regenboog GroepOn July 1st, VCA organized an inspiration meeting on the theme ‘Working with newcomers’. Many organizations are interested in working with newcomers and creating space within their organization for this target group, but they are not sure where to start and what to pay attention to.

Maartje (Rainbow Group) mentioned that she is currently researching how to involve moreI have translated the text as requested. If you need further assistance, feel free to ask.newcomers can work instead offornewcomers. There are regular participants who eventually want to contribute themselves. The participants of this meeting had many questions. For example, Luella, who works at GroeneBuurten, wonders if their activities align with the needs and desires of newcomers. Agnes from Markant asked what to pay attention to in order to make a job vacancy attractive to newcomers.

By doing volunteer work, I now feel like a true Amsterdammer

Ambassador

Luwam was present during the meeting to share her experience and give tips. Luwam is a volunteer at VCA as an ambassador, she has a refugee background herself, she is from Eritrea and has been living in the Netherlands for almost 4 years now. Shortly after getting a house in Amsterdam Noord, she found volunteer work through VCA at the Community Center near her home. Volunteering has helped her to improve her Dutch language skills and get to know people in the neighborhood. “The people were very kind, it still feels like a family to me. By doing volunteer work, I now feel like a true Amsterdammer.” She now helps inspire and support other newcomers in finding volunteer work.

Tips

Language is the primary motivation for newcomers to start doing volunteer work. It is important that they have the opportunity to practice the language during their volunteer work. Language can also be a barrier if the person speaks little Dutch. Luwam recognizes this very well: “It is difficult in the beginning if you speak little Dutch, you are afraid to ask questions, you are afraid to approach people. As a coordinator, it is important to provide space so that newcomers can ask questions and get to know other volunteers and staff.”

Other tips that have also been mentioned are:

• Explain things well and repeat them at the beginning, also about things that may seem obvious (like being on time)
• Let the volunteer shadow a mentor in the beginning
• Offering low-threshold group activities where volunteers, both newcomers and Dutch-speaking volunteers, can chat with each other.

Skills

Finally, one participant emphasized: “You should actually think in terms of possibilities and not in terms of barriers.” Newcomers have talents and can enrich volunteer organizations with these talents and insights. An example was given of a volunteer from Turkey who wants to play Turkish classical music to help vulnerable residents of Amsterdam relax.

Want to know more?

As a follow-up to this inspirational meeting, we offer volunteer organizations two possibilities to delve deeper into this topic:

• Online trainingWorking with newcomers (free)
• Newcomers Expedition, with two physical and two online meetings. Starting on October 28th.

This meeting was organized as part of theProject Newcomers & Volunteer WorkVCA has been supporting recognized refugees in Amsterdam for years. We help them find meaningful volunteer work where they can practice the language and develop their talents. Over the past three years, we have matched 349 recognized refugees with volunteer opportunities.

This project is made possible with the support of the districts Amsterdam Nieuw-West and Amsterdam Noord, the Oranje Fonds, and the VSB Fonds.

No content to translate.Hello