"In recent years, the former Dutch welfare state has been transformed into a participation society [1]. As support from the government decreases, citizens are increasingly expected to be self-managing. Since not everyone is able to be self-managing, there is an increasing demand for help offered by volunteers. Although the number of volunteers in the Netherlands is relatively stable, the amount of time per volunteer has decreased over the past couple of years [2]. Most volunteers traditionally come from the wealthier, more educated segment of society and are likely to be female, married with children, 50+, and active in religion [3, 4]. In order to meet the increasing demand for volunteers, either the amount of time spent per volunteer should be increased, or new groups of volunteers should be attracted. The Dutch foundation “Possible Today” started an initiative aimed at motivating (potential) volunteers: Social Credits for Volunteers. This is digital platform, based on block chain technology, connects volunteers with projects. The platform uses a digital currency -Social Credits- to appreciate and reward the efforts of volunteers. The currency can be exchanged for discounts or other value, offered by organizations and stores that feel involved with the community. An important feature of this system is the opportunity for volunteers to draft a social curriculum vitae. The aim of this study is to generate recommendations for Possible Foundation about how the Social Credits Platform should be designed and deployed in order to persuade (potential) volunteers to spend (more) hours on volunteering. Therefore, the following research question is answered: ‘What motives, desires and barriers traditional and less traditional volunteers have in regard to appreciation and reward for volunteering?’"
This article focuses on how length of participation in professional youth work is associated with five outcome variables: prosocial skills, self-mastery, social network, civic participation (volunteering and organizing activities) and finding support from social care services. The study was designed as a longitudinal cohort study of four waves during a 16-month period, gathering the data of 1597 youngsters aged 10–24 who participated in Dutch professional youth work. The results show that, on average, youngsters who participated longer in youth work scored significantly higher on the outcome variables. Respondents did not show individual improvements on outcome variables over the period, but the results demonstrate a cautious positive trend over time in volunteering. Referring youngsters (33%) by youth workers to care services could prevent an exacerbation of existing problems. The results provide knowledge that legitimizes the role of professional youth workers and which can be used by them to improve the support of socially vulnerable youngsters in their personal development and social participation.
In many Western welfare states, social work services that have traditionally been provided by paid employees are being replaced by family support, community support, informal networks and volunteering. For the field of social work, it is relevant to know what it matters to beneficiaries whether services are provided by volunteers or by paid employees. The central question of this article is therefore as follows: What are the differences between unpaid and paid social services for beneficiaries? The article is based on literature review and focus groups.Our results suggest that beneficiaries do experience some differences regarding the advantages of volunteer services for beneficiaries that can be summarized in three propositions: (1) Services provided by volunteers are more relational than are services provided by paid employees, and they are therefore perceived as more equal, flexible and sincere. (2) The effects of volunteer services for beneficiaries are not exclusively positive. (3) Although particular tasks may appear to be interchangeable to some extent, the relative advantages of a given task depend upon whether it is performed by a paid worker or by a volunteer. Additional research is needed in order to provide further validation.
ALE organised an event with Parktheater Eindhoven and LSA-citizens (the Dutch umbrella organisation for active citizens). Five ALE students from the minor Imagineering and business/social innovation took responsibility for concept and actual organisation. On Jan 18th, they were supported by six other group members of the minor as volunteers. An IMEM-team of 5 students gathered materials for a video that can support the follow-up actions of the organisers. The students planned to deliver their final product on February 9th. The theatre will critically assess the result and compare it to the products often realised by students from different schools or even professional ones, like Veldkamp productions. Time will tell whether future opportunities will come up for IMEM. The collaboration of ALE and IMEM students is possible and adding value to the project.More than 180 visitors showed interest in the efforts of 30 national and local citizen initiatives presenting themselves on the market square in the theatre and the diverse speakers during the plenary session. The students created a great atmosphere using the qualities of the physical space and the hospitality of the theatre. Chair of the day, Roland Kleve, kicked off and invited a diverse group of people to the stage: Giel Pastoor, director of the theatre, used the opportunity to share his thoughts on the shifting role of theatre in our dynamic society. Petra Ligtenberg, senior project manager SDG NL https://www.sdgnederland.nl/sdgs/ gave insights to the objectives and progress of the Netherlands. Elly Rijnierse, city maker and entrepreneur from Den Haag, presented her intriguing efforts in her own neighbourhood in the city to create at once both practical and social impacts on SDG 11 (sustainable city; subgoal 3.2). Then the alderman Marcel Oosterveer informed the visitors about Eindhoven’s efforts on SDGs. The plenary ended with very personal interviews of representatives of two impressive citizen initiatives (Parkinson to beat; Stichting Ik Wil). In the two workshop rounds, ALE took responsibility for two workshops. Firstly the workshop: Beyond SDG cherrypicking: using the Economy for the common good’, in cooperation with citizen initiative Ware winst Brabant en Parktheater (including Social innovation-intern Jasper Box), secondly a panel dialogue on local partnerships (SDG 17) for the sustainable city (SDG 11) addressing inclusion (SDG 10) and the livability (SDG 3) with 11 representatives from local/provincial government, companies, third sector and, of course: citizen initiatives.
Dutch society faces major future challenges putting populations’ health and wellbeing at risk. An ageing population, increase of chronic diseases, multimorbidity and loneliness lead to more complex healthcare demands and needs and costs are increasing rapidly. Urban areas like Amsterdam have to meet specific challenges of a growing and super divers population often with a migration background. The bachelor programs and the relating research groups of social work and occupational therapy at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences innovate their curricula and practice-oriented research by multidisciplinary and cross-domain approaches. Their Centres of Expertise foster interprofessional research and educational innovation on the topics of healthy ageing, participation, daily occupations, positive health, proximity, community connectedness and urban innovation in a social context. By focusing on senior citizens’ lives and by organizing care in peoples own living environment. Together with their networks, this project aims to develop an innovative health promotion program and contribute to the government missions to promote a healthy and inclusive society. Collaboration with stakeholders in practice based on their urgent needs has priority in the context of increasing responsibilities of local governments and communities. Moreover, the government has recently defined social base as being the combination of citizen initiatives, volunteer organizations , caregivers support, professional organizations and support of vulnerable groups. Kraktie Foundations is a community based ethno-cultural organization in south east Amsterdam that seeks to research and expand their informal services to connect with and build with professional care organizations. Their aim coincides with this project proposal: promoting health and wellbeing of senior citizens by combining intervention, participatory research and educational perspectives from social work, occupational therapy and hidden voluntary social work. With a boundary crossing innovation of participatory health research, education and Kraktie’s work in the community we co-create, change and innovate towards sustainable interventions with impact.
In het forensisch werkveld staan drie vragen centraal. Het gaat dan om “wie is het”, “wat is er gebeurd” en “wanneer is het gebeurd”. Alle informatie die bijdraagt aan het beantwoorden van deze vragen is waardevol in zaakonderzoeken. Vaak wordt er wel een biologisch spoor gevonden, maar is er geen “match” met de databank. In dit geval kan profileringsinformatie helpen bij het zoeken naar de juiste persoon. Met profilering wordt hier bedoeld een serie stoffen, ook markers genoemd, die informatie geven over de levensstijl van mensen. De levensstijl kan bestaan uit kenmerken, voeding, gewoonten en activiteiten. Een recent voorbeeld van een profileringsmethode is het analyseren van de buitenzijde van mobiele telefoons. Door het hanteren van de telefoon laten mensen zweet en stoffen achter die gekarakteriseerd kunnen worden. Het profiel van deze stoffen geeft een beschrijving van de levensstijl van de eigenaar. In veel zaken zijn er echter geen mobiele telefoon aanwezig, maar wel andere sporen zoals haar. Daarom is er behoefte aan een methode om haar te gebruiken voor profilering. Bovendien geeft haar een indicatie van tijd en gebeurtenissen uit het verleden omdat het langzaam groeit. In principe kan er dan informatie over de drie vragen (wie, wat, wanneer) verzameld worden. Haren worden op dit moment vooral gebruikt voor het meten van drugs, alcohol gebruik, cortisol en nicotine. Er is echter behoefte aan een breder palet van stoffen dat in één keer in haar kan worden gemeten. Het doel van dit onderzoek is daarom het ontwikkelen van een methode waarmee in één analysegang een profiel van circa 15 uiteenlopende markers kan worden gemeten.
