Response to unsolicited ASD opinion on Participation and integration of statusholders

Date of opinion: July 23, 2021

To achieve more, faster and better participation and integration of status holders, the ASD believes additional preconditions are needed in implementation:

1. The norm is a combined language and work/volunteer pathway for every status holder, including those where self-reliance is the starting point.

Response: Under the new Integration Act, from January 1, 2022, it is mandatory for status holders to complete a participation program in addition to their language program. Also for the group where self-reliance is the starting point. The WSD will be a major party in this, because they can also offer intensive language guidance on the shop floor.

1. Commit to structural cooperation with the Nuenen business community through an active approach based on win-win and name and elaborate a number of possibilities for this (menu card) aimed at unburdening the employer, such as combined apprenticeships, wage subsidies and intensive coaching at work.

Response: Practice is often more recalcitrant. For employers, it is generally very time-consuming to supervise people who are not proficient in the Dutch language and work habits. It costs time, energy and money. We notice in practice that it makes sense to guide status holders in places where we are sure that they will receive the right guidance (workplaces through the WSD), and then after building up some experience, move on to regular workplaces. Of course, it also happens that someone is immediately employable with an employer. In discussion with an employer and status holder, we offer the support needed to create a sustainable workplace for someone. We include the advice in our discussions with Dienst Dommelvallei and WSD to promote the flow to regular workplaces.  

1. A recent development, open hiring, is interesting for people with a distance to the labor market and offers new opportunities for employer and employee in addition to, for example, the use of the WSD.

Response: That is an interesting concept that could provide more opportunities for many people. We have no influence to the recruitment strategy of employers. However, we do try by having status holders first work within existing work experience placements to get to know them better and build a profile so that we can give employers a better picture of someone and introduce them through a warm transfer.

1. From day one in Nuenen commit to participation (in whatever form). The starting point must be what people can do (and not what they cannot do because they do not master the language) and what talents/hobbies these people have. It requires creativity and courage on the part of the case managers to flesh this out for (and together with) each status holder. For example, what can be done is:

• Assisting twice a week in the care of meals at Savant or the Akkers
• A morning of hoeing/garden work with other volunteers at the petting zoo
• Helping out at the food bank
• Support activities at the children's school
• At a music talent or something, perform once for elderly people or at a school
• Joining hobbies such as woodcarving at the Village Workshop
• Starting at sports at one of Nuenen's sports clubs
• Encouraging parents to take their children to read-aloud activities at the library
• Getting children of status holders to join sports or other activity clubs with funds from the Educational Aid Foundation

Response: Within case management (PIP) we look as much as possible at what someone can do. Status holders are spoken to immediately after housing (sometimes earlier) and as soon as the preconditions (such as child care) allow, guidance towards work takes place. This can also be voluntary work. In the new law, the framework will be more obligatory and more active efforts will be made to provide work experience places.

Currently, the social worker helps the status holder and his or her family participate in our village. Reference is made to the sports clubs in Nuenen, the possibilities offered by Stichting Leergeld and the opportunities offered by the library.

1. A few hours of volunteer work/hobby/sports per week in addition to a language and work program is perfectly doable. It gives a huge boost to language, meaning, contact and integration. This should be conveyed to the status holder from day one and be the starting point of the case manager.

The target: 100% of the status holders participate in society for at least two hours per week. This does not mean that based on personal circumstances of the status holder there cannot be differences in time frame and final goal.

Response:Within case management, this is a component that is asked out. We currently pay a lot of attention to this and point out to people the usefulness of participating in leisure activities. It is good to keep in mind that participation is a two-way street. It is not a one-sided story. We can steer status holders in a certain direction, but a lot also depends on how a status holder is received in showing initiative.

1. Effective data, which illustrate and support the cycle of improvement and adaptation. Rather a limited number of indicators, which can be tracked well in a dashboard, than a multitude of indicators, which are less reliable and make it difficult to see what is working. multitude of indicators, which are less reliable and make it difficult to see what is working. In addition, collect qualitative input from case managers. They know better than anyone else what they need and how they can be facilitated to achieve the intended goals.

Response: We are now in the process of setting up the Social Domain management system, in which integration will also have a place. Because the civic integration task will now fall to the municipality, we also have the availability of more data. From January 1, 2022, we will register the progress of the civic integration and related participation components. We will start monitoring the figures and discuss them in evaluation interviews.