Social cohesion

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NL Doet: a day to do good
NL Doet: a day to do good 1920 1324 our civic space

NL Doet: a day to do good

On 28th and 29th of  May 2021, the biggest Dutch yearly volunteering event will take place throughout the whole country. The event is called NL Doet and it is organised by Oranje Fonds, an organisation that serves as a platform to bring volunteers and people in need together. Oranje Fonds believes that everyone in society can make a difference for someone else. And by organising NL Doet every year, they show it too!

The importance of volunteering
But why volunteer? What are the benefits of doing something for someone else? Well first of all, volunteering allows you to connect with other people, whom you might have not known, had you not decided to go out and volunteer. It really brings a community together when different people help each other and work on shared causes and towards common goals. Secondly, it is proven that volunteering has a profound positive effect on your health, both mentally and physically. It can bring joy into your life in ways you would never have expected. Finally, volunteering can also be a way to explore new things in your life and to develop new skills and competencies. This can be very valuable for other parts of your professional and personal life. 

Interested in more information about volunteering? Click here to read more about the benefits of volunteering. 

The power of NL Doet
As Oranje Fonds states, “NL Doet is an invitation to do something good for someone else. It doesn’t matter how big or small the initiative is. What matters is the connection it establishes.” NL Doet’s power is in the fact that it unites the many forms of volunteering and converts it into something national. It provides a platform for the many big and small initiatives that exist and provides the opportunity for new initiatives to arise. Moreover, it can serve as a gateway for people to become more active in volunteering. It is an easy way to start with volunteering, however small, and to experience what it is like. The hope of Oranje Fonds is that this ignites a spark in people to do more, without the obligation to do so.

An example of an initiative that was organised in The Hague under the banner of NL Doet is volunteers organising a lunch together with people with a disability. From baking cookies, making wraps and preparing soup, to setting the table. Everything was done together by volunteers and the residents of a healthcare facility. This shows that volunteering can be rather low-key and easy, but it can really have a great impact. And you can do it too!

So are you Dutch and want to experience volunteering? Find out the opportunities here!

Written by ISA

 

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Survey on sport and social cohesion
Survey on sport and social cohesion 1437 427 our civic space

Survey on sport and social cohesion

One of our partners, ISA, is taking part in a promising project which focuses on improving social cohesion through sports. For that project, they are requesting organisations using sport for social cohesion to complete a short survey, in order to inform future programming and best practice.

The use of sport to promote social cohesion has grown rapidly in recent years. This includes the use of sport for social inclusion and the integration of refugees and migrants. Public, private and civil society  organisations are using sport as a vehicle to advance social cohesion in various contexts.

However, there are various challenges which continue to limit our understanding as to how sport and social cohesion programmes can be most effectively designed, delivered, and measured.

As such, ISA, Sportanddev, the German Sport University and other project partners, are conducting a survey to identify common features, challenges, and best practices in the use of sport for social cohesion.

  • Please complete the survey here (available in English and French)
  • Deadline: May 7, 2021
  • Target audience: organisations that use sport to advance social cohesion.

The survey is part of a broader mapping exercise which seeks to contribute to better understanding of social cohesion at the practitioner level, and the programmatic factors that may influence success.

Why is this important?
There is great diversity of programmes and approaches to sport and social cohesion, including measurement tools. While this is to be celebrated, it poses challenges in identifying standards, common features, and best practices. Further, evangelical notions of sport and top-down approaches remain common, resulting in a gap between theory, policy, and local practices.

Grassroots practitioners voices are often marginalized and crucial factors such as the type of sport, duration of participation, frequency of participation and non-sporting activities are under-reported and analysed. This makes it difficult to identify factors which enable interventions to be effective.

This survey and mapping exercise is part of the Sport and Social Cohesion Lab, an Erasmus+ funded project. The project adopts a highly participatory Living Lab approach to tackle the gaps in knowledge and implementation.

This approach will directly engage programme participants, generate understanding of the elements that advance sport for social cohesion and develop relevant tools for the exploration, measurement and improvement of programmes and outcomes in highly diverse urban neighbourhoods.

How will the findings be used?
This survey will help us identify the assets, needs and challenges experienced by organisations in the use of sport for social cohesion. This will include shaping activities in the above-mentioned project. Findings will be shared publicly and used to inform policy and practice.

  • Please complete the survey here (available in English and French)

Story by Sportanddev