Programma
Civic initiatives that defy the system
Social Health Program
The Netherlands faces an enormous challenge to organize the care of our vulnerable residents in a sustainable way. We are only at the beginning of a wave of population aging and elderly care is already bursting at the seams.
There is a consensus that we as citizens need to take more care of our elderly, if only because otherwise care will become unaffordable and impractical.
But it is an illusion to think that this will succeed if we leave it to individuals. The traditional civil society and social cohesion has largely disappeared, certainly in the cities, but also in many rural areas. As a result, care is increasingly falling on the shoulders of (working) children and partners.
The key to far-reaching social change lies in a more involved society based on the older social cohesion within neighborhoods and villages; neighbors helping and supporting each other. Fortunately, this is already happening. Local civic initiatives are springing up like mushrooms. Care cooperatives, care collectives or urban villages, whatever they call themselves, are taking matters into their own hands and starting to organize care and support for the elderly and other vulnerable residents in their neighborhood or village.
They are asking themselves: what can we do to make the environment suitable for living there for as long as possible as well as possible? How do we create an inclusive community, focusing on people who need support in solidarity with active residents, informal caregivers and residents?
Self-organization, autonomy and individualized programming are key. The local community is in charge. The positive effects of this movement are enormous. In addition to the essential contribution to sustainable care for our elderly, citizens' initiatives are already delivering greater quality of well-being, housing and care facilities, lower care costs and a new form of democracy.
Nederland Zorgt Voor Elkaar (NLZVE) is the national network of citizen initiatives in welfare, housing and care. NLZVE shares knowledge, experiences, bottlenecks, solutions and research by and for citizen initiatives. In addition, the network promotes the interests of member initiatives at the national level.
We agree with the core values that form the premise of Nederland Zorgt voor Elkaar. The name of the network says it all: the Netherlands takes care of each other. We have the task - the challenge - to care for each other. What we at Noaber call Noaberschap. Citizen initiatives in welfare, care and housing are an important and even indispensable part of the sustainable organization of care for vulnerable people.
Furthermore, we believe it is a challenge to promote the social health of the Dutch; the ability to enter into and maintain meaningful social relationships as needed. And, in addition, to have sufficient support to help deal with life's challenges resiliently. In this regard, we believe that citizen initiatives play an important role.
We therefore expect NLZVE to have an impact in the coming years, both in terms of the content of its activities and in its involvement in our social health program.
