“De Mosselbank" is a social housing block in Kortrijk, with 99 flats spread over 9 entities (built in 1997). In the summer of 2001 there were some complaints about damaged goods. The local police, the prevention team, a social worker and the housing corporation and some inhabitants started the ‘sofa-conversations’. Soon, a group of 11 volunteers organized visits to the sick and lonely, made a newsletter and organized many block happenings. Some frictions in the group and a permanent stress on the social worker had to be ‘managed’. It was necessary to start up an experiment. With the help of VISP, VormingPlus developed a training program for the volunteers. They helped to develop a new methodology for training, learning and supporting processes. They stimulated the process of gaining independency and they put up a transferable methodology and quality handbook for training other groups. Educational sessions were organized. Since, theory has been translated into practice. A ‘sounding board’ has been created to make it able to evaluate critically what the Mosselbank volunteers are doing. The skills of the group have made enormous progress, but that is what capacity building in citizen involvement is all about. However, the group must be followed closely by a social worker, because there are still some problems to solve ...

Dominique Viaene

Published by Valerie, Lambertyn

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