Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper)Together with the Flemish Community, the Flemish Community Commission (VGC) has selected the first five projects for the development of ‘caring neighbourhoods’ in Brussels, neighbourhoods that should combat loneliness and tackle poor access to care.
This concerns the projects in which care organisations are working together with municipal services, schools and neighbourhood associations, among others, to make services more accessible and strengthen solidarity in the neighbourhood.
According to the VGC, the projects must ensure that the elderly or people with support needs can continue to live in their familiar neighbourhood. The projects will start from March 1 for a period of 2 years. The King Baudouin Foundation is responsible for the supervision and coaching of the projects.
The projects
The Connect Karreveld project of i-mens in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean wants to combine informal and formal help to form a neighbourly support network against social isolation.
In the high-rise district of Scherdemaal in Anderlecht, a care concierge, introduced by Vives, will be introduced to identify and tackle care and welfare needs together with the residents.
The Be Coming Home project focuses on the Hallepoort and Bosnia districts in Sint-Gillis. The aim is to create a better connection between residents by means of formal and informal meeting spaces and the setting up of a care trajectory.
Through the Chasse Coeur project, Wijkhuis Chambéry wants to tackle five themes in the De Jacht district in Etterbeek: the social mix between local residents, the neighbourly support network, housing problems, care services and the reach of families.
Finally, the Careful Neder-Over-Heembeek project focuses on the ageing and increasingly lonely population of Neder-Over-Heembeek. They want to involve this group more by setting up cultural meeting moments.
“Being able to find care and well-being in your own neighbourhood has enormous added value,” says President of the Executive Board Elke Van den Brandt in a report by BRUZZ. “It increases your quality of life and strengthens the neighbourhood. In a caring neighbourhood, organisations, governments and local residents can jointly take care of the individuality, warmth and safety of their neighbourhood. And in Brussels, that means, of course: across language, cultural and community boundaries. ”
