Superdiversity in Brussels

During our three-day project kick-off seminar in Brussels in December 2018, we got a glimpse of the superdiverse reality of Brussels in terms of among others, demography, employment, day-care and elderly housing solutions.

On our first day, we learned that Belgium has three official languages. In Belgium, there is a central government and three regions, each with its own regional government. The three regions are the bilingual Brussels and the monolingual Walloon and Flanders. In addition to this, there are also the Dutch, the French and the German communities providing services to the public. The Belgian administration structure raised quite a lot of questions. Which governmental structure provides which services to which citizens? Where to apply to project funding for a specific area or target group?

With this diversity in mind, we were treated to a walking tour with a very experienced guide from Brukselbinnenstebuiten vzw, a non-profit association organizing city tours that help people understand the complex, the historical and the present-day Brussels. The guide lead us through the streets of the multicultural neighbourhood of Molenbeek, the home of a large percentage of Brussel’s immigrants and also their often small-scale enterprises. We learned about the different waves of immigration to Brussels, with for example the Iraqis and the Moroccans replacing the Greeks and the Turks over time.  

On our second day, we visited Elmer vzw, a Dutch speaking day-care centre emphasizing inclusion and social participation. Besides the very flexible way of taking in new children quickly and on social grounds, Elmer had a programme for long-term unemployed women without qualification. These women worked as interns at Elmer, practiced the Dutch language on the side and eventually completed a degree in childcare. Another interesting feature was Elmer’s focus on activating the neighbourhood by offering a space on their premises for the parents and other neighbourhood communities for different activities.

Next, we were given an excellent lecture on the demographics in Brussels by researcher Sarah Luyten from the Observatorium voor Gezondheid en Welzijn Brussel. We learned that unlike many big cities in Europe, in Brussels the underprivileged areas are located in the city centre. The more well-off population tends to gravitate to more affluent areas outside the city. Because of immigration, the population in Brussels is much younger than the population in the rest of Belgium. Low income and low education, unemployment, cramped living space and inequal access to health care and even lower life expectancy is a reality to many residents of the poor neighbourhoods in Brussels.

During the visits and lectures, we gained an insight into the context in which our Belgian project partner EVA works daily. This insight is going to help us to discuss our project activities and good practices on a more profound level during the EME project. It was easier to understand the challenges of the multicultural elderly or child care and the importance of the stress on inclusion, neighbourhood activities and social participation. To understand the functionality of the projects showcased in Brussels, one needs to grasp the context in which they are operating. This is a pivotal lesson we learned during our first trip to Brussels.

 

Project partners from Belgium, Finland, and Sweden.

Lilli Rasilainen, Työväen Sivistysliitto TSL / Worker's Educational Association WEA of Finland