Unfortunately I have a return flight

A conclusion could be: I’m happy to be born outside of Norway. This way I could see and meet the country from another perspective. If not, I would probably have adopted the Norwegian way of thinking, almost without questioning it. Now, if I’m honest with myself I still pretty much do. I guess my personality fits with the way this society is organized. Or at least, I’d like to think so. The strong emphasis on inclusion and the efforts being done to create welfare for every citizen, also towards the newcomers, is admirable. The state has a strong but also leading impact at every level of society. But there is some kind of paradox in the effort of giving room to all kinds of development and new ideas at the one hand and at the other hand making sure you’re still in control. It feels like thinking out of the box but still respecting the framework.
Or going wild but still being sober…

Nevertheless, it had been great. Looking forward to the Enaro congress in Czech Republic in November.


Thanks a lot to all of you for the interesting encounters!

I’ll be back ;-)

Kobe

Ps: Yesterday I visited Preikestolen: 600 meters above the fjords. I guess this could be the most impressive and beautiful place on earth.

Minors should be enforced just as well

One of the last visits we’ve done, was at the minor section at Dale. It is funny in a way that the center has a ordinary section an enforced section and the unaccompagnied minor section. Although it seems more than reasonable that the sections with minors should be enforced in the first place. I don’t want to say that the current enforced section shouldn’t be. No I think I just observed that this section does have the means they need to do they work effectively. I.e. enough staff and a decent building, adapted to persons with a disability or some kind of disorder.

The minor section at the other hand looked just as our CADE at Klein Kasteeltje. Talking to Ragnhild, the previous coordinator of the bloc, it was surprising how much this minor section is similar to ours in Brussels (CADE at Klein Kasteeltje). We face the same challenges. First of all, minors who fled their country are a vulnerable group and should get additional support. They may have proven to be resilient and the future lies ahead of them, the responsibility that they have to carry at a minor age is huge. Staff accompanying them are the first who are confronted with this challenge and they experience every day that they cannot do enough compared to the needs this minors have. Sooner or later this might lead to a drop-out of a colleague. Which again has an unwanted but negative impact on the rest of the staff. Unfortunately, the risk of burn-out in this situation is real.

Recently, the team made a change in policy. One I would fully support. The number one priority now are activities. Even if that implies some administration work is not finished in time. The coordinators of the team insist that educators should not stay in the office but be present in the living room or organise activities with the youngsters. It has a good impact on everyone. The minors are more calm, tensions are decreasing and the staff is feeling more satisfied.

To all of the staff working with minors: keep up the good work! You’re doing a very important job.

Kobe

the return in France

When people decide to return, they receive a material assistance on departure: that includes payment of the travelling cost from the town of departure in France to the town of arrival in the home country, the cost of 40 kg excess baggage per adults and 10 kg per minor child and the cost of obtaining travel documents. They also help you to close your bank account, they orientate you to organization for migration, etc.
They also receive financial assistance: the amount of the financial assistance varies depending on your residence status. It can come to 2000 euros per adult, 3500 euros for a married couple and 1000 euros per minor child up to the third child and 500 euros per child after the third.
In addition to the repatriation grant described above, if you wish to set up an enterprise in your own country, you may also benefit from a grant from the OFII to set up a revenu-generating economic activity.
This grant, paid in the repatriation country by organisations approved by OFII, includes a grant for developing and setting up your economic project as well as a grant for starting up the project. This can be up to a maximum of 7000 euros.
This enterprise creation grant presently concerns the following countries: Armenia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Guinea, Georgia, Mali, Moldavia, Romania, Senegal and Ukraine. This list is not definitive.

Accessibility to return program

This help is for people who have had a real migratory path in France (2 years minimum). They have to prove that they have applied for a residence permit, that they demand has been rejected and that they have beneficiate of the AME (aide médicale de l’état) for several years. AME gives healthcares to the foreigners who live in France since more than 3 months if they have an irregular situation (no residence permit).




Et voilà... je finis ce blog avec une petite photo de notre dernier passage à l'OFII.

Bonne soirée!

Ma collègue Franciska, Serge un élève avocat à l'OFII qui nous a accompagné lors de certaines visites et Caroline notre contact à Paris

Le centre de Créteil

Bonjour à tous,

Hier, nous avons eu l’occasion de visiter le centre de Créteil composé d’une partie CADA (accueil des primo arrivants), d’une partie CPH (accueil pour les réfugiés), d’une partie transit et d’une partie réinstallation.

Les places de transit (80 places) sont destinées à des personnes se présentant à Paris. Elles ne peuvent pas avoir de places en CADA et sont donc d’abord envoyées

en transit (en urgence si priorité). Ces personnes restent un moyenne de 1 à 3 semaines dans ces places. On profite de ce temps pour établir leur état civil et introduire leur demande OFPRA. Ces places servent également à répondre à des situations exceptionnelles. Par exemple, ils ont du accueillir en urgence des Irakiens chrétiens blessés lors des attentats de Bagdad. Le centre s’est mobilisé pour les accueillir très rapidement (3 jours), les amener à l’hôpital et les aider à s’installer en France.

Le CADA quant à lui compte 170 places. Les demandeurs d’asile y restent une moyenne de 18 à 20 mois. Les travailleurs cherchent avant tout à rendre les DA autonomes. Ceux-ci doivent aller faire leurs courses et cuisiner, ils doivent aller chercher leurs enfants à l’école et on les encourage à discuter avec les professeurs. Ils ont également accès à des cours de français donnés dans le centre (même si normalement, il ne devrait pas y avoir de cours de français car le gouvernement juge que seuls les réfugiés en ont réellement besoin. C’est donc le personnel qui se mobilise pour rendre cela possible).
La principale difficulté pour les DA est qu’ils n’ont pas accès au marché du travail ni même aux formations, contrairement à avant. En effet, au départ, les DA pouvaient travailler. C’est avec la montée de Le Pen en 1991 que le travail leur a été interdit pour ne pas voler le travail des Français. A l’époque, lorsque les DA avaient le droit de travailler, ils demandaient une aide à leur arrivée. Ils avaient besoin d’une orientation et de repères. Une fois qu’ils avaient trouvé un travail et un logement, ils ne se tracassaient pas trop de leur procédure. En effet, même s’ils recevaient une décision négative, ils avaient réussi à s’intégrer à la population française. De ce fait, ils étaient régularisé. Même les maires intervenaient en leur faveur. Depuis l’interdiction au travail, une nouvelle catégorie est apparue : les clandestins.
Pour vous situer, en 1990, 85% des gens étaient reconnus réfugiés. Depuis, nous en sommes à 80% de rejet.

Au centre Créteil se trouvent également les intervenants du Pôle insertion. Celui-ci comprend 4 dispositifs :
· CPH (centre provisoire hébergement)
· Relais insertion
· ROLOREF (réseau emploi et logement pour réfugiés)
· Réinstallation

La France a pour objectif principal l’intégration des réfugiés dans la population française. C’est pour cette raison qu’ils tiennent à ce que toutes les personnes s’installant en France pour une longue durée suive le programme d’intégration. En plus de cela, il existe les places CPH. Il y a 50 places en tout (30 dans le centre de Créteil et 20 dans un immeuble sous forme d’appartements). Les réfugiés et les détenteurs d’une protection subsidiaire avec une reconnaissance de statut depuis moins d’un an peuvent y rester pour une période de 6 mois. Ce contrat doit être validé par la direction du développement sanitaire et social (DRIHL). Ce contrat peut être renouvelé 1 ou 2 fois. Les bénéficiaires de ce logement doivent participer financièrement en payant 25% du RSA (revenu solidarité active ou ancien RMI). Ce RSA diffère selon la composition familiale.
Après leur sortie, les travailleurs sociaux continuent encore à suivre ces personnes durant 1 an (visites régulières à leur domicile, contacts téléphoniques, etc.)

Le relais insertion : c’est le même public qui y est accueilli mais ces gens sont plus proches de l’emploi. Ils doivent donc déjà travailler ou être proches de trouver un travail. Ces personnes sont hébergées en appartement. Il y a 50 places de disponibles. Les gens doivent également participer financièrement mais en fonction de leur salaire. Les familles monoparentales doivent verser 20% de leur salaire et les couples 25%. Les personnes signent un contrat de 3 mois renouvelable tacitement. La plupart du temps, les personnes sortant du CPH reprennent ces places.

ROLOREF : cet endroit a été créé par France Terre d’Asile en 2004. Le but était de désengorger le CADA et les logements ci-dessus. Il y a actuellement 9 familles sur Créteil qui bénéficient de ces places. Le critère est d’avoir un emploi. Les familles signent un contrat de 6 mois renouvelable une fois. Mais les familles restent en moyenne une durée de 18 à 24 mois. Ces familles doivent payer 10 ¨% de leurs ressources et payer l’électricité et le gaz. On leur offre un accompagnement global.

Réinstallation : 6 familles Irakiennes sont encore dans le centre actuellement. Elles reçoivent le RSA et doivent participer financièrement. Ils sont dans un processus de formation. Ils suivent le programme d’intégration et reçoivent des cours de français supplémentaires.

Petite salle de classe où une institutrice vient faire l'école des devoirs aux enfants 4 jours par semaine...

Foyer où les familles peuvent cuisiner

chambre d'une famille, d'un côté le lit superposé pour les enfants

et de l'autre le lit deux places pour les parents!!!

Enfin... le cyber (où Internet sera bientôt installé). le prof de français a même le projet d'installer le programme Tell me more pour donner un autre moyen aux résidents d'apprendre le français...

A resident council… Responsibility were it should be!

I was very much looking forward to our meeting with the strong holders of the resident council at Dale reception center.

Since 3 years this centre has become the reference in the country to be managed for a big part by residents themselves. For the moment there are 6 persons in the council. They are in charge of organising activities for all the other residents, they speak on behalf of the residents and they are the spokesman when officials, like the mayor are visiting the centre, etc.

Meeting Leith from Irak, he explained us what he’s getting in return from his voluntary commitment.

“Just waiting in the mottak for the answer from UDI got me more and more depressed. But when I’ve been approached to join the resident council, I start to feel better again. I still feel support from the other council members when I do feel down from time to time. Mainly when I miss my family.”

Leith is now helping out people with their computers and he gives courses in IT to other residents. But the council is also engaged in other trainings for residents thanks to a kind of train-the-trainer programs.

Abdellah, one of the resident co-founders of the council explained us how he sees their mission:

“We have to try to kill the time, before the time kills us.”

I was very much impressed, this council has important responsibilities. They are managing a budget up to 2000 euro each month. They organise activities for all residents, and are in charge of the facilities like TV room, cyber, fitness. Asylum seekers with personal interests are also supported. E.g.: you can get subsidies if you join a sport team. And if a certain nationality likes to celebrate one of their traditional or religious holidays, they will sponsor a 100 NOK for each participant at the event initiated by residents.

Unfortunately it keeps on being a difficult job to convince new people to join the council. Although every single resident knows who Abdellah and Leith are, and so do they. But it is not the way budget is spent that makes them respected. They also mediate between residents, and with the staff if necessary. They’re even asked to intervene in other centres to settle arguments.

I got the permission to share their presentation with you.

Operational and strategic teams: shall we try to get residents participation to a new level?

Thanks a lot,
Kobe

Here you see a not so flattering self-made picture where I’m riding one of the bikes that the council is borrowing out to other residents. They have been in use since the council joined a cycle race a few years ago.

Me? I’m ready too to voluntary return (to Norway)

Sorry to the ones expecting a blog post ready early yesterday morning. It had it typed out but believe it or not, internet connection failed at the hotel in Sandnes.

We did move in the mean time to Sandnes, a little bit south from Stavanger. Here we are visiting the oldest and biggest centre of the Hero network. We could call it the “Klein Kasteeltje” (= the center I work for in Brussels) from Norway. It used to be an old psychiatric hospital and there are slightly less than 400 residents living over here.

Today, it wasn’t that eye-opening or confronting as the first days in Norway. Nevertheless they do an amazing job at Dale center. It was just a bit more comparable to my own center in Belgium. For instance: Rolf Ingar didn’t accept my bottle of wine since they can’t consume alcohol in the center, whereas at the headquarters they can. I think the same goes for us at Fedasil…

No, honestly they encounter very similar challenges as we do. Not hiding the major problems we have to tackle in Belgium, the staff guiding us around wasn’t shocked about our stories. Compared to Stavanger, one has to admit that size and the age of the infrastructure you’re working with definitely matter!

Trying to get a big centre clean, dealing with vandalism that you can’t always fix or rapair right away, furniture that hasn’t been respected by residents that much. Dale, just as Klein Kasteeltje, faces this kind of challenges.
I’d like to invite the staff from Dale at our center and probably they’ll make similar conclusions. Since they do have unaccompanied minors at Dale and people with medical problems as well, you see that the number of staff is getting more comparable to us than Stavanger or the Hero’s Headquarters.
At the other hand, I could observe other strategic choices that they have made. Dealing with hygiene problems, they do outsource cleaning to a professional private firm for certain sections. This way, Hero tried to prove or convince UDI they are guaranteeing more quality than other companies who submitted a tender offer.

This morning we met two very nice people, Rajab and Tone, in charge of voluntary return and the training they do offer to those who have received a second negative (so again a negative after appealing). Again, despite the very good intentions with the programs set up for them, Silvia (from Italy) and I were really urprised how much effort is put into them. It didn’t look very consequent to us to at the one hand reject the persons as an asylum seeker, and at the other hand offering them trainings like English language and an agricultural training. Not to forget these trainings aim to motivate people to apply for the voluntary return. But frankly speaking, would you consider a return when you still live in a beautiful country, you’ll be offered a free bed, money to buy food and on top of that additional interesting courses and skill trainings? I can imagine this looks probably far better than the harsh situation someone tried to escape in his country of origin.

You feel how much Norwegian wouldn’t like to see anyone falling out of the boat. Everybody should have access to almost the same kind of rights and services of autochthonic Norwegians. Although, I admire this goal, I get somehow puzzled why in this case people are given a second negative in the end.

Norway has been sending people out forcefully more often than Belgium does. Interesting as well is they do notice a surge in the number of people who like to voluntary return to those countries to which Norway is able to return forcefully on the basis of bilateral agreements. The other ones kind of stay forever in reception centres. Apparently the tread of being repatriated by the police seems far more effective than giving additional courses after a second negative.
If it was up to me: I wouldn’t give up these training programs but I would put the focus on another target group. Either for the ones who get their first negative and still like to appeal, either in the country of origin itself for those who actually (voluntarily) returned.

Finally, there is one very good practise I’d like to share with you. At Dale, they are organizing film and debates with people from the same nationality to actually discuss the situation at their home country. Improvements, new opportunities since they left, news on the evolution of a country could be set on the agenda. It’s done in a rather informal way. For instance, there might be some traditional food from this country to create a nice atmosphere. A staffmember is present and the discussions are mainly held in Norwegian, usually some residents are translating. It proves these evenings to be pleasant and actually having a positive impact onto the perception of voluntary return.

Melanie, Steven, Anne-Marie, Sebastian. Are you ready to implement this at Klein Kasteeltje?

Greetings, Kobe

Ps: Norway does have a solid program for return, but statistics show that in 2010 Belgium had a higher amount - just under 3000 people - of voluntary returned people (in absolute as well as in relative numbers) We definitely can learn from each other. Long live Enaro ;-)

I love the system, as long as I could be in charge

Not an easy day. Lots of information, many thoughts. It'll take a while before I come to a clearcut idea. At the other hand, do I have to be that radical to hook to one single point of view?

Since Hero tweeted our blog link, and the UDI retweeted it, I should be careful what I write down. Words to organize my ideas like neo-communism can't be mentioned in this blog, I imagine. Certainly not if it is said in the wrong context.

Back again at the center in Stavanger this morning, we were happy to hear from the team that earlier some resident has come down to explain about things happening at night in the center. Yesterday still feeling a bit like "is it all bright and shiny or did I miss something" today I'm happy to experience this openness from my international colleagues about the challenges they encounter as well.
Silvia too was relieved when we came to know that even in Norway they make mistakes. The government kept on sending tax papers to rejected asylum seekers which the former asylum seekers used to mislead employers they could work legally. Point is not the error, point is: mistakes are human. Ergo, Norway is (still) human.

During lunchtime I gave our presentation about the Belgian system. But I wasn't on my ease. Honestly, I'm not that much bothered to speak in public, I rather had difficulties to defend our system. 200 people in the hotels, ever increasing capacity but still insufficient, 10.000 persons to whom we couldn't offer a bed the last two years. Nevertheless, the slides contained a lot of positive words as well. And as a matter of fact we do have interesting projects running, from which other countries can learn too. On top of that, we have plenty of motivated staff. It's not them to blame. However, somewhere I felt that I might gonna need some peptalk when I'll be back at work in Belgium.

So, what is our problem than? This is the question constantly spinning in my head since my arrival in Stavanger. Hero is not having more resources, definitely not on the level of staff. And don't we have as many good ideas as they do up here? Well, maybe that's not the problem. I start to belief we lost track since we are developing all kind of projects dealing with our crisis and increasing influx of ASs. We tender certain things like in Norway, but we do many things ourselves, we have lawyers for legal support, but our assistants do that as well, some residents can cook, for others we cater, we provide material support and in a second fase (or should we say third because in the mean time we've created transit centers trying to manage the overcapacity) we give financial aid. We have professional observation centers for minors, but the majority gets stuck in hotels. We just don't choose...

My boss loves kissing or at least KISS: Keep It Simple and Stupid. I'd like to follow him for the first S, the urge to simplify. E.g. at our centers we have to do daily briefings to decide on complicated sanctions regarding follow-up of residents. In Norway they simply deduct money from those who don't clean or vandalize. We can only administer a sanction, for instance requesting them to work to "pay back" what they destroyed (e.g. in case of damaged goods). Whereas withholding something is far more easy and effective...

Although the national government is outsourcing plenty of services for AS, this doesn't mean organizations like Hero are free to do as it suits them. The state clearly knows what they want. Even from the local authorities. This we learned in the afternoon during a visit at the municipality to give us more explanation about the rights for asylum seekers who obtained a protection status.

The "komune" gets a fixed amount of money for each refugee they accept in their region for five continuing years. The komune will let the responsible state body (IMDI) know with a annual plan how many refugees they are welcoming that year. So the IMDI can plan (it has been requested not to write control) to where they are sending who.
Each municipality is responsible for an introduction course to facilitate integration of their refugees. These trainings are obliged for those who are in need for it (for instance if you don't have a job yet). Such a person will have to make a plan with their "coach" from the komune to clarify the persons future objectives and the way he or she will be trying to achieve these goals. This package will always include Norwegian language courses, a training to apply for jobs and an integration course in Norwegian society. Although on paper refugees are free to join this program. If they don't they loose huge benefits. The choice between a narrowly defined support and no support is a choice but I wonder how much this appeals to concepts like ownership and intrinsic motivation. Unexpectedly, I started to regain some pride about our improvisation skills at Fedasil. We try, we create and maybe we've invented the wheel too many times, not getting immediate cash for our efforts, we are nevertheless doing it!

Another feeling I like to share with you is my idea that Norway is pretty young. They love diversity they say. They embrace open-mindedness. And they are proud in Stavanger to be multiculti. But the way they plan the spread of the different nationalities, shows they aren't confronted (yet?) with area's concentrated with people from a certain background. There are no Turkish areas here, or African quarters. They don't have many of few, they have few of many. And this keeps one nationality very dominant, i.e. the native Norwegian one. Although you feel that this society doesn't accept anyone falling out of the boat, you see who remains the captain of the boat. Although in Belgium and other Western countries some might have loved to keep it that way, eventually we all get outnumbered. Question is who's defining the culture of a community? The ones who lived there, or the ones living there? Here comes up the debate on integration and assimilation. Be assured, Norwegian people won't dare to speak about assimilation. However it is kind of obvious that refugees dropping in one by one in a city rather learn Norwegian, than a whole city learning the mothertongue of the newcomer. Still I wonder, in a globalizing world, is this kind of integration giving enough room to go both ways?

The central planning of this strong state is obviously showing its advantages. It is simple and neatly coordinated. At the other hand a tailormade solution is only tailormade for a given situation. This weakness of simplicity is the strength of diversity: room for innovation and alternatives.
To summarize my feelings: this morning I was still dreaming of starting up my own company as a free man to tender here in Norway alongside Hero. Ariete even wanted to join me. It seemed satisfying to compete with others and take full accountability for the reception of AS. At first it felt confortable to me, choosing how I would organize this and picking the best from Norway and Belgium and other experience I may have. In the afternoon it didn't feel that confortable and free anymore. I could do whatever I want as long as I don't cross the lines of the strongly demarcated framework that's laid out for me (and you).
I'd like to compare it with a massage. If you trust it, you can relax and enjoy it. But if you start to worry, you suddenly realize the hands on your shoulders can take too much grip on you. You just feel the power and the warm breath of the person close behind you. Not to mention, it are the hands that make a message a success, not our shoulders.

It's nice to be in good hands though.

Greetings, Kobe

NB: is it still news that our train from Stavanger to Sandness left spot-on time, and the next stop was Paradis? No further comments.

Intégration et accueil....

Bonjour à tous,

Aujourd'hui, nous nous sommes rendus la délégation de l'OFII à Paris. C'est dans cette plateforme que se signent les fameux contrats d'intégration (CAI), destinés à tous les étrangers non ressortissants de l'UE s'installant durablement en France.

Ce contrat comprend des cours de français, une formation civique et une journée "vivre en France". On peut également faire un bilan de compétences des personnes afin de voir quel travail leur conviendrait le mieux.

Ce contrat a pour but d'aider ces personnes à devenir de parfaits citoyens français, connaissant et respectant les valeurs fondamentales de la France.

Ces personnes sont obligées de suivre cette formation, sans quoi le préfet peut mettre fin au contrat ce qui peut le conduire à:
- refuser le premier renouvellement du titre de séjour
- refuser la délivrance de la carte de résident (carte de 10 ans)

Durant l'après-midi, nous avons visité le CAFDA, plateforme s'occupant de l'orientation des familles demandeuses d'asile.

Celles-ci peuvent se présenter au CAFDA pour demander un logement, une adresse de domiciliation et recevoir une aide sociale. C'est également au CAFDA que les familles raconteront par écrit, et en français (à l'aide d'un interprète juridique), leur histoire. Le CAFDA sera chargé de vérifier les faits. Chaque personne introduit une demande d'asile personnelle. Même dans une famille, chaque personne doit narrer sa propre histoire. Le CAFDA interrogera donc chaque personne de la même famille séparément pour confronter les histoires. Enfin, c'est la préfecture qui donnera ou non le statut de réfugié.

Durant cette visite, nous avons eu l'occasion de discuter avec l'une des employées. Plus nous entrions dans les détails, plus les choses devenaient compliquées: la prise en charge des personnes voulant résider en France (tous statuts confondus)est répartie sur une multitude d'intervenants, la plupart du temps des associations, ou l'OFII, ou un mixe entre l'OFII et les associations, etc. IL n'y a donc pas réellement de fil conducteur.

Mais promis, fin de la semaine, on connaîtra tout sur le bout des doigts!

Bonne soirée!

Julie

first visit...

Bonjour à tous!

Nous avons aujourd'hui eu notre première visite officielle. Nous avions rendez-vous à l'OFII (Office Français de l'Immigration et de l'Intégration). Le but de cette journée était de recevoir des informations sur l'asile, le retour et l'intégration.

La procédure d'asile se déroule en deux temps:
1. le DA fait sa demande auprès de l'OFPRA (office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides). Cette étape dure en général 4 mois.
Durant cette première étape, le DA n'est pas obligé d'avoir un avocat. les ONG aimeraient donc que l'on accompagne d'avantage les DA dans leur demande d'asile.

Si le DA reçoit une décision négative, il fait appel via le
2. CNDA (cour nationale du droit d'asile). Cette partie dure plus ou moins 14 mois.
Tous les demandeurs d'asile recevant une décision négative passe par cette deuxième étape.

Tout comme la Belgique, la France passe actuellement par une grosse crise dans la capacité d'accueil. Chaque mois, 3500 DA arrivent en France et seulement 1000 d'entre eux recevront une place d'accueil.

les personnes n'ayant pas la possibilité de bénéficier d'un centre doivent soit rester dans un hébergement d'urgence (des hôtels), soit dans leur communauté d'origine.

L'OFII finance depuis 2010 les plateformes d'accueil (ONG). Celles-ci informent et orientent les DA.

En tout, il existe 272 centres CADA gérés par des ONG, ce qui représente 22000 places d'accueil. Ces centres sont aussi financés par l'OFII.

Les personnes désirant rester dans leur communauté ou les personnes n'ayant pas accès aux places d'accueil, ont droit à une allocation de 10,8 euros par jour.

concernant la prise en charge, tous les demandeurs d'asile ont droit aux mêmes soins de santé et à la même éducation que les "Français démunis".

voilà donc en gros ce que nous avons appris du directeur de la direction de l'asile. Je vous propose de vous retrouver dans les prochains jours pour vous parler du retour et de l'intégration! bonne soirée!

Revolutionary

I'm confused though, blogging... Who's reading this if it wouldn't be for the people to whom I would just as well email my thoughts?

It's strange writing an online diary. Jamie Anderson, the management guru, said last week at TEDxFlanders that leadership requires followership. He has a point, but does that mean we should be so pretentious to expect people queuing up to know what someone just did like the posts on ijustmadelove.com? (You don't have to click, I didn't).

I went trough the stats of this blog. Enaro this year has been followed by 1 person and this blog has been opened 24 times since yesterday. Already 12 times more than yesterday. Maybe by adding Google Adsense publicity we can raise funds to do some nice projects with Asylum seekers?

Not that I'm saying you can't learn from other peoples comments. I've noticed that expectancies from Hero are huge regarding our blogs. Of course, I couldn't have a bigger competitor than Geert Knockaert from Fedasil who visited Norway about five years ago. He is still referred to as the one asking such critical and interesting questions with an outsiders perspective, that he even challenged the General Director and the Development Manager until today to motivate carefully the choices of their unique system.

Now Geert, no hard feelings, after some googling I discovered two opportunities for me. First of all, I can just copy your blog for mine (Enaro: collega Geert Knockaert in Noorwegen) and second of all, yours was in Dutch so I could convince the non-native Dutch speaking community (read our Enaro colleagues) that the upcoming summaries and intelligent conclusions on this blog arise from my own brain cells.

Okay, back to business.

[...] het feit dat de structuur, de inspraak en de besluitvorming voor mij nogal revolutionair zijn - GK in 2006

After our first day (introduction at Headquarters & visit of a center), we don't know much yet on the participatory activities for residents but the way Norway and Hero are organisated is stunning.
NGO's, private companies as well as municipalities compete to make the best tender offer to get a 3 year contract from the government to be in charge as a host for asylum seekers. This implies a very competitive, flexible and adjustable system. More asylum seekers, more places. Less asylum seekers, less need for capacity. Although in times of lower influx, this isn't good news for the employees in this sector.

Ik heb nog een kleine informatie achtergehouden: het voltallige personeel [van het opvangcentrum in Bergen] bestaat uit 6 FTE’s. Zes! - GK in 2006

You won't believe, the center in Stavanger responsible for 200 places is managed with a staff of only 7,5 FTE plus < 2FTE (doctor, nurse) from the municipality responsible for the medical support . At 4 PM the offices closes and nobody stays in the center and or its surrounding houses where asylum seekers reside. Residents live here very much like native Norwegians can. If they can produce a official identity, they are even entitled to work within 3 week upon arrival. In stavanger with only 1% of unemployment rate, chances are high you actually can earn money. On top of that, the government binds herself to the promis that every child from 1 year old can go to a kindergarden, also asylum seekers. Therefore Hero is also active in setting up kindergardens (but not exclusively for AS). Another revolutionary system: residents do have a chipcard! Not a bankcard, but also a card by which they can withdraw their pocket money and or pay in shops. You can compare it to giftcards from warehouses and so on. How do they manage this? Well, Hero has one considerable account number on the bank. Residents haven't. But with this card they can withdraw money to a certain limit every two weeks. They even can save money on their card. The bank get it revenue from a small transaction cost each time Hero sets money available on a card. And all this is linked to their central database. Not Adabase, not Resident, Sesam is the answer.

In the afternoon Margarethe showed us around in the main reception building at Stavanger. The compound for 60 people is somewhat comparable with centers from Fedasil. To my standards I found it to be rather clean. Maybe the sanctions of reducing the pocket money by 100 NOK will motivate all residents to tidy. I kept asking the manager if they weren't any other (hidden) problems. Vandalism, illegal trade at night, ... She said to have few problems with destroyed infrastructure or theft (even the flatscreen isn't locked or attached to the wall). Also no complaints about things happening after the staff's leaving. Although it might be looking good, isn't there a proverb saying ignorance is bliss?

Later on, we visited a decentralised asylum residence (compare this concept with our FOIs or LOI / ILA). 12 people, from 4 different nationalities, were ready to welcome us, all living under the same roof. They asked us how the procedures go in Italy and Belgium. Trying to be neutral giving a our explanation, they stuck to their conclusion: Norway's the best.

Is all of this perfect? Please, read my previous post. Or Geerts ;-)
Inspiring? No doubt about it!

Greetings, Kobe

Perfect picture

Arrived.
A bit after midnight. But everything went smootly. Even the hotel was booked in advance. Not by myself obviously. Planning ahead wasn't that much included. I was doubting until the very last minute if I should fly in my bicycle and when I decided not to, I missed the train. By feet everything takes just a bit more time.

At first sight, everything looks perfect over here. Stavanger is beautiful, and so do the people. Kjartan (from Hero) has been very welcoming as well. I really don't understand we're experiencing a sort of pull factor for asylum seekers in Belgium, whereas here up north in this hospitable country, they are closing down reception centers. Norway and its system seem nothing less than paradise.

Mountains and sea, modern architecture neatlessly integrated with the old town. A booming economy since the 1970's thanks to oil opportunities.
But maybe this is all that little too clean and perfectly organised. Where are the noisy people, the multicultural tensions, the vibes?
Silvia, my Italian Enaro colleague, sees it just that way. She was joking: "Norway's like Italy: mountains, sea, beautiful people. Only a few differences... we have maffia and a corrupt president, but here, where is the fun?"

Our "late" evening stroll (at 7 PM) didn't make us much wiser. We only saw 3 young people enjoying a crazy night fishing at the seashore.

Happily there was my friend Mona who decided to kick some ass in this awesome harbour.

Talk to you soon!

Kobe