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