THE NETHERLANDS
LESSONS LEARNED
• Training and supervision of volunteers is
essential to ensure the quality and sus-
tainability of services.
An important element of the programme is
the involvement of volunteers who contrib-
ute to activities and act as links to the local
community. However, the recruitment, train-
ing and monitoring of volunteers requires
considerable investment in time and effort on
the part of the staff. Since each Happy Nest
only has two part-time workers, the staff have
a high workload which does not always allow
them to provide the necessary attention and
support to volunteers. The development of
a volunteer network and their meaningful
and beneficial engagement require sufficient
human and financial resources.
• Initiatives for migrant and refugee
children operate within the limits of na-
tional policies.
Every project runs within the limitations of
the national legal and policy context. The
Happy Nest programme and other similar
initiatives offering informal education and
after-school activities for children should be
developed in the context of an integrated ap-
proach, which would require certain changes
in national policies on the return, reception
and integration of migrants and asylum seek-
ers. At the same time, any such project should
be able to adjust its activities to realities on
the ground and find ways to manage opera-
tional challenges caused by a high turnover of
children and poor infrastructure.
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