USE-IT Roadshow - In Rotterdam
Edited on
12 July 2022The time seems to be moving far too fast - and it's been some time since we arrived back from the Netherlands and Poland. We’ve now had chance to pour over the visit in detail – and thinking carefully about everything we experienced and learnt.
There was a lot of inspiring work going on in both cities, but just thinking about our first stop in Rotterdam – here are a few of the highlights.
A Visit To The Stadhuis
The visit started in the impressive surroundings of Rotterdam City Hall ‘Stadhuis’. Built around 1920, it’s one of the few pre-war buildings to have survived – and we’re very pleased it did. Inside we had a warm welcome with time for some introductions and networking over a traditional Dutch breakfast. There followed a series of presentations from organisations,
including the Voor Goed ‘Rotterdam Impact Agency’ which links social enterprises with investors and helps create social initiatives across the city. Of course, at the end of the session, there was also time for some good old-fashioned mind-mapping and discussion!
A Walk Across Town
Next came a walk across town, which was very interesting in itself, not least because Rotterdam, like many cities in continental Europe, still has a branch of C&A. A few members of our party, even stopped at the department store for selfies!
Holy Beans!
At the other end of the main commercial centre from City Hall is Heilige Boontjes (which translates to Holy Beans) where we met the hyper-enthusiastic Rodney. Rodney discussed how he had turned his life around from being an addict to setting up his café and coffee business – in a former Police station, of all places. Even better, is the fact that the social enterprise organisation works with young people who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law, but want to turn their lives around – gaining new skills and having a steady job. A real success story that everyone can drink to!
Afrikaander Neighbourhood Cooperation tour
It was getting hot now – heading towards the 30 degrees mark. Catching Rotterdam’s excellent metro across town, we were very pleased to find ourselves in the shade at the very friendly Afrikaander Neighbourhood Cooperation. The shade was very cool but the warm-welcome from Alejandra (Project Leader) was very warm.
Based in a formal industrial warehouse on the other side of the river from the main commercial centre, this amazing project works with people from Africa – though everyone is welcome. The city has a sizeable African community and equally
large communities from across the world. Nearly 53% of Rotterdam’s population is from non-Dutch origin, owing to Rotterdam being an historic port city, to this day being the largest port in Europe and one of the largest in the world.
Here we had a very enjoyable and inspiring presentation from Alejandra, followed by a very good conversation and mind-mapping session. As we were all in the shade, the temperature was 30 degrees at this point, we could sit comfortably and really think carefully about what we had learnt in Rotterdam.
Submitted by James Carless on