One in five Rotterdam children are growing up in poverty. Although the city council provides assistance, EUR alumni Joyce (23) and Domenique (26) noticed that there was no effective way to provide mental support to this group. During their Master’s thesis they discovered BaSICS training, a proven method from the US. Now, almost two years later, they’re launching a training course in Rotterdam: 'We really want to do something for those who are often not heard.'
The pair started their Master’s thesis in February 2023 at Rotterdam-based charity Avant sanare. 'The director at the time really had a heart for Rotterdam children growing up in poverty', says Joyce. 'Plenty of agencies offer support, but there were no official training courses for this target group.'
When it comes to the number of children growing up in low-income families, there are significant differences between regions and municipalities in the Netherlands. In Rotterdam, 1 in 5 children are living in poverty. This makes Rotterdam the municipality with the highest numbers in the Netherlands. Figures from Statistics Netherlands show that this is about twice the national average of 5.2 per cent.
That was the start of Joyce and Domenique’s search for a suitable way to help Rotterdam children in poverty. They eventually came across the BaSICS training course. Research shows that children who grow up in poverty develop different coping strategies to children who do not grow up in that context – in other words, different ways of dealing with stressful circumstances and setbacks. 'It has quite an impact on how you approach life and how you deal with certain things', Domenique explains. 'How do you deal with your own emotions, for example? And how do you interact with others? The training helps them learn skills that will help them in the long term.'
Going deep
The training course is designed for children aged between eleven and fourteen and consists of sixteen sessions. 'It’s an intense journey', Joyce admits. 'But because these are sensitive issues, we do think it’s very important. In the course, we go deep. We talk about feelings, who you are as a person; if necessary, we talk about home situations and how they deal with them. That’s why it’s very important to establish a relationship of trust.'
Joyce and Domenique say that the BaSICS method suits Rotterdam children well, especially because the training pays attention to the cultural identity aspect. 'For example, we focus on questions like "Who am I?" and "Which groups do I belong to?" This ranges from the community they live in to the culture they’re growing up in. We think this is very important, especially in a super-diverse city like Rotterdam.' Domenique adds: 'We want this group of children to feel heard. By working with the neighbourhood and focusing on their talents, we can really give them a helping hand.'
Another important part of the training is exploring the neighbourhood, to make the children more aware of their environment. Together, they go out and take photos of places that are important to them and that contribute to their positive feelings about the neighbourhood. But they also look for places that they feel bring the neighbourhood down, or that give them unpleasant feelings. After the photo tour, they set to work to come up with projects that could enhance the neighbourhood, such as a flower bed, meeting place or sports field. 'In this way, young people not only get to know their neighbourhood better, they also feel heard and involved in their neighbourhood', says Domenique.
City council support
Joyce and Domenique have worked extremely hard over the past few months to get the training course up and running. They started during their thesis, with a grant application to Rotterdam City Council. The council was enthusiastic, and approved their first grant application. 'We thought that was really cool. It meant we could really get started', says Joyce. 'They’ve also now approved the innovation budget for 2025. It really shows their confidence in us and the project.'
American developers in Rotterdam
This confidence is also reflected in their regular contact with the US developers of BaSICS, who recently came to Rotterdam to support them in person. Domenique says, 'During their three-day visit, we gave them an overview of all the ins and outs of the training course. It was very cool to meet the project manager and methodology developer, and to see them getting excited about what we’re doing here in Rotterdam.'
Motivations
Joyce has always been interested in doing something for children. 'I’ve always been very curious about child development. Because of my parents' divorce, I was very curious about the different types of family structures there are, what children have to deal with during a divorce and what kind of help you can offer them. Because of my home situation, I often thought it'd be nice to be able to give children some extra help. My studies in Pedagogical Sciences fitted in well with that.'
Domenique also has a longtime passion for working with children. Before starting her studies in Pedagogical Sciences, she did volunteer work in Ukraine and Egypt, among other places. There, she saw first-hand what growing up in poverty does to children. 'Their situation is obviously not comparable to the situation in the Netherlands', she emphasises. 'But you do see how intense something like that can be and what those children are going through. It provided extra motivation to give Rotterdam children a helping hand.' Joyce and Domenique hope to start the first training courses next month in collaboration with welfare organisations WMO Radar and SOL.
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