~ by Annemiek Dresen, founder and director of NewBees
Caring for people on the move
At the end of 2019, 26 million refugees were on the move, many of whom were forced to flee from violence and oppression[1]. Since 2013, more than 150,000 people have applied for asylum in the Netherlands, looking to build a new future. Many of them risked their lives as they crossed the Mediterranean Sea in makeshift boats and leaking dinghies.
People’s resilience after such a dangerous crossing is inspiring. And the talent, experience, and motivation newcomers bring, are a welcome addition to Dutch communities and work floors. Yet somehow the seemingly tolerant Dutch have not found a way to close the gap between work and talent, even though there are vacancies available that match the talent of newcomers.
It often takes a long time before people can fully participate in society. And that while many are looking to be engaged and productive members of society. Working is proven to enhance self-efficacy, recognition, and integration. Whether voluntary or paid, work leads to employability, more social cohesion, and more inclusive communities.
NewBees found a successful way to prepare newcomers, refugees, for a job: for a place in society. We match newcomers to traineeships with local entrepreneurs and organizations, with talent and equality as key values. We have developed a unique methodology and online matching platform that combine smart technology with social contact. During our traineeship, our experienced teams made up of former refugees and locals, guide both refugee and company, so we really make our matches matter.
All NewBees follow our 4M-model: we meet people and their talent, we match them to a fitting traineeship, which we make matter through our personal guidance based on experience. Finally, we measure the impact we make this way so we keep improving our service and can show the social benefits of our work.
MEET NewBees
Unlike recruitment agencies, whose clients are companies looking for employees, NewBees starts with the talent of newcomers. We create a space for that talent to grow and to adapt to its new environment. With the help of our refugee-led teams and smart online app, we do this efficiently and effectively.
On our innovative online platform, newcomers, together with our matchers, share their experience, knowledge and passion in a personal profile. With this information, we match newcomers to a suitable traineeship: a temporary, often unpaid position with a local organization or company.
Traineeships are tailor-made programs that focus on the newcomers’ talents, experiences and ambitions. They combine practical experience at the workplace with workshops and individual supervision by our matchers. NewBees works with local teams in various cities in the Netherlands. Our team members are strongly rooted in local communities. At least half each team has a background as a newcomer and knows exactly what our trainees are going through. The other half of the team is a local goal-getter with a large network of potential employers and partners close by. In this way, we find a suitable match for everyone, independent of the experience, background or diploma’s somebody can show.
At NewBees, we celebrate the skills people show in the traineeship. So even if you have not enjoyed formal education or work experience, your talent matters at NewBees. We make matches that improve the lives and careers of newcomers. And that contribute to an inclusive society. We are proud to have matched over 1200 people in the past five years.
MATCHES that MATTER
What better way to learn about a new country than to delve into its past? At the Zaanstad Municipal Archives, seven newbees are doing just that.
As volunteers in the archives, their workspace is filled floor-to-ceiling with cabinets holding historical documents of Zaandam’s centuries-old past. With an impressive collection of historical photos, films, books and newspapers, the archives form a beautiful, living memory of the region.
With so much work needed to properly preserve the documents, it’s also a great place to learn new skills, practice Dutch, and meet new people. The team works together to help the staff store, sort and care for the documents. The outcome? Diving into the past helps them create a brighter future.
DISCOVER MORE ABOUT THE VOLUNTEERS STORIES HERE
“I feel like I’m a part of history — the history of my new country.”
MEASURE positive impact
NewBees creates a positive impact on all our stakeholders: newcomers and their families, employers, our employees, government and society as a whole. To measure the actual impact of our traineeships, we developed a tool that allows us to monitor several indicators, which show the financial and non-financial impact of NewBees’ work. Some examples of these non-financial indicators are a variety of ‘welfare effects of work’, for example, because of social status, or personal contacts. Others have to do with the welfare effects of speaking the language or cultural integration, and with the effect of that welfare on children and families. Some financial indicators include an increase in productivity for companies and the decrease in welfare expenses for Dutch cities. We analyze our impact and adjust our services based on this knowledge to improve our product and deliver a better service.
Challenges and opportunities ahead
2020 has been a challenging year for all of us. For NewBees, the global COVID-19 pandemic paused many of the matches we made, and we had to move most of our services online. Luckily, we were able to stay close to our people, and we managed to continue to support our participants in developing their talent in a practical way. Even though many people had trouble organizing their digital lives at the start of the crisis, NewBees managed to get most of our participants online and into our broad offering of online workshops and traineeships.
Experts anticipate that we will feel the impact of this crisis for many years to come. As some companies close and others ask their employees to work from home, the number and variety of traineeship positions and opportunities decreases. This means that NewBees’ activities towards opening up the work floor for migrants’ talents have become even more challenging.
Thankfully, a great opportunity lies ahead as well: a new civic integration law in the Netherlands that will go into effect in July 2021. This law shifts the responsibilities and means for overseeing the integration process of newcomers to municipalities and local authorities. As such, Dutch cities will open up tenders to purchase expertise and successful interventions for integration starting in July 2021.
In 2019 and 2020, evaluation pilots have been organized by the national government in various parts of the country to experiment with the new law. They focused on several specific themes, one of them called “dual trajectories” (combining language learning and working), which is what we are good at. NewBees was centered in one of these pilots, and our methodology was proven to fit the design and principles of the new law. As such, we are uniquely positioned to win several of these new integration contracts.
How to help
To prepare for the scaling of NewBees’ activities and win contracts in a variety of Dutch cities, we are looking for investors who are interested in providing growth capital. Furthermore, we are always looking for people to tell our story and to open up their companies to NewBees’ trainees.
More on: en.new-bees.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewBeesNL/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/New_Bees
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/newbeesnl/
Annemiek Dresen is the founder and director of NewBees. She started NewBees after visiting the Greek islands during the European Refugee Crisis of 2015.
She believes that an inclusive society starts with working together. Social innovation and inclusion are her major drivers.
[1] https://www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance.html