‘G&S to provide financial support to A World of Neighbours (AWoN), of which Rikko Voorberg is director. Michel Peters spoke with Rikko about (the necessity of) the work of AWoN.
Fieldwork
AWoN is an international, European working community of migration professionals with the vision: a diverse and welcoming Europe, a world of neighbors. I have just returned from the annual members’ meeting, this time in Eastern Poland. Grupa Granica operates there, a collection of action groups that receives refugees who are forcibly pushed across the border from White Russia and deported by Poles with similar violence without any form of trial. We got an insight into their work with safehouses and a 24/7 hotline that refugees who have ended up on the Polish side can call for support. For my podcast series Living as Neighbours (ep. 7) I previously had a conversation with Marianna about her work. Grupa Granica, for example, is a member of our network.
Organization
AWoN was initiated in 2016, the peak of the reception crisis in Sweden, by Antje Jackelen, at the time the first female archbishop of the Church of Sweden. She sent people into Europe to investigate what could best be done now. This team discovered that almost all social workers ran into the same things: they were constantly rowing against the current, they were overburdened and suffered from burnout complaints. In crisis situations, first responders often turned out to be linked to religiously motivated organizations – where there was not always understanding for their work. Just like there was often no understanding of religion in the activist world. Most of the time, there was no time for professional reflection and exchange. AWoN is an attempt to create the connection between these people, to organize reflection and mutual support and to achieve an exchange of best practices.
We have three starting points. First of all, we invest in people, not in projects. We do not issue statements and lobby sparingly. Organizations like Churches Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) and many others are better at that than we are. We support each other as activists and in Brussels we draw attention to their work. Secondly, we work in a multi-religious way. Jewish and Islamic organizations (HIAS and Islamic Relief Worldwide, respectively) are very consciously co-initiators of A World of Neighbours. Thirdly, we work cross-sectorally, so emergency aid, lobbying and legal aid are all welcome and active with us. In December 2021, one of the bearers of A World Of Neighbours, Dirk Ficca, passed away. It was the time when AWoN became an independent foundation, I was asked to be director and so we founded the A World of Neighbours Foundation in the Netherlands. My goal for the near future is to set up a national network of AWoN in various countries in Europe, including the Netherlands.
Connection
Every six months, we bring activists together in small groups (homegroups) of 10 to 12 people to share inspiration, discuss cases and exchange news. In between meetings, everyone has a 1-on-1 appointment with everyone else in that group. We also organize online webinars. We make a small fund available to make it possible for people to physically visit each other 1-on-1. The annual members’ meeting greatly strengthens the feeling of togetherness.
Future
My aim for the future is to have ten national networks in 3-4 years. We also hope for representatives in all the countries of Europe and also for a broadening of our partnerships, who also want to invest in our work. Every euro is needed to keep these frontline workers on their feet. Hopefully the Remonstrants will continue to support us for longer. It would be wonderful to also involve the cultural sector in the work of AWoN. With all the national networks, we hope to be a kind of trade union and community for all migration professionals (practitioners) in Europe in the future.’
Michel Perters (find the original article here)
We thank the Dutch Remonstrant Church again for their support and appreciation of our work!