Problem addressed

Across Europe, a large share of people with disabilities still face barriers to integrating into the labour market. Due to difficulties in finding work adapted to their needs and/or capacities, people with disabilities are, on average, twice as likely to remain inactive or long-term unemployed than other groups. In the case of those living in remote or rural areas such as Beveren-aan-de-IJzer, in the Westhoek region of Flanders, Belgium, they can face further risk of social exclusion due to fewer available opportunities for training and work. Moreover, remote areas amplify the difficulties for disabled people in accessing public services, transportation or cultural and leisure opportunities.

Innovative solution

The Village Hub (Dorpspunt) in Beveren was launched in 2017, with the aim of increasing social inclusion and restoring services to the remote region. The Village Hub is a multi-purpose store, delivering a range of in-demand services. These include the sale of locally-sourced agricultural products, such as fruit and vegetables, dairy and meat products, bread and pastries; the provision of a meeting place where people can drink coffee and chat; and the provision of a mobility hub that offers people the opportunity to carpool, borrow a bike, rent an e-bike or have their bike repaired. While similar projects exist in larger cities, the Village Hub is unique in its scale and location within the remote village of Beveren, an area that suffers from poor public transportation, few job opportunities and a lack of spaces for communal living and exchange. It is also unique in that it is people with learning disabilities who serve customers, prepare food, repair bikes and/or complete whichever tasks fit their skillsets.

The hub is run by De Lovie vzw, a social organisation that supports children, young people and adults with learning disabilities across the region. De Lovie vzw gives beneficiaries of the Income Replacement Allowance the opportunity to gain skills and give back to society by working as volunteers in the hub. The Village Hub cooperates with a partner organisation, Yellow Window, which assists with the coaching of beneficiaries where necessary.

The Village Hub gives people with learning disabilities the opportunity to learn new skills, whilst valuing their social capital and skills as a key contribution to community life. As the demand for volunteering is higher than the need, the store is operated on a schedule basis, allowing tasks to be distributed equally and based on skill level, depending on which services are needed on specific days. By basing the tasks on the skills of the individual, the Village Hub provides volunteers with specifically designed work through which they can best succeed and gain valuable work experience. More recently, the hub has started to include people who have recently experienced career setbacks due to long-term illness and are looking to reintroduce themselves into the workplace at their own pace, among the volunteers.

The project relies on a range of partnerships to support its work. To expand community involvement, DeLovie vzw is implementing a programme with local schools. Pupils with intellectual disabilities will be offered the opportunity to undertake a period of learning in the hub by preparing, cooking and serving food. The idea is to run the programme as an apprenticeship scheme that will provide pupils with valuable work experience and transferable skills for future employment.

In order to include people who suffer from more serious mental illnesses as volunteers, DeLovie vzw is trying to partner with other healthcare professionals to obtain the correct expertise.

Key results and benefits

Since its creation three years ago, the Village Hub has involved approximately 30 volunteers, around nine of whom are involved in the store on a daily basis. The hub provides practical work experience and a social outlet for people with disabilities. It has also benefited the local community with its services, as these were in high-demand and not provided before. The social aspect has been the most important result, as the social meeting point created has been more successful than predicted, reaching more than 50% of the villagers within the local area. Community members provide regular feedback to De Lovie vzw about the services the Village Hub should offer, and this has helped to contribute to the shop’s ongoing success. A number of workshops are now operated in the store, including knitting, tea tasting, digital skills and clothing repair.

Potential for mainstreaming

EU funding has played a key role in supporting this project. The Village Hub received a EUR 20 000 grant from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), which De Lovie vzw used to start the business, develop the physical hub location and initiate community discussions. Another success factor of the project is the diversity of its partners, which allows the project to benefit from a range of expertise, work with a broader range of participants and offer a broader range of services. These would be key conditions for its transfer to another context.

The project is also very well-connected to the community in which it operates, and tries to provide services that are needed and requested by the beneficiaries, which would be important when transferring the project to another context. In order to better connect the village to the rest of the region, the project has collaborated with Taxistop, a shared-mobility company, to expand its carpooling and e-bike schemes. The goal is to establish the hub as a mobility link within Beveren and the surrounding villages, re-connecting different areas. In subsequent years DeLovie vzw and the Village Hub plan to establish a hub in Pervijze, Stavele and Krombeke, extending their reach further afield. In addition, DeLovie vzw has a strong relationship with Les Papillons Blancs de Dunkerque in France, where they have been inspired by the initiative to start a similar project.

The project has attracted a high level of media attention for its unique approach and the considerable benefits it provides for its volunteers and the community. The Village Hub won the Matexi award for ‘Most Connecting Neighbourhood’, the Megaphone award for ‘projects that contribute to a more caring society’, and was nominated for the Radical Innovator award in Flanders for projects that offer ‘targeted solutions for complex societal challenges’.