There is a feeling in the Veenkoloniën that the problems of the area are finally being taken seriously. Whatever happens to tackle inequality of opportunity, it will have to be done with the inhabitants from now on.
Inequality of opportunity, poverty and an unhealthy lifestyle resulting in a lower life expectancy. For years there have been all kinds of initiatives and projects to get these problems out of the DNA of the Veenkoloniën, but still not with the right result. Yet experts see that something is changing for the better in the way the issues are being addressed.
“At first, all parties wanted a piece of the money that became available,” says Erik Buskens, professor of Health Technology Systems at the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health (University of Groningen). “Now the municipalities and other organizations realize: we have to do it together, because you cannot solve the problems of the area on your own.”
Seen and understood
There is definitely a momentum to tackle the inequality of opportunity – and the resulting poverty and unhealthy choices – in the Veenkoloniën, notes Karin Kalverboer, director of the Care Innovation Forum. “There is a real movement going on. Suddenly this area and the problems are seen and understood, also in The Hague,” says Kalverboer.
‘Aletta’ and the Care Innovation Forum are two of the twelve organizations that signed eight ‘keys’ of the Kans voor de Veenkoloniën (KVDV) program on Friday afternoon to tackle the health problems in the area.
KVDV calls, among other things, to stop with short-term projects and to focus on policy and implementation of 15 to 20 years because of the complexity. It should then focus primarily on the factors that influence health, such as poverty, loneliness, safety and low literacy. From now on it will always have to work with the inhabitants of the area and also with the use of the experience that has been gained there for a long time. Too often, higher educated people devise policies that do not seem to meet the needs of the residents of the area, KVDV notes.
Employ experts by experience
“You can say about that: surely no one can be against this?” says program manager René van der Most. “But why hasn’t it happened yet? Apparently there are still all kinds of barriers. We want to discuss this with the municipalities.” In October, in Van der Most’s words, KVDV must have something with which the municipalities can use the eight keys when drawing up policy.
In any case, it will always have to be with the residents, is the message of KVDV. The project that everyone can take as an example is the municipality of Coevorden, where people who have lived in poverty themselves think about and decide on poverty policy.