What is the Experts by Experience project in Belgium?

In order to improve the lives of the marginalized people living in poverty, the government of Belgium has taken steps to create stronger institutions and policies to develop the country’s social services. The Federal Public Planning Service for Social Integration aimed to lower the disparity between public service and people who could not afford them. Because of weak institutions and their inappropriate actions, this has caused people living below the poverty line do not have access to quality social service. With the help of the King Baudouin Foundation, Belgium focused on reducing the disparity and how to improve the accessibility of public services and to guarantee fundamental social rights for all people living in Belgium. To summarize the project, FPS SI recruits people who have experienced living in poverty, and then the organization trains them to develop empathy, analytical ability, and communication skills. These recruited workers are called “Experts by Experience” and their task is to basically improve the lives of the vulnerable people in society. However, there have been difficulties in the project, which include budget, resistance to change within public organizations, and insufficient time to measure the impact of the project with the EbE. The project’s outcome was increased awareness of the living conditions of people living in poverty, improved offline and online communication through simplification of documents, and people are given rights to social security.

The post What is the Experts by Experience project in Belgium? appeared first on interaksyonph.