The 3rd transnational meeting for Youth For Love was held in Hasselt (Belgium) on February 6 and 7, 2020. On February 5, UCLL planned some extra activities related to the project. The main aim of the meeting was to summarise activities carried out by the consortium so far and to plan the project’s next steps and activities.
On Wednesday, February 5, we all gathered at the Family Justice Centre in Hasselt. The Family Justice Center (FJC) is the final piece of the chain approach to domestic violence in Limburg (province of Belgium). From now on, a team of professionals, including therapists, nurses, prosecutors, police, and other social service providers, are all under one roof. Being so, they can tackle domestic violence in an integrated and joint manner. Dries Wyckmans (FJC) showed us a presentation about how the FJC works. How domestic violence occurs, how they support the victim and their family and how they want to do more in the future to prevent domestic violence. Afterwards, all the partners could ask some questions, and we held a group discussion about some topics related to the project Youth For Love.
In the evening, we came together in Het Regenbooghuis (“The Rainbowhouse”) in Hasselt. The Rainbowhouse is a contact point for sexual and gender diversity and the warm home of the Limburg rainbow community. They support the affiliated rainbow associations, raise awareness, inform and form volunteers, the associations and the Limburg community. The Rainbowhouse is also the physical location where all associations can go for their activities. Where LGBT people, transgender people and sympathisers can meet each other in a relaxed atmosphere. Leopold and Margot from the Rainbowhouse explained to us what they do as staff members. As a group, we had a nice discussion and comparison of themes such as same-sex marriage, discrimination, rights in the different European countries. Since the rainbow house is also active in secondary schools with their educational packages, they were invited as stakeholders at the project meeting. The rainbow house was very enthusiastic about the Youth For Love project, which has given us a solid ambassador.
On Thursday, February 6, we started our project meeting at Vrijzinnig Punt in Hasselt. High on the agenda was the discussion of the project’s progress and financial aspects, the diagnosis and impact of the evaluation and the students and teachers support program. As a part of those support programs, we had the chance to do workshops with both teachers and students in a local school, Het Inspiro College in Houthalen.
On Friday, February 7, we continued our project meeting. We discussed the Peer to peer program and the communication and dissemination plans and brainstormed with our stakeholder network to determine a strategy and receive recommendations. Therefore, we invited some stakeholders as Leopold and Margot from the Rainbowhouse and Kimberley and Emma, both staff members of the department for equal opportunities from the City of Hasselt.
It was a very inspiring project meeting that gave us a clear view of the current status of the project and what the next steps will be. We would like to thank all partners for their presence and commitment!
