Rotterdam’s Team Toekomst visits AllChild in West London

AllChild was delighted to welcome 30 members of Rotterdam’s Team Toekomst to White City in April, for a day of shared learnings and experiences.

Inspired by AllChild, Team Toekomst is a social impact organisation that helps children take advantage of the range of educational and welfare opportunities available in their communities. The project’s reach has expanded in six years from its beginnings in the district of Delfshaven to five neighbourhoods in Rotterdam.

There was lots of useful insight exchanged by everyone in what was a lively conversation. The AllChild team explained the role our Link Workers and Community Team Managers play in delivering our work with children and families, in partnership with schools, charities and local services. The importance of deepening our impact in communities and connecting children and families with the right local support, at the right time and in the right way was also discussed, as well as the need for a data-led approach.

AllChild Chief Executive Louisa Mitchell MBE shared reflections of our last 10 years, as well as our impact and ambitions for deepening our impact and broadening our reach. Speaking about the visit, Louisa said: “It was fantastic to welcome the brilliant Team Toekomst to West London and hear how their locally designed, place-based model of support and opportunities, inspired by the AllChild approach, is delivering positive outcomes with children and communities in Rotterdam. It was a wonderful opportunity to share learnings, insights and new ideas.”

We also sat down with founder Mirjam van Rijn and CEO Lisette Tanis to learn about their journey.

Tell us how Team Toekomst got started.

Mirjam: I started a field hockey sports club in 2015 and saw that lots of children couldn’t join, which I felt wasn’t okay. I looked at how can we make sure that every child can flourish in our neighbourhood. I talked with schools and other organisations, but no one knew how to achieve this.

I was in London in 2019 when someone told me about West London Zone [now AllChild] and I said ‘wow, this is the missing piece I've been looking four years for!’. I got in touch with the team and asked to try it in the Netherlands and we launched in 2020.

How did you find applying the model and was there any feedback from partners?

Mirjam: We first started with three schools and 50 children and were focused on implementing the approach. Many of those schools we talked to said that this was the ‘missing piece’ in the support network for local children, so we didn’t have to convince them!

Every child teaches you new things about your methodology, so we learned a lot in the first few years, which helped us to improve the programme for families and children. Lots of the sports partners said ‘let’s do this’ and were a big help in implementing the approach.

We still hear schools today tell us that this is what is missing in support and opportunities for children, and they're really glad that we found this model and brought it to the Netherlands.

What impact have you seen on the lives of children as a result of your work?

Lisette: For me, it’s the excitement with the children. Knowing that they can do different things that they wouldn’t have previously imagined and make the world bigger and bette is the most important impact that we’ve had.

The first time I joined an event I saw the children having so much fun and doing lovely things, and I thought ‘that’s why we do it’.

How did you find the listening and codesign aspect of the programme?

Lisette: The best part of this programme is that it’s based in - and works closely with - the community. It means that local groups come together to provide support. They want to build it with each other, which makes the programme stronger than if it was individual efforts.

Finally, how does it make you feel to do this work everyday?

Mirjam: It’s so nice to walk in the neighbourhood and see the children playing, going to training and having fun. All the families now know and take care of each other and the neighbourhood has become warmer and more of my home. It’s great to get to see the children flourish!

Lisette: One word: proud. I’m proud to be a part of this concept where I can bring an energy with my colleagues to increase the reach of our work.