How a local organization helps newcomers take part faster

A local organization helps newcomers connect with Dutch society fastest by giving them a fixed place in what it already does: a recurring activity, an equal role and one contact person. Register that activity with the municipality, so the hours can count toward the civic integration program.

Why your organization matters

The Dutch Civic Integration Act 2021 (Wet inburgering 2021) expects newcomers to learn the language and take part at the same time, and municipalities may involve local organizations to make that happen. The goal of the act, according to the Dutch government, is that people who are required to integrate take part in the Netherlands as soon as possible; combining language learning with participation in society is a fixed part of the system.

The municipality guides the program but rarely runs participation on its own. Divosa, the association of municipal social services directors, writes in its guide Participatie in de inburgering that municipalities can involve libraries, community centers, care institutions, sports clubs, volunteer organizations and local employers alongside their contracted partners. In the Z-route, the learning route for people who learn Dutch at a lower level, status holders must complete 800 participation hours. Those hours have to take place in a Dutch-speaking setting and not in isolation. That is exactly the kind of hours a community center, sports club or language café organizes every week.

What works in contact between newcomers and residents

A one-off neighborhood party rarely gets newcomers further; recurring contact around a shared task does. That is the core of a knowledge document by the Dutch knowledge platform KIS on social contact between people of different backgrounds. Contact works when people experience it as positive, when they work as equals toward a common goal and when it repeats. Stand-alone events are not enough on their own, and large open events can even leave status holders feeling inferior.

Translated to your own organization: do not seat newcomers in the audience, put them on the team. Address people through what they share, as neighbors, parents or athletes, and make sure they meet more than once. Small groups and volunteer work done by long-time and new residents together come up in the research as working elements.

Six steps to get started

1. Pick a recurring activity that needs little language

Start with what you already have: a walking group, a cooking night, the repair crew, the sports team. Divosa advises starting with sports, art and crafts, because they need little language and still lead to conversation. A fixed day and time makes it easier to come back.

2. Give a role, not just a chair

Ask newcomers to help: pouring coffee, planning the walk, giving a workshop on something they are good at. A role makes the contact equal and gives a reason to come back next week.

3. Make the first visit easy

Provide short information in the newcomer's own language or with pictures, and organize the first visit together, for instance through the case manager or a taalcoach. Divosa names flyers or videos in the newcomer's language and a joint first visit as the way to let newcomers come on their own afterwards.

4. Appoint one contact person

Not every volunteer knows how to welcome someone who is still learning the language. One fixed contact, a short briefing for the group on speaking simple Dutch, and patience during the first conversation make more difference than a new flyer.

5. Register your activity with the municipality

The municipality decides which activities count as participation hours and who approves them. Contact the civic integration department or the case managers, describe your activity (what, when, how many hours, in Dutch) and ask whether it can be added to the regional list of qualifying activities. That way the municipality knows you exist, and newcomers know their time with you counts.

6. Record the hours and evaluate

Municipalities are required to record the participation hours of Z-route participants accurately and report them to DUO, the Dutch education executive agency, writes Divosa. As an organization you help with a simple record per session and a monthly check-in: who comes, who stays away, and why. How municipalities set this up in line with the GDPR is explained in monitoring participation hours of status holders.

Which digital tools connect organizations with newcomers

A digital tool is a good fit when newcomers already use it, when sign-ups land with your organization and when the hours reach the municipality. There are four kinds:

Kind of tool	What it does	Reaches newcomers?	Hours to the municipality?
Volunteer vacancy bank or buddy platform	Publishes vacancies and matches a buddy to a request	Mostly Dutch-speaking volunteers; newcomers need to know the site	No, track them yourself
Neighborhood app	Messages and calls for a district or village	Only people who already have the app and read the language	No
Volunteer scheduling app	Plans shifts and tracks attendance	No, internal tool	Only as a manual export
Activity app for newcomers with hour registration	Shows your activity in the app newcomers already use, sign-up with you, hours via QR	Yes, in their own municipality and in several languages	Yes, when the municipality works with the app

Check three things with every option: whether the tool is multilingual, whether newcomers sign up directly with you (so you confirm the place) and whether the hour registration complies with the GDPR. Ask the municipality which systems it already uses; double registration costs volunteers time and motivation.

Where Taaly fits

Taaly is the digital integration assistant for newcomers, with 30,000+ learners in the app. With Taaly Meedoen, a local organization places its activities in the Feed of newcomers in its own municipality: language cafés, walking groups, sports, shared meals, volunteer work. A newcomer taps the activity, lands on the organization's page and signs up there; Taaly does not handle the sign-up and does not reserve a place.

When the municipality works with Taaly, participants scan a QR code at the activity and the hours are registered. The municipality, or the organization it has delegated this to, approves the hours and sees them in real time in the dashboard while the program is running. 12 municipalities register hours via Taaly.

Activity hours only count when the municipality is a Taaly customer, so check that before promising it to participants. More on how it works is on hour registration. And a resident who wants to help without organizing an activity can practice Dutch with a newcomer in short video calls as a volunteer taalcoach.

Put your activities in Taaly and let newcomers in your municipality find them: go to Taaly Meedoen.

Frequently asked questions

How does a local organization help newcomers connect with Dutch society faster?

Give newcomers a fixed place in an activity you already run, with a role on the team and one contact person. Recurring, equal contact around a shared task works better than stand-alone events. Register your activity with the municipality so the hours can count toward the civic integration program.

Do the hours at our organization count as participation hours for civic integration?

The municipality decides. In the Z-route, status holders must complete 800 participation hours in a Dutch-speaking setting; the municipality decides which activities qualify and approves the hours. Contact the civic integration department and ask whether your activity can be added to the list of qualifying activities.

Which digital tools connect local organizations with newcomers for activities?

Volunteer vacancy banks and buddy platforms, neighborhood apps, volunteer scheduling apps and activity apps for newcomers with hour registration. Choose a tool newcomers already use, that is multilingual, that sends sign-ups to your organization and that brings the hours to the municipality. Taaly Meedoen is such an activity app.

I want to help newcomers as a volunteer myself. Where do I start?

Look at organizations in your own municipality: the community center, the library, a language café or the volunteer center. If you would rather help from home, you can become a volunteer taalcoach through Taaly and practice Dutch with a newcomer in short video calls. No teaching qualification is needed.

What if the newcomers in our group speak little Dutch yet?

Choose activities that need little language, such as sports, cooking, walking or repair work, and let the language come along naturally. Speak simple Dutch, use pictures and give information in the newcomer's own language where needed. The goal is contact; the Dutch grows with it.