Description of organisation

BELGIAN RED CROSS
Benchmark player in the field of humanitarian action, the Belgian Red Cross is constantly fighting to alleviate the suffering of men and prevent humanitarian crises.

Our missions:
• Prevent medico-psycho-social crises and help solve them through education, training and our presence on the field,
• Fight against isolation and marginalization by strengthening social bonds between people,
• Encourage tolerance by respecting the cultural diversity of our society,
• In accordance with our founding values, fulfill the structural missions which the public authorities mandated us to do.

Our main fields of activity :
• Blood donation
• Emergency units, medical transportation, disaster response
• International humanitarian aid, dissemination of humanitarian Principles
• First aid trainings
• Social actions in communities
• Youth (awareness raising activities, trainings, projects…)
• Reception of asylum seekers

RECEPTION OF ASYLUM SEEKERS DEPARTMENT
The "Reception of asylum seekers" Department (ADA) manages 22 community reception centers for asylum seekers in the Walloon and Brussels regions, which represents about 6000 reception places, nearly 905 employees and 650 volunteers (Figures : September 2019)

The activities of the ADA Department, are defined and financed according to a 1989 convention signed with the Belgian State, and comply with the « Reception Law » of 12 January 2007. Legally, the reception includes accommodation, food, social counselling and medical care and access to training during the asylum procedure. The staff of the reception centers also support the parents in the compulsory schooling of their children and have to carry out a work of integration of their structure in the local environment, by implementing awareness-raising actions and local projects based on the values of humanity, solidarity and citizenship.

Over the years, the ADA Department has imprinted on this legal framework a dynamic of its own which has been formalized as follows: the mission of the ADA Department of the Belgian Red Cross is to welcome and accompany asylum seekers in a stage of their life course and this, under the mandate received by Public powers. According to the Red Cross Principles which animate us, our humanitarian actions aim at the satisfaction of the basic needs but also the well-being and the reinforcement of the capacities of the people.

For the last years, ADA Department has been implementing a new methodology of « individual accompaniment », to offer each asylum seeker a closer monitoring and help him/her stay actor of his/her daily life. Every resident of our centers is assigned a resource person – his/her « guide » - to whom he/she can turn at any time. His/Her role ? Meet, guide, foster understanding and project planning and ensure the general well being of the person. Consequences: more benchmarks, trust and proximity, and a valuation of all, workers as residents.

Reception centers offer various leisure and socio-cultural activities, which are regularly organized and managed by volunteers. Residents also have the opportunity to attend classes and workshops (languages, citizenship, discovering of host country culture, practical issues such as budget management, health system, etc.) or vocational training. They are encouraged to volunteer in the local community, and, if they fulfill the conditions, those who want to can ask for a work permit.

Figures can vary over time, but here are some facts about the target group living in our reception centers in August 2019 :
40% are families, 47% isolated men, 10% isolated women and 3% unaccompanied minors
25% are under 18 years old and 40% are between 18 and 30 years old
The main nationalities represented are : Palestinians, Guineans, Afghans, Syrians and Irakians. 89 different nationalities were present in our centers in 2018.

Some Red Cross centers have developed skills to the reception of a specific public. They now constitute centers of expertise for the entire network of centers in Belgium : one center specialized in the reception of children, another for women victims of gender violence and one welcoming particularly vulnerable people who are in mental suffering.