“Enrich your Neighborhood”: a genuine bottom-up approach to governance

The city of Tilburg undertook a complete reassessment of the offer and performance of public services in the light or citizens’ expressed wishes and needs. The result was public services which are much more flexible, client-centred, result-oriented, evidence-based, responsive and effective. The city council has 39 seats, and only 4 of them can be regarded as migrant representatives. There are differences between the political parties; they decide themselves who will be their candidates. The mayor and the aldermen are Dutch.

In Tilburg there are many projects related to diversity. Centres for migrant mothers, the Antillean platform Perspectiva, second hand shops for migrants, youth work for (migrant) youngsters without diploma and without a job, the network of Turkish academics, the Youth Ambassadors, the Volunteer of the Year, the language coaches, neighbourhood prevention teams, the Moroccan platform Tadamon, etc. The report made available by the city mentions that in Tilburg, the municipality only wants to organize diversity when it is really necessary, when it is unavoidable and that it would be much better when residents take the initiative. This is mentioned as a strategy, not laziness.

In this spirit, instead of going directly to migrant organisations when an issue arises, Tilburg prefers the bottom-up approach: when there is an initiative by one of the residents, the city immediately looks for possibilities to support it. In the context of the “Enrich your neighbourhood” scheme residents can receive some money for special activities in their own neighbourhood. This could be related to a barbecue in the street, a multicultural cooking evening, flower-boxes in the street, an extra swing in the playground, a neighbourhood party, etc. The neighbourhood committee will decide about approval. Alcohol won’t be paid for. The city has special “enrich your neighbourhood’-ambassadors, residents who have experience and who can help other residents with the organisation or the paperwork.