The Target Group

After serious analysis, De Sleutel settled for the group of youngsters who go to school on a part-time basis and who are supposed to work the remaining days of the week. Apparently, quite of a few of them fail to find employment or to keep their jobs. We noticed that a large group of young people who attend a vocational school for secondary education, but do so only part-time, do not respect the agreement to work the remaining three days of the week. Of the 350 youngsters attending a vocational school in Bruges only part-time, 25% up to 35%, depending on the sources, do not have a job for the three days that they do not have to attend courses.



The Functioning

Through the so-called bridge projects, a number of organizations try to help young people by giving them alternative employment and paying them a monthly salary of €240. Although many of these bridge projects are understaffed, we still notice that a lot of young people fail to find their way to those jobs.
De Sleutel wants to focus on that group of young people by launching a preventive project. It is a preventive project in that the support that we give to these young people should facilitate their integration into society. It is also preventive in that we try to trace drug abuse in an early stage for we know that a lot of these youngsters use drugs quite regularly. We will pay sufficient attention to that particular problem as well. If it gets out of hand, we can refer the boy (or girl) in question to one of our specialized day-care centres.




De Sleutel wants to offer a combination of working and learning a set of essential attitudes to these young people. In other words, it is project that combines work with learning. On grounds on Barrier Street in Bruges, owned by De Sleutel, stood a derelict convent farm. The purpose of the project was to the renovate the farm. Once they will be renovated completely, the buildings will be used by the non-profit organization Social Workshops De Sleutel to serve as a therapeutic farm, about which De Sleutel has just finished a study that it made on former Minister Dua’s request.

In September 2002, ‘t Mussennest was recognized as bridge project by the DBO (the professional training department). We have a contingent for 10 young people who are paid by the DBO with means provided by the European Social Fund.



The coordinator of the day-care centre functions as the youths’ employer. He invites them for a job interview and in case of a problem they have to go see him for a performance interview.
One monitor is always present on the site. He is remunerated with means from the day-care centre in Bruges. So the centre in Bruges now has to be kept up and running with one member of staff less. If structural financing of the supervisor were possible, the money that is now used to pay his wages could be used to complete the team of the day-care centre once again.
The monitor is assisted by a volunteer who is attending a specialization course for the moment. In the future, we may be able to offer her real employment thanks to financing with means provided by the European Social Fund, core 5 – equal opportunities. We have experienced the need for a second monitor on several occasions and this need may grow even more acute, if we expand the group of youngsters and allow girls as well. This may create still other problems on the shop floor.
The staff who are active on the building site have a highly diverse set of task. They are responsible for the technical aspect of the renovations. They see to it that the work proceeds according to plan, they draw up the work schedule. They contact the architect, suppliers, … In addition, they have to monitor, offer guidance, and assist the boys who do the work. They teach the workers new techniques and see to it that they are used correctly. They also organize attitude training. They try to teach them values such as arriving on time, accepting and executing tasks, respecting safety procedures, working together with colleagues, gaining insight in the work, … Given the nature of the target group, they are also confronted with conflicts on a fairly regular basis. They try to resolve them as well as possible, paying attention to the learning aspect for the boys who are involved.
The boys are offered extra guidance by the prevention workers of the day-care centre. They have individual conversations with the boys, intervene whenever there are conflicts, and organize formation.



At the beginning of January 2003, our project, presented to the European Social Fund and called ‘Equal Opportunities’, was approved. The intention behind the project was to also involve girls in the project ‘t Mussennest. Research has shown that girls who attend secondary school on a part-time basis also fail to find employment during the three days that they do not have to attend courses. Our own research has shown that in 2003 more than half (51.4%) of them did not have a job. The situation is slightly less dramatic among the boys. On average 53.3% of the boys and girls have work. You can read more about this ESF project on our website (link to EUROPE).

Meanwhile, the renovation of the former convent farm continues. The rough work on the structure of the building was finished at the end of 2003 and gradually they have started working on the interior now. The never-ending search for financing of the building material is causing slight uncertainty about the timing. An application for subsidies was sent to the Poverty Fund of the King Baudouin Foundation at the end of September 2003 (financing of a therapeutic farm). In November 2003, a project was presented to the Proximus Foundation (financing of social work). In addition, ongoing negotiations with the province of West Flanders about support to the ‘t Mussennest project are taking place. A visit to the building site has been planned.

In order to convince possible sponsors of the building works, a professional promotional film, in which the project is presented in all its dimensions, was made at the end of December.

In the meantime, it is 2004. The bridge project is still running and since the start of the school year we are working with 10 boys on average once again. In addition to the formation that we offer, the boys will also be able to attend NEFTE courses. Between March and June of 2004, they will be able to attend 60 hours of practice-based classes. They will be taught how to found their own little company. That will make them even better prepared for integration in the regular professional circuit.

Today, ‘t Mussennest is facing yet a new challenge. In order to obtain structural financing of the renovation works, the decision was made to finalize the renovations at a quicker pace. The renovation of the therapeutic farm ought to be ready by September 2005. In the meantime, we are looking for other locations to develop a similar building project. At the same time, we are making efforts to vary the set of tasks a bit more. In the future, the boys should be able to learn how to restore and repair old furniture too.


Linda Doom
Guido Maertens
February 2004