What do we do?
Humanitarian Welfare Association seeks to promote the smooth integration of immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees and newcomers in Belgium through capacity building and awareness-raising and does this through a wide array of projects and events.
Through our experiences, we have developed the essential tools to effectively support newcomers, providing them with a reliable foundation in a society that feels entirely unfamiliar. Our projects and services stand out because we are deeply embedded within our target audience; they know and trust us, and feel comfortable seeking our support and guidance. As a non-governmental organization with a diverse team that brings experience from various backgrounds, we understand their culture, traditions, and language, fostering open communication and accessibility.
Over our years of existence, we have developed a multitude of diverse projects to accomplish short-term goals or work toward accomplishing long-term goals, some of them completed while many more are still ongoing. HWA is active in the pillars of human rights, gender equality, empowerment, anti-sexual harassment, combatting domestic and intrafamily violence, poverty reduction and elimination, and labour market activation.
Over the years we have developed multiple projects to reduce poverty in our target audience, amongst which our first aid, hygiene, and EmpowHER-projects. All of these focus on newcomers, financially unstable people and the homeless, and attempt to create awareness and offer knowledge, while simultaneously offering them a one-off aid package.
Through internal and external referrals HWA is also active in combatting domestic and intrafamily violence. One of our foremost partnerships is with Veilig Huis Antwerpen, who we aid with their official cases, if needed in their language of origin (Dari, Farsi en Pashto). Through our organization and our helpline, we aid both victims and perpetrators in unofficial cases. After all, not everyone is comfortable with involving the police or the judiciary.
An important tenet of our organization is empowerment and a large part of this is the freedom to work and achieve financial independence.
Women with a migration background do not always know of the chances and opportunities that the Belgian labor market provides for them. Add to that a lack of work experience and/or formal education, as well as perhaps opposition toward working women within their own culture and communities, and this immediately isolates an already-isolated and ever-growing segment of the Belgian potential work force and community.
Within the pillar of empowerment and labor market activation activation, Humanitarian Welfare Association offers three projects: Eerste Sprong naar Werk, Springplank Naar Werk en Women2Work.
These projects share common goals: the development and nurturing of self-confidence, as well as to impart needed knowledge and skills to ready them for the Belgian labor market.
After the initial theory phase, we offer personalized guidance, volunteer opportunities, practical workshops, and initial connections with potential employers or relevant organizations. This support enables participants to take their first independent steps towards the labor market upon completing the project.
Our three activation projects are designed to offer a step-by-step trajectory to women who have need for it. Those who start in Eerste sprong naar work are provided the opportunity to develop and grow their skills by enrolling in subsequent projects.
Humanitarian Welfare Association is a partner of GemmA, the Gender and Migration Support Center. GemmA is a collaboration between the city of Antwerp, Safe Space vzw, GAMS, and the Humanitarian Welfare Association. GemmA is there for anyone with questions about gender and migration (background).
In addition to its projects, HWA offers comprehensive integration training for individuals and groups with a migration background -women, men and minors- with a particular focus on the Dari-, Farsi-, and Pashto-speaking communities. These trainings support participants in adapting to Belgian society by providing insight into its norms and values, human rights, gender equality, individual right and freedom and the prevention of sexual harassment and domestic violence. Additionally, HWA provides training for professionals who work with these communities or seek to understand them better, offering cultural insights, guidance on effective communication, and best practices for engagement.
Subjects:
- Forced partner choice and forced marriages in Central Asian countries
- Honor and honor-related violence
- Domestic violence, focusing on detection, prevention, and intervention
- Gender equality, with focus on individual rights and freedom.
Our trainings provide practical knowledge and insights to help participants better understand and effectively address these complex social issues. Through interactive workshops and practical sessions, we facilitate smooth integration and foster mutual understanding between Afghan and Belgian cultures, equipping both newcomers and professionals with the tools to build inclusive and supportive environments.
To further support both newcomers and professionals, HWA operates an immigration service to assist with legal and administrative procedures, a Women’s Council that empowers women through advocacy and community-building, and the Afghan Advisory Committee, which offers expertise and representation for Afghan migrants.