Research shows that access to cultural, educational and sports activities can be life changing for low income families especially for the children. Digital access to these activities lowers the threshold, allowing for increased social equality. The Dutch Municipalities of Hollands Kroon and Hellendoorn are taking a digital approach to social inclusion. Their goal is to offer a fair chance to all of their residents to participate in sport, culture and education activities using a new open source platform.
Both municipalities have adopted an open source framework for a “Meedoen” (Join) webshop that allows residents with limited financial resources to participate in activities and buy local products. Through the platform, citizens can use a personal budget to participate in music workshops, educational trips and sports clubs as well as buy products like laptops and gift cards.
Residents log in with DigiD, the Netherlands' official online identification system, enabling residents to securely access government services and manage personal affairs online. Within “Meedoen”, individuals can see their budget and can spend it themselves via a user-friendly interface.
The town hall of the municipality of Hollands Kroon. The building is located in Anna Paulowna, the main town of the municipality. (©CC BY-SA 4.0, Macabe5387)
View of Hellendoorn from Hellendoornse Berg (© Remco Brandwacht)
The initiative was developed within the Open Web community (OWC), a collaboration of more than 40 Dutch municipalities and partners working together on open source digital tools. The OWC model ensures that municipalities do not operate in isolation, but instead share reusable open source building blocks that can be adapted across the public sector. The webshop was developed by Yard, a Dutch digital agency based in Utrecht that partners with organisations in the social sector to design and develop tailored online solutions. They implemented it within the OWC and are ready to support other municipalities wishing to join. At the moment the framework is being expanded to allow municipalities to offer free products and services to residents in need
The “Meedoen” webshop is not the only open source project used by European municipalities for humanitarian reasons. Integreat is an open source digital integration platform and app launched in 2015 to reduce information poverty and promote social inclusion for newcomers in Germany. It helps refugees access local support services and integrate into their communities. Though not initiated by public administration, Integreat supports over 60 German municipalities in their inclusion efforts.