This is how Calibris Advies helps job seekers get back on track

Have you heard of Neighborhood Learning Companies? With this initiative, Calibris Advies ensures that people on welfare and job seekers find a way to a diploma and a job in healthcare. This is how they get their lives back on track. As an online training provider we may contribute to this great initiative by providing free online training for the participants. Frank Braaksma, director of Calibris Advies, tells you more about these District Learning Companies below.

What are Neighborhood Apprenticeships?

Calibris Advies is a foundation that offers people a helping hand. For this reason, they have also set up District Learning Companies within municipalities in the Netherlands. Frank Braaksma says: "Through district learning companies we ensure that participants get a diploma and can enter the work field, with an emphasis on healthcare. This is because there is a significant shortage of workers in this sector and this is a great opportunity for employees of various levels. During the training, the participants also gain relevant work experience at healthcare institutions within the municipality."

But this is not the only positive outcome of Neighborhood Apprenticeships. Frank explains, "During the training, the participants also offer help to vulnerable people. Loneliness is a big problem in the country, and within the neighborhoods in which we have a Neighborhood Apprenticeship often live many lonely elderly people. Because we pair participants with this, they can help the elderly. The participants can learn a lot from them about the city, proverbs or newspaper reading, for example." Thus, with Neighborhood Learning Companies, solutions are emerging for different target groups.

Did you know that: a Neighborhood Apprenticeship provides an average of 10,000 hours of informal help per year?

Not without help

Calibris Advies does not do this alone. Frank explains, "We work together with municipalities, educational institutions, and healthcare institutions to guide these job seekers in their path to their diploma and work. By working with our partners, we achieve very nice results in the projects. We guarantee a diploma yield of at least 80% and a sustainable outflow to work for 75% of the graduates. This is sometimes hard work, but when the partners know how to find each other, this is always possible in practice. Our aim, of course, is to ensure that one hundred percent of the participants graduate. We have already seen several times that this is possible."

Similarly, SkillsTown provides a contribution to this project by providing an online learning platform with training courses that participants can take at no cost. Frank says: "Online training courses add something for the participants. It is nice when you can provide them with knowledge, especially when there is no informal help available. This keeps them actively engaged in their development. It is nice that SkillsTown opens their social heart for this."

The effects of online learning

The online trainings that participants can take cover a variety of topics. Looking at healthcare, for example, they can take training courses on disease states and health. For example, one participant states: "It's interesting to learn more about certain topics that I have to deal with during my internship."

But there are also trainings aimed at career development. Trainings such as "Pressure and adversity," "Attention and understanding," "Dealing with stress" and "Working together" are popular.

"The 'Dealing with Stress' training is very informative. The videos make it fun and easy to understand. I now know how to deal with stress. I never learned that."

Frank: "The online trainings also help a lot with the participants' language development and digital skills. And through the trainings they obtain certificates. We hand these out at the graduation ceremony. So you can give people who are insecure a lot of pride and self-confidence. That's great to see. In that way, SkillsTown helps create that success experience."

Want to know more?

Want to know more about Neighborhood Learning Companies? Then go to the website of Calibris Advice. Or maybe you want to know more about the possibilities of online training for your organization. Then contact us and who knows, you might soon have your own success story.