Operational plan

 

We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside’ Amanda Gorman

Introduction

We work, live and eat with people from all over the world – and we find that exciting and inspiring as long as things go as we expect. If things go differently than we thought or, if someone communicates differently than we do, we don’t always realize there may be a cultural misunderstanding and how to resolve it. Connect2Us strives to prevent and resolve those misunderstandings.

This project plan describes the 2021 vision and approach of the Connect2Us Foundation. The project plan describes the frameworks for programming and funding and how operations will be structured. Founded in 2016, Connect2Us Foundation is a non-profit foundation with ANBI status and CBF certificate.

Vision

When communicating between people from different cultural backgrounds, cultural differences can play a disruptive role. Mistaken perceptions create prejudices that exclude people. Connect2Us wants to help develop understanding and critical thinking and prevent or eliminate prejudice so that we can see how much we actually have in common. So that together we have more meaningful encounters and people of all backgrounds have more chance to participate in society.

Mission

We strive for a diverse society in which freedom and tolerance are central and prejudices about origin are eliminated, for cohesion in society. “A diverse society without prejudice about origin”

Core values

Connect2Us’ four core values support its goals and, along with a variety of programs, create the frameworks for achieving our objective.

Connecting

Connect2Us’ activities focus on connection, connection without borders. The activities stimulate the integral cohesion of people, organization(s) and society.

Open

Connect2Us is open to everyone, regardless of belief, religion, political affiliation, ancestry, age, color, gender or sexual orientation.

Mutual respect

Connect2Us takes into account and assumes mutual respect for everyone’s worldview or religion.

Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 goals to make the world a better place by 2030. Connect2Us strives to support these goals (4, 10, 16 and 17). Within SDG 10 is room for migration. “Migration and mobility of people must be better and more securely organized. Discriminatory laws and practices that only increase inequality must also be ended. Everyone must have equal opportunities and be involved in all social, economic and political aspects of demociety.” Goal 16: “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development…..”

Objectives

Migration is an age-old phenomenon that has always contributed to the development of our civilization and prosperity. During integration into new countries, migrants often encounter situations that bring out cultural differences. These everyday situations can be pleasant, but also uncomfortable or even bewildering. “How many people really listen to each other now?” We share more words with each other than ever. But how many people really listen to each other now?

Not only are we distracted by technology, but we see leaders everywhere doing everything but listening to each other. Effective listening affects the way we “look” at another person. By sharing stories and allowing children to engage in playful dialogue with each other on topics they would otherwise not easily engage in, we are teaching people to listen better to each other and discover what unites us, person to person.

To promote peaceful acceptance and integration and combat undermining polarization, Connect2Us makes cultural differences accessible and understandable. For Dutch people without and with a migration background and for newcomers. For education and for the government. For parents and for children. For healthcare workers and patients. For everyone.

Connect2Us’ stories, games and explanations provide a clear introduction to more enjoyable and smooth intercultural coexistence.

Connect2Us has chosen to consider the Netherlands as its primary operating area. Meanwhile, Connect2Us has branches in Luxembourg and Germany.

Connect2Us’ objectives are:

• To reach the widest possible audience in the countries where we have a platform.
• Engage school-age children in dialogue with each other through play.
• Educate certain professions in the social sectors through games, webinars and workshops.

Target groups

The platform basically targets all residents of the countries listed on the website

are represented, focusing specifically on the following target groups:

• (young) schoolchildren
• teachers
• expat families
• students
• healthcare workers

We will approach these groups in a targeted and project-based manner in the coming period, always building on the success of the “previous” target group. “we want to unlock this knowledge”

Expertise

Since its inception in 2016, the foundation has grown into a collection of intercultural communication experts, psychologists and educators; a team of more than 25 volunteers.

In addition to the multicultural composition of the team and the life experience of those involved, there is high-quality expertise in the field of culture within the Foundation. The founders and several volunteers are associated with the recently deceased scholar Geert Hofstede, who validated the stories on our platform and our approach to them. Geert Hofstede conducted world-renowned research on the differences between national cultures in how individuals and organizations, view each other and “others. His research is undoubtedly invaluable. First, because of the overwhelming amount of data covering pretty much the entire world and, second, because the dimensions in his research allow for relevant comparisons between national cultures. At Connect2Us, we translate those differences into everyday life. Understanding and acceptance of those differences make one realize what we all have in common.

The (Hofstede) model we use consists of six dimension that are briefly described here:

• Power distance – The degree to which people accept that another person has more power than themselves.
• Individualism – The degree to which a society is “I” or “We” oriented.
• Masculinity – The degree to which a society shows solidarity with others or rather assumes “he who does his best wins.
• Uncertainty avoidance – The degree to which society needs regulations, formal procedures and rituals.
• Long-term or short-term thinking – The difference between (Eastern) persistence in the development and application of innovations posed versus (Western) drive for truth and immediate results.
• Permissive vs. restraint – Permissiveness represents a society that leaves relatively free the satisfaction of basic and natural human values related to enjoying life and having fun. Restraint represents a society that suppresses the satisfaction of needs and regulates them through strict social norms.

The Foundation wants to unlock this knowledge for education and society at large.

Business

Since its inception, Connect2Us has been run by board members and an unpaid manager. Volunteers contribute on a project-by-project and/or occasional basis. This management, which is common in a start-up organization without a goal, will continue to professionalize in the coming years. A three-member Supervisory Board will be appointed in 2021. Prof. Dr. Gert Jan Hofstede, son of Geert Hofstede and co-author of “All Others” has accepted the invitation to serve on it.

The foundation has an experienced board and operates according to the Code of Conduct of Charities Netherlands. In March 2017, the foundation was granted ANBI status. In 2018, Connect2Us was recognized by the CBF, which oversees recognized charities. The foundation will eventually adopt the Supervisory Board model, with a volunteer board, a paid part-time manager and volunteer staff.

Organization and volunteers

Supervisory Board (2021)

• Prof. Dr. Gert Jan Hofstede
• Prof. Dr. Sjoerd Beugelsdijk
• Vacancy

Board

The board of the foundation is composed as follows:

• Jan Vincent Meertens – initiator, chairman. Writer, lecturer in intercultural management.
• Annette de Vreede – Secretary. Entrepreneur, service provider for migrants and expats.
• Brigitte Opel – initiator, treasurer. Lecturer in intercultural management.

Volunteers

• Anouk Lepretre – entrepreneur. Manager
• Alette Vonk – initiator. Lecturer in intercultural management. Supervision stories
• Tom Fadhronc – initiator.
• Tatjana von Bonkewitz (Luxembourg). Lecturer in intercultural management. Coordinator Luxembourg
• Lena Heberger – Master student coordinator school project
• Francesca Iaboni – Master student coordinator crowd funding and stories
• Saskia Maarse;
• Divya Susan Varkey;
• Peter van der Schee;
• Nathalie Meertens;

The board members and volunteers receive no remuneration. No loans have been made to them either.

Diversity and Inclusiveness Code

Connect2Us pursues the Diversity and Inclusion Code (CDI) whenever possible. The 4 P’s – Personnel, Public, Program and Partners – are keenly observed in the design of the organization.

Governance

Charities must account to their donors and society for the use of their income. Unambiguous rules make charities transparent and oblige them to properly explain how they operate and account for results. To this end, a system of supervision and accountability has emerged in recent years, based on self-regulation.

Self-regulation means that charities are collectively responsible for transparent practices and functioning. Since January 1, 2016, there has been an Accreditation Scheme for Charities with new standards and modernized supervision. Most codes and guidelines of Goede Doelen Nederland are included in the standards of the Erkenningsregeling. Connect2Us is a member of

Goede Doelen Nederland and we adhere to codes, rules and guidelines, such as the SBF Code for Good Governance, the Regulation on Remuneration of Directors of Charities and the Charities Financial Management Directive.

Place in the field

Connect2US was founded by professional trainers and consultants in the field of intercultural collaboration. These initiators are affiliated with Hofstede Insights, a consulting organization that bases its work on the work of scientist Geert Hofstede. The initiators want to use their expertise not only in the field of intercultural cooperation but also in intercultural living together.

Connect2Us is not the only initiative in the Netherlands and the other countries where it operates that is entirely devoted to the pursuit of better intercultural coexistence. It is, however, the only initiative that takes this scientific research and the Hofstede Model as its starting point.

Europe

In 2019, with support from the EU, the Connect2Us platform gained a section in Luxembourg, in French, German, English and Arabic. This department was financed with EU funds. In 2020, the Germany department was launched and in 2021 we hope to have prepared Belgium and France as well. For this purpose, existing stories are being adapted to local conditions.

Ongoing Programs

“stories are connecting”

Platform

The basis of our approach is storytelling. The Foundation began with the story of the fictional Yousef family from Syria. Then we wrote down stories shared with us by migrants, as well as by their new Dutch neighbors. Stories are connective and increase engagement, which is the real power of storytelling. According to the successful author Harari in his book Sapiens, “sharing stories” is the main reason humanity has been able to evolve. Groups of people live by stories. Listening and telling go together. The success of an evening with friends or a birthday party depends on the stories being told. Tough stories, funny stories, endearing stories, you name it.

The Foundation provides the stories we tell (or have told) with an observation and an explanation. Not necessarily a solution, but a way to further open the eyes of the listener and those of the storyteller. In this way we hope for greater understanding, even if differences in customs and practices persist. We hope that explanations given prevent and refute prejudices, so that step by step we can move toward more connection and better intercultural coexistence.

Our biggest challenge is to reach as many people as possible. This requires knowledge and also money. For this, we attract funding or seek strategic partnerships such as with Google Grants.

School Project

In the school project, the core objective is: to make children aged 10 to 13 in their schools familiar and comfortable with cultural differences, through the subject of citizenship education: about what you can do with your different freedoms and rights, for yourself, another and society. The Citizenship Clarification Bill has been passed and will take effect September 1, 2021. The government sets certain conditions but offers no concrete solutions. Schools mostly rely on resources developed in the field. In this context, Connect2Us has designed a package of educational games. The purpose of the games is to develop citizenship skills, and intercultural skills in particular, through awareness, understanding and acceptance. Children develop understanding for each other, learn to think critically and thus arm themselves against unfounded opinions on and in (social) media. By playing the games students learn to respectfully discuss with each other and to stand up for their opinions. By doing so, the school invests in social emotional and citizenship skills and encounters and will increase social safety in the classroom and at school. Each game is delivered to the teacher, or “gamemaster,” with a complete lesson plan and instructions for play, as well as additional theoretical information intended to underpin the philosophy.

Workshops for teachers will be available to improve teachers’ intercultural knowledge and skills.

understanding of each other, learning to think critically and thereby guarding against unfounded opinions on and in the (social) media

Evidence-based

In June 2020, we tested one of the games in a pilot class. “Empathy Land” is a board game specifically designed to train players in the soft skills needed for successful intercultural interaction. Through the game principle, we encourage intrinsic motivation in the students to want to win the game, so they really have to empathize with the other participants, their families and customs and at the same time their own.

An initial pilot session was held at the Gooische School in June 2020. Study group participants formed a class of 22 students, ages 10-11 (Group 7). Feedback was positive and the children had lively discussions about their home situations. The class teacher heard spontaneous conversations that she could not have imagined without the game. Later in the year we tested the game at the Wide World School in Amersfoort. We incorporate the feedback from both children and teachers into the new versions of the games.

Using observation and questionnaires, we will try to gain insight into behavioral change related to cultural differences. The methodology for this is being developed in cooperation with our Supervisory Board.

We are looking for strategic partners who can support the production and distribution (disclosure) of the games.

Marketing & Publicity

The dedication and enthusiasm of the volunteers for developing games and stories provide sufficient capacity. However, marketing and publicity need more support, both in terms of financial resources, knowledge and manpower.

Social media

To drive visitors to the platform, we developed a new social media strategy supported by Google Grants. Connect2Us has generated momentum from its recently improved website and by establishing a presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. We will soon launch a social media campaign to gather even more stories about cross-cultural communication. During the first phase of this campaign, we plan to share two posts per day aimed at increasing traffic to our website Connect2Us.eu and stimulating conversations about everyday intercultural interactions among our social media communities. The key to success in this strategy is to get people talking in the comment sections of each post. Through the enthusiasm of our volunteers for our mission, we hope to further convey that enthusiasm and encourage connections between migrants and local people.

Other online

Connect2Us is mentioned on the Charities Netherlands site. This type of presence should be further expanded.

Print media

The free-publicity campaign in 2021 will be prepared by an in-house PR intern and partly taken over by the Connect2Us organization. Here, knowledge sharing will take center stage.

Radio & television

Following our president’s successful launch of his book Do we have a Deal? the Foundation received some publicity on radio and television. With a new book profiling Connect2Us more emphatically, the opportunity for “free” publicity will increase

Ambassador

When Empathy Land is introduced, we want to use an Ambassador, a well-known Dutch person who appeals to the target audience and who endorses the goal of Connect2Us and that of the game in particular.

Finance

The financial policies of the Connect2Us will be established based on the funding raised. The Foundation will actively focus on fundraising. We will include crowdfunding, funds as well as companies in the campaign. The focus will be on the implementation of the school project and the realization and promotion of a better platform.

The premise is that the schools will pay a co-payment for the games. The price will be the cost price, plus a small mark-up for development. For example, the price for Empathy Land will be around 40 euros. With 5 games needed for a class, the school will be able to budget the purchase of Empathy Land at 200,- Euros. The other games will have a lower cost. We hope to finance the run-up with pre-orders, grant and donations. In addition, we will offer short workshops in conjunction with the games where teachers will be trained in dealing with cultural differences in education using a simple framework based on Hofstede. To avoid market distortion with professional training organizations, the condition of these workshops is that they are non-commercially viable.

In 2021, we plan to release a jigsaw puzzle. We are responding to corona restrictions and the need for board games. The puzzle provides an opportunity for brand awareness and fundraising. In addition, the game contributes, albeit to a limited extent, to the Foundation’s core objective: intercultural connection. The image the puzzler puzzles with represents a diverse and tolerant society.

Grants/contributions from funds

This project plan is also intended to attract funding for the production of the games, for their distribution and personnel costs for the purpose of (social) marketing. The budget for both the Foundation and the projects are available separately.

Collaborative partners

Connect2Us values partnerships with strong partners, seeking mutual added value and reinforcement, and a preference for multi-year collaboration.

Currently, the Foundation has four strategic partnerships.

IOM

The International Organization for Migration in The Hague is a UN body and has shown strong interest in our development from the inception of Connect2Us. Together we wrote a project proposal for EU funding. This did not materialize. The project idea (rolling out the school project in several European countries) is still current.

OMO

The Ons Middelbaar Onderwijs Foundation, through then chairman of the board Eugene Bernard, showed great sympathy and interest in our work. It has not yet come to actual cooperation because advancing insight brought us to primary education for the pilots.

Geert Hofstede († 2020)

Hofstede is best known for the cultural model he formulated, which uses a number of ‘dimensions’ he mapped out: determining characteristics that a culture possesses to a greater or lesser degree and on the basis of which cultures can be compared. The model aims to provide a better understanding of cultural differences and thus make them more bridgeable. For Connect2Us, the model is the basis of our work. The ideas of Geert Hofstede are managed by Gert Jan Hofstede, member of the Board of

Hofstede Insights

Hofstede Insights Is a consulting organization to which the founders are professionally affiliated and which gives Connect2Us the network to gain faster access to knowledge and international capacity.

CBF

The Central Bureau for Fundraising recognizes Connect2Us and conducts annual audits to maintain this recognition. In doing so, the CBF conducts external oversight.

New Gevers

The project budget provides for a contribution to New Gevers, an organization that matches professionals with foundations like ours. Professionals who want to offer a voluntary contribution to a good cause. The use of professionals will increase the quality of Connect2Us’ work without the (full) cost that that professionalization would otherwise cost.

Sponsors and donors

In recent years, the Foundation has received funding from the Far Mountains Foundation for the start-up of the website, from the EU to set up the Luxembourg branch, and from a private foundation for the first phase of game development. Contributions from its own ranks provide for some ongoing external costs.

Google Grants

The Google Grants program donates click budget to selected charitable organizations. The Google Grants program allows nonprofit organizations to bring their products to the attention of people seeking information related to their organization. The program works through Google Ads. The only difference is that a normal advertiser has to pay their own click budget and an advertiser with a Google Grants gets the click fees from Google. Google Grants accounts have a daily budget increasing to $329, which amounts to $10,000 per month. Connect2Us is a charity accepted by Google Grants. The website is set up to meet Google’s requirements.

Updated 1-12-2021