Bridge of Hope

Support newcomers in vulnerable situations

The Bridge of Hope is our initiative to support newcomers in vulnerable situations in Amsterdam Noord. Its focus is on reducing social integration barriers and combating isolation in the North region of Amsterdam through home visits, inclusive cooking workshops, food distribution, and establishing women and girls friendly spaces. Whilst helping refugees navigate and understand their host community, we emphasise the existing emotional barriers.

It is of the utmost importance to tackle these, and thereby restore their sense of acceptance and self-esteem.
Road of Hope proceeds from a tailored approach, by welcoming and accompanying each refugee individually. That way, the person’s particular requests, as well as his family and social needs, will be attended to. Our work with refugees likewise acknowledges their culture, history and background.
As we develop relationships of trust with the refugees, we’re capable of understanding their demands and positively contributing to their development i.e. overcoming emotional difficulties and reducing cultural barriers. This is vital for them to familiarise themselves with local culture, and to be able to adapt to it.
Road of Hope’s programs aim to create an integration path that takes into consideration the values of the host society and of the refugees. Every service, act or intervention is based on the principle of fellowship, believing that every man and woman deserves to live in a community, with dignity, solidarity and safety.

Contact Moments

Coffee Time

Cooking Workshop and Creative Workshops

This personal approach is at the heart of our project. With it, we build a relationship of trust and make people feel that they are not alone in the neighbourhood and can count on us. Because when people feel comfortable, they start sharing their current difficulties, which creates a sense of acceptance and trust, enabling us to support people to come out of social isolation and encourage social cohesion.

We do this through visits and staying in touch through phone calls, messages and welcoming them whenever they need any kind of support from us. We believe that showing genuine interest in their lives helps create a strong bond between our participants and us that allows us to support them much better and more effectively. So this activity provides an opportunity to act as a bridge between the different resident groups, as well as between the residents and other organisations (formal and informal).

We aim to provide a safe and accessible environment where residents can come together, share experiences and support each other.

The activity focuses on addressing the challenges related to the lack of control over physical and mental health, especially among, newcomers, ederly people and people with a migration background.

Our approach is based on open and informal discussions led by trained facilitators and key people. We want to create a safe environment where residents can get to know each other, understand each other better and talk openly and honestly about topics such as neighbourhood safety, stress management and a healthy lifestyle, their life experiences, emotions, home situation, insecurities and a healthy lifestyle. In this way, they will realise that they may not be so different from each other at all.

provides cultural exchange and helps refugees and the host community learn more about each other’s cultures, traditions, and values. In this project, cooking workshops will be organised with a group of women and men.

Food Distribution to Vulnerable People in the Neighborhood

in one activity carried by volunteers and workshop participants that will distribute food among the most vulnerable groups in the Amsterdam Noord district.

Contact for more information:

Email: bridgeofhope@roadofhope.org
WhatsApp: +31 6 43889099
Coordinator: Gabriella Pignato