Research project

Project

This research project addresses two urgent and closely related social issues:

• How can we support children and young people growing up in poverty to develop an open perspective on their future?
• How can different actors contribute by providing social resources and basic services?

Children and young people in poverty often quickly grasp how poverty and inequality are reproduced. To survive, they frequently resign themselves—often unnoticed at a very young age—to the idea that they have no real future prospects and cannot realize their dreams. The story of Benjamin, a seven-year-old boy we interviewed in recent research, illustrates this all too clearly.

The project explores how meaning is shaped in different life domains and upbringing contexts (home, school, leisure time, youth care, …), and sheds light on the aspirations children and young people can—or cannot—hold onto.

Our approach combines ethnographic and biographical research, with the study taking place in the Watersportbaan neighborhood in Ghent. This area is marked by high-rise social housing and a concentration of poverty and inequality. In the nearby Neermeersen district, as many as 61% of residents qualify for increased financial support—the highest rate in any Ghent neighborhood.

Despite these often challenging circumstances, many organizations are active in community building: healthcare and welfare services (Neighborhood Health Center Watersportbaan, PCSW, Kind & Gezin, …), educational institutions (nursery, primary and secondary schools, University Colleges, and Ghent University) and community initiatives (Buurthuis De Waterlelie, local service center De Vlaschaard, SAAMO Gent meeting space, a welfare hub, socio-artistic workshop Dichter bij de hemel, …)

For young people in particular, there are dedicated initiatives such as the local youth center, Circusplaneet workshops, sports training by the KAA Gent Foundation and Ghent Basketball, Sportaround activities, and the Kabonga playground project. These actors collaborate through the Youth Atelier, a platform committed to supporting children and young people in the neighborhood.

Valorisation

• Lecture “Brooddoosnodig” – Ghent schools (21/03/2023)
  • Tackling child poverty in schools
    
    
• Presentation Thinkers Program KVAB (21/06/2023)
  • Research feedback to social partners
    
    
• Commitment Declaration – Broad School Watersportbaan (06/10/2023)
  
  
• Lecture “Brooddoosnodig” – Bruges schools (10/10/2023)
  • Tackling child poverty in schools
    
    
• Debate vzw Jong Het Manifest (17/10/2023)
  • Call for a systemic, structural anti-poverty policy
    
    
• Learning Network Event Watersportbaan (06/11/2023):
  • Youth work at the crossroads of leisure and care
    
    
• Closing Event Lekkers op school (04/12/2023):
  • Workshop on “Vulnerability and Nutrition” for educators, policymakers, NGOs, and anti-poverty associations
    
    
• Symposium Poverty and Education: Levers in the Fight against Child Poverty (19/02/2024):
  • Event link
    
    
• Contribution to Kansarm in de Klasboek, Kantelfiguren voor de Klas (21/10/2024):
  • In connection with the Bruges Education Congress (20/11/2024), reflecting on how schools can make a difference for students facing poverty
    
    
• Panel Talk – Inspiration Day Armoede Anders (19/11/2024):
  • In collaboration with BIZ East & West Flanders and associations where people in poverty speak for themselves
    
    
• Workshop Proefwijs Onderwijs (20/11/2024) in Kortrijk:
  • Inspiring schools and partners to adopt healthy nutrition policies
    
    
• Trajectory Poverty and Education – Urban Academy:
  • Combining debate sessions, thesis workshops, and educational activities with social actors