At the beginning, we started our research focusing on refugees and organisations working with refugees to promote their ‘integration’ in Belgium. We wanted to explore what it meant to 'belong' and how those people working in leisure organisations were working to encourage a sense of belonging amongst refugees. After contacting with several organisations, Burn and Quindo were chosen as central actors because they provided leisure activities for youth and the organisers working at them were interested in supporting our research. When conducting our fieldwork with staff members at Burn and Quindo, we were struck by how often they would describe their organisations as laagdrempelig. Promoting laagdrempeligheid, which in its most basic definition refers to being easy accessible, is seemingly the objective of both organisations, they do not focus solely on refugees or any other specific group of people but instead work to make their activities open for any young people who are interested. As a result, we slightly adapted our research direction to focus on these open door organisations. Through our fieldwork, which took place over a few months at Burn and Quindo, we saw that leisure activities are being used to bring youth from different backgrounds together and to give them a sense of belonging in Belgian society. Crucially, we also saw that it is the concept of laagdrempeligheid that is the key factor driving the work of these organisations.
The interesting characteristic that Burn and Quindo have in common and which is different from other leisure organisations is working with mixed groups and creating the feeling of belonging and inclusion for participants through a diverse array of activities. It is a place where young people can come together, do some activities they are interested in, and not feel under pressure for a good performance. Participants come to Burn and Quindo because of their interests, but the freedom they find there gives them a chance to have creative ideas and work on turning them into a reality. From leisure activities, youth learn not only technical skills but also build up their network and social skills that will be useful for their maturity, future employment opportunities, and crucially a stronger sense of belonging and community in society. The objective of the organisers working at Burn and Quindo is to use activities to improve social skills, through which they feel equipped and empowered to create their own sense belonging or community connections. This is particularly important for the organisers because in the event that one of the organisations loses funding and has to stop certain activities, the young people will have the tools to manage by themselves using their new found skills and networks.
Trying to be as laagdrempelig as possible is their main guideline when the organisers are running the activities. They focus on the interest of participants rather than their background or social status, although in the case of Quindo, the organisers actively reach out to less privileged youth who commonly have more difficulties in accessing these kinds of activities. Laagdrempeligheid promotes social inclusion in both organisations and motivates the organisers who want to help youth feel a sense of belonging and as a part of wider society. Being laagdrempelig in this way links to creating a sense of belonging.
Despite a lot of benefits of being an open-door organisation, there are some challenges that come along with it. First of all, the dependency on funding limits the expansion of a number of activities and prevents them from growing in the way the organisers want. At Burn meanwhile, there is a debate surrounding the extension of one of the groups. If the group grows, participants tend to stick in their small groups going against the inclusive philosophy of laagdrempeligheid. Secondly, in the organisation with such urban activities as breakdance, rap, there is a difficulty in finding a balance between being open to people coming and going, as per the concept of laagdrempeligheid whilst also acknowledging that some level of regular attendance is needed to maintain the groups. Last but not least, from our interviews and observations, the majority of organisers and participants we met were male which raised the question of gender imbalance. Even though the organisers tried to give some explanation to this, it is certainly worth mentioning and might potentially be a point for further study.
Ultimately, focusing on laagdrempeligheid appears to be a powerful method for organisers to create a sense of belonging for youth in local community. Youth not only merely participate in the activities but also learn some social skills and expand their network which help them feel part of society. The findings from this research also raise a further question about the perspective of the participants on the term laagdrempeligheid. Therefore we suggest that further research into the viewpoints of those participating in the organisations would be valuable in gaining a holistic understanding of how they feel laagdrempeligheid contributes to their sense of belonging.