Independent coordinator

The Eigen Kracht Centrale has an infrastructure of Eigen Kracht-coordinators that covers the whole of the Netherlands. Eigen Kracht-coordinators are citizens who support families with organizing their conference. Apart from their regular daily tasks, they organize at least one conference a year. As being a  coordinator should not become an occupation, there is a limit to the number of conferences assigned.

Independent

Eigen Kracht-coordinators are independent citizens, fellow human beings, who do not benefit financially from the outcome of a conference. Citizens applying for a conference indicate what kind of coordinator would best suit their situation. Male, female, religion and age are some characteristics they may ask for. It is not unusual to see someone who participated in a conference as a member of the network becomes enthusiastic about the work of the Eigen Kracht-coordinator.

Facilitating conferences does not require knowledge of the social care systems. People who are interested are of all ages, have higher, average or hardly any education and have very different professions. At each conference, they are coached by the project manager, and at regional and national meetings they hone their skills.

Many languages

The Netherlands are a multicultural society and it proves that Eigen Kracht-conferences offer a universal approach that works for all cultures. Independent coordinators from these various cultures prove to be very effective in helping a family with the preparations. At the moment, a demand can be made on about 500 coordinators in The Netherlands, speaking 66 languages and dialects, including sign language. In general, coordinators find their work satisfactory, often over a long period of time.