Our missions
The City of Brussels, its alderman responsible for social cohesion, Faouzia HARICHE, as well as its CPAS, very quickly agreed on the obviousness, the opportunity and the need to respond together to the call launched by the COCOF ( French Community Commission) for the creation of a reception office for newcomers on its territory. For the City of Brussels, it had become necessary to set up a coherent, structured reception program adapted to the specific needs of newcomers. Thus, on September 10th 2015, the COCOF college granted the non-profit organisation BAPA BXL the approval as a BAPA (Bureau d'accueil pour primo-arrivants- Reception office for newcomers )
Through this reception office for newcomers, the City of Brussels is implementing a collective and individual framework to ensure that the integration of the new residents takes place in the best possible conditions and with respect for everyone's rights and duties.
Our reception office, BAPA BXL, does its utmost to offer individual support to newcomers, enabling them to lead their lives independently, to increase their social, economic and cultural participation, to develop their potential and also to be sensitized to the challenges linked to their integration in Belgium.
BAPA BXL wishes not only to enable newcomers and their children to integrate serenely into Belgian society and Brussels society in particular, but also to give them the opportunity to become active citizens, capable of contributing to the development of a democratic, supportive, pluralist and open society. Through its actions, BAPA BXL intends to fight against exclusion, to strive for equal opportunities and thus to contribute to develop and encourage harmonious living together and the participation of all in the life of the city!
Our missions aim to enable newcomers to become emancipated, to be full actors in their reception process, to widen their field of possibilities, to stimulate the learning of the French language, to encourage a dynamic of openness and encounters between the newcomers, the associative fabric and the key actors on the field.
More concretely, we propose:
- To offer any newcomer who comes to BAPA BXL, a listening ear, a warm, human and friendly welcome, rich in exchanges, and taking place in a multicultural context;
- With the help of trained and motivated workers, and thanks to our network with the institutional and associative fabric of Brussels, to do everything in our power to ensure that newcomers have equal access to existing essential rights and to available aid, while ensuring that their basic needs are met in the best possible conditions and in emergency situations
- To support and accompany our public individually in their reception program, taking into account their aspirations, potentials and difficulties, ...
- To give them the tools to understand how Belgium functions, so that they can participate positively in social, economic and cultural life.
