{"id":4486,"date":"2019-07-19T11:33:39","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T09:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www3.accompagner.be\/history\/"},"modified":"2024-08-01T10:01:48","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T08:01:48","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/accompagner.be\/en\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The beginning<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

In the 1980s, Ghislaine Radoux-Rogier, a member of the Catholic Maranatha Community and the widow of a Charleroi lawyer deeply committed to helping the underprivileged, continued his work in Brussels. She was attentive to all distress situations. welcoming all those in distress.<\/p>\n\n

Getting organised<\/h4>\n\n

There was a lot of dedication but little organisation! Father Lambert, a member of the Congregation of the Augustinians of the Assumption and founder of the Maranatha Community, asked Guy Leroy to help Ghislaine Radoux-Rogier. Assisted by a few volunteers, Guy established the foundations of the activity of Accompanying.<\/p>\n\n

After his ordination to the priesthood in 1984, Father Guy extended his outreach to the homeless and underprivileged of the Ste Marie-Madeleine Church area in Brussels Centre, where he officiated. The embryo of Accompagner had emerged. <\/p>\n\n

Year 2000<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

A new opportunity presented itself. The Congregation of the Augustinians of the Assumption launched an international call for projects aimed specifically at supporting poor people. The project of accompanying in daily life in Brussels was approved.<\/p>\n\n

An international non-profit association called \u201cAccompagner\u201d was created. Its mission would be to accompany people in difficulty in all the steps they need to take to defend their rights and enable them to regain their autonomy of action and assume their responsibilities within society. In this way, the association moved from one-off to ongoing assistance. <\/p>\n\n

Year 2001<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

Offices were rented. Professional staff was hired. Requests for help kept on increasing. A more efficient and effective organisation was put in place.<\/p>\n\n

Year 2004<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

The charitable NGO “ Action Vivre Ensemble <\/strong>” recognises the relevance of the service provided by Accompagner and grants a financial support, which will be repeated in 2007 and 2009.<\/p>\n\n

Year 2006<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

The international non-profit association Accompagner <\/strong>handed over the reins. A Belgian non-profit organization called \u201cLes Amis d’Accompagner\u201d, was created to take over and develop Accompagner’s work at national level. The objective was to increase the involvement of volunteers in the life of the project and make it sustainable.<\/p>\n\n

Year 2007<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

The specific work of Les Amis d’Accompagner was recognized through the granting of financial aid from the Poverty Fund managed by the non-profit association \u201cFondation Roi Baudouin<\/strong>\u201d. Les Amis d\u2019Accompagner \u00bb was awarded the Prix du civisme (Citizenship Prize) by the Commune of Koekelberg.. <\/p>\n\n

Year 2009<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid <\/strong>became the patron of Les Amis d\u2019Accompagner for 2 years.<\/p>\n\n

Year 2010<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

The Association was selected by the Commune of Koekelberg as part of the Communal Program for \u201cSocial Cohesion 2011-2015<\/strong>\u201d organized by the Brussel Commission of the French Community (CoCoF<\/strong>). Les Amis d’Accompagner’s work in favour of newcomers was thus encouraged and the association was recognized as a \u201cpublic interest<\/strong>\u201d association. <\/p>\n\n

Year 2011<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

The 15th May marked 10 years at the service of the most deprived. Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid renewed her High Patronage of \u201cLes Amis d’Accompagner<\/strong>\u201d for a further five years. Les Amis d’Accompagner also signed a three-year agreement with the non-profit NGO Action Vivre Ensemble<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

Year 2012<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

The year 2012 was the year of volunteers<\/strong>! Their number was continuously increasing, as well as their commitment to the daily functioning of the Association. Work with partners intensifies<\/strong>, and their numbers were growing. On the financial front, the Ministry of Finance authorized the association to provide donors with a tax exemption certificate.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

Year 2013<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

The NGO restructured its organisation. From now on two complementary services <\/strong>would function side by side in the Welcoming office. Socio-legal guidance <\/strong>would be run by five volunteers. Partner management<\/strong> would be operated under the responsibility of a Relationship Manager, who would receive requests for accompanying support from the social network. An Operational Manager would coordinate and supervise both services. <\/p>\n\n

Year 2014<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

An incredibly busy year! We become members of the “Association pour une \u00e9thique dans la r\u00e9colte des fonds” (AERF)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n

We received support from of \u201cM\u00e9decins du Monde<\/strong>\u201d (World\u2019s Doctors) and a young French girl, a member of \u201cJeunes \u00e0 travers le monde\u201d<\/strong> (Young people across the world). This was a sign of recognition of the effectiveness of our action.. We also cooperated with the Catholic French-speaking Media<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

We improved our working and information resources by updating our website and making videos illustrating our activities…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Year 2015<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

This was undoubtedly the \u201cyear of recognition<\/strong>\u201d of our project and the work we had been doing for 15 years! Once again, we were granted funding in the framework of the municipal Social Cohesion Programme 2011-2015 organised by the Commission communautaire fran\u00e7aise (Cocof – Commission of the French speaking Community of the Brussels Parliament) via the municipality of Koekelberg. At the same time, Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid renewed her High Patronage for a period of five years from April 2016. In addition, the Board of Directors of the \u201cForum bruxellois de lutte contre la pauvret\u00e9<\/strong>\u201d (FBLP – Brussels forum for the fight against poverty – now \u201cLe Forum\u201d) accepted our application for membership, and invited us to sit in the Commission for the allocation of social housing in the commune of Koekelberg. Finally, the Association took on \u201canother dimension<\/strong>\u201d with the European subsidy received from the \u201cGive Eur-Hope<\/em><\/strong>\u201d (GEH) Association. <\/p>\n\n

Year 2016<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

While this year saw us recognized through the acceptance of our application to join the \u201cConseil Bruxellois de coordination socio-politique<\/strong>\u201d (CBCS – Brussels Council of socio-political coordination), it also saw a lot of energy spent on internal consolidation<\/strong>: we published a Welcoming Charter<\/strong> for our users, introduced the quarterly supervision of our socio-legal guidance staff by a psychologist, as well as started running quarterly round tables<\/strong> for our volunteers (intervision). Our evolution required new offices, which were furnished and equipped on the 1st and 2nd floor of our welcoming office. Finally, we also published a case study by one of our volunteers: \u00ab “A reality check regarding the integration of refugees in society. What role for volunteering? <\/a>as a “Testimony of accompanying a family of refugees.”<\/p>\n\n

Year 2017<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

\u201cLes Amis d\u2019Accompagner\u201d was recognised by a number of official bodies :<\/p>\n\n