Mission and purpose of PBR

The association PBR is an independent umbrella organization of migrant self-organizations, which believes in a multicultural society. According to PBR a multicultural organization is a dynamic organization, in which residents of different cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds all equally get the same chance to utilize their possibilities and are capable of contributing to society as well as receiving from it.
With this mission as starting point, the primary purpose of PBR is the support and guidance of migrant self-organizations in their effort to participating and integrating in the Dutch society. PBR also maintains contact and cooperates with organizations, institutions and municipal services, where the cause of migrants is under discussion.

Tasks of PBR
1. Support and guidance of cadres of migrant self-organizations
Support aims at very different cases, like advice with starting an organization, administrative problems, financial business and fund raising. PBR also helps with yearly reports, plans of action and the development of activities and projects. PBR organizes cadre education, helps with developing a network and mediates to political parties, official red tape, social and municipal institutions, etcetera.

2. Serving interests
PBR serves the interests of migrants on scopes where bottlenecks manifest themselves most clearly, such as employment, education, youth policy, women, elderly, art and culture, emancipation, equal opportunities, housing, etcetera.
Serving interests also aims at reacting to actualities, maintaining contacts with others, participating in committee meetings and consultations on migrant policy making. All this is to work on improving the position and positive image forming of migrants.

3. Policy influencing of government and institutions
On the scopes above, PBR tries to influence policy as well as advising institutions and governmental services with relations to migrant matters. PBR acts independently, but also in co-operation with other organizations. PBR also fulfils an important intermediate function.

4. Stimulating of the social participation of migrants
With stimulating the social participation, PBR tries as much as possible to take up to themes and projects, that are part of the integration policy and to specific arrangements, which the government has formulated.
Hereby we can think about themes as long lasting unemployment, livability, pre educational welfare facilities, preventing educational arrears, promoting the use of municipal services and general welfare facilities, increasing the participation in associations and preventing the processes of marginalization.

5. Promotion of co-operation with other organizations and institutions
PBR pursues co-operation with other organizations and institutions in order to strengthen their impact through uniting forces. In this way PBR participates in the network of and for migrant organizations and takes part on diverse consultations and working-groups. PBR also tries to stimulate co-operation between its members.

Why migrant self-organizations?
Migrant self-organizations fulfill an important part in present-day multicultural society by pursuing to achieve participation, integration and acceptance. Because they are low leveled, they reach and mobilize big groups of migrants, which give them a voice and a face. Next to this they offer education, advice and information and they signalize perplexities of migrants. In general they support migrants in finding their way into the Dutch society. To be concerned in migrant self-organizations is in fact an important step in the direction of social participation.

Support and membership
For support of and membership of migrant self-organizations there are some criterions. In the meantime PBR counts more than 65 members of more than 23 nationalities. Every year the number of self-organizations and nationalities is increasing. The association Platform Buitenlanders Rijnmond as an umbrella organization of migrant self-organizations offers support and guidance to its members and serves the interest of migrants in general.