Renewal & extension of the Social Domain Workshop The Hague & Leiden

The Social Domain Workshop The Hague & Leiden (in Dutch: Werkplaats Sociaal Domein) will start a new four-year project period in January. As of 2023, the Workshop will be expanded to include a new Social and Inclusion learning studio, which will focus on an urban issue related to marginalised groups in society.

It will start with sex workers, a marginalised target group that faces exclusion due to stigma. The learning studio is an initiative of lecturers of the Social Work degree programme at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, who will develop these projects.

Municipalities once again face the issue of what they can and should do about the position of sex workers, the feasibility of their policies, and the upcoming Sex Work Regulation Act. The learning studio will look for appropriate solutions together with collaborative partners and the community itself.

On 7 July, the municipality of The Hague, the Knowledge and Expertise Centre for Sex Work and Human Trafficking SHOP, the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG) and on behalf of the WSD The Hague and Leiden, Joost van Hoof, professor in Urban Ageing at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, all came together to sign a declaration of intent (see the header photo).