People first, at every stage of life.
"Participatiesamenleving" was the Dutch word of the year in 2013, meaning "participation society." It captured something people were already feeling: a good life, and a good society, isn't just handed to you by institutions. You take part in shaping it.
That idea is older than 2013. Centuries earlier, the philosopher Spinoza, writing in this same country, argued that the whole point of a well-run society isn't to control people, but to give them the safety and freedom to develop their own minds, and think for themselves.
It's even written into Dutch law today. The Constitution commits the state to creating room for people's ontplooiing (their social and cultural development), and for how they spend their free time. Growth. Becoming. Hobbies included.
That's the frame Solidara wants to contribute to.
We start from a simple belief: a good society is made of people who feel capable, respected and involved. That's where we begin too, with the human being we are facing.
Not a target group. Not a label. A human being.
School ends. Some things turn out to have never really been taught. For some, school ended too early, or barely started at all. Either way, that's where we work.
We support people's learning for life. The professional skills they need, the personal ones they want, even the hobby they never got round to: how to survive the digital madness, how to speak up in a meeting, how to live a bit more sustainably, how to feel part of your neighbourhood.
Most of what happens at Solidara is people learning from each other: sharing what they know, trying things together, figuring it out side by side. Where it genuinely helps, an experienced trainer or instructor joins in. But they're there to support the learning, not to run it.
And Solidara tries to work the same way. We're not only a place people come to; we're a place people can help build. If these aims are yours too, there's room here to shape what we do, not just take part in it. In its own small way, that's what a participation society looks like from the inside.