Joint consultation hours in the barios provided by employees of the Public Entity Bonaire and the Central Government brings the service counter closer to the citizen as of June 27th. The pilot will start in Rincon.
It concerns service counters of the Social Support and Job Placement [Maatschappelijke Ondersteuning en Arbeidsbemiddeling (MOA)] department of the Public Entity Bonaire and of the Income Support [Onderstand] department of the RCN Social Affairs and Labour Unit [Sociale Zaken Werkgelegenheid (SZW)]. MOA and SZW want to collaborate in order to reach all residents of Bonaire and to offer them the support which is required to submit an application.
The consultation hours are intended to physically reduce the distance for citizens and to lower the threshold for help. It also prevents that citizens have to go to different service counters.
During the consultation hours the MOA will handle applications for social support, for example in the form of water, electricity, school supplies and child day care. In addition, MOA can help in the area of integration into the workforce. One can for example register as a job seeker and where possible immediate mediation will be offered to find an available job vacancy.
SZW can handle questions, applications and changes for general and special income support (this is for persons with an income below the legal minimum wage of $820 per month). However, pensioners can also go to the consultation hours for questions and changes regarding the AOV [Algemene Ouderdomsverzekering; General Retirement Insurance] benefit.
The Public Entity Bonaire and the RCN SZW Unit are jointly responsible for support to vulnerable citizens. These extra consultation hours will show the citizens of Rincon how they can use the (legal) available facilities.
Depending on the results of this pilot, MOA and SZW will decide whether it is possible to also launch joint consultation hours in other barios. Of course all citizens can also continue to attend the regular consultation hours in the town centre.
This important collaboration at local level is warmly welcomed by Commissioner Nina den Heyer and Kingdom Representative Gilbert Isabella. They will be present on Tuesday, June 27th from 09:00 to 10:00 hours to open the consultation hours with a festive kick-off. Everyone who is interested is welcome to be present that morning at the sub administration office on Kaya Miguel Pourier.