Hedwig completed the PAR Practitioners Program in 2023/2024. She did her PPP internship, the further development of the Community of Care, together with Hester Wachtmeester. She is now a certified action researcher and works, among other things, within the FNO’s Samen Kansrijk en Gezond (Together Promising and Healthy) program in Havelte and Amersfoort. She also works with a panel of experts, ‘Het Gezinspanel’ (The Family Panel), for the areas covered by the FNO’s second ‘Gezinnen aan zet’ (Families on the Move) call.
She has a background as a certified interpreter-translator in Spanish and Portuguese and also speaks five other languages. Hedwig has worked for many years in various departments of the municipality of Utrecht, always with a focus on collaboration across organizational and domain boundaries. She has long been committed to government participation (rather than citizen participation), and Participatory Action Research has proven to be a very helpful method in this regard.
“I get a lot of energy from the surprising encounters and conversations that arise in PAR sessions. In a sense, I am often still that translator, but not only of language, but also of worlds and perspectives.”