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Intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) present major social inclusion and equality challenges. In Europe, approximately 120 million people have some form of disability, according to European Commission. During the past decades, social work has moved from a therapeutic approach towards empowerment, strengths, and resilience perspectives regarding disability. Yet, there are still various constraints to social work鈥檚 capacity of addressing structural barriers for groups of people with IDDs. On the other hand, initiatives from different backgrounds have offered valuable perspectives and practical examples for how to fill the gap between the current social work approach and what can be achieved in a different way. For instance, the movement of the social economy has supported such initiatives to flourish in the form of social enterprises. A very interesting example of a socio-economic inclusion endeavor focused on people with IDDs is that of Ferme Nos Pilifs, an organization that is based on a farm (ferme in French) nearby the center of Brussels, Belgium.

Ferme Nos Pilifs is an ETA (Entreprise de Travail Adapt茅), a non-profit association for socio-professional integration of people with IDDs. Its mission is to provide useful, remunerative, and rewarding jobs for 145 people with IDDs through around 40 employees who supervise and support the workers. The primary goal of Ferme Nos Pilifs is to ensure rewarding jobs with quality for its workers, which correspond to their life cycles while benefit their personal and professional development. It sees employment as a way for someone to develop social links, and to be recognized for their skills and to be integrated into a structured environment. Together with its workers, Ferme Nos Pilifs takes up the challenges of the world through various approaches such as circular economy, local production.

The story begins in 1971 when Nelly Filipson, an inspired woman, who realized the inefficiency of the existing structures and created the Centre Nos Pilifs, a rehabilitation center for children with IDDs. The name Nos Pilifs is nothing more than the anagram of her surname. All the organizations labeled Nos Pilifs have been developed by people from the teams that have worked for the Center, or previously developed structures. Each non-profit Nos Pilifs organization has been developed to address different but specific need of people with IDDs. Their strategies were cocreated together with the workers, which combine the concepts of inclusion and professionalism, local roots and global vision, economy and environment, ecology and ethical work, adaptation, and innovation. In 1984, the Ferme Nos Pilifs was established to allow young adults from the Center to integrate into society by finding a rewarding job.

I heard about the Ferme Nos Pilifs from the director, Mr. Beno卯t Ceysens, when I met him in a workshop of social impact evaluation, in Brussels. He briefly described his work and when I did the same, he surprised me when he told me to pass his greetings to my supervisor in CIRIEC Belgium, Barbara Sak. Obviously, they had cooperated in the past on a research project in the social economy. Barbara was inspired by my encounter with the director and she thought that it was a good idea to arrange a visit in Ferme since three of my ASTRA colleagues were in Belgium at that time doing their secondments. She couldn鈥檛 be more right!

Our visit was arranged for mid-March 2022. The weather was on our side and a team of four ESRs along with Barbara drove to somewhere around 3 to 4 kilometers from the center of Brussels, uphill. Ferme Nos Pilifs is situated in a rural, calm neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital, where nature is more vivid. The enterprise activities of Ferme Nos Pilifs include a garden center, selling plants, flowers, and gardening tools, a grocery/bakery, selling fresh and organic groceries and different types of bread baked fresh every day. Also, a restaurant called Estaminet, open to everyone for lunch or dinner. The services that Ferme Nos Pilifs offers cover a large variety, including, garden maintenance, organic cookies atelier, a carpentry workshop, a plant nursery, courses for children during school vacations, gardening workshops, educative visits in the farm (to know more about the plants and the animals), and parties hosting. In Ferme, there are also rooms to rent for meetings and a large park with farm animals.

Our first meeting was with an administration representative, who helped us understand the principles on which this endeavor is based on and still operates. The organization believes that enterprises should adapt to people and not the other way around. Any initiative or action the organization developed or will develop in the future must support socioeconomic inclusion and protection of the environment, the very three pillars of sustainability. In Ferme Nos Pilifs the people are not being defined by their situation, but by their roles and their professionalism.
Even though the work impact of the work of the Ferme, could be categorized as social work practice, the administration of the organization preferred to invest more in vocational trainers and professionals of relevant fields than in psycho-social support personnel. As the representative pointed out, the trainers were not used to working with people with IDDs before; yet, what is requested from them is to do vocational training and become the head of the working groups they are training, exactly like in any other case. The trainers have a key role in this enterprise and the administration trusts them deeply to lead each activity. The view of the organization is that the support of people with IDDs to become competent professionals and reach their potential is the most important thing, as the room for psychosocial development through therapeutic sessions is limited. After all, Ferme Nos Pilifs may be a work integration actor, while at the same time it is a business where people are doing their job.

As this organization has been operating since 1984, many innovative ideas for new services and merchandise have been proposed and evaluated through the years. For every new idea, the first question that is asked is if and how it will benefit people with IDDs. There should always be an interest and a meaning for them. The second question that is asked immediately after a positive answer to the first one is if this contributes to environmental sustainability. The second question should be answered positively as well, otherwise, the new idea would be rejected.
After this first presentation of the organization鈥檚 history, the visit continued with a tour of the farm. We had the opportunity to see a big variety of farm animals in their habitat and the way the workers were taking care of them. We did this tour along with students and families with children that were on an educational excursion. We also had the opportunity to walk around and enjoy the nature and calmness of the place. Everything was very well taken care of and this natural landscape was so invigorating, even though it was so close to the big and busy capital of Belgium.

At that point, it was already time for our lunch. We had reserved a table at the restaurant of Ferme, where we had the opportunity to experience the hospitality and taste their interesting menu. The people who prepared our food, as well as the waiters, were people with IDDs working under the guidance of their trainers. The food serving was fast and smooth and the taste was even better. There were also other customers enjoying their lunch break at this place, which was no different than any other good restaurant I had tried in Belgium. When we asked for some ketchup, that waiter brought the bottle and told us in English that we can use it also for a horror movie scene, joking, in English! That was the highlight of that day.

After our lunch, we had the opportunity to meet Beno卯t Ceysens and had a very interesting discussion about the needs and motives of this endeavor as well as the conditions that could influence this kind of project to thrive. After a quick reference to their administration model, the director pointed out the importance of Ferme鈥檚 location. He explained that even though the neighborhood used to be deprived in the past, the locals embraced this initiative from the very beginning. Now, the whole neighborhood is defined by the Ferme Nos Pilifs operation. The Ferme is sharing its infrastructure with its neighbors, providing them with a place for local events, like festivities or neighborhood meetings. They are clients and supporters of this enterprise and both parties are in constant exchanging and sharing relationships. The director told us that they did a lot of experimentation in order to find the proper and sustainable business activities, while many solutions have emerged responding to the needs of the neighborhood. He also pointed out the importance of professionalism, as a transferable quality from the trainers to the workers and the quality of products and services they provide to their clients. The products have to be competitive and the clients are willing to pay a little bit more if the product is of top quality.

Although the organization experienced a lot of project failures through the years, it has been trying to find a combination of activities that ensures both the social and financial goals, while always with respect to the natural environment. Their success stories are very fascinating. One of the most successful initiatives is the bakery, which has a very interesting story. During school and family visits in the Ferme, a kids鈥� activities animator with IDD had the idea of making bread and cookies with the children, as the worker was a drop-out of vocational training for bakers. Inspired by the success of this activity, the worker decided to start again the courses and become a licensed baker. Returning back to the Ferme, the worker proposed to start a small bakery there, in the place where a not-so-successful mailing/delivery service project was operating. The customers鈥� reaction was so positive that now the bakery contributes to a great part of the organization鈥檚 income, and Ferme Nos Pilifs bio cookies are popular inside and outside Belgium, as they are exported to nearby countries.

Responding to the question about how the future of Ferme looks like, the director replied that he is heading for retirement as well as some of the people with IDDs who work there since the beginning. Most of the workers that are close to retirement don鈥檛 want to leave the environment of the organization and they want to continue working there as volunteers. A very innovative idea that is currently under evaluation is the development of a nursing home, where trained workers with IDDs will take care of the older ones, always under the values and principles of Nos Pilifs organizations. This is of vital importance, as retired people with IDDs can鈥檛 depend on their families anymore, while at the same time workers with IDDs could be trained in healthcare jobs. The economic sustainability of this foreseen endeavor could be secured by the pension money of the workers and care subsidies from the public.

Ferme Nos Pilifs is a part of a constellation of non-profit organizations whose mission is to work so that people with IDDs can find their place in society and blossom there. By developing multiple activities and business projects, its employees can develop socially enriching and meaningful social relationships. Moreover, having a job, establishing social ties, and participating actively, but at their own pace, in the life and development of the company is a factor of emancipation and autonomy for people with IDDs. They are professionals, they take the bus every day to go to their job, pay their bills, interact with each other, socialize and feed their self-esteem. The clients and the children that visit Ferme have the opportunity to break the stereotypes and understand the real value of inclusion. Everyone has their position inside society and such initiatives need to be communicated to inspire more people to find ways to realize sustainable living.

References

European Commission. (2017). Progress Report on the implementation of the European Disability Strategy (2010-2020). Commission Staff Working Document, Brussels SWD 2017, 29 Final.
Hall, E., & Wilton, R. (2015). Thinking differently about 鈥榳ork鈥� and social inclusion for disabled people. In Disabled People, Work and Welfare (pp. 219-238). Policy Press.
Hiranandani, V. (2005). Towards a critical theory of disability in social work. Critical Social Work, 6(1), 1-14.
https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1137.
https://www.fermenospilifs.be/.