Our impact
When people meet as equals, a language class, football match or shared meal can become much more. It can create confidence, friendship, new opportunities and a genuine sense of belonging.
At Refugee Project Maastricht, impact starts with participation. We bring refugees, young people and local residents together to share their time, talents and experiences. Everyone can contribute, everyone can learn and everyone can take the lead. This is how individual encounters grow into a stronger and more connected Maastricht.
Impact in numbers
Our volunteers
RPM is one of Maastricht’s largest youth-led volunteering communities. Many of our volunteers come from a refugee background and we have interns from Maastricht and beyond gaining practical experience and doing research.
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interns
Our activities
RPM organises 15-20 activities every week plus a host of monthly, incidental activities, such as creative workshops, excursions or academic activities. This consistent presence allows us to build trusted relationships and reach many participants per year.
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Impact areas
Belonging and connection
Regular activities create the time and trust needed for real relationships to grow. Participants expand their social networks, form friendships and find practical support—from learning to cycle or moving house to navigating education and employment. Many stay in contact with people they met through RPM, even after leaving the AZC or moving to another municipality.
Confidence, skills and leadership
Young volunteers gain hands-on experience in teamwork, leadership, intercultural communication and project organisation. Refugees develop language skills, local knowledge and confidence while making their existing talents visible. Volunteers and participants can also progress into internships, team-leader roles and responsibility for new activities.
Refugee voice and agency
Refugees are increasingly visible as teachers, translators, organisers, volunteers and public speakers. They welcome new participants, lead Arabic classes, create cultural events and contribute their experiences to research and policy discussions. Their knowledge does not remain within RPM—it becomes part of conversations taking place across the city.
A more connected city
RPM connects communities that can live close to one another without truly meeting. Our activities bring refugee reception centres into contact with students, schools, neighbourhoods, sports clubs, cultural organisations and local government. In 2025, the number of collaborations grew threefold, opening more of Maastricht to people who might otherwise struggle to access it.
Impact in action
Culture shared by the community
During our Culture Cafés, refugees share the history, language, traditions, food and stories of their home countries. They decide what they want to present and how they want to present it. These events create pride and visibility while giving students and local residents an opportunity to encounter cultures through the people who know them best.
Walking side by side
RPM has participated in the Night of the Refugee since 2023. In 2025, a team of 24 refugees and students walked together from Arnhem to Nijmegen and raised €1,169 for Stichting Vluchteling. The team had doubled in size since 2024 and was distinctive because so many refugees took part—not as beneficiaries of the fundraiser, but as fundraisers themselves.
Progress worth celebrating
Our language programs offer more than weekly lessons. They build confidence, relationships and opportunities to participate. Certificate ceremonies make that progress visible and bring learners, volunteer teachers and partner organisations together to celebrate what participants have achieved.
Turning experience into influence
In 2025, RPM Academy volunteers worked with the Municipality of Maastricht to examine how proposed integration policy would affect refugees. Through interviews and questionnaires, refugees were able to contribute their own experiences and perspectives. The project resulted in 35 recommendations, presented during World Refugee Day and at a city-wide partner meeting focused on refugee women.
Opening doors across Maastricht
Collaborations with schools, museums, theatres, sports organisations and student associations give participants access to places and experiences throughout the city. Refugees visit performances and exhibitions, teach Arabic during school visits, speak at lectures and debates, and work with students on workshops, dinners and fundraising events. Every collaboration creates another point of connection with Maastricht.
Beyond Maastricht
The experiences developed within RPM increasingly travel beyond our own community.
Through our partnership with Maastricht University, RPM is invited to YUFE conferences as a best-practice example of university community engagement. Young volunteers and refugees have represented the project at conferences abroad, sharing what we have learned about participation, student engagement and creating meaningful connections between a university and its city.
RPM is also regularly asked to develop or pilot activities at refugee reception locations elsewhere in South Limburg. This allows us to test how elements of our approach can respond to different local circumstances.
By sharing our experiences through conferences, school visits, research and professional networks, RPM contributes to a wider conversation about the role university cities can play in building inclusive communities.
Impact in their own words
Partners and annual reports
Our impact is created collectively. We work closely with refugee reception organisations, the Municipality of Maastricht, educational institutions, cultural venues, sports organisations, neighbourhood partners and student associations.
Partners such as COA, Maastricht University, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, VISTA College, UWC Maastricht, local schools, Trajekt, Stichting Wereldwijd, KCEM, VV Scharn, Radium Boulders, Marres, Theater aan het Vrijthof and student-led organisations help us connect people with new places, networks and opportunities.
These partnerships do more than support individual activities. Together, they build bridges between refugee reception centres and the wider city—and help turn separate organisations and initiatives into a connected local community.
Build this community with us
Whether you participate in an activity, volunteer your time, collaborate with us or support our work, you become part of RPM’s impact.
Join an activity · Become a volunteer · Partner with us · Support RPM