In the first interview in our new series “Working With, Not For”, Conny van der Aalsvoort reflects on a career devoted to building relationships and a more inclusive society. Newly retired from paid work, she continues her involvement through volunteering. Her ambition has centred not on professional titles, but on deepening her understanding of people and becoming better at her work.
During our conversation in Amsterdam, she used the Dutch word verdieping: developing greater depth of knowledge and experience. This commitment runs through her career, from supporting refugees to working with older migrants and connecting communities with care organisations.
From anthropology to community work
After completing her anthropology studies in 1988, Conny began volunteering with refugees in Nijmegen. This led to paid work coordinating volunteers who helped newly arrived refugees navigate schooling, services and everyday life in the Netherlands. She worked in this field for approximately 15 years before moving into work with older people, including projects for Moroccan older people.
Conny describes this work as pioneering. The prejudice and distance Moroccan communities encountered within Dutch society presented additional challenges, but these strengthened her motivation to establish connections and encourage organisations to respond.
Her work has brought together two lasting interests: multicultural society and volunteering. Anthropology has encouraged her to explore different perspectives, while community involvement has helped her translate that curiosity into practice. Her own experience as a volunteer has also shaped her understanding of the people she has coordinated and supported.
Making multicultural care an everyday responsibility
Through her policy and project development work in Nijmegen, Conny has pursued a personal mission: helping organisations recognise multicultural diversity as an everyday reality. If services are intended for all older people, they need to reflect the diversity of the communities around them.
For Conny, this means more than inviting people to use existing services. Genuine participation requires outreach, patience and relationships built over time. An invitation alone cannot overcome distance or mistrust.
She values the freedom her managers gave her to go the extra mile. Establishing connections requires sustained attention and the right people in the network, not simply completing a project and moving on. Communities need to see that involvement is sincere and lasting.
This has been more than an assignment: it remains a personal commitment. Even when preparing to leave her job, Conny wanted time to work alongside her successor and share her knowledge and contacts, protecting the relationships developed over many years.
Connecting knowledge with people’s experiences
Conny has always sought to keep policy work connected to community life. Books and research matter, but so do conversations with older people and volunteers. Her professional strength lies in bringing these sources of knowledge together and communicating across different settings, from community activities to meetings with municipal leaders.
She has worked to ensure that the concerns of people rarely heard in decision-making spaces are taken seriously. Becoming a trustworthy spokesperson requires listening closely and earning the confidence of those whose experiences one conveys.
Just as importantly, she has sought to involve people from migrant communities in those conversations themselves. Bringing different backgrounds and experiences to the same table creates opportunities for mutual learning. It helps organisations question assumptions and gives communities a chance to be heard directly.
Her experience illustrates the principle guiding this series: working with people, not merely for them.
Listening and learning through ENIEC
Conny places particular value on the willingness to understand another person. Although language matters, knowing the same language does not guarantee that people truly listen. Openness and patience are essential to finding a connection. Taking people seriously, giving them time and looking beyond cultural labels to understand their individual experiences.
These values also drew her to ENIEC, where she recognises a shared willingness to learn from one another and remain open to unfamiliar perspectives. For Conny, the network offers companionship as well as professional exchange. Its members bring different experiences, but share a commitment to improving the lives of older migrants.
Continuing to contribute
Multicultural life felt adventurous to her generation; for many younger people, it is now familiar. But familiarity does not automatically bring solidarity. Volunteering offers a chance to understand lives beyond one’s own surroundings and recognise that opportunities are not equally available to everyone.
As Conny begins this new chapter, her experience offers ENIEC members a practical source of inspiration: take time to build trust, stay curious and create opportunities to learn from others. Her invitation is simple, remain open and practise solidarity through involvement.
By Ferhan
