WESH: video explaining how ‘Heerlens Heitje’ works

It all began by creating a digital way to stimulate civic participation, as well as tidying up the public space and supporting local entrepreneurs. After a meticulous preparation of the integrated concept, the WESH project was launched in the beginning of 2021. After a kick-off in two neighbourhoods, the public maintenance tasks became available in all city districts half a year later. Starting off with mostly intrinsic motivated volunteers performing the tasks, the rewarding in the form of local cryptocurrency eventually also attracted and stimulated other citizens. This meant extra earnings for both the local population as well as the city’s shops. The biggest plus of course is giving citizens pride in their help in improving the quality of their neighbourhood.

The documentary-style video of 5:30 minutes below, tells the story of WESH so far, from the perspective of the participants as well as the key city leaders. Having Heerlen’s citizens bob-a-job via their smartphone for almost a year, the involved organisations are seeing their much anticipated joint vision into live action. More interestingly, is hearing the stories of participating citizens and local entrepreneurs. Their first-hand experiences of the jobs done and the coins spent, provide valuable lessons on how ‘Heerlens Heitje’ works for them. We now see fruitful benefits and note better understanding in order to steer the further implementation.