Building understanding between the Yemeni community and Dutch society
Tharan Foundation is an independent Dutch–Yemeni civic foundation in Rotterdam. We help Dutch institutions and the Yemeni community understand each other — and turn that understanding into something both can act on.
Being built now, in public
Dutch municipalities are increasingly expected to tailor integration and participation policy to specific communities, while working under real resource constraints. Tharan is being established now to be an independent, evidence-informed partner in that work — before assumptions about this community harden into practice.
The ground is moving quickly. The Yemeni asylum recognition rate fell from 99.1% in 2023 to 29.6% in 2025, after the shift from blanket protection to individual assessment and the end of the fast-track approvals project. Who is arriving, and on what basis, has changed faster than anyone's understanding of it. A gap like that is easier to close while it is open than to unpick once it has set. Both figures are sourced and dated in the Feitenkaart.
Tharan is in oprichting — a foundation being formally established. We put our work, method and governance in public now, at the pre-launch stage, because an organisation asking for trust should show itself before it is finished, not after. What follows is where we actually are today.
- The foundation
- In formation Stichting Tharan is in oprichting. The formal steps are in sequence: notarial deed, KVK registration, then the ANBI application.
- Governance framework
- Adopted Board structure, funding rules, conflict-of-interest register and complaints route are written down and published in full — read the governance page.
- Evidence platform
- Published The Feitenkaart and the European dataset are live, sourced, dated and free to read — the Knowledge Hub.
- Independent board
- Recruiting An independent three-person board — chair, secretary and treasurer — is being recruited. All three seats are open; none is filled. If you know someone who would hold this foundation to account properly, we would like to hear from you.
- First pilot partners
- Open invitation We are looking for our first municipal pilot partners. A contained first engagement with a clear deliverable is exactly how we would like to start — what a partner gets.
We publish status, not target dates. A date missed on a page like this would tell you more about us than a date met, so milestones appear here once they are real — not before.
Two sides that need each other — and rarely connect
Dutch municipalities, refugee-support organisations, schools and employers increasingly serve Yemeni residents. The knowledge available to them is fragmented, and much of it is drawn from broader regional assumptions rather than from this community — there is no dossier to consult, because nobody has built one. Meanwhile Yemeni newcomers and longer-settled residents face barriers of trust, navigation and participation that language courses and paperwork do not resolve. We stand in the middle: a knowledge partner to institutions, a practical bridge for the community.
Every figure carries its source and its reference date. This edition reflects official data published up to July 2026. Where we do not know something, we say so.
Every figure here comes from our Feitenkaart — read it in full
Four ways we build understanding
Practical formats institutions can use and communities recognise. The shape of each engagement is designed with the partner — these are the foundations.
Community insight
Practical understanding of the Yemeni and Arabic-speaking community — briefings, listening sessions and stakeholder mapping — for municipalities, NGOs, schools and employers.
For institutionsCivic participation & dialogue
Respectful, non-partisan dialogue on citizenship, rights and responsibilities, and shared problem-solving — the practice of disagreeing well.
Community & partnersProfessional mentorship
Connecting established professionals with newcomers and youth who need direction, networks and the confidence to build a future here.
CommunityInstitutional support
Cultural competency, outreach support and engagement planning that make policy and services land with the people they are meant to reach.
For institutions
Methodical where it counts. Rigorous throughout.
Institutions do not need noise. They need a partner who knows the community, does the homework, and hands over something they can act on. Our method is deliberately simple, repeatable and open to inspection.
- Listen first. We interview stakeholders and community members before proposing anything.
- Document the evidence. We turn what we hear into sourced, dated, usable knowledge.
- Deliver with the right people. Professionals and community voices, not outside consultants.
- Capture what works. Honest outcomes — including what did not work — so the next engagement is better.
Integration is not only language and paperwork
It is trust, belonging, participation, work and dialogue. A resident who has passed the inburgering exam but knows no one who can open a door is not yet participating. An institution that reaches a community only through letters is not yet reaching it. That is the ground we work on.
Step by earned step
Tharan starts local and practical. Our long-term direction is public and unchanged: to grow, step by earned step, into a trusted Dutch–Yemeni knowledge and dialogue institution — the place institutions turn to when they need to understand the Yemeni community in the Netherlands and, in time, the civil-society dimension of Dutch–Yemeni cooperation.
Serve
Useful work that institutions and residents value enough to repeat.
Document
Evidence anyone can check, sourced and dated.
Convene
A trusted, neutral table where difficult conversations hold.
Endure
A lasting knowledge institution — if the work earns it.
We claim each role only after we have earned it.
Bring us something specific
The useful conversations start with a real problem rather than a service enquiry — a caseload that is not moving, an invitation nobody answered, a question that has been bothering someone for months. Thirty minutes, no commitment, and an honest answer, including when the answer is that you need somebody else.