Lawine Foundation archive 1983-2010

Founded in 1984 as Working Group Lawine (Avalanche) by four Dutch women with foreign partners, the group became a foundation in 1989, and was disbanded on 1 January 2011. The name LAWINE stands for Landelijke Werkgroep Nederlandse Immigrantenvrouwen (National Working Group of Dutch Immigrant Women) and it was a national organisation representing the interests of Dutch women with non-Dutch partners. Until July 1986, Lawine’s work relied on a small number of unpaid volunteer women, but thanks to a grant from the Ministry of WVC, Lawine later hired three paid assistants and rented an office-meeting room. The grant aimed at setting up a national information centre and an advocacy organisation for partners in bi/cultural relationships. Lawine provided information by telephone, walk-in and leaflets/brochures, regional group contacts and organised national study days, and it also sent signals to politicians, immigration services and other bodies regarding bottlenecks in legislation and assistance. It was meant to contribute to the development of a multicultural society. The foundation was a member of the European Conference of Bi/bicultural/binational relationships (ECB), founded in 1990, whose aim is to improve the social and legal situation of biculturals in Europe, especially women. The collection contains minutes of meetings 1986-2002; correspondence 1985-2005; annual reports for 1991 and 2004; papers on organisation and policy, management, volunteers, finances and accommodation 1985-2006; papers on contacts with related organisations 1983-2004; papers on publicity, information and education 1985-2005; papers on assistance and advocacy 1985-2001; documents concerning activities for women with a bi-cultural relationship 1985-2003; documents concerning actions and campaigns 1985-2002; documents concerning research and advice 1986-2003; collected publications, cuttings and messages from Internet forums and chat sites 1983-2010; audio tapes with recordings of conversations; photographs and photo album 1984-1996, 2001 and 2003.