OCOAlmere

What OCOAlmere does

OCO Almere is a nonprofit social service organization based in Almere, Netherlands, established in 2018 as a pilot under the municipality's lead municipality (koplopergemeente) status for independent client support under the Wet maatschappelijke ondersteuning (Wmo / Social Support Act). The organization provides free, independent client support (onafhankelijke cliëntondersteuning / OCO) to Almere residents who need help navigating conversations with the municipality, wijkteams, care providers, and other institutions. Support is delivered by a network of more than 75 volunteer experiential experts (ervaringsdeskundigen) who use their own lived experiences with disability, mental health, financial problems, addiction, or domestic difficulties to empathize with and assist residents. The organization supports approximately 600 residents annually and has operated continuously since its pilot phase concluded on December 31, 2019.

The organization's core product is the Onafhankelijke Cliëntondersteuning service, supplemented by the proprietary TRALANS Model (a methodology for assessing dynamic self-reliance of residents) and a structured OCO Training Program developed in partnership with Hogeschool Windesheim and delivered by MEE IJsseloevers. The underlying infrastructure is standard and non-proprietary: a WordPress website, email ([email protected]), telephone (036 200 21 58), and social media channels. There are no software platforms, APIs, or AI/ML systems; coordination is handled manually by a small team that matches residents to volunteer OCOs based on expertise area.

OCO Almere is funded entirely by a municipal subsidy from Gemeente Almere under the Wmo mandate. The service is provided free of charge to residents with no co-payment, own risk, or fees of any kind. The organization operates as a project under Flever, a nonprofit foundation supporting social welfare initiatives in Flevoland, and coordinates with approximately 10 convenantpartners that supply volunteer OCOs (including Humanitas, KBO, VMCA, NAH Forum, STIP GGZ, Breed Overleg Plus, SMOA, and Sterke Parels) and over 40 supporter organizations that refer residents. A vertrouwenspersoon (confidential counselor) function is provided through Flever, and the organization is GDPR (AVG) compliant.

Name

OCOAlmere

Legal name

OCO Almere

Website

https://ocoalmere.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

OCO Almere is a nonprofit, municipally funded social service in Almere, Netherlands, providing free independent client support to ~600 residents per year via a network of 75+ volunteer experiential experts, operating under the Wmo mandate as a project of Flever.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Almere

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Municipal Subsidy: OCO Almere receives a subsidy from the municipality of Almere to execute independent client support. This is mandated under the Wet maatschappelijke ondersteuning (Wmo / Social Support Act). The municipality is legally obligated to organize client support and provides funding to OCO Almere as a lead municipality (koplopergemeente) in the national program.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

OCO Almere provides free independent client support (onafhankelijke cliëntondersteuning) to residents of Almere by matching them with volunteer experiential experts who share similar life experiences. Volunteers help residents prepare for and attend meetings with the municipality, wijkteams, and care providers, and assist in navigating support agreements and social services. The service is delivered through a small coordination team and a network of more than 75 volunteers sourced from over ten partner organizations.

Product overview

OCO Almere operates as a single integrated service offering independent client support (onafhankelijke cliëntondersteuning) to residents of Almere. The core service connects residents with volunteer expert clients (ervaringsdeskundige OCO's) who provide free, personal support based on shared life experiences. The offering is supported by a structured training program developed with Hogeschool Windesheim, a proprietary assessment model called TRALANS, and a network of approximately ten convenant partner organizations that supply volunteer OCOs. With over 75 volunteers supporting an average of 600 residents annually, the service has been a fixed part of Almere's care and welfare landscape since 2017.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Onafhankelijke Cliëntondersteuning (Independent Client Support) Free independent client support service provided by volunteer experiential experts (ervaringsdeskundigen) who help Almere residents prepare for and attend meetings with municipalities, wijkteams, care providers, and other institutions. OCOs use their own experiences with disabilities, mental health issues, financial problems, addiction, or family challenges to understand and support residents navigating social services.
• OCO Training Program Comprehensive training program for volunteer OCOs covering role definition, access conversations, intervision, self-assessment, and final exams, developed in partnership with Hogeschool Windesheim and delivered by MEE IJsseloevers.
• TRALANS Model A proprietary model developed by an Almeerse experiential expert to assess the dynamic self-reliance of residents. It helps professionals understand the balance between a person's self-reliance, limitations, and required support, with a focus on the psychological aspects of having a disability.
• Partner Network (Convenantpartners) Network of approximately ten volunteer organizations that supply experienced expert clients (OCOs) to OCO Almere. Partners include VMCA, Ghana Together Almere Flevoland, Humanitas, KBO, NAH Forum, Stichting My Story, STIP GGZ, Breed Overleg Plus, SMOA, and Sterke Parels, each contributing volunteers with domain expertise such as caregiving, integration, family issues, aging, brain injury, youth, mental health, multicultural community building, and child development.

Quantifiable outcome

• Approximately 600 inhabitants supported per year with a network of 75+ volunteers

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• VMCA (Expertisecentrum Mantelzorg)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVMCA (Expertisecentrum Mantelzorg) is a convenantpartner of OCO Almere, providing volunteer experiential experts who help Almeerders who are caregivers to sustain their caregiving tasks. VMCA contributes volunteer OCOs to the network and participates in regular coordination meetings.
• Ghana Together Almere FlevolandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGhana Together Almere Flevoland is a convenantpartner providing experiential expert OCOs who help Almeerders with a foreign background with their integration, including language and culture.
• HumanitascoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHumanitas is a convenantpartner contributing volunteer experiential experts who help families with language, parenting, finances, divorce, grief, loneliness, and reintegration from prison.
• KBO (Katholieke Bond van Ouderen)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKBO is a convenantpartner providing experiential expert OCOs who help people aged 50+ with problems associated with aging, finances, and loneliness.
• NAH ForumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNAH Forum is a convenantpartner providing experiential expert OCOs who help Almeerders with non-congenital brain injury (niet-aangeboren hersenletsel).
• Stichting My StorycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStichting My Story is a convenantpartner focused on (vulnerable) young people aged 13–27 and young families in Almere, believing in giving, taking, and utilizing opportunities.
• STIP GGZcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSTIP GGZ is a convenantpartner providing experiential expert OCOs who help Almeerders with psychological problems, including finances, social contacts, and dealing with fears.
• Breed Overleg PluscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBreed Overleg Plus (BO+) is both a convenantpartner and the largest supporter of OCO Almere. It is a network of approximately 50 advocacy organizations in Almere that stand up for Almeerse residents. BO+ was at the beginning of the development of OCO Almere and serves as an independent chair of the complaints committee.
• SMOA (Stichting Multiculturele Organisatie Almere)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSMOA is a convenantpartner helping Almeerders from various cultures to live better together and organize joint activities.
• Sterke ParelscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSterke Parels is a convenantpartner that stimulates, guides, supports, and facilitates children aged 4–16 in discovering and developing their talents through workshops, activities, homework guidance, and projects, also helping parents/guardians develop skills.
• FlevermajorGTM or Marketing PartnerFlever is a supporter of OCO Almere and also hosts the Expex Flevoland program and the vertrouwenspersoon (confidential counselor) contact ([email protected]). Flever coordinates volunteer support in Almere.
• MEE IJsseloeversmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMEE IJsseloevers provides training for OCO experiential experts in collaboration with Hogeschool Windesheim. MEE also offers professional (non-volunteer) client support in Almere and can cross-refer clients.
• Hogeschool WindesheimminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHogeschool Windesheim collaborated with OCO Almere to develop training materials for experiential expert OCOs. MEE IJsseloevers delivers these trainings.
• Expex FlevolandminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerExpex Flevoland is a network of young people with extensive experience (in mental health, homelessness, youth detention, or family problems) who use their experience to improve youth assistance in Flevoland. They are a supporter organization of OCO Almere.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• Cliëntenbelang Utrecht: Regional client-interest organization in Utrecht providing independent support and advocacy for residents navigating care and social domains. It is functionally equivalent to OCO Almere but operates in a different geography, illustrating the regional replication model that OCO Almere's lead-municipality status enables.
• Zorgbelang Inclusief: Dutch regional quality-of-care interest organizations (e.g., Zorgbelang Brabant, Zorgbelang Groningen) that help clients with questions and complaints about care and participation in policy. They are functionally comparable client-support organizations but operate in different regions than Almere.

Direct peers

• MEE & de Wering (incl. MEE IJsseloevers): MEE provides professional (non-volunteer) independent client support across Dutch regions including in Almere itself, where MEE IJsseloevers is explicitly a partner of OCO Almere and also delivers its OCO training program. It is the closest direct comparator for client-support services and the most credible substitute for municipal funders.
• Per Saldo: Dutch interest group for personal budget (PGB) holders that helps clients navigate care funding, providers and municipalities. It performs a very similar 'help residents navigate complex care/government systems' function to OCO Almere, although focused specifically on PGB recipients.
• Humanitas: Humanitas is a major Dutch volunteer-led welfare organization and an explicit convenantpartner of OCO Almere, supplying experiential expert volunteers for family, financial, reintegration, and loneliness support. It is highly comparable in operating model (volunteer-based social support) and overlaps in target population.
• MantelzorgNL: National Dutch association supporting informal caregivers, also working under the Wmo framework. MantelzorgNL addresses a population (caregivers) explicitly served by OCO Almere through VMCA, and its advocacy and information-helpdesk function is structurally analogous to independent client support.
• LFB (Landelijke Federatie Belangenverenigingen): Dutch federation of local advocacy groups for people with intellectual disabilities, which trains and deploys experiential-expert client supporters ('cliëntondersteuners'). LFB is highly comparable in both mission and volunteer-expert methodology, serving a significant subset of OCO Almere's target population.

Broad incumbents

• Ieder(in): National Dutch network for people with chronic illness and disabilities that advocates for members and provides information and support in navigating care and social systems. It is a broader incumbent in the same advocacy/navigation space and a potential partner or alternative channel for the residents OCO Almere serves.
• Stichting MIND: Dutch platform for mental health organizations (formerly LPGGz/MIND Landelijk Platform), providing advocacy, information and peer support across the GGZ domain. STIP GGZ, a convenantpartner of OCO Almere, overlaps with this constituency, making Stichting MIND an adjacent broader incumbent in the same social-support ecosystem.
• LOC (Landelijk Steunpunt Cliëntenraden): Dutch national support organization for client councils in the social and care domain, helping individuals and councils advocate for quality of care. It operates at a more systemic level than OCO Almere but addresses the same fundamental need: empowering clients in conversations with institutions.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ocoalmere
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ocoalmere
• Instagraminstagram.com/ocoalmere

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about OCOAlmere