Academic Centre
During the seminar such issues as political aspect of integration of migrants, refugees and Roma people, as well as social aspects of integration of the migrants (especially in Germany) were presented and discussed. This experience could be useful for Latvia, enabling Latvia to act as a proactive country in the case of immigration growth, which is very possible due to the declining labour force in Latvia. During the project’s meeting the Ministry of Welfare of the Republic of Latvia was represented by the Senior Expert of the Department of Social Inclusion and Social Work Policy Evija Kūla.
She informed the participants of this project about the latest socio-economic developments in Latvia placing a particular emphasis on the inclusion and integration of vulnerable groups into the labour market, including the integration of youth into the labour market. Latvia’s experience in the field of the social inclusion and integration of the Roma people was also discussed within the framework of this project.
During the meeting the project partners visited such social day centres and working groups in Marburg as “Kreativa” and “Praxis GmbH”. “Kreativa” is a social day centre for unemployed women. The main aim of this centre is to develop women’s creative skills in making artistic, as well as practical items. Another important aim of this working group is to maintain a sense of rhythm; therefore women spend full working time in the working group for six months. There is a possibility to prolong time for another six months until the job opportunities are found. In turn “Praxis GmbH” is an enterprise, which partly belongs to the state, municipality and private partner where the unemployed people are given an opportunity to learn how to repair and restore different electrical devices and furniture under the guidance of qualified professionals.
At the moment project partners continue to work on the identification of the best practices in the field of the integration and inclusion of their own chosen vulnerable groups in society. Each partner has to select and describe two examples of the best practices. Latvia’s focus within the framework of the project is on the best practices of reduction of youth unemployment and social integration, as well as the social inclusion of the Roma people. Even though there are no explicit challenges in the field of the immigration and social inclusion of the Roma people in Latvia as it is in other project partner countries, nevertheless the investigation of the present situation in Latvia and the exchange of experience with the project partners may allow Latvia to be proactive in the case of immigration growth. At the beginning of 2013 information about integration practices in the project partner countries will be collected and compared in order to develop a new mechanism for social inclusion, which will be tested in five municipalities in Europe.
Next project meeting will take place in February 2013 in Sofia, Bulgaria. During this meeting the partners will examine their examples of best integration practices and they will discuss comparative methodology for the development of new mechanism for social inclusion.
Additional information about the project can be accessed online – www.labourplus.eu