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Description
The project contributed to strengthen decent work for social sector workers in Latvia in cooperation with Norwegian partner
This project is a continuation of the project “Decent Work for social sector employees in Latvia” (2019/101984), which focused on training employees of local governments on how to conduct a social dialogue on decent working conditions, and how to involve social service employees in the decision-making process.
The project responded to a clear challenge at local level in Latvia, and the aim was improve social dialogue and cooperation at local level to be better equipped to ensure decent working conditions for social sector employees. The project also contributed to raising awareness about the importance of social dialogue for creating decent working conditions, as well as raising mutual trust and cooperation capacity of the social sector and local authorities.
Based on the experience of the previous project, the project continued the partnership with the Norwegian partner KS which is the municipal sector''s interest and employer organization. The involvement of KS and the transfer of Norwegian knowledge, expertise and experience was essential throughout the implementation of the project.
The following main activities were included:
1. Study visit to Norway for 20 representatives from Social Services and Custody Courts from different municipalities and regions, including site visits in local governments.
2. One regional coordinator from each region will arrange experience dissemination activities and training for other local governments from the respective region
Summary of project results
The project was a follow-up of a previous implemented project on decent work, this time focusing on dealing with lack of appropriate cooperation and mutual communication mechanism between different organizational structures in social sphere.
The project started with coordination and preparation of the study visit to Norway. The programme of the study visit was prepared in close cooperation with Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS), taking into account feedback and suggestions received from stakeholders in local governments who participated in the previous project. Participants of the study visit was a proportional selection of local government employees taking into account regional division and types of local governments.
During meetings and discussions, the participants learned the Norwegian experience in cooperation between different institutions which are involved in dealing with child welfare issues, as well as learned about communication. After the study visit, three regional seminars were organized in Latvia in order to share the experience and lessons learned with other local governments and a wide audience – local government employees. In regional seminars, presentations made by hosting local governments, governmental institutions in charge, as well as specialists from local governments in Norway, were followed by a discussion on suggestions how to implement lessons learned from Norway in local administration in Latvia.
The project partners were the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments and the Norwegian Association of local and Regional Authorities, however, several local governments in both Latvia and Norway were involved with active participation at study tour to Norway and regional seminars in Latvia. As a result of the project, local government employees gained knowledge and skills thus contributing to fair and decent working conditions. In addition, collaboration between beneficiary and donor state entities was strengthened.
The direct target group of the project was employees of Social Services and Custody Courts of local governments in Latvia.
Summary of bilateral results
The project was prepared and implemented in close cooperation with the Norwegian partner KS. The project promoter highlighted that they learned about practical examples of tools for cooperation and communication among stakeholders.