Description
The project will foster sustainable development of the association thus ensuring its regular on-going activity performing its tasks providing for participation of youth NGOs and young people in implementation of youth policy in Latvia, and providing competent youth opinions for the policy-making processes. The project will foster active participation in decision-making process, advocacy, as well as participation and engagement in platforms, including analysis of the structure and improvement of activity of the National Youth Council of Latvia, strengthening of relations between members, attracting new members and volunteers. Within the project the association plans to increase its role in implementation of Youth policy, becoming an important cooperation partner both for youth organisations, and policy makers and implementers. The target group is pupils, students, young people aged 13–25 and their parents.
Summary of project results
The main aim of the action programme of National Youth Council of Latvia (LJP) was to ensure sustainable development of LJP as a youth and youth NGO representative organization, allowing it to work regularly and in long-term to achieve its mission and aims, securing the participation of youth and youth NGO's in youth policy development and implementation in Latvia, advocating for interests of youth NGO's and making sure that informed opinions of young people are heard in the decision making processes. Action programme was implemented across Latvia and coordinated from LJP's office in Riga. The aim were reached 100%. There are some aspects could wish the better results but some of the aspects were reached more than expected. After the implementation of the project we can see that the aim were chosen well and fit the best to the situation, needs and work of the organization. The best impact where reached on the administrative capacity of the organization, level of new knowledge of the staff, members of the organization and the youth as one of the target group of the project. This project gave us the chance to work together more intense and to learn the new things and to establish the base for the future of the organization by all together, as well between NGO and the state institutions. The main activities of the action programme were compiled within three action areas: 1. Sustainable development of the organization: analysis of the current LJP structure and plan for improvement; strengthening cooperation among LJP members; inviting new members to join; new programme for volunteers; financial sustainability; 2. Active participation in decision making and interest advocacy: trainings, development of position documents; participation in various working groups and councils; pooling of youth and youth NGO opinions on issues; 3. Participation in cooperation platforms: participation in eLPA (Civil Alliance of Latvia), LAPAS (Latvian Platform for Development Cooperation), European Youth Forum. Those activities during the project preparation stage were identified as the most useful and most urgent in the situation were in 2013 according the work and the status of the Applicant organization.
Summary of bilateral results
The project were implemented in cooperation with Norvegian Youth council and their off-line and online consultations were very much usefull for the developmetn of work of LJP and for tthe other NGOs in Latvia. Also the benefit from the study visit to Norbegian Youth council, other NGOs and the state institutions in Norway were very much usefull and became the great base for the development of annual state financial support system to youth NGOs in Latvia. At the National level there wasnt so much involvement of the partner, but at the situation of LJP during the project, it was more than enough to go forward with the capacity building of LJP. Cooperation among the National Youth councils (NYC) of Europe is one of the agenda for all the NYCs and this project helped us to know more and more intense each other to develop the quialitative work at European level together. Both partners took the chance to work together also during the other events at EU level and in thanks to this project, the cooperation adn communication were much more quialitative.