Today, here in Bauska, at the premises of the “Laiks Jauniešiem” association at 9 Slimnīcas Street (the Youth Energy Station), we were visited by Reinis Uzulnieks, the Minister for Social Welfare.

🎉 🤝 This visit is important to us because it is an opportunity not only to showcase our work ‘on the ground’, but also to discuss directly with decision-makers what young people (including our organisation) actually need, and what hinders or complicates things in our day-to-day work.

✅ We showed them around our premises and introduced them to our day-to-day work and activities.

✅ We discussed topics of key importance to the organisation and young people:

🔵 volunteering (how to strengthen and meaningfully develop it);

🔵 summer employment for school pupils (opportunities for young people and support mechanisms);

🔵 social services for young people, including mentoring services (how to help those who most need a ‘stepping stone’);

🤔 During the discussion, we also touched upon the issue of the Society Integration Fund to gain a better understanding of its vision and stance on the future. Of course, we couldn’t avoid discussing other ‘informal, yet actually very important’ topics relating to youth work.

🫵🏻 Thank you for your visit and the discussion. We’ll keep doing our bit – so that young people in Bauska District, Riga and elsewhere in Latvia have a safe place to grow, try things out, make mistakes and achieve their goals. 💛

Reinis UzulnieksAgency for International Youth ProgrammesYouth Affairs