On August 22, 2024, the second Jelgava City and Jelgava Region COMMUNITY MEETING for the improvement of youth work and youth support took place, organized by the Zemgale Planning Region with the support of the LINK project. It was attended by 27 representatives from both formal and non-formal education institutions, youth centers, probation service, social affairs department, as well as young people themselves.
Purpose of the meeting:
- to bring together various community representatives from the city and region of Jelgava who provide services to young people,
- to get acquainted with the services offered to young people and other stakeholders,
- promote mutual cooperation and innovation,
- to include young people's opinions on how to improve the services offered to them.
For four hours, young people and specialists, led by moderators Dace Vīpule-Kuļika and Egita Matulēna, used the Social Innovation Laboratory approach and non-formal education methods to come to new insights. By developing a young person's eco-map and a specialist cooperation map, the participants creatively took a step towards productive cooperation in the future.
Thank you for the active young people who shared their opinions and visions! According to the moderators, such meetings are vitally necessary - they are like training exercises that train thinking outside the box and promote a youth-centered approach, including all parties involved.
At least one more similar meeting is planned as part of the project at the end of this year/early 2025, and then a stakeholder forum in the spring of 2025, where we will report on the results.
Check out the pictures below!
In the images you can see the collaboration maps created by the participants, which we will continue to work on in the future.
