Description of organisation

Education, Culture and Sports Department (further on – Department) is a Riga City municipal institution that handles matters related to pre-school, general and professional (Arts, Music and Sports) oriented education, culture, youth, sports, as well as integration of society. The Department oversees 109 general education institutions (incl. secondary schools, elementary schools and primary schools). Hobby education and vocational education is provided by all comprehensive schools, 9 music and art schools, 10 sports schools and 8 hobby education centres.

The Department is in charge of the implementation of youth policy in the city. It organises and finances leisure activities for children and youth (camps, leisure centres, events and sports activities), as well as provides non-formal education opportunities, supports youth organisations and fosters youth employment.

One of the Boards of the Department is the Sports and Youth Board. Among its functions is to ensure the participation opportunities for young people and people involved in youth work. Those entail such functions as ensuring that both non-governmental organisations and representatives of young people can participate in planning and realisation of youth policy and daily work; as well as supporting and encouraging young people and people involved in youth work to participate and implement international projects.

Currently, the implementation of volunteering projects is relevant to Sports and Youth Board that has experience in different areas: support of youth organisations, work with pupils’ councils and the encouragement of their involvement in decision-making, quality leisure time, support for the improvement of young people’s competences, work with at-risk youth (street youth work), employability, work with international projects, administration of project contests regarding camps, leisure time and capacity of organisations.

The initiative to apply for the Quality Label comes from the Sports and Youth Board, specifically Riga Youth Centre “Kaņieris” (which legally operates as Youth Organisations' Sector of the Department), and Riga Pupils’ Council.

Main activities of the Riga Youth Centre “Kaņieris”: 1) ensuring free premises and resources for young people and activities of their organisations; 2) organisation of learning and networking activities for those involved in youth work; 3) consulting young people regarding the opportunities to realise their initiatives, as well as to participate in decision-making in Riga, Latvia and internationally; 4) surveying the needs of those involved in youth work, analysing the information and managing the activities according to these needs; 5) increasing the motivation of youth workers in Riga, disseminating the results of their work to increase the capacity of other organisations and to improve youth work; 6) popularising youth work among young people and organisations.

Riga Pupils’ Council is a consultative board of the pupils’ councils in Riga. Its tasks are: 1) to consult pupils regarding the work of pupils’ councils and education; 2) to represent the interests and needs of pupils in Riga, 3) to advance the work of pupils’ councils and their cooperation by organising educational events; 4) to cooperate with pupils and youth organisations, 5) to ensure quality activities for spending leisure time, 6) to decrease the amount of passive pupils by increasing the involvement of pupils in societal activities.

Inclusion topics

This organisation is willing to involve volunteers who face situations which make their participation in activities more difficult, from the following categories for different types of project:

• Economic obstacles
• Educational difficulties
• Social obstacles