Next year, 500 children will participate in the Diaspora camps supported by SIF / Articolo

According to data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, over 370,000 representatives of the Latvian diaspora live, study and work outside Latvia in various host countries around the world. The Latvian diaspora includes compatriots who have left Latvia’s territory in several waves of emigration since the late 19th century, including Latvian citizens who left during the recent emigration and who maintain links with Latvia.

Currently, the largest Latvian communities live in Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, Australia, Russia, Brazil, Germany, Belgium, Israel, Norway, Spain and other countries of the world.

In order to more successfully strengthen the Latvian identity of the children of the Diaspora, projects of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are being implemented with the support of SIF in the program “Support for joint camps for children of the Diaspora and Latvian”. This year, to organize the camps of the diaspora, 21 requests for NGO projects were received for the requested amount of funding of the program of 283,560.94 euros, more than half of the projects submitted, or 11 applications for a value of 140,865 euro, were incurred.

Next year, five camps will take place in Latvia and six camps in the countries hosting the diaspora: two in the United States, one each in Canada, Germany, Great Britain and Finland.

The camps will be attended by children aged 6 to 18 from all over the world and in them various educational activities will take place that promote the learning of Latvian culture, history and language, creative workshops, discussions, cultural and sports activities, excursions and excursions . In Latvian camps, one of the conditions is common camps for Latvian and Diaspora children.

“For the second consecutive year, as part of this program, camps for diaspora children in their home countries are being supported. We are delighted that children and young people can get to know other diaspora children in a Latvian environment to strengthen their Latvian identity. In the camps friendship and cooperation are formed, they help to learn the language, the attraction to Latvia is developing and strengthening. At the same time, it is an opportunity to increase the chances of re-migration for young people and their families who they would like to return to live in Latvia, “explained Zaiga Pūce, director of the SIF Secretariat.

The project applications were assessed according to the eligibility and quality assessment criteria by the evaluation commission, composed of one representative each from the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Implementation Council. of the Cooperation Protocol of Non-Governmental Organizations and the Cabinet of Ministers and the Diaspora Advisory Council. The SIF representative participated in the composition of the commission, which led the work of the evaluation commission, but did not participate in the evaluation and voting of the eligibility and quality criteria.

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