The Director of the Secretariat of the Society Integration Foundation (SIF), Inese Kalvāne, and the Director of the Department for Coordination of Cohesion Measures, Kristīne Kļukoviča, during a working visit met with the Chairman of the Jelgava City Council, Mārtiņš Daģis, the Deputy Chairman in the field of social affairs, health protection, culture, education and sports Aigars Rubulis, and the Deputy Chairman in the field of economic affairs Mārtiņš Štāls.

During the meeting with representatives of the Jelgava City Council, cohesion promotion measures in Jelgava were discussed, including support measures for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Zemgale region, which were positively evaluated by the municipality as a necessary and important initiative. The support provided to the Ukrainian community and cooperation with local NGOs was also discussed during the conversation.

At the same time, K. Kļukoviča informed about the activities of the branch of the Society Integration Foundation’s One-Stop Agency (VPA) in Jelgava, which provides daily support to newcomers by offering a wide range of services.

In the Jelgava branch, a client consultant and a change agent are working, who provide daily support to better help newcomers integrate into the local community and society as a whole. They provide individual consultations, access to legal advice and psychological support, as well as interpreter services. Translation support is provided to help clients communicate with state and municipal institutions, employers, banks, landlords and others, according to the needs of each client.

Over the last two years, support has been provided to 772 persons in the Jelgava VPA branch, including psychological support for 25 persons, legal and translation support for 79 persons, and individual long-term support for successful integration in Latvia for 280 persons.

It should be noted that VPA services are completely free of charge and available both in person and online.

In addition to daily support, VPA employees actively organize visits and meetings with representatives of the public and private sector in order to expand newcomers’ opportunities and promote their successful integration into society and the labor market.

At the conclusion of the visit, I. Kalvāne and K. Kļukoviča visited the SIF Agency branch in Jelgava (8 Skolotāju Street), where clients can receive consultations from a VPA employee, apply for translation or legal advice by contacting the Zemgale VPA branch in person or by calling or sending a WhatsApp message to the phone number (+371) 25915300.

Services of the Integration and Inclusion Agency are provided by the Society Integration Foundation within the framework of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund’s project (Agreement No. PMIF/13.1./2022/1/01). The funding has been allocated by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (75%) and Latvian State budget (25%).