United in Culture - Welcoming Ukrainian Refugees

The general objective of the project was to provide welcoming services to the Ukrainian refugees, including Latvian and Polish language courses and activities to get to know local culture and natu...

The general objective of the project was to provide welcoming services to the Ukrainian refugees, including Latvian and Polish language courses and activities to get to know local culture and nature. There were three specific objectives that we wanted to achieve by implementing the project. First, we aimed to provide Ukrainian refugees an opportunity to learn Latvian and Polish languages by providing language courses. Secondly, we aimed provide Ukrainian refugees an opportunity to explore Latvian and Polish culture and nature. Finally, we aimed to create spaces for Latvian and Polish people and the Ukrainian refugees to meet and get to know each other in order to stimulate intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding.

The project included two blocks of activities. The first block of activities focused on project management and administration and included the coordination of project activities, executing the project budget, monitoring the project achievements, communication with the National Agency, networking with relevant stakeholders, promotion of the project and an experience exchange visit in Riga. The second block of activities focused on the welcoming programme "United in Culture" and included Latvian and Polish language courses and a series of additional activities to facilitate the integration of Ukrainian refugees in Latvia and Poland: creative workshops to introduce Latvian and Polish culture, outdoor activities to explore Latvian and Polish nature, visits to museums, theaters, cinema and cultural spaces, joint celebrations of festivities.

The planned results of the project have been overachieved. Instead of 2 language courses, 9 language courses were organised, instead of 400 hours of activities, 850 hours of various activities were implemented. Finally, instead of 200 participants planned, more than 300 unique participants (adults and children) were involved in the project activities.