According to the plan, the project programme will be implemented all across Latvia through various activities: society’s engagement in cooperation networks; facilitating involvement in shaping action policy and decision-making processes; ensuring operation of an advice-information phone line; ensuring expert supervision; developing NGO coalition platform to reduce human trafficking; increasing capacity of society’s members, employees and volunteers; drawing additional sources of funding to ensure society’s activities; promoting volunteer work.
“National governments have been set three main goals in order to reduce human trafficking around the world: preventive work; assistance to the victims of human trafficking; prosecution of human traffickers. As an NGO which has been ensuring assistance to victims for 6 years now we consider ensuring preventive measures on a regular basis to be one of our main tasks. It is important that the number of people, who as professionals can give assistance regarding risks of human trafficking, increases. It is very important to raise awareness in the youth so that they would become educators of their peers and serve as an example that human beings are not marketable goods and that it is worth knowing how to protect oneself. Therefore, the project Society’s “Shelter “Safe House”” Action Support Programme to Reduce Human Trafficking in Latvia in general and society’s operational plan for 2013 is aimed at ensuring society’s main underlying activities in long-term which would let us to hope that the number of victims of human trafficking will decrease on a yearly basis”, notes Sandra Zalcmane, Head of the society “Shelter “Safe House””.
The target group to be involved in the project will be non-governmental organizations, representatives of public administration, municipalities working with human trafficking issues, members, employees, volunteers of “Shelter “Safe House”” as well as Latvian population.
The programme NGO Fund is operated by the Society Integration Foundation. Funding of the EEA Financial Mechanism in the amount of 9.678 million euro is intended for the support of activities of non-governmental organizations, for projects in the social sector, shaping of a united society and for the support of sustainable development of civil society. NGO Activity Support Measure’s sub-programme will receive 40% of the total Programme financing for the projects. The sub-programme shall support daily activities of NGOs in the following areas: democracy and participatory democracy; human rights, incl. minorities’ rights; good governance and transparency; combating racism, xenophobia, and discrimination; environment and sustainable development and gender equality and gender-based violence.
The project is financed by Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway.
The programme NGO Fund ir financed by the EEA Financial Mechanism and Latvian government.
Find out more about the EEA Financial Mechanism programme NGO Fund here
Website of the Society Integration Foundation: http://www.sif.lv
Website of the EEA Financial Mechanism in Latvia: http://www.eeagrants.lv
Official website of the EEA Financial Mechanism: http://www.eeagrants.org
Responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the society “Shelter “Safe House””.
For more information:
Rasa Salina (Rasa Saliņa), Public Relations Consultant and Practitioner
rasa.salina@gmail.com