Eurofound's COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the crisis, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
Factsheet for case LV-2020-13/1483 – measures in Latvia
Country | Latvia , applies nationwide |
Time period | Open ended, started on 23 March 2020 |
Type | Other initiatives or policies |
Category |
Measures to prevent social hardship
– Protection of vulnerable groups (beyond employment support) |
Author | Kriss Karnitis (EPC) and Eurofound |
Case created | 27 November 2020 (updated 08 December 2020) |
On 23 March 2020 the volunteers platform vieglipalidzet-paliecmajas was created. During the state of emergency in the country, a lot of people of people were in self-isolation and quarantine. To help these people and at the same time protect others from possible infection with COVID-19, volunteers platform vieglipalidzet-paliecmajas was created with the goal to help with delivery of food and household items, as well as taking pets for walks and providing emotional support.
The platform is ongoing work on the 5th place idea of Hackforce virtual hackathon, thus receiving support from the Latvian Investment and Development Agency, the Ministry of Economics and several companies. During the first wave of the pandemic the platform managed to attract more than 500 volunteers and good regional coverage with 50 regional coordinators. Number of enterprises, including Rimi, major retail operator, has also supported the platform either financially or with food packs.
During the summer time with low number of COVID-19 cases the help was not so crucial. With the COVID-19 cases rising, on 22 October 2020 the platform reopened their operations. Volunteers are ready to help with delivery of food, hygiene or other goods, delivery of over-the-counter medicines, receipt of shipments, taking pets for a walk, taking out waste, or just have a talk. The volunteers have to follow ethical principles of the volunteer movement.
No information available.
Workers | Businesses | Citizens |
---|---|---|
Does not apply to workers | Does not apply to businesses |
The COVID-19 risk group
Other groups of citizens |
Actors | Funding |
---|---|
Other social actors (e.g. NGOs)
|
Companies
National funds |
Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:
Trade unions | Employers' organisations | |
---|---|---|
Role | No involvement | No involvement |
Form | Not applicable | Not applicable |
Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
No involvement in this action
No specific views to report
Citation
Eurofound (2020), Volunteers platform "Easy to help-Stay at home", case LV-2020-13/1483 (measures in Latvia), COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, http://eurofound.link/covid19eupolicywatch
Disclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process. All information is preliminary and subject to change.