Sunday, September 13, 2020 was an unusual day in the work of the NGO House as the staff of the NGO House together with different other NGOs participated in the Hospitāļu Street Neighbors' Festival in one of the neighborhoods of Riga - Brasa. Participation in the festival is a practical realisation of proposals put forward in the Improvement Plan at the beginning of the implementation of the project “Riga NGO House - Platform for Cooperation between Non-Governmental Organizations and Municipalities” (ACTive NGOs): to organize events outside the NGO House - in other neighborhoods of Riga.
Together with the NGO House Festival program was enriched by participation of several organisations: “Cita Rīga”, “Kēfa”, “Zilais krusts”, “Latvian Circus Artists Association” and the Ukrainian Cultural Education Association “Dņipro”. They offered various creative activities, as well as musical and circus performances.
During the festival, the NGO House and NGOs met various visitors, both those who knew what an NGO is and where the NGO House is located, and those who had not even heard of such organization before. It was an opportunity to introduce the visitors of the festival - residents of different generations of the neighborhood and other interested people with the work of Riga NGO House and NGOs working in Riga.
The festival was especially aimed at promoting cooperation and tolerance among different generations of the residents of the neighborhood, promoting spending time together with the families in purposeful activities, networking between the residents of the neighborhood and Riga non-governmental organizations. The event turned out to be a wonderful celebration for visitors and NGOs participating, it helped to strengthen the desire to participate in such public events in Riga in the future in order to popularize the work of NGOs.
Linda Ermiča, the head of the project “Hospitāļu Street Neighbors' Festival 2020” of the association “Brasa”, admits: “Hospitāļu Street Neighbors' Festival serves as a great example of NGOs cooperation opportunities. Visitors were very interested in learning more about the NGO House and in participating in the activities organized by the NGOs actively involved there. We will also be happy to cooperate with the NGO House in the coming festivals and will be happy to see even more NGOs with interesting activities.”
Last year Riga NGO House went outdoors for the first time, both literally - in the open air, and expanding the boundaries of ideas about the role and activities of NGOs - by participating in a public, informative networking event in one of the most remote neighborhoods of Riga - Bolderāja. This year, the NGO House continued the well-started tradition - going outside the premises of the House, participating in the Hospitāļu Street Neighbors` Festival in the neighborhood of Brasa.
Brasa is a neighborhood of the city of Riga, located close to the center of Riga. Since 2014, the Hospitāļu Street Neighbors' Festival has been held in the neighborhood of Brasa, which has already become a tradition. The aim of this festival is to get to know, unite and delight the residents of the neighborhood, as well as to organize the most active residents of Brasa.
Meetings with residents in an informal atmosphere can foster participation of residents and can help to create dialogue with NGOs and residents of other neighborhoods of Riga. Riga NGO House is looking forward to visiting other neighborhoods of Riga!
Written by Zinta Gugane,
project coordinator of Riga NGO House
