Latvian social enterprises help citizens at risk of exclusion

Lolita Korjapina has a visual impairment. Like many people with a disability living in Latvia, she has struggled with social isolation. Now, Lolita is employed by SIA ‘Sonido’, a social enterprise that runs a telephone support line called ‘Let’s Talk’ for people experiencing loneliness. Let’s Talk is operated by people with disabilities.

‘Working for this company has given me the opportunity to get out of my bubble and meet people with other disabilities,’ says Lolita. ‘I like that we can help lonely people with our work and life experience, and I have become more open, more aware of the diversity of the world. I have learned that society in general – and our team in particular – is very inclusive, with a healthy attitude, and co-workers accept us for who we are.’

Lolita shares how Let’s Talk has provided her with work that fits in around her life while improving her wellbeing and her financial situation.

‘I can plan work shifts myself and it helps me to balance my working hours and private life, so I can focus on both,’ she says. ‘Of course, it is important that I can earn by doing an interesting job, and for the first time in my life I have a job that pays for health insurance policies for employees. I have also gained new experience by participating in TV, radio interviews and various public events!’

Vulnerable unemployed people and people with physical and mental disabilities, like Lolita, often have difficulty finding and accessing suitable jobs. While social enterprises can provide these opportunities by removing barriers to work, establishing a social enterprise can be challenging, and requires encouragement and support from the state and other enterprises.

SIA Sonido is supported by the Latvian ‘Support for social entrepreneurship’ project, with funding from the European Social Fund. It has assisted nearly 150 social actors and enterprises, among them some that employ people with disabilities and mental disorders, and helped 65 unemployed people into work by identifying and testing actions to contribute to the development of a Latvian ‘social entrepreneurship support system’.

Enterprises that participate in the project and employ people with disabilities or mental disorders are also compensated for their share of the employees’ social security contributions. If they hire someone who was previously unemployed, they also receive a one-off compensation for their monthly earnings. This provides further incentive for enterprises to employ individuals at risk of exclusion.

In this way the ‘Support for social entrepreneurship’ project creates a system that ensures the sustainability of new social enterprises, while also encouraging them to employ vulnerable individuals like Lolita and provide those at risk of social exclusion with a stable income and a better quality of life.