On 4 April, the “Shadow Day” organised by the educational organisation “Junior Achievement Latvia” took place all over Latvia. On this day, pupils are invited to public and private organisations and NGO to have a glimpse at the profession or their interest by observing a professional at work. This was the first such experience for the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Latvia, and it turned out fruitful and inspirational for everyone involved.
Our organization was among 110 public administration institutions welcoming youngsters on this slightly unusual day of learning with two co-workers actively participating. Daina Mežecka, Social Welfare Advisor, spent the day working together with Anete Zete Baumgante from the Riga State German Gymnasium. Anita Miruškina, Communications Advisor, spent the day with two “shadows”: Evelīna Pole from Jēkabpils State Gymnasium and Madara Meldere from Valmiera Pārgauja State Gymnasium.
Director Stefan Eriksson opened the day by enriching the introductory speech about the organization and importance of the close cooperation between the Baltic and Nordic countries with personal anecdotes, experience and stories about his career path and career choices. The first item on Anete’s agenda was participation in a remote meeting with a regional partner from the association “Cita Daugavpils” together with our colleagues Daina and Vadim. The main topic was the upcoming workshop for neighbourhood citizens, which will be held in October in Daugavpils. Later that day Anete together with Daina met with our partners at the Riga City Architect’s Office and was attending a planning meeting for the upcoming Nordic-Baltic conference on dementia on 30 September and 1 October.
Meanwhile, our colleague Anita gave Evelīna and Madara an energized talk about the practicalities of the daily work of a communication specialist. She also answered questions about the necessary education, skills and competences and shared her top life-hacks. Shortly after that the girls joined our Communication Advisor for a remote meeting in English with representatives of Nordic organisations from Sweden and Denmark, planning the upcoming seminar on food security and resilience. Since we learn most by doing, Madara and Evelīna got the real taste of the job when they were given a chance to create and publish content on our official website. Their task was to cover a recent opening event of the exhibition “Ukraine. Rupture” supported by our office. Madara created and published a photo gallery, whereas Evelīna was granted a supervised access to the text editor of our website interface and published her first ever website article.
When asked about their impressions and reflections about the day spent with our team, the girls particularly highlighted the meeting with Stefan – a real Swede who spoke to them in Latvian proving their initial associations – on the Nordic people being diplomatic, respectful and conversing from a position of equality – right. Also, experience- and knowledge-sharing or other colleagues was the most powerful part of the experience besides the crashed stereotype of work in the public administration institution being monotonous and mundane.
The Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Latvia is working closely with various youth organisations, supporting youth activities and projects promoting civic participation of youngsters; however, giving real-life insight into our daily work is an unusual way for our team to reach out to schoolchildren. It turned out to be exciting and mutually inspiring. Our colleagues are delighted with this new experience and look forward to welcoming the curious youngsters at our office again next year.
