CONFERENCEThe experience of Saulkrasti Municipality in Latvia provides a concrete example of how European cooperation can help transform a local challenge into a practical solution. This experience was developed through the SIRM – Socio-Economic Integration of Refugees and Migrants project, which supports regions in improving policies for the socio-economic integration of refugees and migrants.
From a local challenge to a European solution
When Russia’s war against Ukraine began in 2022, Saulkrasti Municipality welcomed Ukrainian families, including children who had arrived without their parents. Local authorities and schools had to respond quickly, often without previous experience of supporting children displaced by war.
There was a clear need to create safe, meaningful and inclusive activities for these children. However, an important question remained: where should the municipality start?
The answer came through Interregional cooperation within the SIRM project.
In July 2023, representatives from Saulkrasti Municipality took part in a SIRM study visit to Rzeszów, Poland. There, they learned about initiatives combining language learning, creative activities, sport, cultural exchange and emotional support for refugee children and families.
Rather than simply copying the approach observed in Poland, the ideas were brought back to Latvia and discussed with local stakeholders alongside an assessment of Saulkrasti’s own needs. This process of learning, adapting and developing solutions around local circumstances ultimately resulted in a two-week summer camp for Ukrainian and Latvian children, held in July 2024.
Through cooking together, playing sports, learning languages, discovering different cultures and spending time outdoors, the children were able to connect naturally and overcome language barriers. The location also played an important role: Saulkrasti’s Baltic Sea coastline, beaches and pine forests provided a calm and informal environment for children who had experienced the disruption of war and displacement.
More than a summer camp
The initiative was about much more than organising activities during the summer. It supported emotional wellbeing, intercultural understanding and inclusion, while also strengthening the municipality’s own capacity and experience in working with migrant and refugee children.
As Denīze Ponomarjova from the University of Latvia, a project partner in SIRM, explains:
“You don't need to copy the exact model. You can apply the same logic or principles, start small, work across sectors, involve local communities and build a policy around real human needs.”
This principle is at the heart of the SIRM project. European cooperation is not about finding one solution that can simply be transferred everywhere. It is about creating opportunities to learn from other regions, understand what works, and then adapt those lessons to local circumstances.
From project learning to policy improvement
Importantly, the impact of the SIRM project did not end with the children who participated in the summer camp.
The learning gained through the SIRM project and the Polish study visit, combined with Saulkrasti’s local needs assessment, contributed to changes in the Saulkrasti Regional Development Programme 2021–2027. The programme was expanded to explicitly include refugees and migrants, with objectives related to inclusive education and the improvement of the social environment.
Around €10,000 was secured to organise the summer camp, demonstrating that meaningful local action does not necessarily require a large budget.
For Kadri Uus, Thematic Expert at the Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform, the particular value of this experience lies in the way European learning was combined with local needs. The solution was not simply transferred from one region to another; it was adapted to the specific context of Saulkrasti.
This is one of the key lessons emerging from the SIRM project: look beyond your own borders, learn from others, understand your own local context and adapt the solution accordingly.