Volunteering City – Viļāni

A year ago, in July 2021, the vians started participating in THE EU URBACT project “Volunteering Cities +”. The project co-operation partners were from Portugal (Municipality of Aljustrel), Slovakia (Municipality of Banska Stiavnica), Greece (Municipality of Agia) and Cyprus (Municipality of Athienou - leading partner).
THE URBACT programme supports the exchange of experience and training projects for urban development, so the objective of this project was TO create AN active population group OF Viļānos who will seek ideas and implement various volunteering activities IN THE Viļānu association, as well as promote cooperation between the local government and the population.

At the end of the year, the volunteering city OF Viļāni has concluded a URBACT programme project, under which 25 events were organised IN Viļānos, decks and Sokolkos, and 7 experience exchange journeys were held, which was an opportunity for local people to learn about participatory culture, the impact of voluntary work on the development of the local community and to obtain new co-operation partners in other EU countries. A wide variety of events were organised, such as candlelight, cooking of spruce, stockings of socks, paintings of peppers, restoration of stops, the establishment of flower holes, new recreational areas, the establishment of herbal holes, sewn ornamental bags, prepared bird cages, canned cans for seniors, and the celebrated days of father, mother and seniors. Similarly, in the summer of 2022, there was an ambitious picnic of various generations and Viļānos was collected in the mailboxes for the particularly vulnerable population.

Candles, bags, cans, socks were delivered to seniors, medical staff, and Ukrainian defenders. Among others, Ukrainians living IN Viļānos have also participated in many events.

A significant project milestone was the International Seminar in July 2022, when Greeks, Cypriots, Portuguese and Slovak visited us Viļānos.

In contrast, THE active population OF THE Viļānu association shared their experience and learned from project partners in Cyprus, Portugal, Greece and Slovakia.

The information was prepared by:

Rezekne District Municipalities
Project Manager
Inga Zelina-Ušmouse