The wife of the President of Slovakia in Lithuania and Latvia

In the course of the official visit to Lithuania and Latvia from 28 February to 4 March 2005, at the University of Vilnius, Silvia Gašparovičová, the wife of the President of Slovakia, accompanied by Alma Adamkiene, the wife of the President of Lithuania, met with the members of the Information Centre for Women, a member of the European Women’s Lobby in Brussels. The members of this organisation, who have been devoted to women issues since 1995, informed the First Lady of their actitivies in improving women‘s position in society, eliminating their discrimination on labour market and making their representation equal in political and economic community in Lithuania. They also discussed the issues of domestic violence and improving childcare services.

In Riga, the First Lady and Chairwoman of the Silvia Gašparovičová Foundation – Education and Heath for All paid visit to the Higher School of Social Work and Social Pedagogics „Attistiba“, the only one of its kind in Latvia, which has been organising re-training courses for the unemployed, focusing on social work, handicapped and elderly people care, secreterial work, PC and language skills since 1991. As much as 91 % of training participants are women who face discrimination on labour market most. Director of the school Lidija Šilneva informed the delegation of their achivements and colaboration with the Latvian National Labour Office when assisting graduates of to find a job. This meeting was very interesting and inspirative for the Slovak delegation as Silvia Gašparovičová is carring out a similar project with her foundation. It is a project of the First Public Academy aimed at developing skills and competence of the socially and physically handicapped in the initial preparation on all levels and at assisting them to integrate or re-integrate into labour market.

Unlike Attistiba education programmes that are financially supported by national institutions, the project of the Silvia Gašparovičová Foundation is financed only by private sponsors who are not simple to be won over. The representatives of the Slovak and Latvian organisations agreed on cooperation and exchange of experience, which should be useful for both parties.