22 Jul 2010

LATVIA / EMERGENCY EMPLOYMENT

Latvia's government creates emergency jobs and exempts the very poor from medical payments in an attempt to help its poorest citizens face the mounting economic difficulties. WORLD BANK

Posted at: July 22, 2010 2:27 pm

Duration: 2:40

Available in: SD

DOWNLOAD

Full script

STORY: LATVIA / EMERGENCY EMPLOYMENT  
TRT: 2:40
SOURCE: WORLD BANK
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: LATVIAN / NATS

DATELINE: APRIL 2010, KEKAVAS, LATVIA

1. Close up, Aigars digging
2. Wide shot, Aigars and other man digging
3. Various shots, Aigars and others digging
4. Wide shot, Astrida walking 
5. SOUNDBITE (Latvian)  Aigars Zagers, Safety Net Beneficiary:
"The program gives us a job and we earn 100 LATS a month, and it is enough for food and feeding the kids."
6. Various shots, Aigars and other workers digging 
7. Pan right, from church to workers, pruning
8. Various shots, workers

APRIL 2010 RIGA, LATVIA

9. Various shots, people walking

APRIL 2010, KEKAVAS, LATVIA

10. Wide shot, office of Inga, Inga at desk
11. SOUNDBITE (Latvian)  Inga Asarite, Public Works Program:
"There are two benefits to the public works program, one is the income it generates for the person, and it is a minimum but it is money. Another benefit is that people are again employed and they are integrated back into the social community."
12. Various shots, Kristina at work pruning
13. SOUNDBITE  (Latvian) Kristine Gravite, Safety Net Beneficiary:
"I don't know what would have happened if I didn't get this job, because we already were in that situation, when only my husband worked, and the kids were asking for more food and they need things and it is very hard to survive as a family on one wage."
14. Various shots, hospital counter, and people waiting for medication
15. Various shots, doctor Valerijs Ratobilski, medical doctor, at work

STORYLINE:

Latvia's government is providing temporary employment to its poorest citizens to help them better face mounting economic difficulties. The measures include creating emergency jobs, and exempting the very poor from medical payments.

33-year old Latvian Aigars Zagers has finally found a new job. It's not the construction work he did for 15 years before being laid off, but it covers the bills for his family, and it's a start after months of unemployment.

SOUNDBITE (Latvian) Aigars Zagers, Safety Net Beneficiary:
"The program gives us a job and we earn 100 LATS a month, and it is enough for food and feeding the kids."

Latvia's government is responding to the urgent needs of its poor and unemployed by creating small, income-generating jobs such as these that Aigars and his colleagues now get paid to do on municipality properties in the rural Latvian community where they live.

The government is using Work Bank funds for the program, which focuses on Latvians like these, who have lost their jobs and who are ineligible for unemployment insurance.

The emergency public-works program is part of the Latvia's larger Emergency Social Safety Net Strategy, supported by the World Bank.

The Safety net aims at providing basic economic and social services in Latvia, which has felt the global economic crisis more deeply than any other country in Europe and Central Asia.

SOUNDBITE (Latvian) Inga Asarite, Public Works Program:
"There are two benefits to the public works program, one is the income it generates for the person, and it is a minimum but it is money. Another benefit is that people are again employed and they are integrated back into the social community."

29-year old Kristine Gravite didn't know what to do when she lost her job as a cleaner in a government cafeteria. When she heard of the public works program, she applied and now she works 7 to 8 hours a day, five days a week, pruning bushes on government property.

SOUNDBITE (Latvian) Kristine Gravite, Safety Net Beneficiary:
"I don't know what would have happened if I didn't get this job, because we already were in that situation, when only my husband worked, and the kids were asking for more food and they need things and it is very hard to survive as a family on one wage."

In addition to the public works program, Latvia's Safety Net project is helping to guarantee medical treatment for all Latvians, by covering the often high co-payment costs of consultations and medicines for those who can't afford it.

SOUNDBITE (Latvian) Valerijs Ratobilski, Medical Doctor:
"This program is important, because in Latvia wages have been cut and taxes have increased and there are a lot of people who cannot pay for medical services, (off cam) the program is especially important for emergency medical services because poor people and those with low incomes can now afford to get necessary treatment."

Doctors cite at least two very positive effects of the co-payment program, those in need are getting treatment, and the doctors doing the treatment are getting paid.