"Make Empowerment Happen!" - this was the motto of the SEMPRE final conference that took place in Riga on 27 and 28 November 2018. It was a lively event, highlighted by the showcase of 18 service user-driven micro projects from all over the Baltic Sea Region.
Almost 100 participants convened at the University of Latvia to hear about the results of the SEMPRE project. The partnership presented recently finished project results, such as the "Empowerment Handbook" or a film and a brochure about the micro projects that were initiated in the SEMPRE framework. These micro projects are local, small-scale initiatives that created new social services in a co-creation process that involved both service users and service providers.
Moreover, the participants heard a video interview on empowerment and user involvement with renowned expert Prof. Peter Beresford from the UK, a reflection on the topic of social innovation in European Territorial Cooperation by Dr. Katharina Erdmenger from the German Ministry of the Interior, and inspiring inputs from Italy on social franchising and empowerment in practice.
In three parallel future workshops, the conference guests were invited to provide their own perspectices on service user involvement and the future of social service delivery in the Baltic Sea Region. This input will be used by the SEMPRE partners for finalising their policy recommendations.
The whole conference was documented by three awesome graphic recorders.
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Title Photo: (c) Urmas Roos
Photos: (c) Hakan Uraz
