Today President of Latvia Egils Levits visited social enterprise “Sonido” to discuss with the employees of the company employment opportunities for people with disabilities, and to learn about the company’s social project “Parunāsim?” (Let’s Talk?).
Social enterprise “Sonido” is a call centre employing people with disabilities and improving their quality of life by creating appropriate workplaces, working methods and training programmes for remote working. Since 2018 the company places all of its profits into project “Parunāsim?”.
“Even though we are considered to be living in a modern society, many people still don’t have access to the internet, smart phones or the skills to use these tools. Unfortunately, this can make them more isolated and socially excluded. Therefore, the work done by the “Parunāsim?” phone operators is extremely important due to two aspects. Namely, the provision of practical advice for daily life, but even more importantly – providing emotional support to people and giving them the chance to talk so that they can find a way to integrate into society and live a wholesome life,” President of Latvia remarked during the discussion.
Over the course of three years project “Parunāsim?” has grown from a team of 4 to 20 people who now provide consultations and listen to the life stories of callers on a daily basis. The phone operators of the project do not provide psychological assistance themselves, but rather listen to the callers and refer them further for professional support, if necessary. The project has established a good collaboration with Crisis and Counselling Centre “Skalbes”. The “Parunāsim?” phone operators are people with disabilities who work with emotionally difficult situations daily – these require precise assessment and provision of appropriate support. If necessary, the company provides all of its employees with appropriate training.
The President of Latvia appreciated the fact that more and more companies in Latvia are choosing to collaborate with “Sonido” knowing that this will also have a positive impact on project “Parunāsim?”: “This shows that Latvian companies are not focused only on the aspect of quality service and costs, but also the social contribution by business.”