NORD+ 2017 INTENSIVE COURSE

Rural development in the era of green and

silver economies THE CASE OF ALŪKSNE, LATVIA

Roberts Georgs Fimbauers Jolanta Kudulytė Tuuli Elisa Mäkinen Wojtek Mościński

RĪGA, 2017 Table of contents Introduction ...... 3 Alūksne municipality ...... 4 Methods ...... 8 Choosing the method for the research ...... 8 Data sources ...... 8 Interviews ...... 9 Analysis ...... 9 Aging in the society and moving from the rural to the urban area ...... 9 Theory ...... 10 Results ...... 11 Social service centre in Alūksne municipality ...... 11 NGO’s ...... 13 Development in Alūksne ...... 14 Conclusion ...... 15 Bibliography ...... 16 APPENDIXES: ...... 17

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Introduction

The developments in medicine in XVIII and XIX centuries have changed our life significantly. With the inventions of antibiotics, anesthetics (still far from being safe for the patients and the desired effect, but significantly better than huge amounts of alcohol used before (Wong et al. 1997)) and better awareness with regard to disinfecting, previously lethal issues are not life-threatening anymore. The mortality in all age groups dropped down greatly and average life length had increased (Manivannan 2008). Vast majority of people will agree on that it was a positive change, but modern era societies need to face newly arisen problem - progressing ageing of the population. It is a global issue and we need to adopt our current approach to the new realities of living. Percentage of 60+ years old people is increasing overtime, while amount of newly born children is usually lower due to common nowadays model of families with one or two children replacing multi-generation houses with multiple sons and daughters. In the case of Alūksne municipality, people are coping with another problem as well - people emigrate to bigger cities either in Latvia or abroad, mostly looking for better future perspectives and opportunities. The unemployment rate in Alūksne region oscillates, depending on the season, around the level of 12% (Interview nr 1), so job seeking is one of the reasons. It is even more emphasized by the proximity of Estonia, which is a popular destination for a part of labour migrants, mostly due to comparatively high salaries. Though, many of the people are looking for the better place for studying, especially regarding tertiary education. This can be applied mostly to younger people, however while emigrating, they sometimes take parts of their families with them (Interview nr 1). The paper tries to explore the possible effects of increasing average age of inhabitants of Alūksne municipality on different perspectives. Main research question is

How does aging affect the municipality of Alūksne? Moreover, we are trying to focus on answers on sub-questions stated below. We find worth researching what are the possible associations between progressing ageing and:

 accessibility of social services  main aims of local NGOs and its impact on the area  development of the overall municipality. Such a set of questions was carefully selected according to couple of factors. Firstly, we focused on what can bring a relevant contribution to the field, possibly constituting a valuable set of information to the authorities responsible for planning and development. We boldly think, that municipality of Alūksne can be seen as valuable region of Latvia, and that current weaknesses can be turned into region’s strengths with help from NGO’s and authorities, if only they are aware enough of the current situation. Even though of current problems, like shortage of services (Interview nr 1) and huge amount of people needing help (in case of family doctors, there are 9 of them currently working in the municipality, what gives the amount of 600-1200 patients every general practitioner is responsible for), with the proper management we can see reality changing - new social care centres are being created and the bonds of the elderly communities are growing stronger and stronger. Also, their contribution to the society can be clearly visible (Interview nr 2). Secondly, accessibility of information was considered. The language barrier was negatively affecting both pace of collecting and analysing data and reliability of the interviews conducted due to necessary translations. And finally, while having a quite limited time period planned for conducting the research, we had to narrow down the study as much as possible, for the sake of getting comprehensive amount of data on the topic.

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Even by comparing the current situation to the order of things from couple of years ago (Berjoza et al. 2013), we can see that education had seen great improvements. Although the municipality still does not have any higher education institutions, music school, sports school and dance classes are inviting the youth and providing good quality teaching in the area. Situation in Alūksne is not isolated; actually vast majority of municipalities (except the outskirts of Riga) in Latvia had experienced the decrease in overall population as a result of the outcoming migration. It obviously had a negative impact on the society, but proper actions from the government are meant to make the lives of all types of disadvantaged people (e.g. poor, disabled, elderly) easier and help them have an impact on the community, showing them that they are as valuable as everyone else. The first part of research paper aims to provide sufficient amount of information on the background, it is, description of the municipality, statistical data on current age structure and changes in amount of inhabitants and administrative units in the municipality - division in parishes (pagasts) as a result of reform in 2009. It is followed by discussion about methods used in the research and explanations why that particular choice was made. Then, theory will try to provide the framework for the research. Fourth part of the paper focuses on two before mentioned global phenomena: aging of the population and migration in rural-urban context. The next part will be devoted to the more and more common broad choice of social activities organized by local NGO’s and governments to enrich lives of elderly citizens in new experiences. The paper ends with a conclusion of the conducted research and possible future scenarios for the area. The predictions are being made as a result of fruitful research and interviews made, with the cooperation of the Head of Planning and Development department.

Alūksne municipality

Alūksne municipality is an administrative unit and a part of Vidzeme planning region. Alūksne municipality is located in North-western part of Latvia in Vidzeme planning region (Figure 1). The municipality was formed in 2009 by merging 15 parishes of the old Alūksne county (Alsviķi parish, Anna parish, Ilzene parish, Jaunalūksne parish, Jaunanna parish, Jaunlaicene parish, Kalncempji parish, Liepna parish, Maliena parish, Mālupe parish, Mārkalne parish, Pededze parish, Veclaicene parish, Zeltiņi parish, Ziemeri parish, and the town of Alūksne, excluding Ape, Gaujiena, Trapene and Vireši parishes which now make up Ape municipality) (Novadu karte, 2009). The administrative centre of the new municipality was created in old county centre of Alūksne. It is a municipality that borders Estonia and Russia. Because of border to Russia this is also a part of external border of the European Union. The area of the municipality is mostly set in the Alūksne upland, which was created during the last Ice Age and continues to the north into Estonia as Haanja upland. It’s highest peak in Latvia Figure 1. Placement of Alūksne municipality (made by authors using Dēliņkalns reaching 272 meters above sea level, but ĢISLatvija 10.2, 2017). it’s overall highest peak reaching 318 m above sea is Suur Munamägi, which is the place with the highest elevation in Baltic states. Almost all the rest of Alūksne municipality is set in East Vidzeme lowland (Fiziogeografiska karte, 2009). Because of the geological structures, that can be found in the municipality the region is relatively rich in lakes. These lakes are located in lowlands and subglacial beds left by glaciers and melting ice water. Rivers of the Alūksne municipality belong to drainage basins of Daugava, Gauja and Veijaka rivers. In Daugava drainage basin the most important river is Pededze with biggest tributaries: Akaviņa, Alūksne Igrīve, Ievedne. Gauja drainage basin in Alūksne municipality consists of river Vaidava with 4

biggest tributaries – Raudupe, Dzilnupe, Cekuļupīte and Melnupe with its biggest tributaries Medņupe, Blīgzne, Dzirnavupīte. But Veļikaja drainage basins rivers are Kūdupe with tributary Bērzupīte, river Liepna with its tributary Vorubka (Upju baseini 1970tie,1970). Biggest of the lakes in the municipality is Alūksne lake which borders the town of Alūksne on its north. Alūksne lake is 11th largest lake in Latvia with surface area of 1543.7 hectares, maximal depth of 15.2 m and median depth of 7.1 m. Lake has a feeding basin of 28 km2 and one outlet – Alūksne. There are 4 islands in Alūksne lake (Alūksnes ezers, [S.a.]). The lake itself has been an important factor in establishing Alūksne as a local transport and trade node. On the biggest of these islands in 1342 Livonian order completed building of a castle. This fortress fortress was supposed to balance out the Figure 2 Orthophoto map of Pilssala (LĢIA, 2016). influence of Izborsk fortress in Pskov Republic (later in Pskov land of Russia) (Alūksnes vesture, [S.a.]). The fortress was built on Pilssala (literally Castle island) or also called Marijas island, which today has ruins of the castle, with open-air stage, a stadium and a park for recreation purposes (figure 2). The lake’s elevation is 183.7m and the town of Alūksne itself is located at almost 200m above sea level. Alūksne is a town with the highest elevation in Latvia. Municipalities plcement mostly in an upland and its elevation are importnt factors in the climatic conditions of the area. The impact of these factors in the region can be seen by a relatively late starting spring and a typically early onset of winter (Pašreizējās situācijas…, 2014). In Alūksne upland precipitation reaches 700-800 mm/year, but evapotranspiration is only 400mm per year. Snow cover forms in the middle of November and remains until the end of March. It often reaches more than 50 cm. Ice cover on lakes also rains for longer time than in other places in Latvia (Pašreizējās situācijas…, 2014). Winds in Alūksne are mostly blowing from west and south west. The yearly average windspeed is 3,4 – 3,9 m/sek at 10m height. In thunderstorms in summers it is not uncommon to have sustained windspeeds of 18 m/sek (Pašreizējās situācijas…, 2014). Average temperature in january is -7°C, but in july +16,5°C. In the upland temperatures generaly are 0,5 degrees lower than in nearby places, and about 2 degrees lower than the average in Latvia. Frost free period in Alūksne upland is 125 to 130 days per year. Comparetive shortness of this period doesn’t promote growing of heat loving crops (Pašreizējās situācijas…, 2014). Of the total area of approximately 1697.2 km2, about 59% are forests and only around 29% are agricultural lands (Sustainable development…, 2012). Of the forests the most common forests are birch forests at around 32,3%, then come pine forests 26,2% and spruce forests at 19,5%. The proportion of low- value gray alder forests is also fairly important – 14,9% Alder groves and aspen forests play an insignificant role in overall forest structure with 2% and 4,8% (Pašreizējās situāijas…, 2014). There also are 3381,3 ha of swamps in Alūksne municipality, which constitutes just under 2% of territory (Pašreizējās situāijas…, 2014). The road network (figure 3) consists of one road of international importance A2 (E77) – Rīga- Sigulda- Border of Estonia, 7 roads of national importance. Public transport provides ability to get to the centre of the municipality, main domestic transport desinations are Balvi, Rēzekne, Jēkabpils, Madona, Smiltene, Rīga, Gulbene. Primary type of public transport is bus. Overall there are 36 different bus routes and every village in Alūksne municipality is visited by public transport at least 2 times a day. Public transport in Alūksne municipality is provided by SIA „Vidlatauto”, AS „Nordeka”, AS „CATA”, SIA „Norma-A”, SIA „VTU Valmiera” and SIA „Jēkabpils autobusu parks”. There is also a narrow-gauge railroad. Its route connects Alūksne and Gulbene towns (Pašreizējās situācijas…, 2014).

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Current population of Alūksne municipality in 2016 was 15381 which is approximately 7,8% of Vidzeme planning region population (195998) and only around 0.78% of Latvian population of 1968957 (CSB, 2016). Out of those a little over 7600 live in Alūksne town. All settlements in Alūksne municipality are grouped in four groups according to Vidzeme planning region development plan and Alūksne municipality sustainable development strategy for 2012-2030. These four groups are: 1. Development centre of regional importance – Alūksnes town. 2. Development centre of municipal importance – Liepna. 3. Development centres of local importance – Alsviķi, Aizupītes, Strautiņi, Pullans, Karva, Anna. Jaunzemi, Kalncempji, Brenci, Mālupe, Sofikalns, Mārkalne, Pededze, Zaiceva, Kolberģis, Beja, Jaunlaicene, Korneti, Māriņkalns, Ziemeri. 4. Other settlements – farmsteads and farmstead groups (figure 3).

Figure 3. Settlement structure and public infrastructure in parishes of Alūksne municipality (Alūksne.lv, San Anno).

The population of Alūksne municipality has been decreasing (figure 4). From 2010 until 2016 the population decrease is 2331. The highest population among villages is in Alsviķi parish, where about 78% of inhabitants live in villages. That shows, that the rest of parish territory is with a comparatively small population. The lowest amount of people compared to the population of parish is in the Pededze and Zaiceva villages. There live only 21% of inhabitants of the parish. Overall the lowest amount of people lives in Pullana village in Alsviķu parish. And the smallest population in a parish is in 6

Figure 4 Population in Alūksne municipality 2010-2016 (authors, using CSB, 2016) Kalncempji parish where in 01.01.2017. lived only 185 people. It is also the second least populated administrative unit in Latvia. (PMLP, 2017). Comparing the population densities in the rural parts of the municipality one can see that the highest density, with more than 8 people per km2, is in Jaunlaicene and Anna parishes, because of the small area of these parishes. On the other hand, the lowest population density of less than 3 inhabitants per km2, are in Mārkalne and Liepna parishes. The sex proportion in Alūksne municipality is similar to situation is Latvia as a whole, where majority is women, while logically men are in fewer numbers. For comparison in 2016 in Alūksne municipality there were 53.94% of female population and 46.06% male, in Vidzeme planning region 53.13% to 46.87% and in Latvia 54.07% to 45.93% (CSB, 2016). There are many reasons for population decrease in Alūksne municipality. For at least last 20 years total population growth in Alūksne municipality has been negative as seen in figure 5. In the last 20 years the natural movement of people, that is, natural growth hasn’t changed all that much and has been negative for a long time. In the last six or so years the natural growth has been slowly but steadily increasing. Migration rates on the other hand are not so stable and are influenced by several factors. As seen in figure 5 since 2000 net migration always have been Figure 5 Changes in population of Alūksne municipality (authors, using negative. Especially big decrease in population of CSB, 2016) Alūksne municipality mainly due to migration can be seen in 2008 - 2010 because of the global economic crisis. In the last few years the migration rates have been decreasing, but that may also be linked to the decrease in population. This decrease in population also influences service providers, for example public transport providers. As the number of passengers decrease some routes may become unprofitable and fear of public transport routes closing is increasing (CSB, 2016). Migration in Alūksne municipality and overall in Latvia is based on people leaving the country or moving from the peripheral areas to Riga and its neighbouring municipalities (figure 6). These are the only regions, which had experienced growth in the number of inhabitants. The migration is strongly

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Figure 6 Changes of population; 2000-2010 (CSB, 2011) dependent on the age of people: usually younger people are seeking higher education and job opportunities in bigger cities or abroad, leaving their families behind (or in less common cases taking them as well). In Alūksne municipality people mostly move to Valmiera, which is the centre of Vidzeme planning region and the capital of Latvia (Interview 1). Alūksne municipality ethnically is fairly homogenous. Most of the inhabitants (83.3%) are Latvian. Russians make up only 12.9% of the population, while in whole country the proportion is 25,6%. Which is not that big of a part in the scale of the whole country, but fairly significant if compared with Vidzeme region as a whole, since Vidzeme is traditionally Latvian region with only 8.8% of Russians in 2016. Third largest ethnic group in Alūksne municipality is Ukrainians 1,1%, followed by Belarusians and Poles then come Lithuanians – 0.2% and 1.9% belong to other ethnical groups (CSB, 2016). The age structure in Alūksne municipality is rather similar to age structure in Latvia. Population pyramids (figure 7) show that aging is an important part of demographic processes both in Latvia and especially in Alūksne municipality. The amount of people before working age in Alūksne municipality is only 14,3%, but people over working age 24,3%. Figure 7 Population pyramids of Latvia and Alūksne municipality (CSB, Only 62.8% of population is in active working age. 2017) Emigration of younger people is one of main problems of Latvian peripheral regions (CSB, 2016).

Methods

Choosing the method for the research The method that was chosen to the research was a qualitative method. The main data was collected through half-structured interviews. The questionnaire was based on the research question and its sub-questions were chosen through the themes that were found in the interviews. All of the interviews had similarities with the base of the questionnaire. Questionnaires were modified through specific place and need to get more results of different interviews. The questions were still produced neutrally and without assumptions. Interviews were chosen because of the time limitation and the possibility to collect data in a quick and effective way. The days that were spent on the field were: 14th- 17th of May in 2017. Quantitative data of descriptive statistics were collected from local authorities and official statistics of the area. Other data was collected by observations that gave the group some information of the territory. Still the assumptions were not included into the research questions, and the qualitative data through the interviews was needed.

Data sources The research group was given a contact from the local government building and got almost all of the contacts for interviews through him. The person who arranged the interviews and gave guidelines to proceed was the PR-specialist of Alūksne municipality. He was the first contact and through him all other authorities in offices were contacted and interviewed. Only one interview was informal and not arranged beforehand. The pace of attending the interviews was intensive and done in two days. The research did not reach the local aging people due to the time schedule and arrangements. Different data through notes 8 were collecting through interviews and they were proceeded through the questions and general discussion.

Interviews In total there were 4 official interviews with authorities that were involved with the issues in the municipality. Some others were interviewed in an informal way by general discussion. The research would be based with the results and hypothesis based on the interviews. Interviews were undertaken in Latvian and English. Mainly having the interview in Latvian and then translated by the spot to English. All interviews, even the discussions during excursions were recorded and analysed. All of the members of the group were present during information and we were always having a local present translating. Interviews usually were 30-60 minutes long. The interviews were constructed well and successful. The group got answers to the questions and had a good connection with the interviewees. Interviews were done in a positive and fruitful atmosphere. Giving attention through the research towards Alūksne made it possible to collect information. The research can still be considered quite lacking because the opinion of the old people of Alūksne have not been interviewed. This all can be related with the time schedule for the research.

Analysis The data was analysed in the research through the themes of the sub-questions. For these sub- questions they were found direct authorities to answer about the themes and they were experts in their field. Combining theoretical framework and the data of the qualitative research gave one point of view of the municipality. Many interviewees agreed in many questions and so the opinion of the fairs of the municipality were not radically different.

Aging in the society and moving from the rural to the urban area When researching the municipality and its aging population in Alūksne, it is important to know how aging affects in different perspectives. The phenomena of aging has significantly increased in the world. The demographical shift to ageing worldwide has given a new challenge for the government to cope with this phenomenon. Industrialization created a flow of migration from the rural areas to the urban ones. Agricultural culture changed to the work in factories and work and free time was more separate than before. From constant working in the fields and more communal living was transformed to living in suburbs. Close connections with grandparents and other family members were also changed because there was no work in the rural area. In Latvia’s case especially the cities are not the only option for work seeking people and families. The strong wave of emigration it is a side effect on the society of the lack of working places in the rural area and the whole country. While the population is increasing in Europe the strong decrease in Europe’s rural population (from 100 million in 2000 to around 75 million in 2030) is happening (Vanessa Burholt, Christine Dobbs 2012). The out-migrating younger people would leave and the proportion of older people in rural areas will be greater. The structure of population has been changed radically and still in some countries in EU 90 % of the territory is rural. In Latvia’s case, the flow on migration from Alūksne is towards bigger municipalities and their towns, bigger cities and going abroad. Especially countries with better salary, welfare and easier language are attractive and popular. There are different kind of work that can me seasonal, but usually moving is permanent to a new country. Through the data that we collected with interviews it is possible to found key issues for the moving. In Alūksne the pensions are very low. This is a crucial factor when discussing about the moving flow from the municipality and the country. Small pension, high employment rate and little support from governmental side give small options for citizens to survive in every-day life. Aging 9 people end up seeking help from their families and children that constructs a chain of moving away. Usually when locally there is no work available in the home municipality moving is obligatory. It is also common to move to abroad early before the retirement to secure the pension money. Getting pension from the host country provides higher quality of life and less dependency with their children. Often still parents and their children emigrate to the same country, more common phenomena is that the children emigrate before the parents. There is a certain retirement age in Latvia, but it does not always work in practice. Through the interviews it was clear that in some professions people did not retire at all. It was mentioned in many official interviews in Alūksne that e.g. doctors and teachers do not retire because there is not often younger educated people to fulfil the position. This can be seen as a push factor of the country.

Theory As the modern day societies are getting older, the importance of consideration of elderly people is raising. Latvia is one of the countries which have been greatly affected by ageing – amount of people over 65 years old increased from 14.8% of total population in 2000 to 17.4% in 2010 (Central Bureau of Statistics 2015). The main point of the debate is focused around the problem of ageing, narrowed down to the Cartesian division of human into two intrinsic parts: body and mind. On the one hand, mortal part is experiencing inevitable effects of time passing by. Average health conditions of retired people are worse compared to younger part of the population (Franzoi, Koehler 1998) - body gets weaker and physical fitness is deteriorating. Secondly, amongst the societies harmful belief prevails, that employment is the only way people can be useful for the community. Retired people already made that contribution during their working age and most likely they are not expected to work anymore. Finally, older people are often living alone – their children, if any, moved away and their parents are dead since decades, so they had to get used to that while they are still alive. All these reasons connected had laid the foundations for the current stereotypes about older people as idle, passive, unproductive, preferring to be alone. The main goal of the conducted research is to prove that ageing citizens should be treated as equal members of the society with their own ambitions, aspirations and needs. The results of Alūksne case study show that spirit remains young regardless of age. The basic psychosocial needs (like contacts with other people, feeling useful and being appreciated) of the people remain the same regardless of age, only the ways of fulfilling them are changing. The elderly members of Alūksne society are a very good example of multidimensional “productive aging”. Firstly, social participation is the order of the day. Citizens are establishing organizations, which are working on, for instance, competitions for seniors. The example of Alūksne culture centre shows that old age entertainment is widely common phenomenon. Two theatre rooms, music room and disco room are available for everyone, but senior population is a group using those on a regular basis. Secondly, everyone wants to have a meaningful impact on the society. Aged population of Alūksne municipality is making handcrafts, painting, sewing and crocheting (Interview nr 2). Then, good quality self-made products are going to be sold. The income goes to people in need, e.g. society for disabled people (Interview nr 2). The research had shown that ageing population is more likely to get involved into these voluntary activities compared to younger people (Davis, Crothers, Grant 2012). Elderly have a well-developed sense of community and feeling of usefulness is often enough to encourage them to work, while youth usually seek the payment for the job done. All the activities are completely voluntary, but older people are undertaking these actions, proving that “uselessness” in before mentioned stereotype is not only harmful, but also completely not relevant (not true). In the era of progressing ageing it is very important to highlight that needs of elderly members need to be represented in policymaking and as a valuable research field as well. The paper stresses that process of ageing should be treated as “unfolding process” instead of terminal stage of life. 10

The second biggest issue is the negative migration rate, not only in Alūksne municipality but in whole country (with some exceptions). Latvia had experienced decrease from 2.3 million people in 2000 to 2 million people ten years later (Central Bureau of Statistics 2015). Authors are trying to emphasize the fact, that migration, ageing and gender are intertwined, especially in the context of Alūksne municipality. It touches mostly young people - only 10% of migrants from years 2000-2013 were above the age of 54 in 2013, and this number is continuously growing since that time because migrants who left the country earlier now are ageing in their new places. (Hazan 2013) The reason behind migration is mostly linked to poor living conditions caused by multiple factors. Firstly, the minimum salary in United Kingdom and Ireland is around 4 times bigger than in Latvia. That builds a tempting perspective of earning money abroad and then spending it in Latvia, where costs of living are significantly lower. Secondly, the crisis from years 2008-2011 left its mark on the Latvian economy, which experienced a big cut in all kinds of social benefits. Economic welfare of retired people is not the top priority for government, because that group of people is seen as economically unproductive in the current economy (Lulle, King 2016). Also, salaries of many working people were very low, leaving them with no hope for decent pension after they retire. As authors state, the combination of low salaries and high unemployment rate, makes a “generation doomed to poverty in old age”. This is already an alarming issue - Latvian pensions are not sufficient to fulfil the basic daily needs – most of the pensioners are receiving social monthly income below the so-called minimum income basket, which was 253 euros per month in 2013 (CSB, Minimum income basket, 2015). According to Federation of Latvian Pensioners, around 75% of pensioners above the age of 65 are living below poverty threshold. It is even more emphasized by the actual gender pay gap, which was at the level of 17.5% in 2014. To make the things worse, part-time jobs and underemployment is particularly visible amongst the female population, mostly due to providing child care. That results in even bigger pension-related problems in old age. All of these factors combined, make the emigration sometimes an only way to escape the harsh realities of life in old age, especially for women. Labour migration can help people build up better pensions; since it depends mostly on the income and the country of working doesn’t matter (as long as it is EU member state).

Results Social service centre in Alūksne municipality

These results are based with the appendix number 2 of the social care centre. There is a Social service centre in the Alūksne municipality for elderly people. Municipality’s population is aging and the coming years is increasing on demand for social care services provided by the Social service centre. There is a social care centre home “Alūksne”, which is established to ensure the quality of existing legislation and appropriate social care services. The population in this municipality is aging and needs more care places for these people, so it proposes to create a social care centre branch of Alūksne in Mālupe. Due to the changes in Latvian rules requirements of social service providers, which provides, that one customer in the centre must have 6 square meters of his own living place, so the “Alūksne” social care centre can contain 64 places for elderly people. The problem is that at the time, the centre has 90 people to take care of (Table 1), so they each have only about 4 square meters of living place in the existing centre. Because of the lack of space, 26 people are moved to other premises. The population, which is in need of social services is growing, has increased, as we can compare the results from 2010 till 2016 (Table 1). In 2010 there were 60 people in this social care centre and the number of people was constantly growing and by the year of 2016 it has increased by 30 places.

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Table 1. The increase of customers in Social care centre “Alūksne”.

Year 2010 2012 2014 2015 2016

Number of customers 60 70 80 83 90

The people population in Social care centre “Alūksne” changed in 2016 by the number of changes – the loss of customers – 30 people died, 2 people left the centre and 2 were expelled from the centre. Even though, the demand of new places in the social care centre is still increasing, to compare the numbers of new customers, there were 29 new customers in the centre in 2014 (Table 2), the number was increasing (34 people in 2015) and by the year of 2016 there were 39 new customers.

Table 2. The number of new customers in Social care centre “Alūksne”.

Year 2014 2015 2016

Intervening in the number of customers 29 34 39

These estimates may vary depending on the number of customers, because the project is still in the process. Prognosis about the increasing amount of old people, need of social care, the most economical way to make this branch is to make it in Mālupe elementary school. Because of the indicating the calculations, there is smaller costs on the change and maintenance those costs. As well as providing to Alūksne municipality and the people short term and long term stay and other services. The budget for the project in 2016 was 552 125 € including 48 % local government funding and 52 % from customers. In Mālupe it’s indicative budget. 420 027 € including the same 48 % which is 201 612 € and income from customers 52 %. The new Social care centre branch is taking place in an old school building in Mālupe Parish in Alūksne municipality. Mālupe Parish is located to the south east about 20 kilometres from Alūksne city centre. The old building of Mālupe elementary school was renovated by using the EU funding, it was renovated from the outside. The school also got new equipment for children activities needs, such as projectors for lessons, room for concerts with microphones and sound systems. The EU project also included the renovation and the connection between the school building and the sport’s hall, which is located in other building. There is also a branch of Alūksne art school in Mālupe elementary school, so school children have a possibility to learn arts in their living place. Unfortunately, the school is going to be closed by the school year of 2017, because of the lack of children and the decisions of Latvian government. Even though, the school can contain about 100 study places for children, but now there are only 30 students learning in this school. After the school will be closed, the students could move to different schools in Maliena, which is about 5 kilometers from this place, or Alūksne, which is about 20 kilometres away from Mālupe. Instead of the elementary school in Mālupe there is going to be created a branch of the social care centre. It should be established in the year of 2018, after the building will be adapted and prepared to take the elderly people.

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Figure 8. The old school building in Mālupe.

The new branch of social care centre will have smaller number of customers, but much more comfortable rooms, the place will be adapted for old people by the rules of “Latvian rules requirements of social service providers”. There are more advantages of the new building – the new centre will provide 30 new working places. Up to now, the Social care centre is providing social care and help for the people who need it. There are about 70 people, who work in this service and it’s mainly volunteering work. These people are helping to buy medicine, helping in crisis and driving the people in special transport (for example, elderly people, disabled people or sick people). The biggest achievement in last five years in the social care was the establishment of care at home cars in 2012. These cars are used to provide help for old and lonely people. There are 3 cars, which produces care and help for the elderly and disabled people in the whole municipality. It was found out, that there were about 90 % of elderly people using the cars, about 10 % of disabled and sick people, which was found out at the interview with the specialist of the social care centre. There is also a need of new apartments for disabled people, where they could gather together and have activities, such as workshops and gathering.

NGO’s

Next results are based with the appendix number 3 of the NGO center in Alūksne. The organizations in the municipality are learning how to provide better services for the old and disabled people. The learning experience is coming from the cooperation with other municipalities of Latvia and foreign countries. In the past years, the living conditions of the elderly people in Alūksne municipality have changed. The NGO are participating in elderly people’s lives. They offer many activities for these people, such as gatherings, handcrafting, cooking meals, exercising, visits to other places and excursions. The pensioners have become very active in NGO’s activities, it’s not hard to get money for the projects, also, the health care has increased in this region. NGO’s are trying to make the life of aging people easier and have been successful in that. The structure of the society of Alūksne in that sense has become better through NGO’s because of the lack of the governmental side in health and social services. Even though the NGO’s are active the conditions are getting worse due to flows of emigration. Infrastructure has got better in the last couple of years and there are a lot of projects in that matter.

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Development in Alūksne

In this chapter is based on the appendix number 4 and other conclusions of the observations in Alūksne about the local development. The most developed sectors in Alūksne are forestry and agriculture. Forestry is stronger and provides some working places. Technological development in forestry has decreased the use of workers so it cannot be said that it is employing main amount of the people of the municipality. Also there is tourism that has been invested on and is one of the strong points in Alūksne because of natural resources and touristic attractions. The development department has different projects with EU and they get partly funded from them. In development with aging people, the NGO’s have a big and active part. Civic society are behind many projects and they would not exist at all without their investment. The development projects for aging people are i.g. projects to provide health services, organizing physical activities and supporting disabled people. Also the social care center is considered as a development project for aging population. The civic society and referring to old people in this concept have become more active and this is the biggest positive change in development in Alūksne. Basing on the interview the less developed areas were social services and production companies. The cross-border cooperation was found with Estonia (Tartu) and Lithuania. The industries that would be hoped to develop in the future are tourism, cultural services, marketing and to attract more entrepreneurs.

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Conclusion

Alūksne municipality is experiencing phenomena of population aging. As the younger part of the population is leaving the municipality and goes to the administrative centre of Vidzeme region - Valmiera or the capital Riga the average age of inhabitants in Alūksne municipality is increasing. The older the population gets the more strain is put to social service providers and the working population. Even though old age-related issues can’t be avoided, there is a lot of things citizens are already working on. Elderly community is extraordinarily active in all kinds of social participation in many activities in the municipality. The development of the infrastructure is also a good way to direct the Alūksne municipality into a prosperous future. Imported goods, better outlook and the accessibility from other areas is a key factor in developing the municipality. Developing an industrial centre to Alūksne would also give the chance to create working places and start increasing the population of the municipality and bring in taxes. The right kind of population growth would be the key factor what would secure better conditions in the society for everybody. Alūksne is hoping for families to move to the municipality and that Alūksne could be perfect for, if the future projects will happen. Even though the municipality has issues of people flowing to abroad and different parts of Latvia, there has been improvement and hope for a better future. Alūksne is working hard and its best with the resources they have to make the city better for arriving families and entrepreneurs, the municipality is getting more attractive and a better place to live.

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Bibliography

1. Neil Hanlon, Mark W. Skinner, Alun E. Joseph - Place integration through efforts to support healthy aging in resource frontier communities: The role of voluntary sector leadership 2. Paul Milbourne - Growing old in rural places 3. Sandra Davis, Natalie Crotchers, Jeanette Grant - Being involved in the country: Productive ageing in different types of rural communities 4. Aija Lulle, Russell King - Ageing, Gender, and Labour Migration 5. Stephen L. Franzoi, Virginia Koehler - Age and Gender Differences in Body Attitudes: A Comparison of Young and Elderly Adults 6. M. Hazans - Emigration from Latvia: Recent trends and economic impact. 7. Shirley M.E. Wong, Eileen Fong, David L. Tauck, Joan J. Kendig. - Ethanol as a general anesthetic: Actions in spinal cord. 8. Gurusamy Manivannan - Disinfection and Decontamination: Principles, Applications and Related Issues 9. Antons Berjoza, Miķelis Jakunovs, Diana Kalajainen, Sonja Pettersson - Civil society in cross-border cooperation activities, case study of Alūksne municipality 10. Vanessa Burholt, Christine Dobbs, 2012, Research on rural ageing: Where have we got to and where are we going in Europe? p. 432 11.

Alūksnes vesture [S.a.], 2016. Overview of history of Alūksne municipality. Taken 18.05.2016. Available at: http://www.Alūksne.lv/01_03_01_01.php Teritorijas pašreizējais..., 2014. Alūksnes novada teritoriālais plānojums 2015-2027 gadam. Teritprijas Pašreizējais raksturojums. [Territorial plan of Alūksne municipality for the period of 2015.- 2027., originally in Latvian] Taken 18.05.2016. Available at: http://www.Alūksne.lv/zpp_dlemumi/2015/16.04/Pa%C5%A1reiz%C4%93j%C4%81s%20situ%C4%81c ijas%20raksturojums.pdf Alūksnes ezers [S.a.] Society ‘Latvijas ezeri’ taken: 18.05.2016. Available at: http://www.ezeri.lv/database/1786/ [Lake Alūksne [San anno] Society ‘Latvian Lakes’, originally in Latvian’] Alūksnes novada ilgtspējīgas attīstības stratēģija 2012.-2030. gadam 2012 Alūksne municipal council, Accepted 25.10.2012. [Sustainable development strategy of Alūksne municipality for the period of 2012.-2030., originally in Latvian] CSB 2016 Taken 18.05.2016. Available at: http://www.csb.gov.lv/dati/statistikas-datubazes- 28270.html

Fiziogeografiska karte Karšu izdevniecības Jāņa Sēta Fizioģeogrāfiskā karte mērogā 1:400 000LU ĢZZF WMS. Skatīts 17.05.2017. Pieejams http://www.geo.lu.lv/kartes

Novadu karte Karšu izdevniecības Jāņa Sēta Latvijas Republikas administratīvais iedalījums mērogā 1:400 000. Izdota 2009. Gadā. LU ĢZZF WMS. Skatīts 17.05.2017. Pieejams http://www.geo.lu.lv/kartes

Upju baseini 1970tie. LPSR Upju baseinu karšu mozaīka mērogā 1:100 000 LU ĢZZF WMS. Skatīts 18.05.2017. Pieejams http://www.geo.lu.lv/kartes

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APPENDIXES:

1. Vice major and PR specialist of Alūksne municipality 2. Accessibility of social services 3. Main aims of local NGOs and its impact on the area 4. Development of the overall municipality.

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Appendix 1. Vice Mayor of Alūksne municipality; PR specialist of Alūksne municipality 1. What is the amount of working places due to increasing amount of (working) people? - 12% of all the people are without work, even though they are in working age. The biggest amount of people work in forestry and agriculture, also military and tourism. The employment is increasing in the summertime, when the seasonal workers are needed in the municipality (for example, in agriculture and forestry). 2. In the last 10 years, what has been the biggest change in the municipality for older people? - In the last five years the biggest change in the municipality for elderly people is that their life was made a lot easier. 3. Average retirement age? Why? - Average retirement age in the municipality is 62,5 years, it is the same as in the whole country. Only the military, firefighting and police people can retire at younger age. There are 9 family doctors, who provide help for whole municipality (about 17 000 people), even though, some of them are already at the retirement age, but they have to work, there’s no young people coming here to replace them. 4. How does aging affect the municipality? - Social care house is too small. Local government is going to open second social house. Program for old people “care at home”, where are 3 cars, which are used to visit old and disabled people, who live alone and need help. There are about 200 clients, who are using this help. 5. Are there any benefits for old people that are organized by the municipality? - Social questions department. It is responsible for social questions. There is a day center 6. How many people/places they are in retirement homes? Are there going to be more built? - 60 places in a new social house. In the old social care house they have 90 people, but there is only enough space for 64 people. They are working more in quality, not in quantity in the new building. 7. How many people are involved with the military? - A lot of people working in the army. Seen as the best places to work. Has social guarantees and bigger salary. There is also 8. What are the dynamics of migration in this region? - People are migrating, to UK, Norway and Ireland. There are even situations, when people migrate to other countries and their parents go with them and getting the retirement money from abroad. There also are remittances from other countries to this municipality. 9. What is the effect on the border proximity of Russia and Estonia? Especially in migration? - Working in the day in Estonia and coming back for the night. 10. What actions are you taking to encourage people to move to Alūksne? - They are not coming back after going abroad, because the Government doesn’t have any programs which would help them to integrate. The people go abroad, earn some money and come back to start business. (One man was in Ireland, started horses business). 11. Are many aging people involved with farming? After retirement? - There are many people still involved in agriculture after the retirement. 12. What are the investments that are going on? New buildings, schools, retirement homes? - 3 millions for education. Street, tourist fair, building new house, relaxation centre 11milion euros. Finding investments. Infrastructure is getting better, in whole county territory. 13. How do you imagine the municipality in 5 years? - The municipality would like to attract more families, because they see this municipality suitable for young families to live a good quality lives. 14. Are there any border cooperations with Estonia or Russia? - People go to work to Estonia, because they can get a bigger salary here. The business with Russia is not really happening, because of the sanctions for this country, maybe the tourism sphere could be more developed between these countries. 18

15. How is the youth considered in the municipality? - More in younger people, no traffic jams and free places in schools. This area is really suitable for families. From one side, people are going away, but the education systems have much more children, who participate in afterschool activities. There are many active students, who go not to only one, but to various school activities. 16. Do you have actions or plans to attract new people to come to Alūksne? - Young doctors are attracted to come to this municipality, they offer an apartment and scholarships for them, those scholarships are not only for doctors, but also for any kind of specialists the municipality needs, also for young entrepreneurs.

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Appendix 2. Social service center (the head of social department and the assistant) 1. What is your main aim in the municipality? Tell about your work. - The main aim is to provide social care and help for people who need it. It’s a governmental institution. The social workers are not only in Alūksne, but also in other parishes of the municipality. 2. What do you think are the biggest issues in the municipality? - The employment rate; the pensions are very low; the place is not only Latvia’s border, but also the EU border; small amount of young people, the youth is going away (abroad, even taking their old parents with themselves). In rural areas older people are working (doctors, teachers) even though they should be retired, because young people don’t usually come here. The pension is the same, but they need to pay more taxes from their salary. 3. Is there any social projects happening for older people? - There are EU project, which includes taking care of mentally ill people, projects with Estonia and Finland about how to take care of disabled people, service for disabled people – assistance for them. About 70 people are working here, they are helping to buy medicine, help in crisis, to help to use special transport. 4. What’s the biggest change in last five years in the municipality for older people? - There are 3 cars, which provide care at home, they are for the whole municipality’s people (provide more than 100 places), since 2012. There are many people, who want to stay in their homes, don’t want to live in social care homes. 5. How many people need social care in the municipality? How many people are using the services? - We are evaluating the people and then decide, what needs do they have. They help not only the old people, but also disabled people to get where they need, for disabled children to get to school. From all the people, who are using the help cars, about 90 % are the old people and about 10 % of disabled and sick people. Depends on the needs how often they come to these people. Provide transport for people, because there is no public transport in many rural areas. There is going to be a new branch of social care home. 6. What’s the timetable for the construction of new social care home? - The plan is to open the new branch of a center in the next year. 7. Which industries or services are the less developed? - There is a need of new group apartments for people with disabilities, workshops for these people. 8. Do you have any cross-border cooperation with actors of other side with national border? How would you describe the cooperation? - We have cooperation with Lithuania, Estonia and Finland. 9. In which industries and services/fields cooperation with Estonia, Russia could be necessary or helpful in the future? - The main aim is to learn, how to provide services for people.

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Appendix 3. NGO center 1. What is the aim of this organization? - 7 organizations. 13 different sectors. 45 organizations in all. Society of Alūksne support center. This is a charity organization, mostly only volunteering workers. People can come and carry out their activities. The head of this organization has been working here for 18 years. 2. What do you think is the biggest issues in this municipality? - Probably the unemployment. The volunteering people have work helping the people, the society is quite old, more than 2000 people are retired in Alūksne municipality. 3. What is the main aim of the NGO’s in this region? What are you trying to do the most? - 13 spheres (sport, culture, social organizations and etc.). This center is open for everyone. Not focusing on one area, there are many of them. 4. Are you organizing any activities for seniors in free time? - The organizations for old people are really active. Sports, excursions, flover garden, which is taken care by elderly people, sports games for seniors. Senior organization of Alūksne town. 5. What was the biggest change for old people in last 10 years in Alūksne municipality? - Making the life for older people easier. Organizing of the activities, many of them. They are writing small projects to get foundation from municipality or the government. The culture center became more like the society center, for all the people. 6. According to the statistics, amount of people is decreasing in this municipality, is the conditions are getting better or worse in the municipality? - It is really getting worse. The good things are when some younger people are coming back, even though, it’s not happening often here. There are about 300 old people who live alone (together with Ape municipality), so the organization is giving them presents on various celebrations. We are cooperating with Ape 7. Are you taking any actions to encourage people to move to Alūksne or people who already moved to come back? - The main thing would be providing the work places. There is a perfect place for families, because there is culture center, the art school, the music school and the education here has very good quality. The tourism could attract more people to this area. 8. How do you imagine the municipality in 5 years, how will it change? - In the last couple of years the infrastructure got really better, so it’s going to be even better later. There will be industrial centers, so, there should be more working places. Because of the sanctions the cooperation with Russia is not working, even though it’s a border country. 9. What about the projects with other foreign countries? - Ape has projects with Estonia, because it’s much closer to the border. Alūksne municipality has projects with Sweden and Estonia.

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Appendix 4. Planning and development department. 1. What do you think are the biggest issues in the municipality? - Problems with working places, this is a border region, service sectors are more developed (forestry and agriculture) than other sectors. Forestry and agriculture are using more technologies, so there is no need for many people to work in these sectors. The other aspect is that people are going away from this area. Even though, there still are investments in tourism, because of the beautiful landscape and history of the region.

2. What is your main aim in the municipality? Tell about your work. - We are making projects, mainly with the EU, also the development is important.

3. Are there any development projects for older people? - Really active in NGO, easy to get funding for their simple projects; health project health conditions better, physical activities, center for that, other project – people with disabilities. Technical documentation for the new Social care center building, projects with EU to get funding for this project.

4. What’s the biggest change in the municipality for older people? - Biggest change – the elderly people are very active, they push local government to do something for them, not just stay and complain about everything.

5. How active are entrepreneurs in development in municipality? - Young entrepreneurs aren’t really interested to do anything in this area. Even though, the government knows, what they need, they are not coming here, because the local government can’t give enough money for the entrepreneurs.

6. Which industries or services are the less developed? - Not enough social services, production companies.

7. Do you have any cross-border cooperation with actors of other side with national border? How would you describe the cooperation? - With Estonia (Tartu county), Lithuania, development center.

8. In which industries and services/fields cooperation with Estonia, Russia could be necessary or helpful in the future? - Development of tourism, cultural history, marketing; in the future – to attract more entrepreneurship to Alūksne.

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Appendix 5. Statistics of Social care centre of Alūksne.

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