Zonta Clubs of Latvia join three-day seminar on inclusion

Members of the Zonta Club of Ogre, the Zonta Club of Jelgava and the Jelgavas Bloom Z Club participated in a three-day seminar in Riga focused on inclusion and increasing competencies for working with people with special needs.

Participants experienced activities simulating different challenges, including walking in darkness, communicating without hearing and sending text messages without the use of fingers. The training provided both knowledge and empathy for the barriers people face in daily life.

The seminar also brought together people from across Latvia to share their stories about economic, geographic and social obstacles to inclusion. Attendees learned from success stories of completed projects and began planning new proposals to further promote inclusion in society.

Both adults and youth took part in group work, ensuring synergy across generations. One 14-year-old participant reflected: “You have a chance to live in a different world for three days, and the experience gained changes your thinking and attitude forever. It is so important to have seminars and training like this.”

Organizers emphasized that events of this kind are vital in raising awareness and fostering a more inclusive society.

In addition to advancing inclusion, the Zonta Club of Jelgava is also addressing another urgent challenge: media literacy and critical thinking. In August, the club organized two seminars—one face-to-face and one online—drawing more participants than expected.

These sessions emphasized the dangers of misinformation, noting that false news spreads six times faster than real news online, and that 90 percent of deepfake videos involve non-consensual explicit content, nearly all targeting women. The seminars also highlighted that women journalists and activists receive 20 percent more hate messages than their male counterparts.

In today’s digital landscape, media literacy is an indispensable skill for critically assessing information, debunking manipulation and deconstructing gender stereotypes. Facilitators discussed how cognitive distortions such as confirmation bias and algorithms that create filter bubbles reinforce existing views and limit diverse perspectives. Understanding these mechanisms, they noted, empowers individuals to identify biases and approach media more thoughtfully.

Participants were encouraged to explore the project’s Toolkit, articles and newsletters, available here, to deepen their learning and apply media literacy skills in everyday life.