We are happy to announce that Baltic collaboration in applied anthropology is growing – we have a pilot project starting on September „Social Science in Social Action!“ funded by Nordplus.

Four organizations: "Anthropos" Applied Anthropology Association (LT), “Jaunrades laboratorija” (LV), Estonian Anthropology Association (EE) and Tartu Nefa Group (EE) during the networking and good practices meeting together will design framework for engaging social sciences and humanities students and graduates, local communities, private sector in cross-sectoral social action initiatives. The result of the project will be workshops about social action organized in every participating country for social sciences and humanities students and graduates, academic staff and other interested parties. The project is also supported by Vytautas Magnus University, Tartu university and Applied Anthropology Center in Estonia.

We see applied anthropology as broad process, which includes applied research, engaged anthropology, advocacy, public speaking, etc. Different aspects of social sciences and humanities - broad understanding of the humans and social structures, applied research tools, advocacy competencies, policy assessment skills, etc. enrich social action and ensure it’s deeper and substantial impact for society. Social science and humanities students have all the needed education and understanding of contemporary social issues, social change and global human problems, but they do not have enough tools, knowledge and motivation to put their skills in action. Plenty of bachelor and master student thesis with a lot of useful information, insights and answers how to solve the different problems simply are left in university archives untouched and never addressed to the bigger audience. While there are quite many programs for young people to support their process of creating their business, start-up or social enterprise ideas and models, there is quite a big gap left not addressed – so called, third sector, which includes non-governmental, non-profit, values-driven organizations, research institutes, etc. and is creating huge added value in contemporary societies. These fields of occupation are very needed for students and could solve many relevant problems of societies more effectively. We seek to enable and empower students and graduates as well as staff of social science and humanities to take social action and increase self-confidence to start their own initiatives or join other initiatives, while giving needed competences, tools and knowledge.