1. 10/23/2007
Linking Local Actors 069 Manoguru-v4.doc
Approach: Job support for disadvantaged groups
Target groups: Young people, Drug addicts, Unemployed
Themes:
• Culture and tourism
• Professional integration
• Job support services
• Social economy
• Urban areas
A salad bar in Vilnius gives young drug addicts a way to rejoin society, and
is piloting a form of social enterprise that is new to Lithuania.
A second start in life
Mano Guru (‘My Guru’), a fashionable health restaurant in downtown
Vilnius, offers young drug addicts a new start in life. For a six-month
period, they can learn a professional skill while also continuing with
therapy and/or education. They emerge with a qualification as well as an
employer’s reference that should equip them to find a permanent job.
Thanks to its mix of grant and trading income, the enterprise is already in
profit and is establishing a new business model that other towns in
Lithuania are keen to copy.
It is a myth to think that addiction to drugs or to alcohol touches only socially
disadvantaged, marginalised and degraded persons – or to think that it will never
happen to you or your relatives. As elsewhere, in Lithuania drug addicts are mostly very
young persons from good families and upper social classes. In 2003 in Lithuania 4,689
people were officially registered as drug addicted, and the number, age and where they
live has varied very little the last three years. But in reality there are ten times more
dependent people who are not officially registered, and this number is growing
dangerously. 82% of them are men and 94% live in urban areas. The population
affected is very young – 23-24 on average.
The absence of proper profes-
sional skills, a patchy work
history and the negative attitude
of employers and society in
general towards ex-addicts mean
that even after successful rehab-
ilitation programmes, they often
take up narcotics again. Relaps-
ing is a major problem, as even
motivated people who have
completed a rehabilitation prog-
ramme have to return to a society
where they face everyday
problems, and meet up again
Dressed to serve – project participants with with the companions with whom
the President of the Republic of Iceland Olafur they used to take drugs. Reinteg-
Ragnar and Vilnius city mayor Artūras Zuokas rating ex-addicts into society thus

2. involves a complicated mix of psychological stabilisation, motivation, training and
fighting negative stereotypes.
Rehabilitation through work
“The idea of work rehabilitation for ex-drug addicts came to the Mayor of Vilnius, Artūras
Zuokas. Work rehabilitation is a logical continuation of the rehabilitation process,
through which a person dependent on drugs receives a complete range of social
services (medical, psychological, social and employment) which enables them to blend
into society,” says Vygandas Raukštas, head of the city council’s Social Assistance Unit.
“It is a way to present the problem of the employment difficulties of ex-drug addicts to
society and to potential employers in a positive light, and a way to show that these
people can be good workers, especially in the context of a labour shortage in the service
sector.”
The Mano Guru (‘My Guru’) restaurant is in one of the main streets of the Lithuanian
capital and anyone can tell that it is popular because of the very stylish and fashionable
atmosphere, good menu and exceptional service. It stands out by being alcohol- and
tobacco-free and attracts young, dynamic clients. Its popularity is shown by the fact that
the Minister of Health used to have breakfast with journalists there every week. Seventy
per cent of its employees are rehabilitated drug addicts.
The enterprise is creating and testing a rehabilitation and social integration methodology
for ex-drug addicts, which includes a motivation programme as well as practical skills
training in bartending, cooking and waiting at table. Graduates will be tested and, if
successful, will gain the City and Guilds International Vocational Qualification (IVQ) in
Food and Beverage Service. There is a parallel training programme for staff working
with addicts.
Of a projected total of 50, so far 21 participants have gone through the learning process
and six are currently in work rehabilitation. Courses normally last six months, after which
the trainees are supposed to find a permanent job in one of three professions – waiter,
cook or bartender. Some participants, like Linas and Tomas, stay on at the restaurant to
train newcomers, while others stay just because they like the atmosphere. Linas says
that for him the restaurant and its personnel is a second family. Here, he can work and
learn a profession but he can also continue his studies at the university. “Without ‘My
Guru’ I could obtain a low-skilled and low-paid job as a docker or cashier and on top of
that I would have to lie about being an ex-drug addict. Here I can be myself and
everybody is tolerant and friendly with me, and I can have a second start in my life.”
Irina is one of the first people who went through the work rehabilitation course. Then,
like many Lithuanians nowadays, she left for the UK. Today she is back and continuing
to work in the restaurant. “I didn’t like living abroad, so I came back, and I was happy to
rejoin ‘My Guru’. Meanwhile I got married, and I expect to have children one day. I’m
also continuing to study accountancy.”
According to project co-ordinator Reda Sutkienė, this is not just a conventional
enterprise with profit as the only objective. The project is trying to put in place a model of
social enterprise, which puts the people who work in it at its heart. “Work rehabilitation
also means that the people concerned have time to continue their group therapy or
individual consultations with a psychologist. But they should also have time for other
activities that are necessary to their personal opening-up. That’s why the work
rehabilitation process should offer them time to study at university or in some cases to
finish school.” This would be a luxury for an enterprise competing in the market and
aiming to maximise profit.
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3. Complementary partners
The ‘Overcome your addiction’ project won support from the EQUAL initiative of the
European Social Fund, 1 and runs from 2004 till 2007. It is managed by a development
partnership that brings together the NGO Socialiniai paramos projektai (‘Social Support
Projects’, Vilnius City Council, Vilnius Centre for Addictive Disorders and Vilnius Co-
operative College. Its success owes much to the city council’s commitment to
addressing the plight of ex-drug addicts, which led it to make the necessary city centre
premises available. Socialiniai paramos projektai provides materials and qualified
catering and medical staff, the Centre for Addictive Disorders contributes its expertise in
rehabilitation, and the Co-operative College its experience of vocational training and
integration. The combination within the partnership of public health and education
institutions, the local authority and a committed NGO ensures high-quality services as
well as the relevance of the legislative changes proposed and the tools created, and the
transferability and adaptability of innovation to other sectors and groups.
At the moment ‘social enterprise’ is understood in Lithuania as an enterprise where
some employees’ wages are subsidised by the government. The Mano Guru project
innovates by piloting a model that enables socially disadvantaged groups to create
enterprises to employ exclusively or mostly persons from these groups, with some
financial support from the national or local authorities, yet which will be encouraged to
make some profit and become self-sufficient.
“The municipality gave us the premises, which we just had to renovate, and EQUAL
enabled us to develop and deliver teaching programmes for our target group. Without
this financial support we could never implement our idea of work rehabilitation,” says
Reda Sutkienė. But two years after the restaurant opened, it started to be profitable. So
the model of social enterprise relies on a subtle mix of financial support and
empowerment to become profitable, meaning that it is not just a restaurant like others,
but a place for rehabilitation.
A replicable model
The project is a good model for the integration of persons facing difficulties in finding
and holding down a job. Its success means that other municipalities are already
interested in collaboration of this kind to create similar places for the work rehabilitation
of ex-drug addicts or other socially excluded groups. If the proposal that has been
formulated for the amendment of the legislation on social enterprises is adopted, it will
open the way for this. The awards it has won demonstrate the project’s success. In
November 2005 it won first prize in the championship of the Lithuanian Social Services.
The project has also been honoured by Vilnius city council, the Association of Social
Workers of Lithuania, the Ministry of Social Security and Labour and other NGOs.
“The ‘My Guru’ restaurant was my first step into an honest and good life,” says Jonas,
one of project participants. “The experience I acquired here helped me to find a job. I am
grateful to my colleagues working in the bar because they didn‘t condemn or reject me
for of my dependence. Their support helped me to conquer my fear of a sober life and
people without dependency problems.”
1
Ref. LT-EQ/2004/1130-02
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4. Contact:
Reda Sutkuviene
Project manager
Socialiniai paramos projektai (‘Social Support Projects’)
Vilnius str. 22/1
01119 Vilnius
Lithuania
Tel. +370 52 122399
r.sutkuviene.spp@is.lt
www.manoguru.lt
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