Meet Marcis - The Visionary Behind World NGO Day
Marcis Liors Skadmanis (LL.M, LL.B, Honoris Causa, FRSA) is the visionary behind World NGO Day – a global awareness day celebrated annually on February 27 and recognized worldwide.
Marcis, a Latvian-born British international lawyer, philanthropist, and entrepreneur, has led the development of one of the world’s emerging global awareness days, highlighting the work and rights of NGOs, the people who support them, and the communities they serve.
Riga, Latvia
Born and raised in Riga in a family of five children, Marcis grew up during Latvia’s transformation from Soviet rule to EU integration. His early passion for civic participation emerged through youth-led environmental projects and legal research into the NGO sector.
A Simple but Powerful Vision
At 24 years old, while preparing his Master’s dissertation in Law, Marcis awoke with a simple but powerful idea: the world needed a global day to recognize NGOs and the people behind them, in order to protect their rights and the rights of the individuals leading them. At that time, no such day existed.
From Latvia to the UK and the World
After graduating in 2009, Marcis moved to the UK, becoming a British citizen. During the global financial crisis, he continued to lobby for his vision of a global day for NGOs. The first breakthrough came when the Baltic Sea NGO Forum, supported by the 12 member countries of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, adopted a resolution recognising the need for an international NGO day. This was followed by a major milestone on April 23, 2012, when World NGO Day was formally accepted by the Baltic Sea NGO Forum Committee under the German CBSS Presidency at Humboldt University in Berlin, during the 10th Baltic Sea NGO Forum.
Raising Awareness
By 2013, the idea gained international support. With the help of volunteers, introductory meetings were held at the UK Parliament (House of Commons and House of Lords), the European Union Commission, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, UNESCO, the British Embassy in Finland, and the Royal Over-Seas League in London.
A Personal Tragedy – November 21, 2013
Four months before the first historic global launch event, Marcis lost his younger sister, Daina Skadmane, and his father, Janis Skadmanis, in the Zolitude tragedy – Latvia’s and Europe’s worst modern construction disaster. Despite unimaginable loss, and encouraged by close friends, he did not cancel the plan.
This moment remains a defining part of the spirit behind World NGO Day. Daina Skadmane, an emerging Latvian artist, was the original creator of the logo’s colour concept, inspired by the nature we all share.
From Inauguration to a Global Awareness Day
Finland became the first country to officially support the initiative and hosted the inaugural World NGO Day Forum in Helsinki on February 27, 2014, marking a historic global launch. Hosted by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the event welcomed international leaders from UNOPS, UNESCO, UNDP, the European Union, the Nordic Council, and other international organisations.
Global Impact Today
World NGO Day is now an official European Union-recognized international day, celebrated across continents – from Mexico to India, Canada to Pakistan, Australia to the United States.
Latvian Parliament Officially Recognizes World NGO Day as an Awareness Day in Latvia
In 2025, eleven years after its official international inauguration, the Latvian Parliament (Saeima) voted to include February 27 – World NGO Day – in the list of official Latvian days of celebration through amendments to the Law on Public Holidays, Commemoration Days, and Celebration Days. The President of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, promulgated the amendments into law on March 4, 2025.
The amendments were initiated by the Presidium of the Saeima. Leila Rāzuma, Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Saeima, emphasized that it is symbolic that World NGO Day is officially recognized on this very day.
