Completed projects

Priority: Regional Identity, Sustainable & Prosperous Region, Safe & Secure Region
Project leader: Let´s Do It Foundation
Participating countries: Estonia, Germany, Poland

Priority: Regional Identity, Safe & Secure Region
Project leader: Swedish Defence University
Participating countries: Sweden, Poland, Latvia

This project will have an enduring impact long after the project ends with regard to the professionalization of the work force in this area of work. It will also help build a shared culture of professionalism in the societal security field. It will draw upon the BSYD 2022 Engagement Roadmap as well as the project results from the Erasmus+ NEEDS project (Needs-based education and studies in societal security): in particular, the online course for societal security which was co-created by practitioners, experts, educators, and students from several of the countries in the Baltic Sea Region.

In addition, it contributes to the call theme of “managing increasing risks for states and societies, including those resulting from climate change and building more resilient communities” as these themes are directly addressed in the online course. This project will further develop and seed the foundations of a safe and secure Baltic Sea region into Finland’s upcoming CBSS presidency (i.e., Baltic Excellence Program) as well as provide a sort of blueprint for those countries that take over the CBSS presidency in the years to come: Estonia, Poland, Iceland and then Sweden.

Furthermore, this project also aims to provide materials that can be used in CBSS Summer Universities and provide HEI credits for students who participate. Thus, the student participants (future leaders) strengthen their understanding of and engagement in societal security issues concerning the Baltic Sea Region.

Priority: Sustainable & Prosperous Region
Project leader: Association Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS
Participating countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Poland

The project will consult citizens to inform green policies by municipalities in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Citizens will be consulted online on a dedicated platform Polltix.co and will focus on local and Baltic region-wide environmental issues and several tens of thousands of citizens will participate. Up to 75 questions will be consulted on out in up to 15 municipalities, followed by results being presented to the municipal decision-makers, and concluded by the closing events at the end of the project. The results will be presented to the municipal decision-makers and will receive media attention. The results will include demographic analyses and cross-country comparisons, enabling conclusions on what green policies are supported most/least by which groups of society/in each geography. These findings will allow evidence-based policy analyses not only for the participating municipalities, but also on national and Baltic region levels, as well as enable NGOs to fine-tune their environmental programming. As such, the results are to inform not only municipal green policies enabling Batlic region’s green transition, but also NGOs and national decision-making. The project will be also used as an experiment of such model of citizen and governmental engagement, and at the end of the project, recommendations for its continuation will be provided. Three highly-regarded partners will execute the project: two think-tanks and a civic technology NGO, all of whom have excellent track records in regional/local policy, sustainability and civic engagement. The technology needed to consult citizens is already available at Polltix.co, but inhouse engineering apacities allow for further feature development. The infrastructure and the team are ready to launch this project and for its utcomes to yield impact in summer 2023. The impact will extend beyond the participating stakeholders and CBSS’ programming to contributing towards UN SDG 16.

Priority: Safe & Secure Region
Project leader: Asociacija “Aktyvus Jaunimas” (Active Youth)
Participating countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia

Human trafficking is a global issue affecting millions of people and leading them to serious mental or emotional health consequences. Keeping this in mind, the “They Have a Name” project was created. Partners seek to foster the prevention of human trafficking in the Baltic Sea States – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. More specifically, the primary purpose of the project will be accomplished through:

1. Efficient anti-trafficking measures identification. Research on the most common types of human trafficking in each partner country and ways to provide mental support to its victims will be done to improve partners’ staff and society’s knowledge on the topic. Furthermore, partners will meet in a training course to set and try the most efficient ways to provide support and raise awareness of the general public.

2. Adoption of best practices when helping human trafficking victims. Field visits to Latvian and Estonian partner organisations will allow exchanging best practices on human trafficking prevention methods. It will be adopted during the daily work of organisations.

3. Enhanced cooperation between organizations working in the field of human trafficking. Local organisations from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will be invited to the final conference to exchange their experience with current project partners. This will help to create strong links between each other and provide space for planning future initiatives regarding the topic.

4. Promotion of human trafficking prevention. An online exhibition will be created to show how human trafficking victims feel and how society excludes them. Furthermore, the general public will be able to join the final conference online and learn about the effects of human trafficking.

Overall, the project will benefit participating organisations, human trafficking victims, and the general public by shaping the understanding of the issue, providing tools for fostering social inclusion, and helping those who have this issue.

Priority: Safe & Secure
Project leader: Suomen Pelastusalan Keskusjärjestö – Räddningsbranschens Centralorganisation I Finland Ry
Participating countries: Finland, Latvia, Denmark, Sweden, Germany

The BYFORES project aims to enhance resilience to natural and man-made disasters by strengthening inclusive, cross-sectoral cooperation between authorities and volunteer organisations in crisis management in the Baltic Sea Region with special focus on youth engagement. The aim is to develop and institutionalize a Baltic Sea Region Network of Volunteers and Local Authorities under the auspices of the CBSS Civil Protection Network with youth organisation participation and promotion of civil protection among young people (hereafter: BSR Network). BYFORES stems directly from and builds upon the findings of previous projects and their recommendations; it seeks to involve organisations which participated in previous projects in the BSR Network as well as new partners, especially youth organisations, to further develop cross- border cooperation, capacity building and harmonization of standards of volunteers’ engagement and role in the area of civil protection.

Priority: Regional Identity, Safe & Secure Region
Project leader: University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn
Participating countries: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia

The main objective of the project is to strengthen the sense of belonging to the Baltic Sea Region and to build regional identity among young people living in countries bordering the Baltic Sea. The other objectives are to build sustainable partnerships in the field of youth cooperation (including academic youth and high school students/pupils), cooperation of universities and other institutions located in the borderlands (local governments, academics and teachers, representatives of NGOs and other institutions working for the benefit of youth) from the countries bordering the Baltic Sea.

The long-term goal of the project is the participation of young people in shaping and preserving their regional identity. This is achieved by, among other things, diagnosing and implementing effective forms and methods for the inclusion of young people from various countries in the Baltic Sea Region in active public life. Increasing civic participation of young people is seen as part of building the Baltic Sea Region identity.

Priority: Sustainable & Prosperous Region and Safe & Secure Region
Project leader: Active Youth Association
Participating countries: Lithuania, Sweden, Latvia, Poland

The project “A Safe Place” aims at addressing the widespread phenomenon of domestic violence in the Baltics and, more specifically, to support women who are increasingly victims of violence during the ongoing worldwide pandemic while also educating those who are interested in learning more about the topic and training people working with domestic violence. The project will investigate how women’s safety has changed during the pandemic and provide the target groups with the knowledge, strategies, and methodologies needed to tackle this social issue and efficiently support survivors of violence. Furthermore, the project will represent a safe place for women, a chance to feel free to cultivate their interests and share their feelings. These activities will also be of inspiration for those working with domestic violence, as they will be able to replicate them in their professional work. The main target group of “A Safe Place” are women, with priority given to women experiencing or having survived violence, the wider audience will also benefit from the project’s teachings, especially during the dissemination stage.

Priority: Safe & Secure Region
Project leader: The Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and family Affairs (Bufdir)
Participating countries: Norway, Iceland, Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, Finland

This project is designed to support the implementation of the CAR strategic priority to bolster national child protection systems, and to address concerns regarding the impact of Covid-19 and other forms of crisis on the protection of children at risk. The overall objective of the project is to make a concrete contribution to the CAR priority to build more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient national child protection systems, including during crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic, by identifying, and providing easy access to a registry containing information about key elements and good practice of well-functioning child protection systems in the Baltic Sea Region. The analysis of diverse systems in six expert group member states are expected to generate important learnings that are transferable and applicable to the region as a whole. The findings will be broadly communicated through a report and will be documented in a registry of good practice, which will be set up in the context of the project.

Priority: Sustainable & Prosperous Region
Project leader: Fundacja Motus
Participating countries: Poland, Estonia, Lithuania

Tourism sector in the BRS to large extend is based on maritime transportation, making it important for mobility and tourism opportunities. Many young people have either travelled across the Baltic or worked in one of the ferries, cruise lines or HoReCa sites, especially during the summer period. Taking this into account, the overall objective of the project is to initiate the methodology and institutional framework for the future development of the resilient and inclusive cross-Baltic sustainable tourism. In the long term, this will lead to employment increase among youth, contributing to wellbeing of societies in BRS countries. Project activities will aim to promote sustainable and digital solutions applicable to the sector. The project objective will be achieved by creation of a multi-stakeholder communication platform and network between industry professionals, research institutions and youth representatives. A series of workshops (real or online) will be organized to get a better overview of the current situation in sectors from relevant stakeholders. Project outcomes will be presented in the form of reports, starting with the representation of the current situation. Next reports will describe suggestions for potential solutions and recommendations applicable to future strategy and policy development of the maritime tourism and hospitability sector. Based on project findings, concepts for future large-scale projects will be designed.

Priority: Regional Identity, Sustainable & Prosperous Region
Project leader: Intercult Productions ek.för.
Participating countries: Sweden, Poland, Estonia

Intercult Productions – Project leader, together with Euroregion Baltic, Baltic Sea Cultural Centre in Gdansk, Estonian Women’s Studies and Resource Centre (ENUT) and activists from Kaliningrad Oblast undertake a BSR communities’ resilience project “Creative Waves: Baltic Sisterhood for Change”. The project objective is to empower representatives of vulnerable groups: women, youth and immigrants, with a sense of identity, continuity and belonging and provide them with skills relevant for employability. This will be achieved by bringing together traditional social relations and cultural activities with contemporary demands via innovative digital and cultural tools. This, in turn, will support societal recovery within the BSR and at the same time revive Baltic intangible cultural heritage. Project is to promote women leaders in resilience building process: both on project partner level (coordination, team) and on creative level (artists, experts) main roles are given to women as change makers. During the project participants will use circular approach and learn about traditional and more innovative ways of living healthy, sustainable life, they will be thus better prepared to further adapt and share green/digital tools. Participants will get information on EUSBSR, Green Deal, SDGs. All in all, the project will develop a solid basis to build a more complex, inclusive programme in the BSR dedicated to vulnerable groups, providing them with pathways out of the post-pandemic crises, and other difficult situations.

Priority: Safe & Secure Region
Project leader: Stellit (Regional Public Organization of Social Projects in the Sphere of Population’s Well-Being “Stellit”)
Participating countries: Russia, Estonia, Germany

This project has four key objectives: To investigate CSA-related media coverage and establish the harmful narratives, myths and stereotypes; To develop practical recommendations for journalists and other relevant stakeholders; To train key stakeholders, disseminate study results, and raise public awareness; To establish an international network of scientists, child protection stakeholders and media professionals for future collaboration, information and practice sharing. On the research stage of the project partners will conduct a study of child sexual abuse myths presented in online public media using media contents analysis and interviews with stakeholders in all three countries. The study results will be used as a basis for development а tool (practical guideline) for covering CSA cases in the media. On the practical stage of the project partners will conduct online workshops for journalists and journalism students and stakeholders in each participating country plus one international workshop for BSR and neighbouring countries. These workshops will help to deliver information about the project and its results and ethical and terminological recommendations for journalists/students and stakeholders. Online publication and dissemination of ethical and terminological recommendations focusing on CSA (а tool for covering CSA cases in the media) and making a series of publications in public media and social networks will complete the project.

Priority: Sustainable & Prosperous Region, Safe & Secure Region
Project leader: Tallinn University
Participating countries: Estonia, Finland, Latvia

Migrants are one of the vulnerable groups most negatively affected by the COVID-19 crisis at various levels (unemployment, economic instability, etc.). Those who do not speak the language of the host country face bigger challenges and higher risks in the face of emergency situations, such as the current pandemic, for linguistic diversity has not been systematically integrated into crisis planning. This project aims at developing an appropriate communication plan, based on effective translation practices and policies, which can provide a quick response to the current crisis and future emergency situations in disseminating relevant information among migrant communities. It also seeks to strengthen cooperation between the states of the Sea Baltic Region to deal with cross-border emergencies and use the knowledge generated by this cooperation to tackle problems at the local/state level. For that purpose, we will first analyse the information provided during the COVID-19 crisis by stakeholders from different sectors (governmental institutions, companies, universities, NGOs and media) in Estonia, Finland and Latvia ─ states with different translation policies and linguistic compositions─, with the focus on the methods, quality, timeliness, accessibility and languages information provided to those with poor skills in the titular languages. The resulting guidelines for communicating essential multilingual information to migrants will not only contribute to a faster recovery from the current crisis, but could also be adapted and scaled to address future emergency situations in the Baltic Sea Region.

Priority: Safe & Secure Region
Project leader: Sejny Municipality
Participating countries: Poland, Lithuania, Germany

Social unrest caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, combined with the economic crisis, including the interruption of supply chains and the health service crisis, requires the development of appropriate solutions and preventive actions. Any interruptions in electricity supply in wider areas of the country create tensions in the basic areas of the functioning of society and state institutions. Growing disinformation in the mass media, undermining trust in state institutions and challenges to public order mean that the solutions used so far are no longer effective. Attacks on information systems of public health institutions, especially during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, may lead to the collapse of the functioning of these institutions, preventing the provision of basic medical services for the population. The aim is to adopt a holistic concept of civic resilience. The concept, first, sees resilience as an intertwining of social, political, economic, environmental and military factors, not just as the ability to defend itself against conventional external aggression. Civil protection, by providing local resilience, would fill the gaps in the service units.

Priority: Regional Identity
Project leader: Danish Cultural Institute
Participating countries: Denmark, Latvia, Russia

RuralCulturalPlanning is born out of the experience and knowledge accumulated in the ongoing Interreg BSR project UrbCulturalPlanning (2019-2021). The method of Cultural Planning involves three parties: municipality, community and creative sector. The Covid-19 crisis has exposed a disconnect between the human civilization and natural environment, which included a gap between rural and urban lifestyles. Smaller towns and rural communities offer many advantages which cities lack, such as easy access to nature, local traditions and skills, place-based food systems, etc. However, to take full advantage of the rebalancing between the urban and the rural, smaller rural communities need to activate or attract resources and ideas. The method of Cultural Planning needs to be adjusted to rural situations, where agents of change are often isolated, disconnected from wider networks, lacking the necessary skill, peer support and mentoring. The project focuses on four tasks: (1) Anchoring the Cultural Planning method as a policy instrument with relevant policy makers dealing with rural development; (2) Transferring the knowledge and methods accumulated and tested in UrbCultural to agents of change in rural areas; (3) Adapting the Cultural Planning method to rural BSR typologies by setting up pilot projects (Community Mapping); (4) Expanding the BSR network of practitioners based on the Hubs of Excellence created as a result of UrbCulturalPlanning.

Priority: Safe and Secure Region
Project leader: MARTA center
Participating countries: Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania

The project attempts to address harmful social norms and gender stereotypes that drive gender inequality and violence towards and among children and youth. The project works with young girls and boys aged 12-18 directly via a Youth Group methodology developed by the lead partner MARTA center.

The project also aims to equip specialists in partner countries with knowledge, skills and attitudes to prevent violence among and towards children and youth. Specialists will receive training and later apply the Youth Group methodology as a tool for prevention of violence among youth in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. The methodology will be piloted and adapted based on the feedback received from participants to make sure that it meets the needs of national and local contexts.

To ensure long-term impact, each youth group will organize local activities to raise awareness on healthy relationships and violence prevention. In the project’s final phase an international Youth Forum will be organized where youth group delegations from each partner country will meet with local and international stakeholders, youth workers and other professionals. A stage will be given to youth group participants to address topics and challenges important to them.

Priority: Safe and Secure Region
Project leader: Södertörn University
Participating countries: Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Russia, Norway, Finland

The project addresses the cross border crime of human trafficking and focuses on cooperation and competence building for mass media and journalists. It aims to connect and engage students of journalism and teachers in the Baltic Sea Region by raising awareness about human trafficking and fostering exchange of experiences in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden and Ukraine.

The project has a diverse cross-sectoral partnership involving a university, state authorities, NGOs and an international organisation. The project activities are designed to intertwine theoretical and practical knowledge on both national and internation level. Core activities of the project are national panel discussions for students of journalism, comparative studies of the outcomes of panel discussions, a competition for students in film, photography, articles or radio segments on the topick of human trafficking and the internationa workshop.

Priority: Regional Identity, Safe & Secure Region
Project leader: Association of Volunteer Fire Brigades of Republic of Poland (VFB)
Participating countries: Poland, Lithuania, Belarus

In Poland, National Rescue and Firefighting System consists of the State Fire Service and the Volunteer Fire Service, which significantly supports the operation of professional units. There are state fire brigades in Lithuania and Belarus, but volunteers are not organized yet. It is proposed to create a system of volunteer fire brigades in these countries. This would significantly strengthen the security system. The participation of Poland, Lithuania and Belarus in this project is a sign of common concern about our security. Safety of each country, as well as strengthening response in case of threats of a cross-border accident is an important problem for the neighbour countries. The main task of the project is creating a model of Voluntary Fire and Rescue Units in Lithuania and Belarus. Poland will share its experience in terms of organization as well as training and education of the young people. Project contractors set themselves the task of building a fire station and delivering a fire truck. An important element of the project will also be to activate young people by creating a youth fire team.

Priority: Sustainable and Prosperous Region
Project leader: ITMO University
Participating countries: Russia, Latvia, Germany, Finland, Estonia

Researcher mobility in the Baltic Sea Region is considered to be of high importance by the region’s science ministries. The project aims to balance brain circulation within the Baltic Sea Region, preventing “brain drain” and widening participation to all the countries in the region. The project is based on the outcomes of the implemented BSN and BSN_powerhouse projects.

Two kinds of instruments to support mobility of young scientists and researchers in the region will be tested: The School for Young Scientists – Baltic Sea Educational Academy (B-SEA) – a short-term intense course of 3 days on chosen topics – and the mid to long-term mobility Baltic Science Network Mobility Programme (BARI). The tested instruments could become a model for further wider usage, providing a support to increase mobility of young researchers in the Baltic Sea Region on a more permanent basis.

Priority: Regional Identity
Project leader: University of Gdańsk
Participating countries: Poland, Germany, Russia, Belarus, Denmark, Sweden

The involvement of young people, especially those in secondary and tertiary levels of education, becomes a more and more prominent issue for the future oriented development of Baltic Sea Region identity politics. In response to this challenge the project will prepare a structured academic platform for communication and exchange for different youth cohorts in the partner countries, particularly for university and older high school students. This will take place by organising summer universities and ideatorium workshops in the humanities and social sciences fields.

With a framework of reference established by the successful organization of CBSS Summer University courses in the past, the project intends to stabilize existing contacts and networks and raise the institutional commitment of the partners with particular focus on the secondary and tertiary level students.

Priority: Safe and Secure Region
Project leader: End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT) Norway, Invisible Children Forum
Participating countries: Norway, Latvia, Sweden, Russia

This innovative project aims to identify and empower childhood survivors of human trafficking in the Baltic Sea States by establishing a regional forum and a digital platform where survivors can be informed, express their opinions, get support from peers and be heard in relevant decision making.

Priority: Safe and Secure Region
Project leader: Liepaja Municipal Police
Participating countries: Latvia, Finland, Lithuania

This project will research the safety concerns of the youth in the Baltic Sea Region. The research will help prepare for a larger scale project in which youth in the Baltic Sea Region will be educated on how to increase their safety in the physical and virtual world, especially in fields where they feel less secure. Special attention will be paid to the collaboration between safety experts and young people to demonstrate the value of such cooperation.

Priority: Safe and Secure Region
Project leader: Regional Public Organization of Social Projects in Sphere of Population’s Well-Being “Stellit”
Participating countries: Russia, Finland, Latvia

The project’s aim is to provide child protection specialists with relevant information and strategies regarding the prevention of child trafficking and sexual exploitation regarding ICT. The synergy of the combined expertise will contribute to advancing the child protection system and the safety of children in the Baltic Sea Region.

Priority: Safe and Secure Region
Project leader: Swedish Defence University
Participating countries: Sweden, Finland, Norway

The initiative promotes a more institutionalized cooperation between the variety of Baltic Sea Region end-users and stakeholder organizations, including societal security research institutions, sub-regional, national and local authorities as well as civil society organizations.

Priority: Safe & Secure Region
Lead partner: Latvia (Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Latvia)
Participating Countries: Estonia, Finland and Denmark

The project addresses human trafficking (THB) for labour exploitation in all CBSS Member States. The main objective of the project is to support stakeholders in combating and disrupting human trafficking for labour exploitation by analysing and consolidating information, improving assistance to victims and stepping up prosecution of traffickers.

The project will involve a baseline research component on trafficking for labour exploitation in Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Poland and Norway; three transnational experts’ workshops in Norway, Finland and Germany with professionals and practitioners from all CBSS member states; a high-level conference to present the project outcomes and required actions in the CBSS Member States.

Vilnius declaration on combating trafficking for labour exploitation will be developed based on the findings of the research reports and transnational workshops and adopted by the CBSS Member States.

Priority: Regional Identity
Project leader: Swedish Radio Berwaldhallen
Participating countries: Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia

The Baltic Sea Festival has been running since 2003, offering both a cultural programme (focusing on music) and a seminar programme concentrating on leadership and sustainable development in the Baltic Sea Region. Through music and discussions, the festival hopes to create a platform for democratic dialogue focusing on regional issues.

This funding will help establish an Advisory Board, comprised of key decision makers and lobbyists from the region, that can help pinpoint a new aim for the festival, making the event more relevant and significant by developing the programme as well as engaging new partners and audiences.

Priority: Regional Identity
Project leader: University of Turku
Participating countries: Finland, Belarus, Germany, Latvia, Russia

The overall aim of the project is to expand teacher and researcher resources in order to shape an international network focusing on Master level executive education with a specific perspective on international business and entrepreneurship. The resources would take new digital technology into consideration. The project will provide a way to integrate Belarussian Higher Education more closely into a Baltic Sea Region Higher Education context, building on the experiences from the CBSS EuroFaculty concept and current teaching and learning methods.

Priority: Regional Identity
Project leader: The Confederation of Nordic Associations/FNF
Participating countries: Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

The project aims at strengthening the cultural identity and branding between the Nordic and Baltic countries through visits to schools, high schools, universities, libraries and other cultural institutions across the Baltic Sea Region focusing on children, young people and adults in both urban and rural areas. The awarded funding will enable the Confederation of Nordic Associations to further develop this concept. The visits help to create social cohesion by promoting common values like democracy, artistic freedom and equality.

The project focuses on the policy challenges of fostering older peoples participation in the labour market, in order to compensate for the social and economic consequences of demographic change within the Baltic Sea Region. The planned policy dialogue and knowledge exchange established by the project aims to contribute to evidence-based decision- making and to support the development of sustainable policies for the region. Deliverables include the publication of a joint discussion paper, with input from researchers and policy makers from the region; a dialogue event with stakeholders from research, policy and societal organisations to consolidate the findings of the discussion paper; and the publication of a policy brief, summarising the project results and recommendations for future policy interventions within the Baltic Sea Region. The results will be disseminated through the European-wide communication channels of Population Europe, the network of demographic research centres in Europe.

Climate change is happening around us, in our immediate environment, cities and seas. Adapting to climate change is imperative for resilient so- cieties. The Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals call for global, national and local action.

Therefore, the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), together with the Baltic Development Forum (BDF) and the Union of Baltic Cities (UBC), plans a capacity building programme, made up by a series of work- shops to train decision-makers and stakeholders in the Baltic Sea Region in a set of risk management approaches for climate adaptation known as bottom-up methodologies.

The purpose of the workshops is to provide a platform to share knowledge and discuss next steps for capacity building in bottom-up methodologies at a regional or municipal level.

The project will develop a teaching and training course on sustainable ur- ban stormwater management and related ecosystem services. The course will bring together students, decision-makers, planners, and other pro- fessionals for a multi-actor, mutual learning programme, comprising of on-site lectures, workshops, and online courses. It will further be embed- ded and disseminated through the Baltic University Programme to reach stakeholders from the entire Baltic Sea Region.

The project will demonstrate the potential of sustainable stormwater man- agement in responding to the climate change-induced risk of urban flood- ing, and for the improvement of urban ecosystems. It will showcase state- of-the art approaches and the innovation potential and capacities, related to sustainable stormwater management, existing in the Baltic Sea Region.

The project “From the SDGs towards Sustainable Tourism in the BSR” will track the status quo of sustainable tourism in the BSR, identify best practices, gaps and differences and trigger processes in order to develop, provide and communicate solutions. The project is envisioned to be only a first formal step towards a more systematic approach to promoting sustainability in the tourism sector: a flagship process in the frame of EUSBSR PA Tourism, which aims at really achieving impact.

The ARS BALTICA Creative Dialogue (ABCD) intends to gather creative and cultural practitioners, provide space for discussion in an open environment and create synergies for and with the participating partners. The format wants to highlight cross-sectorial links and allow policy- makers to follow the debates and share their perspectives on the impact of culture and cultural practice. The underlying understanding is that culture is an essential driver for sustainability. Moreover, the ABCDs function as a tool to raise awareness about culture as a driver for sustainability and other key issues which illustrate that culture and cultural practice are the horizontal binding force in our societies.