Ongoing Projects

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

Sisterhood Pathways is a project that, following the line of the A Safe Place project implemented in 2022, addresses the topic of violence against women. This community-based project is carried out in accordance with CBSS long-term priorities, which include fostering unity and social and cultural inclusion through cultural and creative activities and educational opportunities. It also addresses the priorities of the Vilnius II Declaration by enhancing societal security and safety in the Baltic Sea Region. This is done by addressing the importance of regional cooperation, fostering mutual understanding, building trust, ensuring stability, and promoting people-to-people contacts.

Following A Safe Place project, Sisterhood Pathways also aims to address the widespread phenomenon of violence against women in the Baltic Sea Region and to support women who are victims of violence while also educating those who are interested in learning more about the topic. Even though the target audience will stay the same as the A Safe Place project (women victims of violence, general public and support providers/organisations working in the field), new perspectives will be added, such as looking at the point of view of women belonging to a minority who are victims of violence, and new ways will be suggested to help the general public learn more about VAW and increase the awareness on the topic.

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

Priority: Regional Identity, Sustainable & Prosperous Region, Safe & Secure Region
Project leader: Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, MSB
Participating countries: Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Lithuania

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, MSB has a strong engagement in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) and since many years back the member of the CBSS Civil Protection Network (CPN). In addition to that from 2013, based on the Swedish government decision, MSB coordinates the Policy Area Secure (PA Secure) within the EU:s Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. The crisis communication is one of the CPN and PA Secure prioritised cooperation area. This project will be implemented in a close partnership with the civil protection authorities in the BSR and will give the opportunity to intensify and increase our common efforts to make the BSR a safe region to live in.

Communication before and during crisis is one of the most important tools to build preparedness for and handle crisis – regardless if the current crisis is due to the consequences of a war in a nearby country or caused by climate change. People who are prepared and know how to act when the crisis comes are more safe and secure.

Communication to the public also contributes to regional identity and in the long run to sustainability since people get the tools to make the right decisions – before and during crisis.

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: Safe & Secure Region
Project leader: The European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI)
Participating countries: Finland, Norway, Sweden

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

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: Regional Identity, Sustainable & Prosperous Region
Project leader: Polski Klub Ekologiczny Okrug Pomorski
Participating countries: Poland, Sweden, Lithuania, Estonia

The main aim of the project is to encourage young people in Baltic Sea region to undertake more eco-innovative actions for the European Green Deal implementation at the level of (and with) local communities. The basis for such involvement is a broadened multidisciplinary knowledge gained in the preliminary steps of the project and exchange of experiences of partnering organizations in further steps. Partners will create a database for experience exchange (physically and in the form of an internet platform based on a longstanding, and promoted www.ekoagora.pl) and will organize an incubation workshop. Partners will implement similar initiatives of young people with different specializations and perspectives in their countries, promoting the project, exchanging experience with each other, offering experts and tutors in accordance with the areas selected for the eco-innovation. It is planned that the activities will include several well-thought-out and complementary phases. The centrepiece of the project is a 5-meetings “hands-on incubation workshop”. The workshops will take place at the end of the first “negotiation” phase. It will consist in mutual arrangements and collection of initial proposals for eco-innovations in the partner countries. It is assumed that it will take place in the form of a series of seminars, open to those who are interested, and promoted on social media and partners’ websites. The last, third phase of the project is the “application conference” aimed at summarising the effects of the project and practical development of the implementation plan for selected eco-innovations, control of implementation and evaluation of effects. Workshop cycles will provide a unique opportunity for creative work based on knowledge of teamwork. By the cross-border cooperation within this project, all activities will increase in importance – the working atmosphere and focus on issues of key importance for the real implementation of projects.

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
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: Regional Identity
Project leader: Uniwersytet Gdanski
Participating countries: Poland, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Sweden

YoPeNET 2.0 will consolidate the good practices and ensure sustainability of the educational experience of the current YoPeNET project implemented by the applicant in 2020-2022. The YoPeNET 2.0. will continue involving the younger generation in the BSR in educational dialogue and in the co-creation of cultural texts and media projects concerning trans-regional identity, manifested for instance as ecocultural identity. This edition of the project will reach out to a much wider regional audience through an extensive online presence as well as ensuring the strengthening of the existing partnership to cement its future viability. The learning materials and students’ contributions during the summer schools will be transformed into freely available, online content in the form of blogs, accessible articles, podcasts and films. Students will themselves produce these materials in collaboration with the project partners and teachers. These will be promoted through social media campaigns, like Instagram and YouTube, where the target groups will not only be young people in metropolitan areas but also those who live in isolated, rural communities.

The project will also consolidate good cooperation practice among the project partners representing the northern, southern, eastern and western parts of the BSR. Sharing capacities across the region will enable a responsible long-term on-line storage and an on-demand use of educational outputs, tools, content and methods for similar activities in the future. The YoPeNET 2.0 project is intended to be a significant step in establishing a “sustainable network” in the BSR, with reliable institutions, experienced teachers and cooperating partners. The project will explore the possibility of contributing to the creation of a virtual information point, BSR.info, where topical research and educational resources for youth dialogue and learning will be available to the general public.

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 & 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.