Ongoing Projects

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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,