PSF 2025 Call

The CBSS Project Support Facility (PSF), established in 2012 by the Council of the Baltic Sea States, provides co-financing to projects that foster sustainable partnerships and contribute to macro-regional cooperation within the Baltic Sea Region (BSR).

Designed to promote development in line with CBSS long-term priority areas, the PSF offers grants of up to 65,000 euros per project.

To be eligible, projects must involve partners from at least three CBSS Member States and demonstrate added value for macro-regional cooperation. Applicants can include national, regional or local public authorities, NGOs, and other organisations from the BSR.

Projects should aim to develop sustainable networks, partnerships, or processes that have long-term impact beyond the project duration.

The PSF 2025 Call for proposals, putting societal resilience, safety, and trust at the centre of Baltic Sea regional cooperation, opens on 15 February 2025 and closes on 31 March 2025.

Call priority areas     

1. “Safe and Secure Region”: aims to enhance the safety and security across the Baltic Sea region. Key elements include strengthening civil security and protection systems within the Baltic Sea region countries, emphasizing cross-border cooperation – for example to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. 
   
   • Thematic area: Civil Security 
     Implementation of a whole-of-society approach – a model where vital societal functions are handled together by authorities, civil society organisations, businesses and citizens to strengthen resilience and safety of the BSR. Projects may include initiatives beyond traditional disaster risk reduction approaches, developing wider and more inclusive partnerships across sectors and levels, involving local communities, empowering citizens to act, building future skills and competences and fostering a common societal security culture.
     
   • Thematic area: Inclusive and resilient child protection systems 
     Initiatives that promote inclusive and resilient national child protection systems, with a specific focus on building trust in national child protection systems, promoting child participation, including strengthening child and caregiver involvement at both collective and individual levels, and building collaboration between different sectors and disciplines. Projects may include innovative initiatives to spread information, counter misinformation, and engage with target groups to build trust, and empower active involvement. Projects should preferably involve professionals, children, and caregivers.  
     
   • Thematic area: Anti-trafficking 
     Under this theme, the call seeks to support seed initiatives and projects against Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) in the Baltic Sea Region, with the objective of reducing human trafficking risks among migrants and children in the region. Proposed projects should preferably involve partners and stakeholders with a documented experience in working with the target group directly. Within the thematic area of THB, the call will give priority to projects targeting newly arrived migrants, assuming a gender-sensitive approach or addressing demand as a driver behind THB for all forms of exploitation. 
     
2. “Regional identity”: aims to explore current and future-oriented identity building endeavours in the region, involving young people, culture and education for fostering societal resilience and transregional collaboration. Applicants are invited to explore how culture, including cultural heritage, or educational endeavours at various levels, like summer camps or summer schools can contribute to the development of regional identity narratives providing common ground a safe, secure, and sustainable Baltic Sea Region. Project proposals should clearly demonstrate what actions and deliberation mechanisms on the future of the BSR are planned, including how young people are incorporated in this dialogue and empowered for action as prospective region builders. 
   
3. “Sustainable and Prosperous Region”: aims to mainstream climate change mitigation, adaptation and transformational collaboration on energy transitions also in the maritime sector. The call also encourages project proposals that support the local coastal communities in developing sustainable tourism services while promoting and preserving the cultural heritage and biodiversity values. 

 Scope of the activities   

• Developing and extending cooperation between national, regional, and local governments, civil society organisations, volunteer organisations, researchers, practitioners and policy makers from different sectors and levels for managing increasing risks stemming from natural and/or man-made disasters. 
• Enabling the exchange of good (implementation) practices, as well as building region-wide awareness of the common challenges. 
• Providing training and capacity building for national and local actors to identify, assess and manage the adverse impacts of crises to societies, including children, elderly, people with disabilities, migrants and other groups. 
• Establishing and maintaining sustainable and inclusive programmes, practical measures, cooperation models and tools (e.g., child participation mechanism in climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction activities etc.) to promote the innovative approaches for sustainable development. Prepare and protect societal groups from the consequences of crises. 
• Developing new integrated and innovative approaches to promoting the objectives of this call, particularly involving young people as future region builders. 
• The CBSS encourages projects that support Ukraine. 

Strategic background / reference documents

CBSS Vilnius II Declaration, CBSS Action plan 2021-2025, , a Joint Position on Enhancing Cooperation in Civil Protection Area, Children at Risk Regional Strategy 2021-2025, Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings Strategy 2020-2025, Political Declaration of the 2024 Europe & Central Asia Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UNFCC Paris Agreement and also “Realizing the Vision: The Baltic 2030 Action Plan”. 

For more details on the Project Support Facility (PSF), including call requirements and application criteria, please refer to the PSF main page and the PSF Manual.

The PSF 2025 Call will open for applications on 15 February 2025.