Promotion of the WaterMan project during the VIII European Congress of Local Governments

The VIII European Congress of Local Governments entitled "New Solidarity for a New Era" was held in Mikolajki on March 6-7, 2023, with the participation of the Director of the Association of Municipalities of the Republic of Poland Euroregion Baltic, Mr. Marcin Żuchowski. This is an event attended by more than 2,000 guests from Central and Eastern European countries. During the two days, 120 events were held, including program blocks, reports, panels, workshops, lectures, presentations and a gala ceremony with the presentation of awards.

Congress, is an international platform for the exchange of ideas and a meeting place for local government leaders, regional elites with representatives of state administration, NGOs and business.

The event is organized by the Foundation Institute for Eastern Studies and this year's main partner was the local government of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.

During the Congress, a panel entitled "The Baltic Sea and European port cities - economics, ecology and geopolitics" was held, to which the Director of the Association, Mr. Marcin Żuchowski, was invited. He spoke, among other things, about the WaterMan project, its assumptions, pilot activities involving small infrastructure in each partner country. He also spoke about building the common good on the basis of broad international partnerships and encouraged participants to undertake similar project initiatives in the field of ecology and water economics.

The topic of current opportunities and problems of cross-border cooperation from the perspective of different regions, from the European Union area and partner countries such as Ukraine and the Western Balkans, was also discussed. He called the common theme of this cooperation the creation of partnerships for peace-building, which is particularly timely in the context of today's international situation.

During the Gala, a representative of our member municipality, Mr. Rober Waraksa - mayor of Olsztynek, became the Laureate of the "Local Government Friendly to Youth" Award. Our sincere congratulations!

We would like to remind you that the WaterMan project started in January 2023 and its official opening will take place during the meeting of all partners in Kalmar on March 14-16, 2023.

Active Citizens Program - Regional Fund - micro-grants for young organizations, call until May 8, 2023

Young organizations interested in developing their entities are encouraged to take advantage of the Active Citizens - Regional Fund Program. The program has launched a call for applications for micro-grants and its goal is "to provide optimal conditions for the development and proper functioning of organizations that are just starting out, or those that have not yet managed to establish internal rules and procedures, develop a work culture or ways to effectively reach their audiences".

The goal of the program is at the same time a hint to those interested in what activities can be carried out under the project.

Perhaps for some organizations this is the first step directed at the internationalization of the unit, which is encouraged by the ongoing ENGAGE! project, in which our Association is a partner while BISER is the leader of the entire project.

The call for applications runs from March 1, 2023 until May 8, 2023 at 12:00 pm

Minimum grant amount: 10 000 EUR

Maximum grant amount: 12 000 EUR

Lead time: 6 to 8 months

ATTENTION! Own contribution is not mandatory!

Call for proposals - here

More information, including but not limited to: application details, form, application, instructions, link to generator, etc. - here

Get to it!

ATTENTION! New support for international projects - 15.02.2023 CBSS call for proposals started!

The ENGAGE! project is an endeavor that provides NGOs with a range of information about competitions that give them a chance to develop international projects.

We would like to inform all interested parties about the new call for proposals - as of today, i.e. February 15, the competition for the Council of Baltic Sea States program has started! We encourage you to submit projects for cooperation with foreign partners. The call for applications will last until March 31, 2023!

Informations about the call

Eligible partners must be from, e.g., Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden.

The Project Support Facility was established by the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) in 2012 to co-finance projects in the Baltic Sea region to promote sustainable partnerships in relation to the CBSS' three long-term priority areas. The first PSF Call was held in 2013.

The CBSS, through its Project Facility, invites all eligible entities in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) to apply for grants to implement small-scale, community-based or profession/expert-based projects.

Nursecoast II - project Kick-off, online, February 2nd and 7th, 2023

The two-day conference marked the beginning of the NURSECOAST II project, whose activities involve extensive international partnerships. The leader of the project is the Institute of Fluid Flow Machinery of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Gdansk, which is the main originator of the entire project.

The project partners:

- Robert Szewalski Institute of Fluid-Flow Machinery of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IMP PAN) (Leader, Poland)
- Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania)
- Natural Resources Institute Finland (Finland)
- SYKLI Environmental School of Finland (Finland)
- Keep the Archipelago Tidy Association (Finland)
- Aalborg Univesity (Denmark)
- Fundacja Wspólnoty Burego Misia im. Bogdana Jańskiego (Poland)
- Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre (Estonia)
- Jurmala Udens Water Utility (Latvia)
- Municipality of Söderhamn (Sweden)
- Municipality of Ingå (Finland)
- Urząd Gminy Smołdzino (Poland)
- JSC Neringa water (Lithuania)
- Ecovillage Egeskoven (Denmark)
- NK forsyning A/S (Denmark)
- Stowarzyszenie Gmin RP Euroregion Bałtyk (Poland)
- EUCC - The Coastal Union Germany (Germany)

The meeting was divided into 2 days, during which the various components of the project, its scope of substantive activities and planned pilots were discussed. Based on the jointly developed methodological framework, each model region will develop a local strategy for pilot investments. Along with these strategies, exemplary and complementary pilot wastewater treatment activities will be carried out.

Participating municipalities and water companies from other countries, as well as expert experts from inside and outside the partnership, will bring their experiences to the development of each model strategy and pilot action. In this way, they will be enriched by available experiences from inside and outside the BSR, and will be based on the international state of knowledge.
A mutual learning arena will be established to enable transnational co-creation of solutions to accompany local work processes.

The project will last 36 months, its activities will take place in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and almost all of Scandinavia (Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark) and Germany.

The leader outlined the key work plan and tasks that need to be completed, including pilot activities - pilot preparatory work, documents, permits.

All partners were asked and presented their activities, how they will be carried out, what methodology along with the expected results and benefits.

We look forward to the development of this very interesting venture, which we will keep you informed about.

WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO FOLLOW OUR WEBSITE AND FB!

First working meeting of the Polish side of the WaterMan project, Braniewo, February 26, 2023

Since the launch of the WaterMan project, which took place in early January 2023, several online meetings have already taken place, with all partners from 6 countries participating. However, the first live meeting of Polish partners took place last Thursday in Braniewo and it was hosted by the City Hall with the Mayor, Mr. Tomaszek Sielicki.

The meeting was attended by representatives of all entities that are Polish partners in the project:

Braniewo City Hall, Municipal Waterworks Ltd., Gdansk University of Technology, Association of Polish Municipalities Euroregion Baltic. A total of 18 people took part in the meeting. Each of the partners presented the members of their teams with information on their responsibilities.

During the meeting, important issues for the partners were addressed. Due to the fact that several new people have joined the task stage, the basic information about the project, timeframe, overview of the scope of tasks and also the project consortium - who is responsible for what, further networking activities in terms of support with external experts, online pre-conference were discussed at the beginning. The main inaugural conference in Kalmar was also the subject of the meeting in Braniewo.

The essence of this meeting was also to prepare for the implementation of the pilots that will be carried out by the team of the Gdansk University of Technology in the City of Braniewo. Under this item, the scope of preparation for the pilot was discussed, the roles of the various partners for this task and the division of responsibilities, as well as the budget necessary for the implementation of the task. Also discussed were the responsibilities of all parties regarding communication and outreach activities, conducting the necessary promotion on websites and social media profiles, and other permitted forms of popularizing the works and their effects to a wide audience.

The talks also covered reporting in BAMOS+, the general rules to be followed, and payments and their forms.

The partners also exchanged contacts and after a few hours a working meeting was concluded.

Pre- kick-off of the WaterMan project, January 20, 2023, online

Leader of the Waterman project, Kalmar Region, launched the project on January 20, 2023. For the time being in online form due to the necessary discussion of important issues for the project. The project will last 3 years and its activities also include carrying out pilot activities at the various project locations. Whereas, an official ceremony will be held in Kalmar to launch the project with the participation of representatives from all project partners.

The project partners are from 6 countries in the Baltic Sea Region:

SWEDEN: Region Kalmar County (Lider); Kalmar Municipality; Kalmar Water; Vastervik Municipality

POLAND: Municipality of Braniewo; Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic; Gdansk University of Technology; Chamber of Commerce "Polish Waterworks"

DENMARK: Bornholms Water A/S; Bornholms Wastewater A/S

LITHUANIA: Association "Klaipeda Region"; Administration of Klaipėda; Klaipeda University; Kurzeme planning region; Saldus Municipality

DENMARK: Berlin Centre of Competence for gGmbH

ESTONIA: associated partner - Estonian Waterworks Association

The online meeting was attended by 32 representatives of the project partners.

Tobias Facchini, representative of the leader, spoke about important for partners issues, such as focus on legislative and administrative requirements, the BAMOS+ electronic billing system, reporting periods and necessary documentation, the launch of the project website, communication and information tools for visibility requirements for both the project and the program, as well as compliance with public procurement in cases of pilot activities and others.

The leader announced about the signing of the subsidy contract, which he will send out to all partners.

He also announced to reserve in the calendars the date of the official launch of the project, which will take place in Sweden, in the capital of the region, Kalmar, on March 14-16, 2023.

The main goal of the project is to reuse water - from the point of view of water management, this is a novel approach of a transnational nature.