The first diagnostic meeting in Braniewo, which was opened by the Mayor of the city, Mr. Tomasz Sielicki, is behind us. The meeting was also attended by employees of the City Hall dealing with investments and issues related to ecology in the city, as well as young people with teachers.

The diagnostic meeting was conducted by the project leader, the Association for the Development of Cooperative and Local Entrepreneurship WAMA-COOP, who also presented the assumptions of the project and current activities. The Elbląg Technology Park and the Association of Polish Communities Euroregion Baltic as partners of the project presented their organizations and activities that they will implement.

The aim of the meeting was to get to know the resources of the City of Braniewo and to create a SWOT analysis in terms of environmental resources. The workshop part was conducted by Mrs. Gabriela Klimowicz from the Drzewice Forest Education Foundation from Olsztyn. Definitely, the participants mentioned more Strengths and Opportunities that the city has in terms of environmental resources. However, the participants also mentioned several Weaknesses and Threats that need to be worked on. Among other things, we learned that the city has beautiful green areas, is located on the Pasłęka River and on the Vistula Lagoon. Young people in ZHP and members of the beekeeping group for pro-environmental activities are active there. The city, on the other hand, must work on developing the inhabitants' awareness of respect for the common good.

Activity implemented as part of the Green UP 2022-2024 project, financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway from the EEA and Norwegian Funds under the Active Citizens - Regional Fund Programme.

A project entitled "GREEN UP - Youth for green change in schools and communities" has been launched in Elblag's Old Town Hall during two-days confeence.
This valuable initiative is the result of months of work by a project team headed by the WAMA-COOP Association in partnership with the Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic, Elblag Technology Park and FONIX A.S. partner from Norway. Such a strong combination of entities can give a lot of good - knowledge, diagnosis, solutions where it is most needed, at the level of local government, province, schools and residents. The project involves 3 local government units and 9 educational institutions and their work will be on pro-environmental measures.

The conference on the first day was attended by representatives of local governments and schools of Dzierzgon, Braniewo, Elbląg, Gietrzwałd, Olsztynek, Nowe Miasto Elbląskie and a strong representation of the Marshal's Office of the Warmia Mazury Voivodeship. Our distinguished guests were welcomed by the host of the city of Elblag in the person of Deputy Mayor Mr. Artur Zielinski and also by the President of WAMA-COOP, Mr. Dariusz Węgierski.

Project leader and also coordinator of this project, Mateusz Dobkowski of WAMA-COOP presented key issues and steps to achieve the goal, which is to actually solve problems in the field of green and blue growth, which should start with the young but already aware generation. The pro-environmental activities of the GREEN UP project will be aimed at: involvement of various communities; internationalization of activities to learn best practices; participation of schools in living laboratories for pro-environmental education; creation of new solutions; creation of a regional platform for cooperation and multi-stakeholder dialogue for the benefit of local communities and environmental protection; development of a long-term ecological strategy.

At the meeting, very relevant information resounded, which concerned the acquisition of specific knowledge and experience, which in the context of the future of youth showed topics worth pursuing. An example of which was a presentation by the Mayor of Olsztynek, Mr. Robert Waraksa on youth initiatives as a stimulation of social development of municipalities. The GREEN UP project is also an opportunity to get to know the communities of Youth Councils operating in municipalities as a support for those newly created.

In this project, schoolchildren with the support of relevant educators will expand their knowledge of climate change. - With this project we are also part of the European Commission's recognition of 2022 as the European Year of Youth," said Marcin Żuchowski, Director of the Secretariat of the Association of Polish Municipalities Euroregion Baltic. In his presentation, he also mentioned the European Youth Goals, which are contained in the slogan "engage, connect, empower," as it is necessary to meet all these elements.

The conference is not just about presentations and gaining theoretical knowledge. There was time for concrete knowledge during the workshops, which showed the process of climate change in an innovative way. The workshop titled Climate Mosaic was conducted by representatives of the Gdansk University of Technology, Prof. Magdalena Gajewska, and Magda Kasprzyk, Dr Eng.

The second day of the conference was mainly a partner meeting, which was devoted to discussing the tasks for the upcoming period of each partner.

What lies ahead in the GREEN UP project:

1. Diagnostic meetings in municipalities
2. Methodological meetings in schools
3. Local study visits to green economy entities
4. Interactive environmental education workshops entitled SferaLab - conducted by ETP
5. Innovative international workshops in Norway
6. Development of youth initiatives - roundtables
7. Public hearings and presentation of the Book of Good Practices
8. Final conference

We would like to thank everyone who came to the GREEN UP kick-off conference!

The Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic together with the leader Association for the Development of Cooperative and Local Entrepreneurship WAMA-COOP and project partners i.e. Elbląg Technology Park and FONIX AS have the honour to invite you to the opening conference of the project entitled:

GREEN UP - YOUTH FOR GREEN CHANGE OF SCHOOLS AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES within the framework of the Active Citizens - Regional Fund Programme.

The conference will take place on 18 October 2022, starting at 10:00 a.m., at the Old Town Hall in Elbląg,
ul. Stary Rynek 25, 82-300 Elbląg, room D 300.

One of the highlights of the programme will be an innovative educational workshop on climate change - Climate Mosaic (La Fresque du Climat). It is a training whose participants, while working actively in a team, will learn about the mechanisms governing climate change. As part of the workshop, participants, under the guidance of an animator, create the eponymous mosaic illustrating the links between the phenomena that make up climate change. To do this, they use cards developed on the basis of scientific reports by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).

You are welcome to sign up via the registration form.

Please confirm your participation by 14.10.2022. - Participation is free of charge, the order of registration counts.

If you have any questions, please contact us at 89 534-31-30 or 601 690 335.

Agenda of the event
10:00 – 10:05	Welcome of the invited guests by: - Project Leader Mr Dariusz Węgierski - President of the Association for the Development of Cooperative and Local Entrepreneurship WAMA-COOP - Elbląg self-government authorities
10:05 – 10:10	Assumptions of GREEN UP project - what we want to achieve - Mateusz Dobkowski - Project Coordinator
10:10 – 10:30	Let's get to know each other - presentation of the business profile of FONIX AS - Norwegian Partner - Lene Odberg Thorstensen
10:30 – 10:40	The role of the Association of Polish Municipalities Euroregion Baltic in the implementation of GREEN UP project - Marcin Żuchowski - Director of the Secretariat
10:40– 10:50	Lab Sphere - operation of Elbląg Technology Park and contribution to the project tasks - Arkadiusz Kosecki - Director of Elbląg Technology Park in Elbląg
10:50 – 11:20	Youth initiatives as a stimulation for social development of municipalities - potentials, good practices, challenges for the future - Robert Waraksa - Mayor of Olsztynek
11:20 – 12:20	Climate mosaic - innovative educational workshops on climate change for conference participants - Prof. Magdalena Gajewska, Ph.D. - Magda Kasprzyk
12:20 - 12:35	Coffee break
12:35 – 13:50	Climate mosaic - innovative educational workshops on climate change for conference participants - prof. dr hab. eng. Magdalena Gajewska, dr eng. Magda Kasprzyk
13:50 – 14:20	Lunch
14.20 – 14.50	Summary of the first day of the meeting and farewell to participants

Today had place a meeting in Elbląg Technology Park where partners responsible for project activities had chance to meet and plan the future implementation of a number of innovative project activities of the recently granted project 'Green up 2022-2024 - young people for green change in schools and communities', which will be implemented with funding from the Norwegian funds under the Active Citizens - Regional Fund programme.

The meeting was attended by partners representing:

• Association for the Development of Cooperative and Local Entrepreneurship WAMA-COOP - being the Project Leader;
• Association of Polish Communities Euroregion Baltic;
• Elbląg Technology Park.

These are the partners who will be responsible for the next 20 months, for contacts and cooperation with our local government partners, carrying out activities, educational and informational activities. All of this is to constitute the strength of the practical dimension of the project and its effects on local communities, in this case represented by educational institutions and schoolchildren in three towns: Dzierzgoń, Nowe Miasto Lubawskie and Braniewo.

It was an important coordination meeting dedicated mainly to planning the project's first activities such as a coordination meeting with local partners (online), a kick-off conference, diagnostic meetings in municipalities and methodological meetings in schools.

The meeting also dealt with administrative-technical issues concerning the signing of the grant agreement, the re-verification of the project proposal to make it best suited to the needs of the partnership and the expectations of the beneficiaries. It is also the preparation of the required documentation to close the process of signing the grant agreement.

The partnership team wants the project to start as early as 1 October, and finalisation work is currently underway so that we can all move on to main activities, i.e. to take multi-sectoral action to make attention to lasting change in environmental protection, including the promotion of pro-environmental behaviour among the youngest generation.

The first consultation meeting of the members of the consortium of the Polish side of the Green up 2022-2024 project - Young people for green change in schools and communities took place yesterday, attended by representatives of the applicant from the 'WAMA-COOP' Association and partners from the Association of Polish Municipalities Euroregion Baltic and the Elbląg Technology Park. 

Despite the ongoing holiday period, it was possible to organise an ad hoc meeting of all parties involved as soon as the information about the grant award was received. The meeting itself was mainly devoted to the administrative and organisational part of the project and its future implementation. During the meeting, the technical part of project implementation was discussed, including management and control systems, systems for monitoring and implementing project activities, as well as plans for communication and promotion of both the programme and the project. It was also a time to discuss how to involve the whole range of local stakeholders and communities.

The very recognition and appreciation of the project by the programme authorities is a remarkable success for the consortium, demonstrating the value of creating multi-sector consortia: combining both the non-governmental sphere (two Associations from Poland and one from Norway) with the local government sphere (ETP/Elbląg Municipality) supported by three local government units: Um. Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, Um. Braniewo, Um. Dzierzgoń together with the education sector, i.e. the school establishments located in the area mentioned.

This is at the same time the beginning of the work on the basis of three case studies from the two provinces constituting our research sites, e.g.:

1. Case Study: Dzierzgoń Municipality (POM) and subordinate school establishments

- Primary School named after the Millennium of the Polish State in Dzierzgon

- Wanda Chotomska Primary School in Bruk

- St. Adalbert Primary School in Bągart

2 Case study: Municipality of Braniewo (W-M) and subordinate school establishments

- John Paul II Primary School No. 6 in Braniewo

- Senat Polish Primary School No. 3 in Braniewo

- Primary School No. 5 m. Ziemi Braniewskiej in Braniewo

3 Case study: Municipality of Nowe Miasto Lubawskie (W-M) and subordinate school establishments

- Primary School No. 1 by Jan Paweł II, 3 Jagiellońska St. in NML

- Primary School No. 2 named after Janusz Korczak, ul. Tysiąclecia 33 in NML

- Szkoła Podstawowa nr 3 im. Filomatów Nowomiejskich, ul. Działyńskich 14 in NML

Through the programme, we will try to activate local communities in relation to important topics concerning ecology, sustainable development, blue and green growth and combating climate change, showing not only theoretical issues, but through practice building democratic social involvement that changes our environment for a green, competitive and inclusive Europe.

The Active Citizens - Regional Fund programme itself, which recognised our efforts, is one of 15 programmes currently running in EU countries (under the common name Active Citizens Fund) which, while supporting the development of civil society, refer to common values: respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.

Our Green up 2022-2024 project fits in with the programme's goal of building a democratic culture and civic engagement at the local level, by 

- demonstrating the impact of NGOs on the development of local communities and democratic culture;

- strengthening civil society;

- enhancing the importance of civic education;

- developing cooperation and partnerships at the local level;

- developing critical thinking skills;

- disseminating knowledge on climate change.

More information and another portion of project activities coming soon after the grant agreement is signed!

The results of the second call for thematic projects under the Active Citizens - Regional Fund Program were published today. 311 applications in the path for large grants and 302 applications in the path for small grants qualified for substantive evaluation. The Executive Committee, after reviewing the recommendations of the Selection Committee, decided to award grants for the implementation of 102 projects: 72 large and 30 small.

The total amount of funds allocated for the implementation of project activities is 6,623,535.40 euros. Of this amount, €1,807,398.70 will be allocated to projects in Area 1 (Protection of Human Rights), €1,950,859.17 to projects in Area 2 (Action for Social Diversity and Countering Exclusion), and €2,865,277.53 to projects in Area 3 (Building Democratic Culture and Civic Engagement at the Local Level).

In addition, we have allocated 1,056,486.37 euros for the implementation of institutional development plans (Area 4. Support for the development of the social sector), and another 167,368.33 euros are reserved for Grantees whose development plans require modification.

The results of the competition can be found on the program website:

https://aktywniobywatele-regionalny.org.pl/wyniki-2-konkursu-na-projekty-tematyczne/

One of the projects that received funding is "Green up". It was prepared in partnership of the Association of Municipalities of the Republic of Poland Euroregion Baltic, Association "WAMA-COOP", Elblag Technology Park and Norwegian partner FONIX AS.

The project "GREEN UP 2022-2024 - YOUTH FOR GREEN CHANGE OF SCHOOLS AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES.
LOCALITIES" was prepared in thematic area No. 3. "Building democratic culture and civic engagement at the local level."

The "Green Up" project involves 3 social partners (2 PL and 1 NO), 1 business environment institution (ETP), 3 local government units and 9 educational institutions in activities pro-environmental activities through:

1. Activation of regional civic and social involvement based on organisations of the 3rd sector and related entities working for the benefit of the younger generation in the region of Warmia and Mazury and Pomerania;
2. Internationalization of activities and entrepreneurial attitudes of social organizations,
   civic and self-governmental organizations and increase their competence to work with young people in the field of green and blue growth (pro-climate actions) and to counteract their negative effects;
3. Developing a long-term ecological strategy, pro-environmental activities of the young generation in peripheral regions;
4. Creation of a regional platform for cooperation and multi-stakeholder dialogue (NGOs, local government units, schools, youth) for the benefit of local communities and environmental protection;
5. School as a living laboratory of change - inclusion of local communities in the life of the school, in environmental education and in environmental activities.
6. Creating new solutions to existing problems and challenges;
   "Green UP" is also to increase civic engagement and the practical influence of young people on local decisions and changes in schools (9) in 3 TSUs (at school and municipality)

Schools from Bągart, Braniewo, Bruk, Dzierzgon and Nowe Miasto Lubawskie will be included in the project activities. In addition, we will cooperate with the Municipality of Braniewo, the Municipality and City of Dzierzgon and the Municipality of Nowe Miasto Lubawskie.