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The CaSYPot Project Success Story

The CaSYPot project ended in June after 3 years of collaboration between Poland, Sweden, Russia and Lithuania. On the 13th and 14th of May the caSYPot Final Conference was held in Kalmar, Sweden, in order to summarize the project, to show the results, and discuss with young people, adults and experts on the youth strategy and youth needs.

In the video below, made by Krzysztof Paluszyński from Truso TV you can see the conference and some of the workshops that took place on that occasion, the people who worked together for its realization and the concrete results that emerge from the project.

Ms Agata Ludwiczak, from Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic, is the CaSYPot Communication Project Manager. She emphasized how CaSYPot Project focuses on the collaboration between local and regional authorities, university and NGOs, with the goal of increasing the capacty for transnational cooperation on youth issues in the Euroregion baltic. Thanks to caSYPot Project it was possible to create a common youth strategy for the ERB area, based on the survey that compares the young people’s living conditions in the different regions.

Ms Zofia Makowska, from Kommunförbundet Kalmar Iän, is the CaSYPot Project Manager. She expressed how caSYPot aim to improve youth participation and influence, giving young people the opportunity to be part of the decision-making process. The survey conducted during spring 2017 among 6 municipalities, conducted through the LUPP (Local follow-up of youth policy) method from Sweden, gathers the voices of all young people, despite social divisions or engagement in any clubs or political parties, and it’s a very important tool to raise the level of information about young people, their needs and opinions.

Ms Monika Daglis, from City Hall Słupsk, in Poland, presented the different ideas that the city has as solution for all the problems young people face in the Baltic Region. In particular:

  1. an Interactive Illustrated online Map with places for the young people marked;
  2. a Motivation Center, the place where young people can meet some specialists;
  3. the reactivation of the Youth Council.

Ms Olga Krylova, from Svetlogorsk City Administration, Russia, explained that one of the results of caSYPot Project in the municipality of Svetlogorsk was the creation of the Youth Open Space,called Telegraf, a place where young people can organize events, meetings, and so on.

Ms Johana Wyckman, from Region Kalmar County, as Euroregion Baltic Youth Board Member, spoke about another result coming from the CaSYPot Project: the restructuring of the ERB Youth Board, focused on international relations, mobility, and cooperation between the regions.

Ms Aiste Andruškeviciute, representing Klaipeda City Municipality, underlined the importance for the municipality of Klaipeda of having the CaSYPot survey as a tool for preparing the Klaipeda European Youth Capital application.

Mr Damian Ciachorowski, from Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic, Euroregion Baltic Youth Board member, said as the strategy has the main aim to connect municipalities through actions: in mobility in order to broaden horizons, in development in order to invest in regions and create conditions for the sustainable development, and in identity in order to create a strong regional identity and work together in the future.

Mr Marcin Żuchowski, from Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic, SB YCGN Project Manager, expressed the strong synergy present between CaSYPot Project and SB YCGN Project, in fact the aim of the project is to involve the young people in participatory processes through practical activities, as organization of round table conferences in each member municipalities. in this way it is possible to create a direct contact of young people with the local government authorities and the employees of local governments, in order to boost the participation of young people in the decision-making processes in municipalities.

Ms Julia Orluk, Marshal Office of the Pomorskie Region, Euroregion Baltic Youth Board chairperson, stressed the important result of CaSYPot Project to reactivate the ERB Youth Board, that can have a real impact for young people.

The CaSYPot Project has been very successful, based on a very strong collaboration between regions and with many results, activities for young people, research, innovations coming out from it!!

Don’t lose any news about Euroregion Baltic, follow us also on our YouTube Channel!!

You will find our projects, conferences and events we organized, the courses we took part in, and much more!!


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCarDDCaj9VX8w0HoR4WeyWw/featured

From the 8th to the 11th of June the Baltic Sea Youth Camp took place in Gdansk, Poland.

More then 100 young people aged between 18 and 25, from all over the Baltic Sea Region (Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia Russia, Denmark, Finland, Ukraine, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Germany), participated to the 3days festival. The project, funded by the Council of the Baltic Sea States Project Support Facility, involved several partners: Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation (BSSSC, lead partner), Union of Baltic Cities (UBC), Euroregion Baltic (ERB) and the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre (BSCC) in Gdansk, with the support of Policy Area Culture (of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR)).

Short clip summarizing our BSYC event!

The main goals of the camp were to build mutual understanding among the youngsters of the Baltic Sea Region, to raise the voice of the youth and their awareness and knowledge on the sustainable development goals.

The event was thought in order to raise youth participations in the decision-makin process, in fact the camp was the occasion to write the Youth Declaration: “Nothing about us, without us!!” The Youth Declaraton was the common work of all young participants, under the guidance of Martin Rümmelein, a youth representative board member of the BSSSC.

During the camp several workshops and parallel sessions were organized:

  • Sustainable Development Goals presentation, by Olga Zuin;
  • Circular Economy, sustainable cutlery, by Gdańsk University of Technology;
  • Culture as a tool for mutual understanding, by Marcus Hagemann, ARS Baltica;
  • Baltic University Programme – Systemic thinking on Sustainabilit;
  • Idea development: A floating University on the Baltic Sea aligned with the SDGs;
  • Sustainable fashion workshop, by Elco
  • Climate action workshop: What’s my CO2 footprint?;
  • Business role playing game: Maritime spatial planning – you are the decision maker! ;
  • The importance of trans-border cooperation for security in the Baltic Sea Region;
  • EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR);
  • Creative workshop “Windbreaks”: What connects and separates the cultures of the Baltic Sea Region?;
  • Live action role play – “The Abyss” (Sirius Game Studio);
  • Listening to the world through meditation: acoustic ecology or soundscape studies, discipline studying the relationship, mediated through sound, between human beings and their environment;
  • DNA: See the unseen, by Biotechnological laboratory;
  • Polish ecological club – How can we protect the Baltic sea?;
  • ABCD – ARS BALTICA Creative Dialogue;
  • European public sphere debating.

On the last day of the festival, the young people had the opportunity to express their ideas and the Youth Declaration to politicians and authorities.

Furthermore, some representatives of the Baltic Sea Youth Camp, presented the Youth Declaration during the Participation Day and also the 10th 10th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region 2019, which took place in Gdansk on the 11th, 12th and 13th of June.

You can read the full Declaration here:
https://www.balticyouthcamp.org/declaration

The 1st Baltic Sea Youth Camp was a success and represents one of the first steps for young people working together for a better world!

On the 13th and 14th of May CaSYPoT final conference and Euroregion Baltic Forum of Stakeholders was held in Kalmar (Sweden). Approximately 100 participants from all Euroregion Baltic regions including CaSYPoT project partners from Poland, Lithuania, Sweden and Russia had the opportunity to meet and discuss the results of CaSYPoT project. The conference gathered also several youth participants who took the floor to explain the reasons behind answers from the CaSYPoT survey and discussed how the project has influenced youth situation in their home towns.

The conference started with the presentation of the international results of the CaSYPoT survey by representatives of Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University and Klaipeda University. These results were used as basis for project activities, such as development of youth strategies and implementation of tools for better dialogue with youth.

The conference continued with several sessions devoted to spreading CaSYPoT project results:

  • Local youth strategies – from municipalities of Svetlogorsk (Russia), Slupsk (Poland), Emmaboda (Sweden) and an action plan from Klaipeda (Lithuania)
  • Euroregion Baltic Youth Strategy,
  • Tools for dialogue with youth,
  • Capacity building process in CaSYPoT
  • New youth project ideas

As well as sharing good examples of work with youth participation and youth issues from Euroregion Baltic area and beyond, such as:

Participants had also the opportunity to get to know local examples from Kalmar municipality during study visits to two youth clubs: UNIK and Funkabo gender smart youth club.

Representatives of Youth discussed together with adults and experts the results emerging from the survey, as the political interest, leisure time, health, schools, trust and safety. Young people said that opportunities and projects for youngsters are not well known, in all the cities. They feel the need of a stronger dissemination through different channels, better adjusted to reach youth.

On the last day of the conference organised were the Euroregion Baltic Board meeting and partner meetings of CaSYPoT and YCGN projects. During this session CaSYPoT project partners jointly evaluated the project work as a summary of 3 years of cooperation.

This conference was also the occasion to think about the future. Ms Agata Ludwiczak and Mr Marcin Zuchowski from Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic coordinated a workshop devoted to developing a following-up project focusing on youth participation based on achievements of CaSYPoT and SB YCGN projects. All participants were invited to give ideas for the topic of a new project, which application is planned for this autumn.

How are young people’s lives in 6 different municipalities of the Baltic Sea Region like? What are the similarities and differences and how can the data collected through the CaSYPoT project be used to inform further activities and youth strategies?

Young people from Klaipeda in Lithuania, Słupsk and Bartoszyce in Poland, Svetlogorsk and Gusev in Russia and Emmaboda in Sweden participated in the CaSYPoT survey, one of the most important surveys ever done on the youth situation in the Baltic Sea Region! A short summary of the results will be presented during CaSYPoT project’s final conference in Kalmar from 13-14.05.2019!!

The registration for the CaSYPoT final conference and the ERB Forum of Stakeholders on 13-14.05.2019 in Kalmar is finally OPEN!

Deadline : 26.04.2019 !!

For further information and travel advice, please contact Ms Zofia Makowska, Project Manager CaSYPoT!

(18-19 March 2019, Hamburg)

On the 18th and 19th of March, the kick off meeting by Baltic Sea Labour Forum (BSLF) for Sustainable Working Life (SWL) took place.
The European Social Fund has granted the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) 800,000 Euro for this project, whose aim is to improve working life conditions and life-long learning provisions,as well as systems and policies for elderly, in order to promote active ageing and employability.


Ms Agata Ludwiczak, Deputy Head of International Permanent Secretariat from Euroregion Baltic, took part in this event as Observer, together with the other participants from different organisations namely:

From Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference: Bahr Bodo;

from NORDMETALL, Germany: Bauch Anton, Manzke Hans;

from Norden Association in Sweden, Sweden: Bergstrom Anders, Klonova Anastasia;

from Council of the Baltic Sea States: Akhutina Daria, Hemingway Bernd;

from European Social Fund Agency: Krutulyte Viktorija;

from Confederation of Danish Employees: Miβ lbeck-Winberg Christiane;

from Swedish Riksdag / BSPC, Sweden: Niemi Pyry;

from Nordic Council of Minister: Oldgard Jens;

from DGB Bezirk Nord, Germany: Hessler Siglinde, Polkaehn Uwe;

from Employers’ Confederation of Latvia (LDDK): Pumpins Janis;

from European Social Fund Project, Council of the Baltic Sea States: Fry Somers, Råbergh Christian;

from Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation (LPSK): Ruginiene Inga;

from Ministry of Social Affairs and Heaalth, Work and Gender Equality, Finland: Hämäläinen Päivi, Sauni Riitta;

from German Bundestag: Schraps Johannes;

from Max Planc Institute for Demographic Research, Germany: Edel Andreas;

from Lewiathan Confederation of Employers, Poland: Buchholtz Sonia;

from EUSBSR PA Education, Germany: Hahn Sabine;

from REM consult, Germany: Siemen Hauke;

from Council of Nordic Trade Union (NFS): Tabermann Jenny;

from Federal Service for Labour and Employment, Russia: Korchemkina Olga;

from Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Finland: Koivuneva Lippa;

from Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (LBAS): Liepina Irena;

from Former German Bundestag member, BSLF founder, Germany: Thoennes Franz;

from Academy of Economics Schleswig-Holstein, Germany: Wagemester Hartwig.

Mr Hans Manzke and Dr. Anton Bauch from NORDMETALL and Mr Uwe Polkaehn and Ms Johannes Schraps on behalf of DGB Nord, welcomed all the guests and the meeting officially started. Ms Daria Akhutina presented a report on “current developments in the field of Labour and Employment: activities and ESF Project’BSLF for Sustainable Working Life”, followed by a report on the trade unions presented by Ms Irena Liepina.

The subsequent reports were presented by employer organisations from Poland, Denmark, Latvia and Russia.
Ms Sonia Buchholtz presented the Lewiatan Confederation, which is the largest employers’ organisation in Poland, with more than 4000 companies involved: “Our mission is to provide some business conditions and support the competitiveness of companies, focusing on stable economic growth, high quality legislation, jobs and social capital. In 2018 the annual GDP growth was over 5%. There is not a lack of demands, but a lack of skills workers. In Poland there are some policies for the elder citizens that change from one that emphasizes ecnomic activities, to one that emphasizes social activities; the work access for elder workers is low.”
Ms Sonia also spoke about the new retirement legislation, work and immigration.

Then Ms Christiane Miβ lbeck-Winberg, from the Confederation of Danish Employees, took the floor, talking about the current situation in Denmark: “In Denmark the percentage of unemployment is 3.8%. People come to Denmark from Romania, Germany and other European countries… on the one hand we need people to come to Europe, to come to Denmark to work, but on the other hand the nationalistic parties want to close down the Danish borders.”

Afterwards Mr Pumpins Janis, LDDK, talked about the issues in Latvia “One of the main problems in Latvia is the lack of a labour force, many people from Latvia emigrate to other countries. Latvia has the worst situation in all the EU cuntries because our population has decreased by 27% in recent years. Our priority as organization is to form labour force with competitiveness skills.”

Last but not least, Ms Olga Korchemkina, State Agency ROSTRUD, from Russia, emphasized the importance of the collaboration and cohesion between EU and Russia: “It is really interesting to see the different approaches that these two counries have, the problems are different and the approaches are different.”

In the afternoon, Bodo Bahr, Secretary General, BSPC presented the report “Norwegian priority for the next Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference”; which was followed by the analysis made by Ms Anastasia Klonova, Norden Association, titled “Youth Employment in light of the knowledge Platform Integrate young people in NEET situation”.
A discussion was initiated on “policy recommendations on behalf of BSLF focused on social policies in light of demographic change, labour market’s needs and active ageing”.

On the second day, 19th of March, the meeting was moderated by Ms Daria Akhutina, CBSS Senior Advisor. It started by illustrating Lithuania’s experience through the presentation of “ESF 54+ initiative”. Therefore Mr Hauke Siemen, REM consult, spoke about the outcomes from the implemented Interreg BSR projects ‘Best Agers’ and ‘Best Agers Lighthouses’, followed by Mr Anders Bergstrom, who presented the EUSBSR PA Education: “Way Forward”.

At the end of the meeting, Mr Somers Fry and Mr ChristianRåbergh underlined the role of the BSLF and BSLF/CBSS Cooperation Group on Labour.

On 12-13th June, BLSF will take part in the EUS BSR Annual Forum in Gdansk, Poland.

In the near future, the Lewiathan Confederation of Employers from Poland will be discussing their participation in the Baltic Sea Labour Forum.

The content of this website is the sole responsibility of the author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union, the Managing Authority or the Joint Secretariat of the South Baltic Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2014-2020. The project UMBRELLA is partly financed from the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 through the European Regional Development Fund.