Umbrella 2.0 project kicked off!

On 13th January 2021 Umbrella 2.0 project partners: Euroregion Baltic, Unione of the Baltic Cities and Baltic Sea States Subregional Cooperation met together with the Swedish Institute representative to officially start the activities in the new project. Read below to get to know our project better and familiarise with the activities we plan to offer to our beneficiaries in the Baltic Sea Region.

UMBRELLA 2.0 – why we applied to SI for the support?

2021 will be a gap year for cross-border cooperation. The South Baltic Programme, a primary financial tool utilised by Euroregion Baltic to reach its scope, will launch the new programming period 2021-2027 only at the end of 2021. Only small project funds will be available. Hence, Euroregion Baltic realised that the Umbrella project’s success and capacity building process initiated in 2018 could not be stopped. For this reason, the so-called Umbrella 2.0 proposal was presented to the Swedish Institute as the natural consequence of Umbrella Project (SBP) and its willingness to become a recognised brand, active also on a broader Baltic Sea scale.

Therefore, Euroregion Baltic, together with UBC and BSSSC, submitted Umbrella 2.0- Boosting transnational cooperation capacities for multilevel actors in the Baltic Sea Region- that has been approved by the Swedish Institute in Nov 2020 and launched in January 2021.

AIM OF THE PROJECT

The project’s overarching goal is to increase awareness and knowledge of transnational cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region. More specifically, the project aims at initiating a process for the development of strong multi-actor and multilevel governance partnerships that can undertake cross-sectoral sustainable solutions while following the principles and objectives of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EU Green Deal and UN SDG.

The aims concerning the Baltic Region are :

– To raise awareness of opportunities and benefits of transnational and cross-border cooperation and increase regional stakeholders’ interest in it;

– To empower stakeholders to build strategic and long term-partnerships, support networking, and straighten community of practitioners in different sectors;

– To improve knowledge of the EU, its financial instruments and relevant strategies, with particular focus on the EUSBSR;

– To explore the opportunities and benefits of being part of EUSBSR and offer practical guidelines on how to engage in long-term;

– To help build competencies, i.e. knowledge and skills necessary to run projects with benefit to the Policy areas, and create specific networks of interest in different sectors in a cross-sectorial manner focusing on a shift and transformation by our beneficiaries (activating them for sustainable transnational cooperation).

Umbrella 2.0 builds on Umbrella project results. The Umbrella project was launched at the beginning of 2018. It resulted from the realisation that the South Baltic Programme (SBP) was hard to access for small organisations, mainly because of their insufficient institutional and financial capacities. SBP stakeholders in general and small local actors specifically still experience communication barriers, limited English language skills, and lack of competences and capabilities in project development and implementation. To address these challenges, the Umbrella project committed to developing know-how capacities for small local and regional actors and civil society organisations in the South Baltic Programme area to improve their cross-border cooperation participation. To achieve this goal, Umbrella implemented a significantly more comprehensive approach, determined by a strategic decision of the partnership to address different levels of capacity building processes – from a single institutional capacity of potential project partner, via micro-activities addressed to the micro organisations till strategic capacity building on the programme macro-level where we cooperated with EUSBSR HA Capacity coordinators (our Associated Partner).

Umbrella proved to be an optimal mediator among different stakeholders. Therefore, starting from the presumption that the EUSBSR and the local actors are completely detached one from the other, Umbrella 2.0 objective would be to develop know-how capacities for local organisations in cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region, harmonising local needs and actions and upper strategic lines.

While the local actors are focused on objectives in their local sphere of influence, the strategy provides guidelines that are not known at the local level. A bridge between local actors and the strategy needs to be set to enhance the interaction among all the governance levels to start a process that can facilitate the implementation of EUSBSR and other sustainable policies matching with EU Green Deal and SDGs. Umbrella 2.0 would act to mediate the communication between the strategies and the local level, raising awareness and providing practical knowledge and tools for implementation.

The kick-off conference of the South Coast Baltic project took place in Bansin, Germany on 16th May 2017.

Bansin, is situated in the eastern part of the Usedom Island and is part of the seaside resort town of Heingsdorf in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Together, they are two of the best and most popular resorts on the German Baltic seaside. Not by chance, the city has been chosen for the launch of this project, whose aim is to improve the tourist reception in the Baltic Sea.

The first day of the meeting, organised by the Economic Development Corporation Vorpommern for the project and associated partners, was divided into three parts. The first part was dedicated to the presentation of the South Coast Baltic project, to have an overlook of the background of this action, from the implementation of the Marriage project, to future perspective on the Baltic Sea. The second part was taken as a moment for sharing good practices in tourism implementation in other European Regions. The last part consisted in a World Cafe’ in order to allow all the participants, representing different associations, to brainstorm and discuss some specific enquiries.

The SOUTH COAST BALTIC project has been ideated in order to build a long term cross-border destination management through the improvement of boating services and infrastructure, on the basis of the MARRIAGE cooperation network. MARRIAGE project, implemented between 2012 and 2015, had the aim of promoting cross-border destinations on domestic markets, building cooperation and exchange in water tourism management and marketing, and creating a consolidated network in the southern Baltic regions of Vorpommern (Germany), Zachodniopomorskie and Pomorskie (Poland), Kaliningrad (Russia), Klaipeda region (Lithuania).

The scope of SOUTH COAST BALTIC is to provide this network with added value that can reach an extended market. The challenge in these regions, now, is not only to access new target markets, but to provide repeaters and followers with high quality boating facilities and services, that need to be harmonized across the south coast Baltic area, also by means of a joint promotion. As MARRIAGE project struggled to build management competence, now the challenge is to do a step forward in managing strategically the destinations, increasing the quality of infrastructures and services.

SOUTH COAST BALTIC is a very rare case of a tourism project that tries to reconcile recreation (water sports, development of marinas, inland tours) with important issues tackled by the cross-border cooperation, like meeting environmental standards but also encouraging the economic and social development. Thus, there will be the coexistence of actions addressed to protecting natural areas, managing waters, creating interactive loyalty measures (like ‘save the whales’); enforcing receptive and restoration activities, and the creation of a touristic route. It has been thought to promote also cultural and natural sites, cultural events, encourage the consumption of local products, in order to create an inland network and to promote the Baltic Sea Region as a unique touristic destination.

Moreover, with this project an attempt to reach younger generations and families as target groups has been made. The current South Coast Baltic region is experiencing a demographic change as regard to sailing tourism where middle age men seem to have no time for maintaining a boat, while the usual sailors are getting older and older.

Being financed by the INTERREG SOUTH BALTIC PROGRAM, the project can be placed in the priority 2.1- to increase the green and blue potential of the region. But, it is also well-embedded in the EUSBSR since the project aims at connecting the region trough the development of marinas; it works in the field of increasing the prosperity through tourism and cultural activities, and lastly, it contributes to save the sea adopting sustainable measures.

Here you can find the presentation of the conference:2017-05-16_SCB_Kick-off_Overview on project goals & activities

Kick-off Conference and 2nd all-partner meeting of the SOUTH COAST BALTIC is a three-day event organized by the Economic Development Corporation Vorpommern, that will be held on 16-18 May 2017 in the sea resort Bansin, on Usedom Island (Germany).

SOUTH COAST BALTIC project has been developed in order to build a long term cross-border destination management through the improvement of boating services and infrastructure, on the basis of the MARRIAGE cooperation network.

The 2012 MARRIAGE project launched the cross-border destinations on domestic markets, building cooperation and exchange in water tourism management and marketing, and creating a consolidate network in the southern Baltic regions of Vorpommern (Germany), Zachodniopomorskie and Pomorskie (Poland), Kaliningrad (Russia), Klaipeda region (Lithuania).

SOUTH COAST BALTIC will have an added value in the destination building process. The challenge in these regions now, is not only to access new target markets, but to provide repeaters and followers with high quality boating facilities and services, that need to be harmonized across the south coast Baltic area, also by means of a joint promotion.

SOUTH COAST BALTIC is the very rare case of a tourism project, in which the form of recreation addressed has a genuine cross-border nature and it is evident that applying cross-border cooperation can significantly add to fostering its intensity.

For further information about the event and registration

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