Welcome to the training session about the EUSBSR on 9^th November 2021 at 9.30-15.15 CET, Online. The event will be organised by the Umbrella 2.0 partner – Union of the Baltic Cities. 

The overall aim is to shift the paradigm from taking part in international projects to becoming an active player in the EUSBSR process. The goal is to share the knowledge on how to build a process for the implementation of EUSBSR at the local level by local authorities and civil society organisations.

Please see the draft programme in the attachment here:

Please fill the application form here:

 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScSbnqdTjYbaqo2Br5yofc_90pIeHBoqhIvq2xE17VgT6Txfw/viewform

What is Umbrella 2.0?

”UMBRELLA 2.0-Boosting transnational cooperation capacities for multilevel actors in the Baltic Sea Region” 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.

Project partners:

• Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic (ERB) – the applicant
• Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC);
• Baltic Sea States Subregional Cooperation (BSSSC) – Associated partner

For any additional questions, please contact UBC Secretariat: info@ubc.net

Umbrella 2.0 organizes two webinars on project management. The material of the previous Umbrella project and the one used in these sessions is available for free in Moodle (register to Moodle platform here https://umbrellainterreg.moodle.school/login/index.php). 

1st PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR BEGINNERS

22 nd October 9.00- 14.00 with a lunch break

Agenda UMBRELLA 2.0 project training. Agenda for Beginners

Is it the first time you approached project management, E.U. funded projects, or international cooperation? Learn with us!

Some of the things you will learn:

– Project Cycle Management

– analyzing a problem or needs

– stating objectives and impacts

– identifying partners and stakeholders

2nd ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT

18th November 9.00-14.00 with a lunch break

Agenda: UMBRELLA 2.0 project training.Agenda for Advanced

Are you confident in project management? We have some tips for you.

Some of the things you will learn:

– Business Analysis Core Concepts Model

– How to plan a strategy

– Networking Diagrams

– TEAM

– Change Management ADKAR

Link to enrol in the courses: https://forms.gle/ozVb34WH8qd9yvS39

N.B. The webinars are for free. They will be held in Zoom Webinars and will be recorded. Some parts of the video lessons will be published in Moodle Platform

Max number of participants 20-25. First come, first served, but we need to confirm your participation up to 3 days after your registration to ensure we have equal geographical coverage within the Baltic Sea Region states, so don’t wait and sign up TODAY).

According to your needs, you can enrol in both the webinars, only in the basic or advanced only.

Are these dates not available for you?

Don’t worry, and the other two webinars will come in December and January.

We’ll keep you posted!

The key goal of the Umbrella 2.0 project is to raise awareness and knowledge of the importance and advantages of transnational and cross-border cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR), following the principles of the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR), European Union Green Deal and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The project, whose partners are Euroregion Baltic (ERB), the Baltic Sea States Subregional Cooperation (BSSSC) and the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC) is funded by the Swedish Institute.

Umbrella 2.0 is dedicated to the BSR local authorities, civil society organisations and small institutions of diversified type, especially those who are newcomers to international cooperation. Our aim is to encourage them to be open to the possibilities provided by cross-border and transnational cooperation, to make them aware it is worthwhile to cooperate and that there are financial tools and project possibilities available to them, too. Furthermore, our ambition is to jointly explore the opportunities and benefits of being a part of the BSR and EUSBSR.

We believe that the best way to convince those who are new to international cooperation is by showing them the best examples of what has already been achieved by others. Thus, we have decided to ask directly those we thought could give some inspiration.

Enjoy the reading!

Click here:  

Umbrella 2.0 developed this booklet with best practices to further build the capacities of small and local actors and inspire more stakeholders to engage in transnational BSR cooperation.

The stories show examples of successful collaboration, extensive networking and present current and future “hot topics” for cooperation in EUSBSR thematic areas.

We asked partners of Baltic Sea cooperation projects and initiatives to share their stories about what good transnational collaboration can bring to their work, their organisations and local communities. They were all so enthusiastic about their work!

We encourage you to read those stories, get inspired and try to start your own transnational or cross-border activity.

DOWNLOAD HERE:

The event will be a joint discussion of five projects engaged in:

1. green technologies and environmental protection,
2. skills and labour development and education services for different target groups
3. connecting and involving institutions to establish future partnerships

The discussion aims to present and inspire participants on how the cross-border cooperation projects can effectively involve local society, youth, and local authorities in activities for green recovery on different levels. The variety of invited speakers will allow leading the discussion towards many fields and threads. Invited to the discussion are representatives of such projects as WASTEMAN, Baltic for All, Umbrella, ArchaeoBalt and SEAPLANSPACE who will present concrete examples of what they did in the context of local community collaboration and their engagement, as well as the impact of the communities’ activities on the sustainable development of their regions. They will discuss options for cross-border training, and networking – all aiming at a greener future of small regions and establishing partnerships. After this session, participants will be able to identify which option for close partnership is suitable for their organisation, a project, or a cluster and how to engage local society for green recovery and more sustainable regions.

REGISTTER HERE: https://eusbsr2021.eu/

Organiser – Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020

The Swedish Institute, in cooperation with Euroregion Baltic Secretariat, the Union of the Baltic Cities Secretariat and Nordregio, invite you to a webinar exploring different collaborative governance models for enhancing stakeholder engagement in the Baltic Sea Region. The webinar aims to boost stakeholder involvement within emerging EUSBSR initiatives related to the green transition. The programme consists of two parts:

The first part will focus on:

• A policy perspective on stakeholder and citizen engagement in the EUSBSR.
• An overview of different EUSBSR governance concepts and practices.
• Practical learnings from ongoing projects, focusing on concrete stakeholder and citizen involvement tools, methods and practices from the Umbrella 2.0 capacity building programme examining how to engage local stakeholders and CSOs in frameworks such as the EUSBSR.
• Hands-on practices coming from regional city networks working on the green transition in the Baltic Sea region

REGISTER HERE: https://eusbsr2021.eu/

The aim of part one is to provide a good overview of both theoretical and practical examples for cross-sectorial and multi-level stakeholder engagement, including horizontal approaches, such as youth participation to boost green transition.

The second part of the webinar will open up the stage to the audience. Smaller group discussions will be arranged to discuss your possible role in future Baltic Sea Region collaborations. Interactive discussions based on participants own personal experiences will be carried out, focusing on: 1) identifying alternative stakeholder engagement best practice tools and methods; 2) establishing how to overcome the challenges of stakeholder mobilisation; 3) exploring the benefits of engagement and how to incentivise stakeholder to become more proactively involved. The key take-aways part of the discussion will be reported to the Annual Forum organisers.

For more information, please contact Gabor Schneider

Organiser – Swedish Insititute, Umbrella 2.0, Nordregio

Introduced in 2009, the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) was the first EU macro-regional strategy of the European Union. Formally adopted by the European Council after a communique from the European Commission (EC), the EUSBSR is an agreement signed between the Member States and the EC to strengthen cooperation between the countries bordering the Baltic Sea and to meet the many joint challenges as well as benefit from common opportunities facing the Baltic Sea region through three objectives: Save the Sea, Connect the Region and Increase Prosperity.

The Umbrella 2.0 project has been developed precisely to make the EUSBSR more “user-friendly” for the local stakeholders. The Umbrella 2.0 project was initiated by the Euroregion Baltic (ERB) and is implemented throughout 2021 with two partners: Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC) and Baltic Sea States Subregional Cooperation (BSSSC). This project is funded by the Swedish Institute, which has supported Baltic Sea cooperation for many years, especially among the local actors. The project also builds on two previous capacity building projects successfully implemented by the Euroregion Baltic and its Partners within the Interreg South Baltic Programme.

Over the course of two months, the experts conducted a series of 14 interviews with Coordinators of all Policy Areas of the Strategy, attempting on the one hand to gain a broad picture of the current status of local stakeholders’ participation but also to listen to interesting ideas and proposals on what should be done further to integrate them in the works of the Strategy. To this end, we asked several questions through which we have received a great deal of interesting feedback and some concrete proposals for the future of the EUSBSR implementation.

The resulting report is directed both towards the local stakeholders who are newcomers to the Strategy as well as those local actors who are more experienced in Baltic cooperation but would like to organise their knowledge and understanding of how the Strategy can be of use for them. Lastly, we hope that this report will help all institutions directly or indirectly involved in implementing the EUSBSR to learn more about the importance of improved collaboration with the local level of governance to achieve the goals outlined in the Strategy.

Download the Umbrella 2.0 report here:

We invite you to join us on June 15th for an Umbrella 2.0 webinar on the EU Green Deal in relation to the Baltic Sea Cooperation.

It is dedicated to the so-called ‘newcomers’ –> small and local organisations willing to engage and increase knowledge on

• ​EU Agenda,
• Organisations active in the Baltic Sea Region
• Projects and their impact in ‘greening’ the BSR
• And much more!
•  

REGISTER & take part in this webinar. Be active in discussions with experts and Q&A session!

LINK: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CUHZ0W3CTJuDK_dIwqD9Zg 

PROGRAMME

10.00: Intro & Welcome 10.05 – 10.20: Setting the scene

• Baltic Sea States Sub-regional Cooperation (BSSSC) by Marta Czarnecka-Gallas, BSSSC Secretary-General
• Umbrella 2.0 by Magda Leszczyna-Rzucidło, Project Coordinator, Umbrella 2.0

10.20 – 11.45: Green Deal- the Strategy that is changing the European Union
• Katarzyna Bałucka-Dębska, EU Commission
• Valdur Lahtvee, Council of Baltic Sea States
• Discussion with experts and Q&A session

11.45- 12.00: Coffe break

12.00 – 13.20: Active for Green Baltic Sea Region
• Miikka Toivonen, CASCADE, Southwest Finland Emergency Services
• Nico Stelljes, INNOVA, Ecologic, Germany
• Maria Micha, Diet for Green Planet, Sweden
• Discussion with experts and Q&A session 13.20 – 13.30: Round-up and Conclusions by Marta Czarnecka-Gallas, BSSSC Secretary-General

You can now read the reports from all 4 thematic workshops that we organised on 27th April, during the Umbrella 2.0 Awareness Raising Event.

Workshop 1 – Circular Economy

Workshop 2 – Culture and Tourism

Workshop 3 – Education

Workshop 4 – Biodiversity and water

We also have recorded the Questions and answers question for you, so if you are curious to know more about the Baltic Sea Cooperation related to EUSBSR, SDGs and EU Green Deal, do not miss it.

Our experts will answer the following questions:

Is the EUSBSR action plan updated from time to time? How often? And how does the negotiation work? Can local actors contribute to it? How?

Our expert: Anders Bergström, EUSBSR Policy Area Education Coordinator

Who’s in charge of monitoring the SDGs achievements in each country of the Baltic Sea States?

Our expert: Olga Zuin, Programme Coordinator of the CBSS Baltic 2030 Unit

How do you think the situation in the tourism sector will change after Covid in the Baltic Sea Region, e.g. how the pandemic affected the way of travelling if there will be any incentives to prefer “green transports.

Our expert: Andrea Krabbe, EUSBSR Policy Area Tourism Coordinator

How to find partners for cooperation activities/ international projects?

Our expert: Magda Leszczyna-Rzucidło, Umbrella 2.0 Project Leader, Euroregion Baltic

How the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region relates to the EU Green Deal?

Our expert: Marta Czarnecka-Gallas, Umbrella 2.0 Project Partner, BSSSC

What are the funding possibilities available at the moment for the Baltic Sea stakeholders when starting international cooperation?

Our expert: Marko Paunovic, Umbrella 2.0 Project Partner, UBC