Bilateral initiative 2024 - 2025

Continuation of bilateral cooperation between Polish, Norwegian and Icelandic municipalities as an example of establishing lasting relations after Local Development Programme and expanding cooperation in the preparation of the next financial perspective

Sources of funding: Bilateral Cooperation Fund, European Economic Area Financial Mechanism and Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021.

The intention of the project is to facilitate the continuation of cooperation between all interested Norwegian/Icelandic cities/municipalities and the 53 Polish cities that participated in Phases II and III of Local Development Programme within the EEA and NMF 2014-2021, after the Local Development Programme has ended, as a bridge to the new financial perspective of the EEA and Norwegian Financial Mechanism.

Activities planned within the framework of the project:

  • grants to cities to enable the continuation of bilateral cooperation established during the Local Development Programme. The amount of the grant is equivalent to € 60 thousand.
  • study visits to Norway for Polish local government officials and to Poland for representatives of Norwegian and Icelandic local authorities
  • internships in Norway/Iceland for Polish municipalities and in Poland for Norwegian/Icelandic local government officials
  • workshops and conferences: a total of 5 events in Norway, Latvia, Brussels during the Open Days (EU Regions Week 2024) and a conference summarising the Local Development Project in Warsaw
  • organisation of educational seminars of the Local Development Forum in the online format
  • organisation of meetings of four Experience Exchange Networks with the participation of experts from Norway/Iceland:

    > Citizens’ town     – focus on civic participation, participatory governance methods, migrants integration methods and experience, etc.;
    > Accessible and just town – social and senior policy, silver economy, social inclusion, social assistance in the civil protection systems, etc.;
    > Entrepreneurial town – supporting local entrepreneurship, sub-regional development with active participation of private sector, use of public-private-partnership for local economic dev.;
    > Effective town – effective methods of human resource development (HRD) and personnel management to support implementation of city development policies, etc.;

Partners: Association of Polish Cities, Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS)

Period of implementation: 1 April 2024 – 28 February 2025