Territorial cooperation programmes open an opportunity for Eastern Partnership countries to identify and jointly address common challenges in their border regions towards sustainable economic and social development at local level. The Eastern Partner Territorial Cooperation programme (EaPTC) comprises four territorial cooperation programmes: Armenia – Georgia, Azerbaijan – Georgia, Belarus - Ukraine and Moldova - Ukraine.
Revelle is implementing the project Eastern Partnership Territorial Cooperation Support Programme which focuses on providing capacity building to empower local and regional authorities to effectively manage and participate in the EaPTC programme.
One of the activities undertaken by Revelle was the provision of capacity building activities for potential future beneficiaries through a comprehensive training and development programme targeting the local state and non-state actors applying for grant support. The half day events were held in various cities and towns in Ukraine and Georgia, aimed at raising the awareness of potential beneficiaries about the benefits of the EaPTC programmes and gauging their interest in participating.
The events presented information on the programmes, the envisage role of the key actors and benefits of the programme. However the events were organized in an innovative and interactive manner.
An interactive exercise was included in the programme. Participants were asked to describe their vision of utopia in the year 2070, that is what would their community look like if all goals were achieved in their priority areas (i.e. environment, employment, economic development, etc.). The exercise did not only prove to be successful in engaging the participants in discussion but also served as a brainstorming session to:
- Gain understanding of the local needs, through first-hand information from potential applicants so as to better formulate specific EaPTC programme strategies, priorities and measures.
- Help initiate a first set of possible project ideas
- Identify formal and informal community leaders who can help multiply the messages of the EaPTC programme within their community.
For more information, please visit the EaPTC website
