Director’s Editorial – December 2022 Issue

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Dear Friends,

I am putting down my usual introduction in the middle of our holiday season, and the first thing I notice is that, this one of 2022, is not really the most classic winter break we could imagine. And I am not talking only about the international geopolitical situation (and we talked too much about Covid in the recent past). Indeed, since these themes are already familiar with the Projects of the Regional Cooperation Magazine’s Family, I was thinking more about the rather abnormal temperature we are facing these days, at least here in Italy and here around in this side of Europe.

Oslo is one of the few cities with a minus… (-2)!

When I think of Santa Claus, I picture him well wrapped up from the cold in the snow. This year it seems more like sipping an aperitif on a warm spring afternoon.

That is why I thought of all the times we talked about climate change, especially in recent months, and how much our Projects are working to fight it, following the main challenges that have accompanied us throughout this year, from EEA & Norway Grants priorities to the Agenda 2030 goals.

And related to that, I am very happy to introduce you a very interesting chat we organised with the Project Circular-based waste management: during the fourth annual seminar held in Brussels two weeks ago, I listened with great interest to Maritsa’s presentation, that is why we decided to interview her, representing the Project. I am convinced that these issues go beyond our priority areas, on the contrary I believe they help all of us to address some problems that we see and touch every day in our routines.

But during the annual seminar we didn’t just talk about this: a lot of best practices were presented, confirming the high dedication of all of you, regardless of the specific sector covered. Regional Cooperation, after all, is a single whole made up of many small and different pieces, which, step by step, seek connections for new solutions. And, with 2023 around the corner, I believe that you all have been an important ‘piece’ of this puzzle, which is our Family. A Family that is enlarging, as it is demonstrated for example by the collaboration with Tirana, being the 2022 European Capital of Youth, now passing the witness to Poland, with Lublin (with which we are preparing something for January :)).

The Regional Cooperation Projects, indeed, demonstrated that also finding links with the rest of the Family represented by the Fund for Youth Employment members, sometimes directly cooperating together. That is why I want to thank you all, especially considering your important role during the European Year of Youth. Your engagement has been fundamental since 2023 will be the European Year of Skills and Competences: your support during 2022 has been precursor for next year, where you, Projects of the Fund for Regional Cooperation, will be more protagonist.

And I believe that new collaborations will come. In Brussels the two Funds were together. And this picture here, where Vasi Gafiuc representing the Project SEPAL donated this very kind present to me for the whole Fund Operator, again another important demonstration of the solid group we managed to create and cultivate during these years.

In other terms… we need you 🙂 I participated at some events recently, from the Education Summit to the final legacy event of the European Year of Youth, and guess… not only a great attention was given to the main theme of next year, skills and competences, but particularly commissioners, organisations, civil society members and all institutions, they all stressed the importance of cooperation. So… if not you, who?

And you are already doing great, we can see it from this issue of our Mag, just scrolling the titles of the different contributions. I really think that the concepts of skills and competences are already there, it is, for you, a knowledge path. Therefore, we can just go on and ameliorate.

‘Strengthening the Role of the Civil Society and the Media’, ‘Best Practice Guide’, ‘crowdsourcing initiative’, and particularly… a term I liked a lot, ‘transferring’, that I found in the title of the Blue-Greenway Project, or ‘Interborder and inter-agency cooperation’, part of the title of Project Hope, and I could go on…. This is just meaning, to me, not only that our Projects are already anticipating the big theme of next year, but also that we can just keep up and ameliorate.

Let’s open the doors, then, to 2023!

Wishing that it will be full of a higher cooperation, we thank you for the commitment shown up to now.

Gian Luca Bombarda
The Fund Director

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