Dear Friends,
So here we are: another December has arrived. Looking at and reading all of you through this fantastic roundup of final events and communication officers’ stories/perspectives is – at the same time – sad and great.
It is sad, since it means your Projects are ending, that new chapters are ahead of us. And, it has been a pleasure for us, as Fund Operator, to participate at your conferences where and when we could in person and/or by remote, but for sure we were always there with you with our heart. At the same time, we are proud, happy and grateful: this community is not only a group of Projects, among their implementers! Behind each Project there are persons, which – for convenience – we call ‘communication officers’, linked to WP2 activities!. But they have been there organising communication activities, articles, collecting pictures and research papers (most of the time writing them!), and, therefore, helping our EEA/Norway Regional Programme dissemination purposes, that are so important for us.
Within this sort of showreel of faces and final activities, it would be impossible not to feel the sense of belonging to a Family. Usually, we like to talk about this ‘membership’ in all the occasions we have. And we, as Fund Operator, just hope that you feel a part of it as we do. Therefore, thank you for all your efforts, activities, messages, and for your patience. We do believe that we have been sharing the same level of engagement in reaching common goals.
Some pages further down, you will see a link: just click on it and enjoy your faces, your words. This video, the Annual Seminar experience, which is available as well with a longer version, wants to be a sort of present for all of you as persons part of important Projects. We believe that those sentences recorded can be shared by all of you, even if you are not directly part of the shootings. We know you were there, physically and/or with your soul.
It is with these emotions that I want to say something more.
Indeed, I (we) don’t want to use this editorial as a goodbye. We still have some work to do together! I remember that in this video I said something like: «we will be here till February talking with you, chatting with you and asking you to implement activities»… 😊
For sure everybody is trying to understand what will happen in the future.
A positive news is arrived to us, that on the 1st of Decemberan Agreement between the EEA/EFTA States and the European Commission, where the Financial Mechanism 2021-2028 is embedded, has been reached. It should, however, be highlighted that until it is not unanimously signed at the Council, this Agreement and the related funds allocation for the FMO activities cannot enter to force. Still some actions need to take place but having reached an Agreement is the first brick and step forward to possible new funding opportunities for our Family.
Who knows if, later on, our Donors will also consider reproposing this transnational regional experience and path: we will be there informing you asap!
Finally, I think you were expecting this. In some of our last messages, exactly just after the end of our 5th Annual Seminar, we have been scouting some options to prepare our – most probably – last edition of the Regional Funds Online Magazine. And, since you know me well already, I am reposting here the sense of that message. Please, think about your special best practices, those you would like to be replicated in the future despite the end of this financing period, and let us know. Just few days ago, as you can see in this picture, we have been – I would recall, again – listed as one of the FMO’s best practices… we believe, thanks to your reached goals, that your path won’t stop here, but at the same time: We, You, deserve a great ending, don’t you agree?
Well, I believe that the pages you are going to scroll, and the faces you will see, are just some of the reasons why the answer should be YES! – and please not that ‘YES!’ is not only one of the Projects…. 😊you are ALL involved, because you all count, you all deserve it, simply because it’s worth it.
If it was not clear enough, this is not (or not still at least!) a goodbye. We still have a lot of work to do. Therefore, during these winter holidays, we simply ask you to think about your best experiences, the one you would present as winning ones.
And on this, our friend Tom wanted to pay homage to all of us with a further element of reflection: From Darkness……Into Light! As he wants to underline, not all is dark, and while lately we have been very much exposed to dark, there is also light, and allow me to add : also FUTURE.
We will be here, as always, ready to help you in disseminating your best results.
I hope to see you all soon!
Merry Christmas
Gian Luca Bombarda
The Fund Director
