WINNERS

The Awards Gala Event was held
in Tallinn on 26th September 2013 and
the AWARDS for Leader transnational cooperation projects was presented

The Nordic-Baltic Regions Rural Network Support Units -
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden
initiated the Nordic-Baltic Leader Cooperation Award.

 Words from the Jury:

Partner areas all have rurality as a core issue and seek to overcome economic fragility through the promotion of the natural and cultural tourism assets in their areas via responsible tourism.
Partner areas are able to learn from the experiences and lessons of the other regions some of whom already have experience to share. Each area hosts a nature/cultural tourism conference. Representatives from tourism businesses in their area attend. Learning about best practice in tourism, networking with other tourism businesses and experience local tourism. Delegates make suggestions to develop products based on the knowledge they bring from the partner area. More info HERE

Joint actions
• Develop a marketing website which will link to the home page for the partner areas promotional website. This will be the primary means of communication to visitors.
• Host an exchange program allowing partners to take part in a variety of nature and culture based activities in host LAG areas- By sharing their advice and experience it enables the host LAG to strengthen the experience of other visitors to their area
• Host a conference on a theme of nature based tourism- Each area will identify the theme for their conference and invite local businesses and tourism offices. Delegates will attend from each of the partner areas.
• Promote their area through attendance at Travel Fairs to network and build up a list of new contacts.
• Host a range of press visits and promote their area through other media

LAGs of 6 European countries are working together communicating their cultural heritage through emerging field of interest for many European people – Middle Ages. Preparing for, participating in, visiting Medieval Festivals in partner regions are the most important activities. Local heritage and history research, seminar presentations, practical exchange of experience in organising large cultural events are also important outcomes. Medieval cultural heritage as a tool for developing tourism in partner regions is investigated, as well as involvement of young people in handicraft, event management, musical, theatre and other practical self-expression opportunities – with possible source of future income as a perspective. More info HERE

Website

The transnational project aimed at business development through establishing business contacts between Polish and Swedish rural firms. Business contacts consist in reciprocal visits and study tours, organizing and participating at fairs in both countries that enable testing products and services. The testing groups from both countries visit each other for inspiration and business development, combining taking part in local fairs with testing local food and tourist offers like fishing. Evaluation of joint events is an im portant part of the project. The firms receive feedback needed to meet the expectations from potential business partners and visitors from the other country. More info HERE

Website

 The main objective of the project is to strengthen links between schools and local food producers. The aim of the project is to study the implementation options of short supply chain from producers and processors "from farm to pot", exchange experiences and to learn from each other. The second objective is to teach children practical examples, farm work, food preparation, etc. The project activities are divided into two groups:
1. Activities oriented towards school children; Called "farm to fork", it includes activities during school hours or after school, it helps to better understand the whole process starting from farmers contribution till the final product is in the market by offering students to see and experience the whole process – in their own country or in some other country.
2. Activities oriented towards staff of schools and pre-schools/nurseries. Together with partners they are organizing a variety of events and thematical days, which are related to topics of local food and eating habits, such as exchange of school cooks in individual partner country, in England and in France; introducing the values of local food to children. As the result of the project, a number of movie clips will be produced to make the learning process more interesting together with the interactive cookbook, that is translated into English, French and Estonian. More info HERE

Websites: hiiusellid.webnode.com

growinggastronauts.wix.com/cooperation

growing-gastronauts.eu/index.html