To promote Montana and Dolj district joint potential of a better tourist stream, by developing Green School Education on the territory of Montana district (BG) and establishing Tourist Information Center in Craiova (RO).

693,880.93 euro, out of which 589,798.78 euro ERDF

Lead beneficiary (LB): Association Center for Development Montanesium /ACDM/ (Montana, Bulgaria)

Beneficiary 2 (B2): Forever for Europe Association (FEA) (Craiova, Dolj, Romania)

Start date: 03.02.2016

End date: 02.08.2017

Duration: 18 months

Montana, Vidin and Vratsa in Bulgaria

Dolj, Olt and Mehedinti in Romania

• Production and broadcasting of ten 15-minutes EN-BG-RO educational-information filmspromoting the cultural and natural heritage of Montana and of ten 15-minutes EN-BG-RO educational-information filmspromoting the cultural and natural heritage of Dolj;
• Organization and carrying out of three 5-days courses of Green School Education in BG - one per each of three target groups of pupils: up to 12 years old, up to 14 years old and up to 16 years old;
• Establishment of Tourist Information Center in Craiova, RO;
• Organization of a 3-days Teachers Forum in RO;
• Production of promotional catalogues, materials and articles for Green School Education - directed to the target groups;
• Promotion of the Green School Education through radio spots broadcasting – both in RO and BG.

Programme outputs: A new tourist CBC integrated product named Green School Education developed on the territory of Montana district, BG; a Tourist Information Center established in Craiova, Dolj, RO and increasing by 100 the expected number of visits to cultural and natural heritage sites in the area.

Programme results: A growth of minimum 3,000 of the number of overnights in the CBC region of Montana and Dolj.

The project beneficiaries have implemented the activities and reached the following results:

The project launching press-conference was organized on 26.04.2016 in Craiova, Romania.

Ten 15-minutes EN-BG-RO educational-information filmspromoting the cultural and natural heritage of Montana and ten 15-minutes EN-BG-RO educational-information filmspromoting the cultural and natural heritage of Dolj were produced. The films were broadcasted on TV channels from Montana, Vratsa, Vidin, Dolj, Olt and Mehedinti and are also available on the project website at the link https://greenschooleducation.eu/media/.

Other 20 films for the cultural and natural heritage and resources of Montana's and Dolj's districts were recorded on 2,000 DVDs and distributed.All educational-information films were distributed to pupils aged 12-16 years, representing the target group of the project.

The Tourist Information Center in Craiova was established and a dedicated Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/greenschooleducation/ was created.

The Center ensures the help-desk and organization of activities according to its purpose of promoting common potential and spreading information among the Craiova community members about common CBC tourist destinations, GSE courses, etc.

The first 5-days course of Green School Education was organized during the period 28.11-03.12.2016in Varshets, Montana for children of up to 14 years from both RO and BG.

2nd edition of the GSE coursewas carried out in the period 27.03.2017-01.04.2017, in the city of Varhstes, for pupils up to 16 years old.

3rd edition of 5-day GSE courses was carried out in the period 19.06.2017-24.06.2017, in the city of Varhstes, for pupils up to 12 years old.

The 3-day Teachers’ Forum was organized in Craiova with the participation of 80 teachers /40 teachers from Montana district, Bulgaria and 40 teachers from Dolj district, Romania. During the 3-day Teachers’ Forum, the teachers defined 6 new tourist destinations /3 in Montana and 3 in Dolj, subordinated on the idea of Green School Education for contribution to the increase of the tourist stream in both regions.

Promotional catalogues, materials and articles for Green School Education (t-shirts, ballpoint engraved pens, backpacks, caps, memory stick) were elaborated and distributed to the target groups.

Both RO and BG radio spots for the promotion of the project were produced and broadcasted in RO and also in BG.

The final press-conference was carried out on 17.07.2017 in the city of Varshets, Bulgaria.

Pictures from the events and more details about the project may be found on the project websitehttp://greenschooleducation.eu/.

Improving the sustainable use of sites of cultural heritage in the area and attracting tourists throughout the entire year.

1,481,057 euro, out of which 1,258,898.45 ERDF

Lead Beneficiary (LB): Balchik Municipality

Beneficiary 2 (B2): Mangalia Municipality

Start date: 03.02.2016

End date: 02.08.2018

Duration: 30 months

Balchik (Dobrich, Bulgaria) and Mangalia (Constanţa, Romania)

• Development of 20 promotional 3D videos;
• 2-day launching events will be organized in Balchik and Mangalia, on which the elaborated videos will be presented;
• Presenting the 3D videos on the facades of sites of cultural heritage on both sides of the border;
• Two exhibition halls in Mangalia and Balchik will be established, in which the promotional videos will be presented on a year-round basis.

Programme outputs: 1 common plan for advertising of cultural heritage in the cross-border region of the two municipalities;

Increase with 1000 the expected number of visits to supported sites of cultural and natural heritage and attraction

Programme results: increase with 54.000 the number of tourist overnights in the CBC region.

The project was finalized in August2018.

The 3D videos promotional videos featuring the cultural heritage of Balchik and Mangalia Municipality were produced and can be seen on the Facebook Page “Мелницата / The Mill”. The 3D projections in Balchik started in the beginning of the summer season in 2017 with an official opening organized on 5^th-6^th of June 2017 and ran through September 2017. Mangalia Municipality opened the presentation of the 3D promotional videos with a 2-day launching event on 8^th-9^th of September 2017, but due to unfavorable weather conditions they were interrupted after 10 days. The 3D presentations were renewed on 28^th of April 2018 and continued throughout the summer season of 2018 until the end of the project.

The beneficiaries also equipped two exhibition halls in Balchik and Mangalia designed to allow presentation of the 3D videos on a smaller scale year-round.

A common plan for advertising the cultural heritage of the cross-border region between the two municipalities, setting up common objectives was elaborated and adopted by Balchik Municipal Council and Mangalia Local council..

To promote and strengthen the partnership between the border environment communities to sustainably management of ecosystems in zones of European Natura 2000 network and to support the cross-border investments in Natura 2000 sites.

1.162.818,31 euro, out of which 988.395,56 euro ERDF

Lead beneficiary (LB): National Environmental Guard – (NEG) (Romania)

Beneficiary 2 (B2): Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water – Veliko Tarnovo (RIEW) (Bulgaria)

Start date: 19.02.2016

End date: 18.07.2018

Duration: 29 months

Bucharest, Olt, Teleorman in Romania

Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria

• Development and implementation of a common management plan for Natura 2000 sites in the cross border Danube area;
• Information system development and implementation to support the common management plan;
• Information and publicity for the project; public awareness concerning Natura 2000 sites.

Programme outputs:

- 1 common management plan;

- 27.046 ha of habitats supported to attain a better conservation status (ha) (COI);

Programme results:

- 4 NATURA 2000 sites in the cross border area with coordinated management tools.

The project is finalized.

With the exception of a training in English, which was not organized by the LP during the implementation period and will be realized instead in the sustainability period, the project activities were realized according to the plan and the expected outputs achieved.

The beneficiaries carried out initiatives for developing cooperation relations with relevant stakeholders (local public authorities, custodians, State Forestry – Svishtov etc and collaboration protocols were concluded.

IT and field work equipment (shoes, trousers, jackets, lifejackets) was purchased.

A common management plan, composed of actions plans for each targeted protected are was developed. The management plan is the result of field studies and mapping of the 4 NATURA 2000 protected areas (Suhaia and Confluenta Olt-Dunare in Romania and Ostrov Vardim and Ribarnitzi Hadji Dimitrovo in Bulgaria).

An Information system designed to support the implementation of the common management plan was also developed.

The web application for the Romanian protected areas is now available at https://incolab.gnm.ro/aplicatie/, while the web application for the BG protected areas can be accessed at http://incolab.vt.riew.gov.bg/.

A Portal for reporting any incident can be accessed at https://incolab.gnm.ro/. A mobile app (look for Incolab) is available in Google Play.

Moreover, a application (available both online and offline) was developed and installed on tablets (also purchased via the project) for the management teams of the NATURA 2000 areas. The app collects data from the field.

Foreign language training in English language for RIEW-Veliko Tarnovo employees was realised. The LB did not manage to organized the English language training within the project implementation period, but should do so in the project sustainability period.