Decision № 72 / 22.03.2018 of the Monitoring Committee for Financing under the program INNERREG V-A ROMANIA – BULGARIA has approved a project proposal “JOINT VOLUNTEERING FOR A SAFER LIFE, ROBG-332”.
Funding Contract № 98956 / 31.08.2018 starts on September 12, 2018 and is worth €998,815.75, of which 85% is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and 15% is national co-financing and own funds.
The duration of execution of the project proposal is 36 months. The project is performed in partnership with the Municipality of Tutrakan – leading partner, as well as the DG “Fire Safety and Protection of the Population”, Ministry of Interior, the Republic of Bulgaria, Romanian General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, the Republic of Romania and the National Association of Volunteers in the Republic of Bulgaria – project partners.
The project addresses the common challenges related to risk management and emergency response in the cross-border area of Romania and Bulgaria. Its aim is to improve the theoretical and practical readiness of voluntary formations and to speed up their coordination and effective response in case of disaster in the region. This will be achieved by creating a specialized volunteer training center in the village of Belitsa, Municipality of Tutrakan.
The project partners will jointly explore the possibilities for interaction through risk analysis in the cross-border region and develop a training program.
Over the course of the project, as pilot initiative, over 200 volunteers from Bulgaria and Romania will be trained and will acquire appropriate theoretical and practical skills.
The training center will be the first of its kind on the Balkan Peninsula.
Combined with modified and coordinated procedures, trainings will take place in unique educational institutions, providing the full range of facilities and equipment necessary for accommodation, study and acquisition of practical skills.
The implementation of the project will contribute to solve the most urgent problems related to the establishment and effective functioning of volunteering formations in both countries. The project goes beyond the existing practice of protecting the population by implementing a new joint approach to building a better local expertise.