Open Doors for Culture and Tradition in EUrope

Cooperation along border is a way of life in the Romanian-Hungarian cross-border territory. At institutional level, links have come together in a certain manner. The Romanian – Hungarian People-to-people projects are essentially initiatives that are based on cooperation. In this respect, both partners are agreed that proposed activities will have a higher impact in case a partnership is signed and responsively conducted. Cooperation between Town of Aleşd and Town of Kaba will be based on a real partnership and on the principle of subsidiarity (involvement of all those who can contribute to the cross-border cooperation process).The project fulfills all four criteria for cooperation: joint development, joint implementation, joint staffing and joint financing. Also the project activities partially fits to the EU Strategy for the Danube Region.The project is part of a long term collaboration between the partners, the two towns are twinned since 1990. In these nearly 30 years, the two local public authorities organized several joint events. This project is part of the multi-annual programs jointly organized by the two project partners. The partners are committed to sustain cooperation in the long-run. This project is linked to other initiatives and projects partners have implemented or approached before. Both partners have past experience and connections with different communities from this region or even from other countries.The main objective of the project is to strengthen the connections between the local communities of Alesd and Kaba. This main objective is sustained by two specific objectives: increasing the awareness about the common cultural heritage in the border region and strengthening the personal relations among the members of the two communities.The objectives of the project will be attained through a series of four cross-border events, organized in Alesd and Kaba. The approach in Alesd was to organize a larger scale event, which attracts a bigger number of participants with the programs including a variety of cultural and tradition related elements. As for Kaba, the Hungarian partner’s approach is to set three events that are smaller than that one from Aleşd, but focused on specific topics.Alesd Town (LP) will organize the celebration of the “Open Borders festival”, and Kaba Town will be responsible for the organization of Asszonyboldogito Archery Contest, of Autumn Fest and of Celebration of 1st of May.All these events will be promoted through different types of promotional materials. A Joint Communication Plan will be elaborated by the project team at the beginning og the project implementation.Two categories of target goups were identified: the two partner institutions (institutions of the local public administration of small-size cities in the Romanian-Hungarian border area: Alesd and Kaba) and the general public. Due to the fact that these events are public and organized outdoors, anyone can participate as a spectator. The idea of this project emerged in at the beginning of 2017. In the preparation phase, both partners were involved in the elaboration of the project.The project management activity will be carry out by internal management team (Job descriptions were elaborated). The LP's project management team consists of five members, and the PP's project management team has 3 members. The project manager (LP) will coordinate the entire activity of the project.The power of crowd is essential for the success and promotions of the project and of the ROHU programme. Once this project gets to be implemented, the visibility of this ROHU programme will also increase and will contribute to the creation of a more enabling cooperation environment.The total project budget is 76.000 euros: 41.000 - Alesd Town (Lead partner) and 35.000 - Kaba Town (Project partner). The budget is balanced between partners, according with each partner activities, and is proportional with partner’s role and responsibility in the project.

Achieved: 1) Better cooperation between citizens; a close and strong relationship between communities. 2) Aware citizens of the two countries of the specific traditions, increased active interraction of citizens in informal frame (concerts, cultural and sport events), preservation of the cultural diversity of the two countries. Finalized: 1) The “Open Borders festival” was organized in Alesd to present and promote the beauty and richness of the folk dances specific for the nationalities from the cross-border area. The cultural program of the festival was complemented by a series of gastronomic and sports competition; 1) Acquisition of the equipment needed for the sport competitions, the gastronomic festival and the cultural performances organized in Alesd; 2) Electric power generator equipment 20 kW purchased .It was needed during the events organized, in order to ensure the energy supply for all the activities of the festival. 3) Cross-border community events were organized in Kaba: Asszonyboldogito archery contest , Autumn Fest . 4) Football equipments for different age categories for children that will be used by the kids participating in the football competition organized during the Kaba Youth Soccer Competition event. 5) 10 booths houses purchased for the logistics of Open Border Festival.

The main result of the project will be a more intense cooperation between the local communities from Alesd and Kaba. The intensity of cooperation will manifest both in terms of the quantity of cross-border relations, and in their quality. Hence, the project will create the platform which will facilitate the higher number of contacts between the folk dance ensambles from the two cities, which may result in an increased number of joint performances. Moreover, it will establish relations between the sport clubs of the two cities (football, handball, archery), which will invite each other in their future competitions. The cultural and sport cooperations will be complemented by the participation of the general public in the cross-border events organized within the project, so that they can get in contact with the general social environment specific for the partner city. The joint implementation of the project will create an intense working platform between the two partner municipalities, which will bring them closer to each other, will determine frequent contacts and higher awareness about the opportunities for cooperation on institutional level The increased number of contacts between organizations will eventually evolve into a development of the quality of the cooperations. The partner communities will be able to develop joint initiatives of higher complexity, tackling common challenges.