Development of community cooperation through joint cultural and sport events between Fülöp and Buduslău

Both partners of the project are local authorities, small villages located far from county centres, Debrecen and Oradea. Comuna Buduslău is located 58 km far from Oradea and Fülöp Község 38 km far from Debrecen. The distance between the two localities is 30 km. This way, one challenge of the two partners is to assure the local community services taking into account the significant distance from the county centres. Another problem which emerges from the high distances mentioned above is the lack of working places and economic developments. The partners face the typical problems of the rural and cross border localities located far from developed county centres in the border areas: high rate of migration from the locality to the county centres or to abroad, low investments rate, high rate of unemployment, low rate of birth rate, high rate of ageing etc. In these conditions, the two local authorities can find the best ways to realize the citizens’ participation in the processes of community development through intensifying the cooperation between the communities of Buduslău and Fülöp. In this project, the partners propose an integrated approach to promote the possibility of joint participation of citizens.The expected main overall objective of our project will be the following: increase the number of citizens participating in cross-border community development and cooperation (directly and recorded in lists of presence: totally 210 participants, and at public events totally 800-1000 participants) and in this way having result one long-time lasting economic cooperation between the representatives of the agricultural sector, cooperation of totally 60 citizens in joint sport activities and cooperation of totally 110 citizens in joint agricultural expertise events. In this project we will assure the start of the multi-annual cross-border events. First, in the framework of the project, we will organize the two major public events with participants from the localities on the other side of the border, but the partners want to realize these events on a yearly basis, with joint participation of folk groups and choirs from the partner locality. Secondly, the joint sport competitions will offer a possibility for joint meetings for a total of 60 young people from the two localities. These sport competitions will be organized yearly by the partners before the project will be closed. Thirdly, a total number of 100 participants will take part in the joint expertise events where they will debate the joint problems and will find solutions in the field of agriculture, processing, joint economic development, etc.The main outputs of our project can be quantified as a following: totally 1310 participants will take place in the project activities. At the two cultural public events "Day of the traditional meals from Hajdú Bihar and Bihor countries" and "Fest of the New Bread in Buduslău" it is expected to have totally 1100 participants from the two partner localities and from the other neighbourhood localities. At the project Starting and Closing events totally 50 participants will take place: representatives of local authorities from the area of Buduslău and Fülöp will be invited and representatives of local and regional newspapers, on-line media, TV-s, etc. At the expertise events in the field of agriculture, processing and joint working, joint possibilities totally 100 citizens will take part. From these 100 citizens 30 will be representatives of the local SMEs, firms, farmers, etc. At the two sport competitions totally 60 citizens will take part, groups from the citizens who organized their own team, youth from the local educational institutions, etc.The project basic topic is the increase of the community participation, but the innovative way that we want to use is the cross-border involvement and cooperation. This way, if we plan to organize the events only at local or regional level, these events will remain only local cultural fest. In our project, a new approach will be realized using for steps: first, we will inform the communities, secondly we will organize cross-border public major events, thirdly cross-border sport events will be organized and, finally, one long-term lasting cooperation in the joint development of agriculture and products processing will be started. All these steps together will offer an integrated approach to perform a significant intervention in each partner community. This way, the citizens will be involved in the cross-border cooperation and this is the base of our entire project: the citizens will be attracted by the possibility to receive and learn something new, to get information about the other locality from the other country.All project activities have a high cross-border character and all of them are important for each partner due to the fact that each of them reflect the joint needs of the border regions. The low rate of births, the lack of the sense of belonging, the high rate of the unemployment conduct to the low interest in active citizenship. This way, with the proposed joint cross border actions we will give new opportunities for each locality’s citizens. They will have the opportunity to show the cultural performances on the scenes when major public events will take place, will receive information through the Event Calendar, leaflets, posters etc. and they will participate on sport competitions and expertise events.

Achieved: 1) 2 football and 2 handball competitions organized in Buduslău and Fülöp with approx. 30 participants/competition, increasing the cooperation between the youth and the other members of the two communities. 2) A better knowledge of the traditions and cultures of the two villages through 2 public events, with over 1100 participants.Activities carried out through these events: cultural and traditional performances; prepared traditional meals; bread made out the wheat flour from Fülöp and from Buduslău. 3) Totally 100 participants at the expertise days organized in Fülöp and Buduslău informed about the possibilities of cooperation in the field of agriculture, processing, local and traditional products, custom policies, financial aid of the European Union, etc. Finalized: 1) 4 sport competitions on both sides of the border; 2) 2 public events (Day of the traditional meals from Hajdú Bihar and Bihor counties and Fest of the New Bread) organized on both sides of the border; 3) 2 expertise days on the topic of agriculture and joint possibilities, organized on both sides of the border.

The expected main results of our project will be the following: the increased number of citizens participating in cross-border community development and cooperation (directly and recorded in lists of presence: totally 210 participants, and at public events totally 800-1000 participants), one long-time lasting economic cooperation between the representatives of the agricultural sector and totally 1970 pieces of various promotional materials. The two major public events were organized in the last years in each of the two localities, but only with the participation of local citizens. This way, with this project we will assure the start of the multi-annual cross-border events. First, in the framework of the project, we will organize the two major public events with participants from the localities on the other side of the border, but the partners want to realize these events on a yearly basis, with joint participation of folk groups and choirs from the partner locality. Secondly, the joint sport competitions will offer a possibility for joint meetings for a total of 60 young people from the two localities. These sport competitions will be organized yearly by the partners before the project will be closed. Thirdly, a total number of 100 participants will take part in the joint expertise events. In conclusion, we can state that our project results will assure the increase of the cooperation between the citizens from Fülöp and Buduslău, and in the same time it will increase the cooperation between the two local authorities, which are the partners of this project. The proposed project activities and the expected results are in line with the INTERREG V-A Romania-Hungary Co-operation Program specific output indicator (11/b/2 “Number of people participating in cross-border cooperation initiatives”).