Speak Up [FA]

Programme 2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B North Sea

Date of latest update: 2025-02-03

Description

Description (EN):

Across the North Sea Region cities and governments face similar big governance challenges: rising energy poverty, increasing social polarisation. and the need to transition to greener and more circular economies. Behind this however is a background of decreasing trust in government and increasing citizen disengagement. We need to develop better ways of working between citizens and governments if we are to successfully tackle these great challenges, and tp provide an effective voice to citizens and communities. Speak Up will develop new frameworks and models for citizen engagement and participation that give governments better ways of engaging with citizens (G2C) and which give citizens better ways to engage with governments (C2G). We will reconnect citizens and governments by developing better ways to engage and to participate, by reaching out to more and different communities, and by working to defuse polarisation. We will do this through 3 Work Packages - 1) Engaging Citizens and Communities, 2) Capacity Building, and 3) Mainstreaming. These will identify effective ways of working with citizens and communities, providing governments and citizens with evidence-based approaches to more effective participation and engagement, and then mainstreaming these approaches across the NSR. Speak Up will also deliver impact across the other three NSR priorities. Our work on delivering more effective citizen engagement and participation directly contributes towards Priority 1 - Robust and smart economies - by delivering more efficient and effective government. 7 partners are delivering G2C and C2G initiatives in Priority 2 (Supporting the green transition) and in Priority 3 (Climate resilience). Speak Up's engagement frameworks and best practices will enable governments to embed effective citizen & community engagement and participation in their work, turning engagement from a <> to <> - and enabling them to deliver participation by design.

Actual Achievements (EN):

Groningen: kick off meeting held where we met, learned about finances, reporting, communication and management. Every month we have online meetings. The 2th live meeting was in France. During this period we organized two webinars on the Collective Impact Model and on Citizen Assemblies, both given by HAI. Citizens Assembly's C2G & G2C: Drenthe, Mechelen, Roeselare and Groningen all experiment with Citizen Assembly's to improve participation and outreach to different communities. There are many learning opportunities and the knowledge partners (RUG for instance) follow these pilots with research. Impressing numbers: Drenthe Assembly: 150 citizens participating and online 6500. Focus on Youth: Summer Camps for young people (democracy talks with local youth) were held in Malmö and Oldenburg + International Youth Think Tank. Another round follows in 2025. The method is studied by RUG. Bellidée has focused on youth with their project on people empowering the young and reinforcing their active citizenship. Climate & participation : 3 Partners work on Climate & participation (Mechelen, Skive and Malmö) and work with different methods for participation. Skive for instance works with Climate Villages through The Art of Invitation - thus involving local communities in shaping sustainable development projects. VIA follows and researches this project. Participation approaches: Collective Impact Model and Participatory Budgeting : HAI is researching the Collective Impact model and will conduct a detailed analysis of best practices among some of the Speak Up partners (Roeselare). Groningen is experimenting with a very interactive citizens' budget project. Governance: Several partners are conducting work on capacity building and governance, Drenthe produced a mission document on 'connected governance' which was the basis for their participatory approach. Also Mechelen and Groningen work on governance aspects of participation. Other projects we work with: GoCore and Listen.

Website: https://www.interregnorthsea.eu/speak-up

Thematic information

Governance, partnership Social inclusion and equal opportunities Community integration and common identity

Priority: (VI-B_NS_4) Priority 4: Better governance in the North Sea region

Priority specific objective: ISO6.6. Other actions to support better cooperation governance (all strands)

Priority policy objective (Interreg specific objective): PO6 (ISO1) A better cooperation governance

Type of intervention: 173 Enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders to implement territorial cooperation projects and initiatives in a cross-border, transnational, maritime and inter-regional context

Partners (12)

Lead Partner: Gemeente Groningen

Partner’s ID if not PIC: NL825783434B01

Address: Kreupelstraat 3 / Postbox 30026, 9700 RM, 9712HW Groningen, Netherlands

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Local public authority

Website: http://www.gemeentegroningen.nl

Total budget: EUR 959 928.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 575 957.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 60.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 383 971.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Name: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Partner’s ID if not PIC: NL001932706B01

Address: PO Box 3 9700 AA Groningen / Grote Kruisstraat 2/1 9712 TS Groningen, 9712CP Groningen, Netherlands

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://www.rug.nl/

Total budget: EUR 373 652.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 224 191.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 59.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 149 461.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

Vrije Universiteit van Brussel

Name: Vrije Universiteit van Brussel

Partner’s ID if not PIC: BE 449 012 406

Address: Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, 1050 Brussel, Belgium

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://hannah-arendt.institute/

Total budget: EUR 309 456.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 185 674.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 60.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 123 782.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

VIA University College, Aarhus

Name: VIA University College, Aarhus

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 30773047

Address: Hedeager 2, 8200 Aarhus, Denmark

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: http://www.via.dk/

Total budget: EUR 288 723.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 173 234.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 60.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 115 489.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

Stadt Oldenburg

Name: Stadt Oldenburg

Partner’s ID if not PIC: DE117472033

Address: Markt 20-21, 26122 Oldenburg, Germany

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Local public authority

Website: https://www.oldenburg.de/startseite.html

Total budget: EUR 238 086.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 142 852.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 60.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 95 234.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

Stad Roeselare

Name: Stad Roeselare

Partner’s ID if not PIC: BE0207.432.520

Address: Botermarkt 2 8800 Roeselare, 8800 Stad Roeselare, Belgium

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Local public authority

Website (not verified): https://www.roeselare.be/

Total budget: EUR 330 560.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 198 336.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 60.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 132 224.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

Stad Mechelen

Name: Stad Mechelen

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 0207499430

Address: Grote Markt 21, 2800 Mechelen, 2800 Mechelen, Belgium

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Local public authority

Website: https://www.mechelen.be/

Total budget: EUR 389 189.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 233 513.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 59.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 155 676.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

Skive Kommune

Name: Skive Kommune

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 29 18 95 l79

Address: Energibyen Skive, Rådhuspladsen 2, 7800 sKIVE, Denmark

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Local public authority

Website: https://www.energibyenskive.dk/

Total budget: EUR 353 114.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 211 868.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 59.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 141 246.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

Province Drenthe

Name: Province Drenthe

Partner’s ID if not PIC: Drenthe NL.0015.87.924.B.02

Address: Westerbrink 1, 9405BJ Assen, Netherlands

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Regional public authority

Website: https://www.provincie.drenthe.nl/

Total budget: EUR 318 100.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 190 860.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 60.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 127 240.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

Malmö stad

Name: Malmö stad

Partner’s ID if not PIC: SE212000112401

Address: August Palms Plats 1, 20580 Malmö, Sweden

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Local public authority

Website: https://malmo.se/

Total budget: EUR 341 286.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 204 772.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 60.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 136 514.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

International Youth Think Tank

Name: International Youth Think Tank

Partner’s ID if not PIC: SE556568636601

Address: Lindholmspiren 5, 40278 Gothenburg, Sweden

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Interest groups including NGOs

Website: http://iythinktank.com

Total budget: EUR 195 528.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 117 317.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 60.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 78 211.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

Bellidée

Name: Bellidée

Partner’s ID if not PIC: N.a.

Address: 6/8 résidence René Descartes, 62280 Saint-Martin-Boulogne, France

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Interest groups including NGOs

Website: https://centresocialeclate.centres-sociaux.fr/

Total budget: EUR 333 486.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 200 092.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 60.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 133 394.00

GBER schemes / de minimis:

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Municipality of Groningen

Speak Up [FA]

Partners and Projects info

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Speak Up [FA]

Partners and Projects info

Free University of Brussels

Speak Up [FA]

Partners and Projects info

VIA University College, Aarhus

Speak Up [FA]

Partners and Projects info

City of Oldenburg

Speak Up [FA]

Partners and Projects info

Stad Roeselare

Speak Up [FA]

Partners and Projects info

stad Mechelen

Speak Up [FA]

Partners and Projects info

Skive Municipality

Speak Up [FA]

Partners and Projects info

Provincie Drenthe

Speak Up [FA]

Partners and Projects info

City of Malmö

Speak Up [FA]

Partners and Projects info

International Youth Think Tank

Speak Up [FA]

Partners and Projects info

Bellidée

Speak Up [FA]

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Operation of strategic importance (OSI) or above EUR 5 million

Project name (EN): Speak Up [FA]

Project acronym: Speak Up

Project ID: BaEGlAN5g

Project start date: 2023-12-01

Project end date: 2026-12-01

Project status: ongoing

Relevant mentions and prizes:

false

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 4 431 108.00

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 2 658 666.00

Total EU funding (co-financing rate): 60.00%

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 2 658 666.00. Co-financing rate, 60.00%.

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

(bullets are inserted automatically and may be incorrectly placed)

Deliverables:

Making engagement more accessible - thematic and technical reports / Reports that pull together the key ideas and lessons learned for the main thematic areas covered by Speak Up - from enabling engagement & participation to support the grand challenges (green transition, climate resilience) to lessons learned testing different engagement approaches (e.g. citizen panels). Thematic reports will include: Supporting the Green transition Climate Resilience Technical reports will include: Tackling polarisation Digital participation Engaging different target groups
Citizen engagement - identifying good practice and effective approaches / Review of current approaches to citizen engagement and citizen/community participation, with a focus on identifying good practice in strategic and operational approaches across key themes, and establishing engagement and participation baselines. This will be used to develop 3 models and frameworks for citizen engagement that link academic theory with local practices and case studies, which will enable users to build on established theories of change and apply them to local situations.
Identifying the skills gaps that limit citizen engagement and participation in G2C and C2G initiatives - use cases / Local and transnational use cases from across the partnership that work to overcome skills and capacity gaps that hinder the delivery of more effective engagement and participation. Activities will include: Development of organisation-wide approaches to engagement Creating a 'Competence Model' for local leaders Training on moderation and engagement skills to work more effectively in polarised situations Reviewing internal communication processes around engagement and participation activities
Final conference - Better Governance to Deliver Big Transitions - Enabling Engagement and Participation across the North Sea Region / This showcase in person event will show the impact Speak Up has had in delivering increased and more effective citizen engagement and participation. It will highlight learning, best practices, and impact from Speak Up partners across key themes and approaches to local, regional, national and transnational networks. The event will broadcast the strategic and practical lessons learned from the project to new and broader audiences to enable wider adoption of Speak Up's lessons and frameworks.
Developing new models and frameworks for citizen engagement and participation / Speak Up partners will collect information on existing good practice in governments' citizen engagement and citizen working, and identify lessons learned and new planned approaches to engagement in the partnership and the NSR. This material will be used to develop 3 models and frameworks for citizen engagement that link academic theory with local practices and case studies, and which enable practitioners to build on established theories of change and apply them to local situations and objectives.
Learning on how to address the skills gaps that limit citizen engagement and participation / Speak up will provide a wide range of short and long-form outputs (web pages, reports, videos, podcasts etc.) to highlight how partners have addressed capacity and skills gaps to enable the development of new strategic governance approaches to engagement and participation. These outputs will help users link new frameworks, toolkits and our lessons learned. They will enable and support capacity development within the partnership, whilst also enabling capacity development beyond the partnership.
Delivering better government by design - Better approaches to citizen engagement and participation / Report bringing together the key learning from Speak Up in one place in an integrated format that will be useful for governments, citizens, communities, and other organisations The report will bring together engagement approaches, thematic learning, academic findings, and lessons learned by Speak Up in an accessible format that readers can use to develop new strategic approaches to engaging with citizens, and to help build local engagement and participation capacity.
Reports on new models and frameworks for citizen engagement and participation / Speak Up will produce 3 frameworks for better governance: Collective Impact Model - a framework for local governments and communities to align C2G and G2C initiatives resulting in more measurable impact Action research on engagement and governance will identify ways to incorporate citizen engagement and participation approaches in effective governance structures Living Lab for improving constructive dialog will develop approaches to managing polarised situations and work in contentious environments
Developing capacity and skills to enable the adoption of new approaches to C2G and G2C - use cases / Local and transnational use cases and approaches from across the partnership that show how partners have developed capacity and skills to adopt new ways of working that deliver more effective engagement and participation approaches. Activities will include: Testing different models for neighbourhood participation Developing new models/modules for staff training and development Training in new approaches to engage the disengaged Teaching staff new methods/models for co-creation and participation
Testing new government approaches to engagement and participation - G2C use cases / Local and transnational use cases, trials, and proof of concepts that test different G2C approaches to citizen engagement and participation across the partnership. Selected activities include: compiling inventories of engagement activities/approaches improving internal governance frameworks for engagement testing new ways to drive staff engagement to support the green transition developing new ways to use citizens panels in policy development developing new digital engagement approaches
Delivering capacity building resources to enable skills development and the adoption of new approaches to C2G and G2C / Speak up will provide a wide range of short and long-form outputs (web pages, reports, videos, podcasts etc.) to support capacity building and skills development for community and citizen engagement, enabling the development of new strategic approaches. These outputs will help users link new frameworks, toolkits and our lessons learned. They will enable and support capacity development within the partnership, whilst also enabling capacity development beyond the partnership.
Project kick-off meeting / Internal meeting to launch the Speak Up project. We will bring partners and stakeholders together to introduce the Speak Up project, introduce the technical and thematic areas we will work in, and how we will work with partners/stakeholders over the life of the project. We will set out how we will deliver the WPs and the transnational collaborations needed to develop and deliver Speak Up's models, frameworks, and outputs.
Year 1/Year 2 conferences - Speak Up in action / Online conferences at the end of year one and year two will bring together policy, practitioner, academic and citizen audiences to learn about new approaches to citizen engagement and participation, learning about best practice from the NSR, and practical lessons from Speak Up partners. This event will introduce partners and supporters and citizens to Speak Up and give them skills and information that will inform their approaches to engagement and participation.
Sharing lessons learned when testing new approaches to government engagement and participation (G2C) / Communication and engagement program to disseminate information and learning around local use cases that tested new ways for governments to enable citizen engagement and citizen/community participation across different thematic domains and technical approaches. Outputs will be shared across multiple channels (social, web, email, LinkedIn etc.) and formats (articles, videos, podcasts) and will provide a combination of short informational updates, and longer form results and lessons learned.
Understanding the impact of different participation activities on citizens and governments - use cases / Local and transnational use cases across the partnership that explore ways to measure the impact and effectiveness of different engagement and participation approaches. Activities will include: Monitoring the take-up of participation activities, including by different target groups Measuring effectiveness of different approaches via surveys etc. Creating structured approaches to monitoring engagement across organisations Cross-organisational review of participation formats and effectiveness
European program and project support activities - Interreg and beyond / Speak Up will run workshops/online/in-person events for current Interreg projects and for Interreg projects that are under development, so they have an opportunity to be informed by and adopt Speak Up learning about effective means of citizen engagement in their workplans and activities. We will also arrange joint meetings with other relevant programs in the NSR to embed learning from Speak Up more widely within European programs.
Testing different ways to engage with new groups of citizens and communities in governance and participation activities - C2G use cases / Local and transnational use cases, test beds and proof of concepts that are working on ways to engage with new (or different) target groups to deliver different outcomes or to expand the reach of engagement activities. Selected activities include: new platforms to allow citizens to contribute ideas/suggestions developing new approaches to working with marginalised citizens new ways to reach young people in policy design new approaches to co-design and co-creation to support the green transition
Explaining the impact of different participation activities on citizens and governments / Speak up will provide a wide range of short and long-form outputs (web pages, reports, videos, podcasts etc.) to support understanding of how to understand the impact of different participation activities. These outputs will help users link new frameworks, toolkits and our lessons learned. They will enable and support capacity development within the partnership, whilst also enabling capacity development beyond the partnership.
Local capacity building - internal training events and workshops / Speak Up partners will hold internal events to identify local capacity development plans and needs in, and to set out roadmaps to build and develop local engagement capacity. Events will reach a range of audiences - policy makers, delivery staff, politicians etc. - and facilitate capacity building for both government to citizen (G2C) and citizen to government (C2G) engagement.
Mainstreaming engagement - online event for citizens and communities / There are many ways to deliver better citizen engagement and community participation. Speak Up will bring together citizen and community focused lessons learned in an online event in Year 3 of the project. This event will focus on mainstreaming engagement through 'delivering participation by design', how citizens and communities can engage with this approach, what this mean for citizens and communities, and how citizen orgs can increase their reach and effectiveness with these approaches.
Sharing lessons learned from work to support the engagement of different groups of citizens and communities in governance activities (C2G) / Communication and engagement program to disseminate information and learning on local use cases that tested a range of different ways governments tried to increase engagement with more and different target groups (depending on the policy intervention & outcome). Outputs will be shared across multiple channels (social, web, email, LinkedIn etc.) and formats (articles, videos, podcasts) and will provide a combination of short informational updates, and longer form results and lessons learned.
Sharing citizen engagement models, frameworks and best practices / Internal meetings within the Speak Up partnership to show how engagement models developed by Speak Up provide new ways of engaging with citizens, to highlight the key lessons learned from Speak Up, and to identify opportunities and challenges of using these frameworks and approaches in local capacity development and in new or revised policy interventions.
Making citizen engagement more accessible - bite-size articles, podcasts etc. / A series of 'bite-size' outputs from Speak Up - weblogs, Vlogs, articles, etc. that explain each of the key ideas and the lessons learned during Speak Up in accessible formats for policy, service and citizen audiences to use to help them with the development of new strategic approaches and action plans.
Ongoing Local Stakeholder Engagement - delivering the Speak Up Stakeholder Engagement Model / Local events hosted by municipal partners as part of the Speak Up Stakeholder Engagement Model. Partners will share local and partnership activities and learning with policy makers, politicians, citizen groups and stakeholders. These events will support local planning and delivery, analyses of effectiveness, and the identification of good practice and of lessons learned. Events will be held every 6 months, and learning from these events will be shared across Speak Up.
Mainstreaming engagement and governance - lessons for local/regional governments and policy bodies / Programme of local and regional external events in Year 3 of Speak Up to disseminate strategic lessons to policy, politician, citizen, community and stakeholder audiences. Events will be designed to highlight local lessons learned and good practices, identify transferrable learning from Speak Up, and give participants the skills to take Speak Up's new models and frameworks and to transfer them to their local environments, their challenges, and their ways of working.

Contribution to wider strategies and policies:

Speak Up will contribute to the delivery of the European Green Deal through the development of more effective approaches to engagement with citizens and communities to accelerate their engagement with, and understanding of, the Green Deal's objectives and approaches. Transferable outputs, frameworks and learning from Speak Up will be widely disseminated to build increased organisational and citizen capacity across the NSR to support/deliver the green deal.
Speak Up will contribute to Shaping Europe's Digital Future through supporting the development of advanced digital skills and the development of an evidence base to support the appropriate use of digital engagement technologies and approaches.
Speak Up will contribute to Territorial Agenda 2030 through the development of engagement and participation tools and approaches that support cooperation and coordination between places, levels of governments, policy sectors and societal groups to address complex issues.
Speak Up will support the change required by the Circular Economy Action Plan through the development of engagement and participation tools and approaches that organisations can use to work more effectively with citizens and communities to support the adoption of new forms of economic production.

Programme Common Output Indicator:

RCO 083 - Strategies and action plans jointly developed, Measurement unit:

Delivered output indicator(s):

(RCO83) Strategies and action plans jointly developed: 256

Programme Common Result Indicator:

RCR 079 - Joint strategies and action plans taken up by organisations, Measurement unit:

Delivered result indicator(s):

(RCR79) Joint strategies and action plans taken up by organisations: 9

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B North Sea

Latest month of project-partner-call data publication

2025-02

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

65 / 65 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

791 / 791 (100%)

Notes on the data

Languages

Contact Form

Speak Up [FA]

Description

Thematic information

Partners (12)

Partners map

Summary

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Disclaimer