Municipal Programmes
For the first time, the LIFE 2020 call made it possible for the winning projects to provide financial support to local initiatives, as long as they contribute to the project’s objectives. Financial support may be provided by a project beneficiary – coordinating or associated – to third parties responsible for said local initiatives. In this way, access to LIFE funding has been facilitated for those who are not involved in the implementation of the project as an associated beneficiary but who play an important role in achieving the project’s objectives.
Under the LIFE LOGOS 4 WATERS project, the amount of EUR 100 000 awarded to third parties will be distributed through two call for proposals. Thanks to the two grant schemes, the project activities and objectives will be much more accessible to the municipalities, which are the main target audience of our project. Participation in these calls, whether or not the applicant is a winner, is in itself an attitude change that can serve as a springboard for other calls in the future.
The aim of the Municipal Support Programme is to raise awareness of the potential of small-scale, cost-effective and innovative solutions to help municipalities adapt to climate change. TIn addition to municipalities, the programme will be implemented with the active participation of local communities and civil society organisations, highlighting the need and importance of community actions. The applications received can also be seen as a collection of good practices, which we will have the opportunity to promote in the future through professional events or study trips. A practical summary of the solutions received under this call will be compiled into an online database of good practices and published on the project website. It is important to note the awareness-raising character of this call for proposals, which will open up a dialogue between practitioners and decision-makers in local government. Joint thinking would have a fruitful impact on both climate and environmental developments. Approved proposals will receive financial support to implement their initiative. The winners of the call for proposals will be able to participate in specific events, study trips abroad, climate workshops, pilot training and summer universities within the LIFE LOGOS 4 WATERS project.
The direct objective of the Catchment Support Programme is to provide comprehensive expert support to municipal partnerships that have not previously been able (due to lack of financial or professional resources) to jointly develop this type of concept. However, beyond the direct objective of the programme, its indirect benefits are perhaps even more important. Our aim is to facilitate and encourage cooperation between municipalities of similar geographical nature and proximity in terms of climate adaptation, providing a basis for long-term future cooperation. This is particularly important for environmental challenges that can only be tackled through networked, integrated solutions that cross administrative boundaries. We also aim to promote basin-level networking and strategy development at national level, based on the ideas developed by the winning proposals. The aim of replication is to use the completed technical concepts as a model for other groups of municipalities and to apply the catchment-level model to general decision-making, going beyond addressing environmental challenges. This type of collaboration can provide a basis for participation in other funding programmes where this or a similar form of collaboration is expected.
