HORDALAND FYLKESKOMMUNE NOTAT
Transcription
HORDALAND FYLKESKOMMUNE NOTAT
HORDALAND FYLKESKOMMUNE NOTAT Til: Dei politiske utvala Dato: Frå: Fylkesrådmannen Arkivsak: 200900388-6/CHALIL Kopi til: 05. august 2010 Arkivnr.: 503 Internasjonalt nyheitsbrev frå HFK - juni 2010 Årets første internasjonale nyheitsbrev frå Hordaland fylkeskommune vart sendt ut til skolar, kommunar, samarbeidsregionar, norsk utanriksteneste i dei land som er omtalt og andre samarbeidspartar i sankthansveka. Nyheitsbrevet gir ei oversikt over dei internasjonale aktivitetane i Hordaland fylkeskommune, første halvår 2010. Nyheitsbrevet er på engelsk sidan det og vert sendt til våre samarbeidsregionar, og er meint å vise litt av den store bredda i Hordaland sitt internasjonale engasjement. Første halvår 2010 var fylkeskommunen involvert i eit breitt spekter av aktivitetar, det vere seg gjennom etablerte program eller som bilaterale initiativ med våre samarbeidsregionar. På første side av nyheitsbrevet har vi valt å trekke fram dei mange utanlandsklassane som finst i regi av fylkeskommunen. Neste nyheitsbrev vil bli sendt ut til jul. Besøksadresse: Agnes Mowinckels gate 5 - Postadresse: Postboks 7900. 5020 BERGEN - Telefon 55 23 93 06 - Telefaks 55 23 93 19 E-postadresse: [email protected] Bankgironr. 5201 06 74239 - Foretaksnr. NO 938 626 367 mva. International Newsletter 01/10 Welcome to the international newsletter from Hordaland County Council, giving you a short introduction to the county’s international engagement during the last 6 months. Although the list is not extensive, we nevertheless hope to give you an idea of the breadth of activities that takes place within our region. The next newsletter is scheduled to be sent before Christmas. This spring, we are particularly happy that the application for the “Clean North Sea Shipping” project, where Hordaland will be the lead beneficiary, was approved in June! This will be an important project for the region. Within the field of education we have a growing list of “international classes”, regular offers of a full year of study abroad; Knarvik videregående coordinates a class in Cardiff, Øystese gymnas coordinates one in Missouri, USA, Voss agricultural school coordinates one in Babolna, Hungary, and Askøy videregående one in Erfurt, Germany. In addition there are every year two pupils going to the Orkney Islands. A pilot project this spring has also been Lønborg videreående’s offer on Zanzibar and a new class in Normandy has just been approved. Hordaland County Council’s ”International classes” Open spaces on the Orkneys curs Fall ex Ready fo ion in C r the Fina Health ardif f l Prom in racti work p ce on Zanzib ar USA Dorm li Hungary Horse training in Hordaland County Council, International Section, P.O. Box 7900, 5020 Bergen, Norway Editor: Charlotte Lillefjære-Tertnæs, [email protected] fe in Erf urt 1. Our cooperating regions can start their school year in France, both regions are enthusiastic about the projects and are determined to do their best to make this a success. Basse-Normandie, France Cooperation on innovation ”Innovation” was one of the central themes, both during the delegation to Bergen in June last year and the delegation to Normandie in November. This spring, the talks saw some concrete results as Laurent Lecoeur from Miriade Innovation in Caen was invited to Bergen Technology Transfer Office (BTO) in order to help them organise an “R & D speed dating” session, a method that Miriade has seen very good results from in Normandie. BTO organised a session on “cancer research” during the GROW10 conference in Bergen in March and another one on aquaculture is planned for the fall. The next step is to invite institutions or companies from each other’s regions to future sessions. “Speed-dating” during the Grow conference in March Reception at Academie de Caen, with rectors from schools in the region. Development of new cultural projects During this year’s Boréales festival in Basse-Normandie there will be a special focus on artists from Hordaland. The festival’s artistic director, Jérôme Rémy, works in close contact with the Department of Culture in Hordaland County Council on this, and was also in Bergen in late January in order to meet with potential participants. The performances from Hordaland will all be concentrated during the festival’s last week – from 2026th of November. The two regions are also planning a common exhibition project on the use of wood – past, present and future. The exhibition is due to be presented in 2011 and a representative from CRECET, a regional centre for cultural heritage in Normandie, visited Bergen in June in order to discuss the project with potential participants from Hordaland such as Hardanger Ships Preservation Centre, the Oselvar workshop and the museum centre in Salhus . Two persons working with the innovation and entrepreneurship strategies in Hordaland County Council also received scholarships from the Leonardo program in order to spend a week in Caen this May to learn more about their efforts in the field as well as to discuss future collaborations between central actors. “Hordaland class” in Normandie to be established This spring, Hordaland County Council approved a new project that sets out to create a “Hordaland class” in Normandie, similar to the arrangements already in place in Cardiff. The central idea is to give 15 pupils from Hordaland the opportunity to spend a full school year in Basse-Normandie, not in fact as a single class but in 4-5 different schools in the region. Voss gymnas will be the coordinating school on our side while Lycée Alain Chartier in Bayeux will have a special responsibility on the French side, due to their experience and the Norwegian section. The start of the first “class” is scheduled for August 2011 and representatives from Voss gymnas and the Department of Education visited Basse-Normandie in late April in order to discuss these plans with the region and the Academie de Caen. Although much remains to be done before the first pupils Visit to the Oselvar workshop Continued cooperation between the schools Several schools in Hordaland have set up bilateral links with schools in Basse-Normandie. The latest of these are the agricultural school at Voss who established links with Lycée Agricole de Coutance last fall. This spring they were granted a Leonardo project with the school and the plans are to make a preparatory visit this fall. Sandsli videregående has already sent 3 girls from their “food program” to Lycée Rabelais this spring with Leonardo scholarships. The girls worked for 3 weeks in the kitchens of 2 hotels in the Caen area and are in awes over Hordaland County Council, International Section, P.O. Box 7900, N-5020 Bergen Editor: Charlotte Lillefjære-Tertnæs, [email protected] 1 how much they learnt. Slåtthaug videregående received 5 pupils and 2 teachers from Lycée Paul Cornu for two weeks this March, one of them being a work placement at a print shop. This fall 5 pupils from the “Textile and Design” program have received scholarships in order to return the visit. Voss gymnas and Fusa videregående both have cooperations with Lycée Alain Chartier in Bayeux and for a week in March they both received large groups of pupils from Bayeux. Voss has a cooperation that focuses on languages while Fusa focuses on natural science and mathematics. 15 pupils from Fusa returned the visit to Bayeux in April/May. Pupils from Fusa join the teaching of chemistry in Bayeux (photo: Fusa vgs) Welsh volunteer to Hardanger Fartøyvernsenter Hardanger Ships Preservation Centre (part of Hardanger and Voss Museum) was accepted as an EVS host organisation within the Youth in Action Program last year. Through the county’s twinning with Cardiff, connections with the local exchange organisation UNA exchange in Cardiff were established and a young man from the Cardiff area was identified as a good candidate for the job. He arrived in Hardanger in early June and will work as a volunteer on board the boat Mathilde until November. Cardiff exchange from 10 schools in Hordaland The 16 pupils that form this year’s “Hordaland class” in ‘Cardiff come from 10 different high schools in Hordaland and are currently studying at 6 schools in Cardiff and Barry. The 14 girls and 2 boys are currently finishing up their Welsh school year. The Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Keith Hyde, used the opportunity during a visit to Hordaland in May to express the region’s satisfaction with the exchange and the good impression that the pupils have on everyone that they have been in contact with. The Lord Mayor was also present for the class’ farewell ceremony in June. Cardiff, Wales Extension of the Norwegian Church in Cardiff An extension of the Norwegian Church Arts Centre has been sought for many years and especially the kitchen has needed upgrading in order to give the church the capacity it needs to meet the demands - in the cafeteria but also for special functions. Cardiff County Council has now been able to secure public funding for the extension, and the work will start this fall. The “new” church will be officially reopened on May 17th next year. In relation to this, Hordaland County Council has decided to contribute the materials for a new outside decking. The timber is a special kind of “heartwood” which is extra durable and which will have a long life in the local climate. The wood will be brought over to Cardiff bay this summer and architects /carpenters from Hordaland was in Cardiff already in June to discuss the technical aspects with the authorities. Farewell ceremony with the Lord Mayor of Cardiff, with the red dragon of Wales as something to remember their stay by (photo: Knarvik vgs) Hordaland County Council, International Section, P.O. Box 7900, N-5020 Bergen Editor: Charlotte Lillefjære-Tertnæs, [email protected] 2 Orkney Islands, Scotland Exchange of High School pupils Every year, two pupils from each region are given the opportunity to spend a year in the sister-region. For the school year 2009/10 there are two pupils from Hordaland (Tanks videregående and Øystese gymnas) at Kirkwall Grammar School, while two pupils from Kirkwall is spending a full year at Voss Folkehøgskole. in Kaunas, she did a 10-week placement at the Department of Education from January to March. Involved in several different tasks within the department, her primary affiliation, though, was with the admissions office. More Viktorija Gedutyte with Head of Admissions, Nils Skavhellen Thüringen, Germany The Orkney landscape, with the two pupils from Hordaland, hiding from the camera Kaunas, Lithuania Youth project on work life preparations Together with partners from some of Kaunas’ other twin cities and regions, the centre for training for employment – ALF (Senter for arbeidslivsforberedelse) in Bergen will participate in a Youth in Action project this summer. The background for the project is the fact that due to the economic crisis, the labour market for young people with no experience has become increasingly difficult and even more so for the less advantaged persons. This project is directly connected to 2010 as the European year for the fight against poverty and social exclusion. The project will give the participants appropriate knowledge and skills associated with the entering into the labour market and will cooperate with entrepreneurs from the Kaunas region in order to present participants with the real processes of entering the labour market. Exchange of High School pupils The exchange of high school pupils is also an important part of the cooperation. For the academic year 2009/10 there are three Lithuanian pupils attending the folkloric dance section at Manger folkehøgskole. Kaunas student on placement at the county council Viktorija Gedutyte, from Kretinga in Lithuania worked as an intern at Hordaland County Council this spring. A political science student at Vytautas Magnus University Partnership project with Thüringen accepted The partnership projects under the Leonardo da Vinci program may be a tool to combine different actors in more manageable projects. In January, representatives from Odda videregående and the county council’s Department of Regional Development visited Thüringen in order to discuss a new project that combines two themes: entrepreneurship & training and incubator management. The final project proposal which also includes the University College of Bergen on the Norwegian side, is titled “Partnership, training and incubator management”. In late June it was announced that this project was among those who had been accepted. New call for projects with Thüringen The cooperation with Thüringen, in relation to joint projects with ERDF/ESF or regional funds respectively, is continuing in 2010. A new call for proposals is closing on July 1st. By this date, it is expected that local companies in Thüringen have submitted 30-50 proposals for projects with ERDF-funds. It is first in the next round that they will identify project partners, and where actors from Hordaland can be officially involved – at this stage it is more indications of themes and objectives. Lars Tveit from the Dept. of Regional Development and Thore Thomassen from the International section were in Erfurt when the call opened in May. At that time is was clear that the priorities in this round would be related to environmental aspects. The call for projects under the European Social funds – ESF, will open later this year. Hordaland County Council, International Section, P.O. Box 7900, N-5020 Bergen Editor: Charlotte Lillefjære-Tertnæs, [email protected] 3 Exchange of High School pupils This May, for the third year running, 8 young people from Hordaland finished a full year of electro studies at Andreas Gordon Schule in Erfurt. The 8 pupils come from different municipalities around Bergen but were followed up by the coordinating school at Askøy. The group did very well for their final exams and has seen a great personal development and has matured over the year spent away from home. They have managed to keep up the good spirit of the group and are all well satisfied with the year in Erfurt, although some of them admit that it has been quite challenging. The electro class during the farewell dinner in Erfurt, together with the rector of Andreas Gordon Schule (photo: Askøy vgs) Joint activities Orkney Cardiff 2. Cooperation through international Organisations of Association Regions (AER) European Hordaland is one of 270 member regions in AER, which was founded in 1985 to increase the dialog and cooperation between European regions. This spring, AER celebrated its 25th anniversary, an event that was marked with the conference “From Subsidiarity to Success: Strong Regions for a Strong Europe” in Brussels. Among the speakers were Jean-Luc Vanraes, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bruxelles-Capitale, MEP Danuta Hübner, Mercedes Bresso, President of the Committee of the Regions and Jordi Pujol, former AER President (1992-1996). Together with AER Members and representatives of European institutions, they analysed the regions’ evolution over the last 25 years, the contribution of EU policies to decentralisation, the role of the Regions in today’s Europe and the perspectives for regions in the coming years. Charlotte Lillefjære-Tertnæs from the International section represented Hordaland at this event. Edinburgh Visit from Orkney, Cardiff and Edinburgh The last week-end in May, the mayors of Cardiff, Edinburgh and the Orkneys made a 4-day visit to Hordaland, invited by the County Mayor of Hordaland. These are the same three regions where Hordaland participates in local winter festivals with delegations and musicians every year. This was a way for us of returning their hospitality and to show something of what our region has to offer. Over the week-end, Stephen Hagan from Orkney Islands Council, George Grubb from City of Edinburgh Council and Keith Hyde from Cardiff County Council experienced parts of the Bergen International Festival, as well as a fjord cruise in beautiful spring weather. In addition to this, they visited central cultural institutions such as the Oselvar boat builders and the West Norway Museum of Decorative Art. The Monday was spent at the County Council, where TomChrister Nilsen, Deputy Mayor, gave the guest an introduction to some of the current challenges in Hordaland. More President of AER, Michèle Sabban During the conference, AER presented its new regionalism report. The report gives an overview of the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe and provides a snapshot of the state of regional democracy in European countries in 2010. The report can be downloaded here Eastern Norway County Network has taken the initiative to a network of the Norwegian members in AER. The objective is exchange of information and to better coordinate the Norwegian participation in the organisation. The first meeting in “AER Norway” was held in Akershus on April 28th and Marit Einen from the International section represented Hordaland. Hordaland County Council, International Section, P.O. Box 7900, N-5020 Bergen Editor: Charlotte Lillefjære-Tertnæs, [email protected] 4 Committee on Peripheral and Maritime Regions (CPMR) Hordaland is one of the 156 member regions in CPMR. The CPMR works to secure a development across the European regions, regardless of their geographical location. This spring the main focus areas of the organisation have been the EU 2020 Strategy as well as the continued work with the Cohesion Policy. In particular, the importance of the territorial perspective as well as the regions’ role, both as participants and contributors, in achieving the goals of EU2020, have been underlined. CPMR has, on numerous occasions, communicated both to the Commission and the Council of Ministers the fact that the Lisbon treaty expands the subsidiarity principle and includes a territorial partnership. The EU2020 Strategy, however, lacks a concrete definition of these principles. During the last meeting of the Political Bureau which was held in Tromsø in June, the board agreed on a statement to the Council of Ministers, asking them to follow-up on how the territorial approach should be maintained. basin areas with the aim of giving a common direction to different programs and initiatives covering the same geographical areas. NSC have identified 5 priorities for their strategy: Managing Maritime Space, Increasing accessibility and attractiveness, Tackling climate change, Promoting innovation and excellence, Sustaining liveable communities. General assembly in Stavanger This year’s joint event between the North Sea Program and the North Sea Commission, the Joint Annual conference and General Assembly was held in Stavanger from 16-18th of June. This year’s conference had a strong focus on members’ participation and the delegates were divided into clusters cafés in order to come up with suggestions for the different themes of the North Sea Strategy. The General Assembly re-elected Gunn Marit Helgesen as president and also adopted a statement on the oil spill in the Mexico Gulf. The North Sea Strategy was also renamed North Sea Region 2020 in order to reflect the long term challenges for the region and to link it with the ongoing EU processes, EU2020. As for the Cohesion Policy, CPMR has promoted the important role of the regions and the need for a territorial approach. Macro-regions are also very much on the agenda, and in particular after the adoption of the Baltic Sea macro-regional strategy. CPMR has initiated a process where the role of the macro-regions is discussed - their function and possible role in the regional policy and in international programs. More Closing panel of the Annual Conference in Stavanger North Sea Commission (NSC) The North Sea Commission was founded in 1989 as a sub-commission to CPMR, in order to facilitate and enhance partnerships between regions by the North Sea. The NSC has 36 member regions, 15 from Norway. Deputy Mayor Tom-Christer Nilsen from Hordaland County Council is the National representative in the Executive Committee. More This spring, a lot of the efforts of the North Sea Commission have been focused on the development of the new North Sea Strategy. A stakeholder conference focused on the marine resources was arranged in Newcastle 17-18th March. Hordaland County Council was present during this conference and Deputy Mayor Tom-Christer Nilsen gave a presentation on the “Clean North Sea Shipping” initiative. There was also a conference together with the Committee of the Regions in Brussels in May and a workshop in Oviedo, Spain, on the Maritime Day in May. The work on such a common policy document was in part a response to EU’s pilot actions for “macro-regional strategies” based around sea- Regional cooperation in Norway: The Regional Council for Western Norway The Regional Council for Western Norway is an organization of cooperation consisting of 4 County Councils on the west coast of Norway: Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland and Rogaland. The council consists of 20 members; 5 politicians elected from each of the county councils. As the leadership and the secretariat alternates between the member counties, Møre og Romsdal has the leadership in 2010. Administrative groups have been established for some of the council’s focus areas. More Activities in the international group The Regional Council’s International working group consists of officers from the 4 counties. The main tasks are the follow-up of the Regional Council’s strategic plan and the exchange of information regarding international affairs. This spring the group met in Kristiansund in May in order to prepare papers for the political meeting in June, on the counties’ participation in international organisations such as the North Sea Commission/CPMR and in regards to the ongoing process of the North Sea Strategy. Hordaland County Council, International Section, P.O. Box 7900, N-5020 Bergen Editor: Charlotte Lillefjære-Tertnæs, [email protected] 5 3. Projects Interreg IV projects Hordaland is eligible for participation in the following programs; Interreg IV B: The North Sea Region Program, Northern Periphery Program and the Baltic Sea Program and Interreg IV C; Interregional Cooperation. 3a: Invisible Intemodal Transport, where they to a certain degree are carrying out parallel activities. The results of a SWOT analysis have been discussed as a basis for common exercise on SWOT analyses. The SWOT analysis gives directions to specific pilot projects to be pursued by various partners. A full overview can be found on the project’s website More Information from the National Contact Point for the Interreg IVB North Sea Region Program This spring there was a new call for applications under the North Sea Region program. As the call ended on April 7th, there were 17 applications for new projects and 9 for extensions. 10 + 6 of them had Norwegian partners. The steering committee, in a meeting in early June, approved 7 new projects and 6 extensions. One of the new projects has a Norwegian lead partner – the Clean North Sea Shipping project that will be managed from Hordaland County Council. This project was first discussed in the thematic group on Maritime Resources within the North Sea Commission, and Hordaland County Council was asked to act as the lead beneficiary of the project. Another one of the new projects also has a partner from our region. Cruise Destination Hardangerfjord will participate in the project CRUISE GATEWAY – towards sustainable growth of cruise shipping in the North Sea Region. This project will develop the region as a cruise destination and promote it as a “lighthouse” for sustainable cruise traffic. The lead beneficiary of this project will be Hafen Hamburg Marketing. The steering committee has asked that these two projects cooperate and share their results. Interreg IVB – North Sea Region Program Coast Alive! Hordaland is the lead beneficiary of the Interreg IVB (North Sea) project Coast Alive, heading a consortium of 12 partners from the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. This project builds on the former North Sea Trail and North Sea Cycle Route projects. More on the project website www.coast-alive.eu StratMoS Hordaland became one of the partner regions in the project “Motorways of the Sea Strategic Project – StratMoS” in December 2008. The project is currently involving 29 partners, covering the North Sea Region from Flanders in the south to North Norway in the north. The Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Nenets regions in Russia are associated partners. The project is organised in 4 Work packages and 5 Strategic Demonstration Projects, each with separate tasks and purposes. Hordaland, together with Aberdeenshire, Rogaland, VestAgder and Telemark, are taking part in the Demo Project Clean North Sea Shipping project approved The application for the North Sea project Clean North Sea Shipping – CNSS was approved by the steering committee in June. The project has 19 partners, representing Belgium, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and the UK and Hordaland County Council is the lead beneficiary. The partners represent ports, politically active regions and cities, energy suppliers, universities/research centres, shipping certification association and shipbuilding /maintenance association. This partnership reflects the diversity of the maritime transport sector and brings them together with public and private stakeholders. The overall objective of the project is to present a joint effort to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by looking into available technologies and the implementation of cost efficient and cleaner energy supply infrastructure to ships in harbours and at sea. More Interreg IVB – Baltic Sea Program First regional seminar in “Baltic Biogas Bus” The project Baltic Biogas Bus - BBB, under the Baltic Sea Program started in September 2009. Hordaland County Council, through its transport division Skyss, and HOG Energy (formerly Hordaland Oil and Gas) are partners in the project. Skyss is primarily a dissemination partner while HOG is an active contributor in several work packages. In conjunction with a partner meeting in Oslo, the BBB-project, through the project partner in Oslo, Ruter AS, acted as a co-organizer of the Nordic Biogas Conference (a biannual event) between the 10th and 12th of March. This was also the first regional seminar held by the project and a special parallel session was organised on the 10th of March. As part of the conference the project also organized an exhibition about the benefits with Biogas as fuel in buses. HOG Energy was one of the contributors during the annual Gas Conference in Bergen on 28th and 29th of March. More Hordaland County Council, International Section, P.O. Box 7900, N-5020 Bergen Editor: Charlotte Lillefjære-Tertnæs, [email protected] 6 Interreg IVB – Northern Periphery The ENE project meets with the network organisation in Quebec Hordaland County Council is the lead partner in the project “Economusées Northern Europe” – ENE, with partners from Iceland, The Faeroe Islands, Greenland, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, as well as the Canadian province of Quebec. This spring the Economusée project visited Canada and had a program of meetings with existing establishments as well as new candidates. During their stay in Quebec, the delegation met with the leadership of the Economusée organisation and in a meeting with the project steering group the good progress of the project was confirmed and ideas for further future cooperation was discussed. There was also a meeting with the leadership of the Atlantic Region Economusée network, represented by Chairman Ann Soucie. The Atlantic region hosts 16 Economusées today and the 17th will open in late July on Change islands. This economusée is also part of the ENE project and represents an innovative new development of the concept, where small home based crafts are included into a new structure or presentation of an Economusée. If this proves successful it may be a new concept to introduce into many small North Atlantic communities in the next phase of the Economusée project. More The project group is visiting the Mona Chassis which is the only black currant Economusée EEA Grants Slovak project on good governance Hordaland County Council contributed to a Slovak project concerning good governance in the field of regional development. The project is funded by the Norwegian EEA grants and is run by the Carpathian Development Institute, in Kosice, Slovakia. The project was basically seeking answers to two questions: 1) what stands in the way of improving governance in the area of development at the regional and local level? And 2) what strategies for improvement are most likely to succeed? The Department of Regional Development in Hordaland had prepared a program for them explaining the processes of regional development and planning in Hordaland and also how international programs are used in this process. Lithuanian project on gender equality Hordaland county Council contributed to a Lithuanian project on gender equality and the democratisation of institutions in Lithuania, both public and private. The project was financed by the Norwegian EEA grants and the participants were all members of the Lithuanian branch of the international network EWMD – European Women’s Management Development. The delegation was headed by Mrs Ausrine Burneikiene, State Ombudsman under the Parliament of Lithuania. During their visit to Bergen, the group, among other things, had a workshop where they learnt more about the work for gender equality at the University of Bergen and the County Council. The EWMD network meets with representatives from Hordaland County Council 4. Youth and internationalisation The Youth Council attends conference in Lithuania Hordaland Youth Council sent 3 members to attend the "B-Young" event on 13-16 May in Vilnius, Lithuania, organised by the Lithuanian Youth Council, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania. This youth event was part of the Lithuanian presidency agenda for the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS). The project aim was to gather around 150 young people and youth policy officers as well as politicians, youth researches, and youth policy experts to present and discuss the most successful practices in the field of youth work. The participants were from Baltic Sea countries, Scandinavia, and Russia (Kaliningrad and St Petersburg). The results of the event will be presented to the Leaders Summit of the Council of the Baltic Sea States. Representatives from the county’s Youth Council Hordaland County Council, International Section, P.O. Box 7900, N-5020 Bergen Editor: Charlotte Lillefjære-Tertnæs, [email protected] 7 Leonardo da Vinci Program Youth in Action Program Hordaland County Council, through the International Section, is a regional contact point for the LdVprogramme. Through the programme, 50 – 70 people travel to other European countries every year to make placements in companies and institutions to acquire new skills, both professional and personal. The target groups of the programme are apprentices, pupils in vocational secondary schools, as well as teachers and people responsible for the training in companies/training offices. The most popular target countries for our projects are Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark, Slovenia and most of the placements last from 2 – 12 weeks. The most important distribution of trades is: Cookery, gardening, nursing auxiliary skills, care work, industrial mechanic, chemical processing, travel services and carpentry. As Spain is one of the most popular target countries, special focus has been put on enlarging the cooperation with Murcia, Spain. This work has resulted in an exchange of pupils being placed in companies and institutions in both Murcia and Hordaland. There has also been an exchange of teachers between the two regions. You can read more about this in section 6. YOUTH IN ACTION is the EU programme for young people aged 13-30 and youth leaders. It promotes mobility within and beyond the EU borders, intercultural dialogue and non-formal learning ("learning by doing"), and encourages the inclusion of all young people. A variety of activities can get EU support, like international youth exchanges, youth democracy projects, local youth initiatives and seminars for youth workers. In addition there is a possibility for all young people aged 18-30 to work and live in one of EU’s countries for one year, with all expenses covered for the young person. Hordaland County Council uses this programme strategically for regional development. The first part of 2010 we organised five projects together with youth councils in different parts of Hordaland. We have been working on different topics: internationalisation and integration in Hardanger, social entrepreneurship, partnership between Sveio/Fitjar and two Polish municipalities, regional youth initiatives in Sunnhordaland and lobbyism for youth council members in Hordaland. More Representatives from Slovenia and Lithuania have brought local specialities to a cultural evening, during a workshop on youth and social entrepreneurship. Spanish teachers visit their pupils on work placement at the Museum Centre in Salhus In 2009 Hordaland County Council was certified as a “Super User” of the Leonardo da Vinci-programme, as one of five County Councils in Norway, due to a large number of successful projects as well as high quality projects over a long period of time. For the 2010 application in February, Hordaland County Council was granted about € 140 000 to be distributed among partners in Hordaland. More and more people all over Europe have become aware of the huge possibilities the programme offers, and thus the number of applicants to participate in the Leonardo-programme have consequently increased considerably over the past years. Active High Schools Many of the high schools in Hordaland are very active in the international field. Below, you will find a couple of examples of activities from the last 6 months High Comenius activity at Tertnes videregående Tertnes Upper Secondary School has been of the most active schools in the region in terms of using the Comenius program. This spring they have hosted visits from Comenius partners from Slovenia and Spain. The topic of their project is food – food for youths. “We want to find tasty alternatives to ‘fast food’. We think ‘slow food’ is the way to go”, says Bente Bjørkli at Tertnes. Hordaland County Council, International Section, P.O. Box 7900, N-5020 Bergen Editor: Charlotte Lillefjære-Tertnæs, [email protected] 8 The visit lasted for a week, and over 10 teachers and 2 principals were among the visitors. More The project participants visits the county administration for lunch Bjørgvin goes Spanish There has been a strong Spanish influence at Bjørgvin Upper Secondary School this spring. They have hosted pupils from three different schools from the Murcia region in Spain. These pupils were specialising within three very different fields; Information and Communication Technology, Dermatology and general studies. The pupils stayed for almost a month, and even though they came from different schools and worked with different things, they had a lot of common activities. The Norwegian pupils who study Spanish at Bjørgvin were ‘local aids’ and guides during the stay. They got to see a lot of different Norwegian weather, and unfortunately even some Icelandic ash, something that made them take a bus instead of a plane back to Spain. More the Council and the target is to start the new class already this autumn. More Berit Roksvåg from the Dept. of Education meest with the first pupils at Zanzibar Bergen Maritime school with new international focus Bergen Maritime Videregående has established contacts with two different schools in the Murcia region in Spain and has already received both teachers and pupils from the two schools. This marked the start of a new and exciting collaboration for the school within the Leonardo da Vinci program. Next year there will be teachers and pupils going from Bergen to Spain. The two pupils from a school in Cartagena had an exciting stay in Bergen as they got the opportunity to work with the local pupils on board the tall ship Statsraad Lemkuhl on a voyage to the Faroe Islands. Back in Bergen they followed both regular courses and training on different ships. Two other pupils, studying ICT, had a one moth placement in a company in Bergen. More Out sailing with the training ship, Statsraad Lemkuhl 5. West Norway Office in Brussels The Spanish students visit VilVite in Bergen (photo: Bjørgvin vgs) The first pupils from Lønborg to Zanzibar Lønborg Upper Secondary School has a long history of internationalisation and cooperation with schools in other countries. This year they are working on something new – an international healthcare class with an eight week long placement on the island of Zanzibar outside Tanzania working in different social institutions. As a pilot project, six Norwegian pupils have had placements on Zanzibar this spring, and they have done a magnificent job. The goal is to make this into a permanent class offered at Lønborg. The program has been accepted by the Education and Health Committee of Being a liaison between members in West Norway and the EU, information services and increasing EU knowledge is two of West Norway’s (WNO) most important tasks, particularly as it is often local and regional authorities who have to implement new EU rules and regulations. During a busy winter and spring WNO events in Brussels have attracted around 200 people from all over the region; mostly politicians and administrative staff from West Norway, but also students, pupils, teachers and other actors. This shows that many people want to learn more about how the EU works and how EU policies are shaped, as well as learning more about various opportunities through EU programmes and projects. WNO has continued to bring relevant EU information back to West Norway. 12 general newsletters have been Hordaland County Council, International Section, P.O. Box 7900, N-5020 Bergen Editor: Charlotte Lillefjære-Tertnæs, [email protected] 9 published so far in 2010. In addition, WNO is now also publishing a specific newsletter on energy, as it has stepped up the focus on energy and energy policies. The first half of 2010 has been an interesting period for the European Union. The new Lisbon Treaty has entered into force, bringing change to the Union’s institutional framework. A new Commission has been appointed and a wide range of new action plans for the coming years has been outlined and presented. The EU has also adopted “EU2020”, the new strategy for creating jobs and growth in Europe. WNO has kept a close eye on the regional dimension on this development and will continue to do so in the future. entrepreneurship in the education system, and this May a delegation visited Norway in order to learn more. “There are reports that the aspect of youth entrepreneurship is spreading to schools all around the country, and this is good news for us and the project”, says Director of Education, Svein-Erik Fjeld who himself visited Zambia to study the results, earlier this year. The Zambians are making significant progress in the field, and are now hoping to move the cooperation from the project phase to the program phase. More The educational authorities from Zambia visits Bergen Meeting with Commissioner Hahn in Brussels (Photo: WNO) West Norway Office has in 2010 seen a pronounced increase in new members. BKK, a local power company, and the municipalities of Jølster and Haram became members in January and during the spring, the municipalities of Gloppen, Samnanger, Balestrand and Sande also joined WNO. In April West Norway Office was again accepted as one of the partner regions for OPEN DAYS 2010. West Norway is part of the regional partnership called “2020 Regions: Acting for the Future”. West Norway Office continues the excellent partnership from Open Days 2009 with Castilla y Leon (ES), Central Region (PT), North Portugal (PT), East of England (UK), England's Northwest (UK), Mid-Norway (NO), Warmia and Mazury (PL), Central Denmark (DK) and Saxony (DE) as partner regions. This year our joint Open Days seminars will focus on local development and green growth. More Strong participation at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai Bergen Chamber of Commerce’ annual “China Summit” was this year arranged in Shanghai in conjunction with the World Expo 2010. An extensive program gathered more than 120 people from Hordaland and Rogaland counties in the period from 19th to 25th of May. The delegation was headed by the mayors of Bergen and Stavanger. Besides the one-day China Summit which was developed in cooperation with Chinese authorities, the delegation visited the Norwegian pavilion at the Expo and met with different economic actors in china. Business contracts were also signed, such as the one between the company from Sotra, Net El-torget AS and the Chinese company Wintorp. After Shanghai a large part of the delegates from Hordaland, including the County Mayor Torill Selsvold Nyborg, went on to the northeast where Bergen signed an agreement with the city of Dalian. More 6. Other activities Cooperation on young Entrepreneurship in Zambia Hordaland County Council and Sotra Upper Secondary School are carrying out a project with Zambian authorities and the Northern Province in Zambia on the topic of youth entrepreneurship. The Zambians are eager to learn about how Norwegian schools implement youth The county Mayor meets with the authorities in the City of Dalian (photo: Bergen Chamber of Commerce) Hordaland County Council, International Section, P.O. Box 7900, N-5020 Bergen Editor: Charlotte Lillefjære-Tertnæs, [email protected] 10 Visit from Hainan province in China On June 23rd, Hordaland County Council received a delegation from the province of Hainan in southeast China. The delegation was headed by Mr. Yu Xun, Honorary President, Hainan Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. Being located in a tropical zone in the South China Sea, the Island of Hainan has a large part of their income from tropical fruit growing and tourism, but aquaculture is a sector in rapid growth. Aquaculture was therefore one of their central topics during their visit in Norway, both through talks with the Ministry of Fisheries and in Hordaland. At the County Council they met with the County Mayor and Director of Regional Development, Mr Jan-Per Styve, before receiving a presentation of the county and especially the aquaculture sector. Region Cocktail our and a Bergen Region Breakfast Seminar, including both the NCE Subsea breakfast seminar and Energy and Climate Change: Technology Development in the Bergen Region. More Regional representatives at the Norwegian stand in Houston (photo: BRB) The delegation from Hainan meets at the County Mayor’s office The Hardanger Council with links in Tuscany In January, representatives from the Hardanger Council, together with the County Council’s International section, visited the municipality of Greve in Chianti, in Tuscany. The objective was to prepare an application for the Comenius Regio program called “Entrepreneurship in nature and culture based tourism” where the two subregions would exchange experiences on topics such as entrepreneurship training in school and the integration of aspects such as the “food related traditions” in the teaching. Unfortunately, the application was declined on the Italian side, as the national agency did not accept a municipality as “project owner”, but the partners will resubmit the application next year, but with the Tuscany region. The collaboration has seen results, though, as one of the involved schools, located in Firenze, has already visited Hardanger. The elected representatives of the Hardanger Council have also been in Greve in May for the Flower Festival. Oil conference in Houston May 3rd to 6th, a delegation from Hordaland participated in the world's largest petroleum conference, the Offshore Technology Conference – OTC in Houston. County Mayor Torill S. Nyborg headed the Hordaland delegation that was organised by Business Region Bergen (BRB), in cooperation with NCE Subsea and HOG Energy. One of the main objectives of the participation was networking, and BRB created arenas for this both through a Bergen Visit by the Canadian ambassador The Canadian Ambassador to Norway Mr. John F.G. Hannaford visited Hordaland in March. His first stop was the Oselvar Economusée on Sunday 21st March. He was guided by the Mayor of Os, Mr. Terje Søviknes and the director of the Oselvar Boatyard Mr. Åsmund Lien and was impressed by what he saw. The Canadian embassy has followed this project closely and was also present for the opening of the first economusée in Aurland last year. On the Monday, the ambassador had a meeting at the County Council with, among others, the County Mayor and the Director of Culture and learnt more about the activities of the county, in particular within the international field. More The ambassador meets with Terje Søviknes, the Mayor of Os and Director of the Oselvar workshop, Åsmund Lien Visit to Berlin to study reconstruction of German bomber The two first weeks of June, representatives from Hordaland County Council, Voss municipality and Museum West visited Berlin in relation to a cooperation project with Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin. The project has received scholarships from the Leonardo da Vinci program and aims to create an exhibition on a German bomber (Focke Wulf 200 Condor) that crashed at Voss during World War II. In addition to talks with the Hordaland County Council, International Section, P.O. Box 7900, N-5020 Bergen Editor: Charlotte Lillefjære-Tertnæs, [email protected] 11 project partners, the participants visited several museum exhibitions, as well as a company that creates virtual solutions, in order to find new ideas for the project. Time had also been allocated to visits at the Airbus factory in Bremen, the Lufthansa factory in Hamburg and the Rolls Royce factory in Berlin, all participating in the restoration of the plane type that crashed at Voss. Restoration of one of the wings at the Airbus factory in Bremen Establishing cooperation with Murcia, Spain This spring more concrete results of the efforts to create new educational links with the region of Murcia in Spain have been realised. As a result of surveys for possible partner schools and preliminary visits, 3 vocational secondary schools sent in applications with partners from Murcia with a successful result. And even though these projects will not be carried out until later this year, the cooperation between Murcia and Hordaland has already started, as there have been visits from Spanish teachers and administrators to Bergen, as well as pupils who have accomplished placements in companies and institutions in Hordaland within the fields of ICT and cultural animation. Pupils from Hordaland have also made successful placements in Spain during the spring of 2010 and more placements are planned for the autumn. A Helping Hand from Slovenia The International section in Hordaland County Council has had an extra set of hands this spring. Tina Vinkovic from Ljubljana in Slovenia has been working as an intern at the office since the beginning of May. Tina heard of the job through connections in SIU while working at the national office in Slovenia, and during her stay in Hordaland she has worked on a variety of projects including cooperation on regional development between Hordaland and Slovenia, and searching for future Slovenian partners for international projects. When Tina finishes her internship at the end of July, she will go back to Ljubljana to finish her Masters Degree in Political Science. Tina is eagerly taking notes during an excursion to Hardanger this winter. International lunch meetings As part of the county council's strategy to make internationalisation an integrated part of all aspects of the organisation and to create joint arenas of discussion, the initiate of "international lunch meetings" was continued this spring. The idea has been to create a common forum across the different departments, where the staff can learn more about international initiatives, projects etc. This spring there has been 2 meetings; one on international sports projects and one on youth and entrepreneurship. New organisation of the international relations This spring there has been a reorganisation of the international administration of the County Council. The two units that formerly was in place, the international relations team and the European Office has now been joined in one single unit – the international section, part of the Department of Regional Development. This new section will be responsible for the coordination of the County Council’s international activities, and will work both with the different departments of the council as well as with external actors. For more information, www.hordaland.no/internasjonalt Editing completed on June 24th, 2010 Students from Lønborg at a local school in Cartagena, Murcia (photo: Lønborg vgs) Hordaland County Council, International Section, P.O. Box 7900, N-5020 Bergen Editor: Charlotte Lillefjære-Tertnæs, [email protected] 12 International Affairs, P.O.Box 7900, 5020 Bergen, Norway