Co-funded by the Swedish Institute’s SI Baltic Neighbourhood Programme, with CBSS as the lead partner, RESCOM seeks to establish a platform for exchanging experiences on community resilience between local and regional authorities in Ukraine, Moldova, and the Baltic Sea Region. The project runs from September 2024 to December 2025. It is an extension of the CBSS-led BSR Cultural Pearls initiative on culture-driven social resilience, expanding best practices to Ukraine and Moldova.

Key objectives 

Strengthening community resilience in Ukraine and Moldova:

• Equip local authorities in Ukraine and Moldova, particularly in mid-sized cities (pop. 10,000 to 100,000), with tools and practices to foster strong, democratically active communities.
• Facilitate cross-departmental and cross-sectoral collaboration within city administrations to enhance their ability to respond to external shocks and stressors.

Promoting cultural and creative sector engagement:

• Support and empower local stakeholders in the Culture and Creative Sector (CCS) as key drivers of public engagement and social cohesion.
• Encourage the use of cultural tools and participatory methods in urban planning and community development.

Fostering transnational learning and collaboration:

• Establish a platform for mutual learning and exchange of experiences on community building and social resilience between local and regional authorities in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR), Ukraine, and Moldova.
• Enable peer learning and mentoring opportunities through webinars, workshops, job shadowing, and study visits, connecting Ukrainian and Moldovan authorities with BSR counterparts.

Enhancing BSR authorities’ understanding of community resilience:

• Provide BSR local authorities with insights and practical experience in building community resilience, particularly in the context of external shocks such as the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
• Facilitate the integration of lessons learned from Ukrainian and Moldovan experiences into the BSR’s own community resilience strategies.

Key activities

• Pearls network & capacity building: Webinars and physical meetings linked to the BSR Cultural Pearls Programme.
• Community resilience learning labs: Roundtable discussions and workshops focused on practical aspects of community resilience, culminating in published conclusions.
• Pearl shadowing: Job shadowing opportunities for Ukrainian and Moldovan partners, including study visits to BSR cities involved in the BSR Cultural Pearls initiative.
• Piloting: Testing cultural tools in selected Ukrainian and Moldovan pilot cities.

Project background

RESCOM is designed as an extension of the Interreg BSR project BSR Cultural Pearls (2023-2025), aiming to create a transnational learning platform that focuses on community building and social resilience. The project primarily targets local authorities in Ukraine and Moldova, particularly in mid-sized cities, and equips them with tools and practices developed through the Cultural Pearls initiative. 

These tools include facilitating cross-departmental and cross-sectoral collaboration to promote learning and cooperation between city administrations in Ukraine, Moldova, and their BSR counterparts. The project also aims to empower local stakeholders in the Culture and Creative Sector (CCS) as catalysts for public engagement and provides guidance on participatory methods for urban planning, budgeting, and more through peer learning and mentoring.

Furthermore, RESCOM offers BSR local authorities insights into building community resilience in the face of external shocks and stressors, particularly considering the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. This cross-border exchange of experiences and best practices is intended to strengthen the capacity of local authorities to foster resilient, democratically active communities in both the Baltic Sea Region and the targeted Eastern European countries.

Role of the CBSS

CBSS serves as the lead partner, acting as the main point of contact between the BSR Cultural Pearls project and this initiative. CBSS also leads project communications and acts as the international multiplier in the Baltic Sea Region

Partners

Partners act as national multipliers, collecting input for the learning labs, participating during the discussions and disseminating outcomes. Ukrainian partners also act as hubs identifying additional Ukrainian stakeholders to join project activities and covering participation costs.

The partners are:

• Council of Baltic Sea States Secretariat (Lead Partner)
• County House of Culture – Anenii Noi, Moldova
• Härnösand Municipality – Public Library, Sweden
• IZOLYATSIA Foundation – Ukraine
• Rivne Oblast (State Administration) – Ukraine

The RESCOM project is co-funded by the Swedish Institute’s SI Baltic Neighbourhood Programme.