The Association of Bialystok Functional Area is the partner of the project 'GOOD VOCATION - GREAT LIFE – the popularisation of vocational education in the Podlaskie Voivodeship', implemented as part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship Regional Operational Programme 2014-2020.

The main objective of the project is to popularise vocational education both among junior high school students and their parents, who play a key role in planning the educational path of their children. The task of the project is to show the advantages and opportunities, but mainly the benefits that young people can achieve by choosing further education leading to qualifications to work in a specific profession and at a specific position.

The project leader is the Bialystok Foundation for Personnel Education (Leader), and the other partners are: the City of Suwalki, the Chamber of Crafts and Entrepreneurship in Bialystok, Lomza Local Government Forum, the City of Bielsk Podlaski and Suwalki Teacher Training Centre in Suwalki. The project was implemented in the Podlaskie Voivodeship from 15.04.2017 to 14.04.2019. The value of the Project is PLN 6,057,435.03, including European Union Social Fund, of PLN 5,748,435.03.

The main beneficiaries of the project are 145 lower secondary schools, 60 vocational training schools and 6,000 lower secondary school students from the Podlaskie Voivodeship and their parents.

Project activities targeted at lower secondary schools:

  • Participation of school teaching staff in seminars on vocational training issues;
  • Participation of school staff responsible for vocational counselling in meetings devoted to the subject of the correlation of the teaching profiles of vocational schools and professions offered by them with the actual needs of the labour market;
  • Individual and group educational and career counselling dedicated to students;
  • Mentoring meetings for students and their parents;
  • Participation of students in study visits to enterprises;
  • Support dedicated to students' parents involving the organisation of meetings with career counsellors and vocational school staff;
  • Participation of students in competitions dedicated to various professions, in which they will be able to win attractive prizes;
  • Participation of students in educational and vocational fairs;
  • Participation in organised promotional events dedicated to particular trades and professions.

Project activities targeted at vocational schools:

  • Presentation of the school's educational offer on the Internet platform;
  • Extensive media promotion of the school's educational offer and the associated vocational sector;
  • Substantive support in terms of conducting professional marketing activities aimed at effective acquisition of lower secondary school graduates;
  • Support in conducting promotional and recruitment activities;
  • Participation of selected school staff in workshops in the area of school development programming, shaping a positive school image and planning school/professional industry promotion, interpersonal communication and methodology of school-environment cooperation;
  • Supporting a school in the area of building positive relations and cooperation with the environment;
  • Presentation of the school at educational and vocational fairs together with the preparation of a professional exhibition set (owned by the school);
  • Participation in organised promotional events dedicated to individual trades and professions.

All information about the project is available on the project website: 
 www.dobryzawod.pl


Since November 2017, the Association of the Bialystok Functional Area has been a member of the Partnership Initiative of Cities (PIM) network on air quality. PIM is a programme for the exchange and promotion of knowledge between cities and other entities involved in the formulation and implementation of urban policy. The strategic objective is to improve development conditions and support the integrated and sustainable development of Polish cities. Members of the air quality network are: Nowy Sącz (Leader), as well as Bojanowo, Kudowa Zdrój, Nowa Ruda, Opalenica, Pszczyna, Rawicz, the Association of the Bialystok Functional Area, Toruń, the Intercommunal Union for Ecology in Żywiec, and Żmigród. The main tasks of the network are to establish local partnerships, develop Municipal Action Initiatives in individual cities and develop an Improvement Plan for the entire network. The network is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2019.

The following Strategic Objectives and Priorities for the Air Quality Network have been identified:

  • Identification of key emission sources
  • Creation of emission management systems at the local government level
  • Creating programmes for the replacement of heating equipment with less emitting appliances
  • Creation of low emission zones (so-called LEZs)
  • Absolute elimination of household waste incineration
  • Education
  • Creation of legal and organisational mechanisms for the use of infrastructure along expressways for zero-emission transport.

In 2017, the Association of the Bialystok Functional Area took steps leading to the establishment of the Local Partnership (LP PIM).

It is planned that LP PIM will address one of the objectives of the Integrated Territorial Investment Strategy of the Bialystok Functional Area 2014-2020 in terms of low-carbon economy and environmental protection, creating a Municipal Action Initiative in this area. At present, within the framework of the above-mentioned Strategy, projects are being implemented or planned, the main aim of which is the development of low-emission public transport and bicycle transport in serving the inhabitants of the Bialystok Functional Area, as well as the reduction of harmful dust and gas emissions from household heating cookers as part of so-called low emissions. Pollutants of communicational origin and, above all, surface emissions from low, dispersed municipal and household emissions based on solid fuels, result in concentrations in the BOF area exceeding air quality standards required by national and EU law. Intervention in these areas should result in an improvement in the state of the environment, including, above all, an improvement in local air quality, thanks to the reduction of emissions of pollutants that are particularly harmful to people's quality of life, such as PM10 and PM2.5 and B(a)P. The Municipal Action Initiative will complement and extend the issues in the existing Strategy in terms of improving air quality in the Bialystok Functional Area.

More information on the Municipal Action Partnership can be found at: 
https://www.miir.gov.pl/strony/strategia-na-rzecz-odpowiedzialnego-rozwoju/kluczowe-projekty/partnerska-inicjatywa-miast/

 


Project leader:

Energievision Frankenwald non-governmental organisation (NGO)

Partners:

the Association of the Bialystok Functional Area and the County of Hajnówka

Funding:

European Climate Protection Initiative,

Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety of Germany.

Project duration:

01.11.2018 - 31.12.2020 (26 months)

Project objectives:

1.To establish an independent advice centre on renewable energy sources for local authorities, institutions, companies and individuals.

2.Coordination of the energy management system in the municipalities of the Hajnowski District and the Białystok District (development of a report on energy consumption and emissions of pollutants in individual municipal buildings from the area of the Białystok District)

3.Organisation of meetings with experts for those interested in implementing RES and thermo-modernisation of buildings.

4.Supporting the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency in the municipalities of Hajnowski and Białostocki Poviat.

5.Education of the local society on the benefits of RES implementation.

6.Benefiting from the experience of the German partner in terms of applied energy solutions, activities of energy agencies and creation of bioenergy municipalities.

Benefits for municipalities, residents and institutions:

  1. Obtain independent information on the advantages of RES use.
  2. Free assessment of the building's condition in terms of its current energy consumption and proposed energy-saving solutions.
  3. Professional advice on the selection of specific solutions according to needs.
  4. Advice on how to obtain financing for RES measures.

Details at  www.centrumenergii.com and on the EUKI website.




The BFA Association and the Opole Agglomeration Association have launched a joint initiative to better organise the equipment and services needed to combat the effects of climate risks. The project aims to organise support so that resources available in one municipality can be used in the event of extreme events in another, neighbouring municipality. The indirect aim of such a solution is to reduce the need for municipalities to incur expenditures on maintaining the equipment necessary to combat the effects of extreme events. In this respect, the BFA Association draws on the experience of the Opole Agglomeration, which has started implementing the programme Solidarity in the face of danger in its area. Joint implementation of the project will contribute to the exchange of experience between rescue services, as well as to creating a model that can be implemented in other parts of the country.

 As part of the preparations for the joint implementation of the Solidarity in the face of danger project, a workshop meeting was held in Opole on 16-18 August 2017. On the part of the BFA Association, it was attended by Zbigniew Nikitorowicz - Deputy Mayor of the City of Białystok, Krzysztof Marcinowicz - the Head of the Juchnowiec Kościelny Commune, Adam Tomanek - Mayor of Zabłudów Municipality, representatives of the State Fire Brigade from Białystok, employees of the City Hall in Białystok, as well as employees of the BFA Association.   

 Since January 2018, the BFA Association has been implementing a project entitled SYNERGY TO THE QUADRATE - Model for improving the functioning of the system for counteracting and mitigating the effects of extreme events in the Opole Agglomeration and the Białystok Functional Area for 2018-2023.

ACCELERATION OF BUSINESS SUPORT ECOSYSTEM - ACCESS

Project partners:

  1. Kaunas University of Technology from Kaunas (Lithuania) - Project Leader,
  2. Kaunas Chamber of Commerce Industry and Crafts from Kaunas (Lithuania),
  3. the Bialystok University of Technology (Poland),
  4. the Association of the Białystok Functional Area (Poland).

Project implementation period:

June 2020. - November 2021.

Project value: €699,801.08, including EU funding of €594,830.91

The project was financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

Project objective: to promote youth entrepreneurship and cooperation between innovators, public authorities, universities and SMEs.

The project’s tasks focus on:

  • ensuring better implementation of the project's proposed entrepreneurship development programme in the project areas;
  • collecting and identifying good entrepreneurial practices;
  • building an initial programme for accelerating entrepreneurship development;
  • training the project team to implement the entrepreneurship development programme individually;
  • gathering and sharing knowledge among all project participants on entrepreneurship development;
  • promoting cooperation links between relevant actors in Lithuania and Poland.

The project will result in the organisation of entrepreneurship training courses for a specific group of beneficiaries, as well as in the provision of entrepreneurship counselling, the organisation of a project conference, an information campaign on entrepreneurship and the development of a guide entitled "Practice guide how to accelerate business". "Practice guide how to accelerate business & support organisations".

Project coordinator:

Anna Augustyn

Manager of the Planning and Development Team

e-mail: a.augustyn@bof.org.pl


Project website

https://www.facebook.com/AccessInterreg 



URB-EN PACT (Urban Energy Pact)

Project partners:

  1. Clermont Métropole (France) - Project Leader,
  2. CIM Alto Minho (Portugal),
  3. The Association of Bialystok Functional Area (Poland),
  4. 4. Galati (Romania)
  5.  Palma di Montechiaro (Italy),
  6.  Metropole Normandie (France),
  7.  Elefsina (Greece)
  8.  Tampere (Finland).

Implementation period for Phase I of the project: September 2019. - March 2020 (completed)

Implementation period of phase II of the project: May 2020. - August 2022

Project value: 63,603.20 euro, including funding: 54,062.72 euro

Project co-financed by the URBACT III Programme.

Project objective: to develop local action plans leading to partner city areas becoming Zero Net Energy Territory by 2050. This will be possible through the gradual provision of energy from RES and the implementation of so-called energy loops available to all beneficiaries of the local circular economy.

The project's premise is to implement changes in how energy is consumed in metropolitan areas, and in particular to seek solutions for:

  • possibilities for energy production from RES;
  • possibilities for energy storage and distribution;
  • possibilities for strengthening the links between energy production and consumption;
  • possibilities for raising environmental awareness;
  • opportunities to develop energy entrepreneurship.

The final result of the project will be the development of the Integrated Action Plan in the above-described scope by each of the Project Partners.

Project coordinator:

Anna Augustyn

Manager of the Planning and Development Team

e-mail: a.augustyn@bof.org.pl

Tel.: 603 777 003

Project website

 

 

We open border together / Открываем границу вместе
(CBCpath - PBU2/0794/18)

 Project Leader:

The Association of Bialystok Functional Area

Partner: A. S. Pushkin State University of Brest

Implementation date: April 2020 - September 2021

Project value:  EUR 39,980

The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the Poland-Belarus-Ukraine Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2014-2020.

Project objective: to improve the image and tourist attractiveness of the Bialystok Functional Area and Brest Oblast through the promotion of tourism products based on local culture and the preservation of the historical heritage of the regions. As a consequence, this is expected to bring tangible benefits by increasing tourist traffic between Poland and Belarus, which will translate into the economic development of the region, especially in the BFA communes.

The project is aimed at improving the qualifications of tourism organisers and at the same time promoting new tourism products in the Bialystok Functional Area (the Pearl of the BFA route) and the Brest Tourism and Recreation Zone. The expected result would be an increase in the supply of and demand for tourism in the border area.

Project stakeholders on the Polish side: people involved in the organisation of tourism in the BFA area, local government units in the BFA area involved in tourism and cooperation and local media.

 

Project coordinator:

Agnieszka Świderska

e-mail: pbuprojekt@bof.org.pl,

Tel: 85 661 15 38

 

Project website

https://www.facebook.com/We-open-border-together

 

EU CYCLE - Cycling for development, growth and quality of life in European regions.

Project partners:

  • Hungary (West Pannon) - leader,
  • Poland (The Association of Bialystok Functional Area),
  • Belgium (ECF - European Cyclists Federation),
  • Germany (Euregio Rhine-Waal),
  • Italy (Region of Apulia).

Implementation date: 1 August 2019. - 31 July 2023.

Total project value: €1,060,181, including the Association of BFA: €163,700

The project is supported by the INTERREG Europe programme.

Project objectives:

The project is focused on developing proposals to amend selected regional strategy documents in each project partner country in a way that would contribute to a more efficient low-carbon economy. With improved policies and state-of-the-art solutions, it will be possible to achieve a better quality of cycling projects and increase cycling.

The document analysed on the Polish side is the Regional Operational Programme of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. The development of changes is to take place through learning about good practices, used in the countries involved in the project.

The task of the project is to provide a significant contribution to the decarbonisation of transport, by switching from individual motorised transport to cycling as low carbon and sustainable mode of transport.

 Tasks of the Association of BFA:

  • The length of cycle routes built based on the learning process carried out by the project - 40km.
  • The change of management by influencing the quality of investment in cycling projects.
  • To create future cycling infrastructure documents based on an international learning process to make them more efficient and user-friendly.
  • Acquisition of practical knowledge by the Marshal's Office of the Podlaskie Voivodeship on how to implement cycling policy.
  • The development of the Regional Action Plan with the participation of key stakeholders, as a tool to improve documents connected with the improvement of conditions for cycling.
  • The dissemination of the obtained knowledge among local stakeholders, the public, as well as the non-governmental sector to improve the quality of project applications, which will be submitted for funding from the ROP.

Project coordinator:

Anna Augustyn

 

 

 





Support to schools in the Bialystok Functional Area related to mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

 

Leader:

Bialystok Functional Area Association

 

Project partners:

City of Bialystok,

Choroszcz Municipality,

Czarna Białostocka Municipality,

Dobrzyniewo Duże Commune,

Juchnowiec Kościelny Commune,

Łapy Municipality

Supraśl municipality

Turośń Kościelna municipality

Wasilków municipality

Zabłudów municipality

Białystok Poviat.

The project aims to improve safety in primary and secondary schools in the epidemiological situation related to the threat caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in the Bialystok Functional Area.

The project involves:

  • purchase of disinfectants and equipment,
  • purchase of personal protective equipment,
  • simple renovations, reconstructions, adaptations of rooms that should be adapted to the current epidemic situation,
  • the purchase of equipment for remote and hybrid learning,
  • the purchase of licences for remote and hybrid teaching software,
  • training for teachers on remote and hybrid teaching, as well as awareness-raising on sanitary regulations and responsibility for creating a safe school environment during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The project will result in, among other things:

  • providing support to 103 entities in the field of counteracting the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by the end of 2021,
  • improving the health security of 9,853 people through the purchase of specialised disinfection equipment, disinfectants and protective clothing,
  • improving the accessibility and quality of remote and hybrid learning through the purchase of 2,311 laptops,
  • the adaptation of 12 school facilities to the needs of teaching in an environment guaranteeing social distance to improve health safety. 

Project implementation period: 17.11.2020 r. - 31.12.2021 r.

Project financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the Regional Operational Programme of the Podlaskie Voivodeship 2014-2020.

Project value: PLN 7,743,429.25, including EU funding: PLN 6,507,580.84.

Białystok Functional Area Association

Project value: 64,197.40 PLN, including EU funding:  54,561.36 PLN

 

City of Białystok

Project value: PLN 6257,442.96, including EU funding: 5 247 191.10 PLN

 

Choroszcz Municipality

Project value:  129,456.60 PLN, including EU funding: 110 038,09 PLN

 

Czarna Białostocka Municipality

Project value:  125 909.44 PLN, including EU funding: 107 023.01 PLN

 

Dobrzyniewo Duże Commune

Project value:  PLN 135 499.96, including EU funding: 115 174.95 PLN

 

Juchnowiec Kościelny Commune

Project value:  PLN 221,317.00, including EU funding:  188,119.43 PLN

 

Łapy Municipality

Project value:  209,669.00 PLN, including EU funding: 178 218.64 PLN

 

Supraśl Municipality

Project value:  155 317.20 PLN, including EU funding: 132 011.44 PLN

 

Turośń Kościelna Commune

Project value:  PLN 69,865.76, including EU funding: 59,385.89 PLN

 

Wasilków Municipality

Project value:  213 997.50 PLN, including EU funding: 181,897.86 PLN

 

Zabłudów Municipality

Project value:  64,412.93 PLN, including EU funding:  54 750.98 PLN


Bialystok Poviat

Project value: 96 343.50 PLN, including EU funding: 79 208.09 PLN

Contact

Office of the Board of the Association of Bialystok Functional Area

ul. Mickiewicza 74 lok. 6 
15-427 Białystok
tel./fax  85 661 15 38