The programme offers grants for mobility and networking, the annual budget of the mobility programme, ca 200 000 EUR, is financed by all NB8 countries – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The purpose of the programme is to promote and strengthen cooperation, exchange of knowledge, and networking between public administration structures on all administrative levels in the Nordic-Baltic Region. The programme aims to facilitate the harmonization of more efficient working methods in the public sector. The overall goal is to increase the global competitive power of the region.
In 2024 the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Public Administration received 39 applications with a total sum of 340 071 EUR. The applications were submitted from Latvia (17), Estonia (12) and Lithuania (9) and Sweden (1). The total sum of grants allocated this year is 219 996 EUR, divided between 36 projects to be completed during 2024-2025. The largest grant sum allocated to one project is 8500 EUR, the smallest is 2000 EUR. There will be approximately 240 civil servants from many different sectors of public administration of the Nordic-Baltic Region participating in the projects supported by the mobility programme.
The coordinator of the mobility programme Madis Kanarbik highlighted that: „All Nordic and Baltic countries are well represented in the granted projects, as there are partners from at least 3 countries represented in each project. Creating new networks, sharing knowledge and practical tangible experiences between the Nordic and Baltic countries helps to facilitate new efficient working methods in the public sector and to raise the competitiveness of our common region.”
Over the years the Mobility programme has seen a multitude of successful applicants. Lena Lundström from Solna, Sweden, comments on her project fulfilled in cooperation with Latvia and Estonia Nordic -Baltic perspectives on systematic quality development in education, from pre-school to upper-secondary school: „Our visits have led to good relationships that we hope will result in continued collaborations. It is valuable for us at the central administration to have good contacts with school organizations in other countries. We want to expand our Erasmus+ network, and the Nordic-Baltic project has helped us advance in this regard.“
Among the projects supported by the mobility programme in 2024 are Swedish Habo municipality collaboration project with Estonia and Lithuania for discussing sustainable and digital solutions for urban development; Data State Inspectorate Republic of Latvia, arranging study visits to Sweden and Finland to exchange experiences and good practice on data protection supervisory authority involvement in the legislation processes; Tallinn Social Welfare and Health Care Department, sharing practices with Reykjavik and Oslo in the organization and provision of assistance services for people with disabilities; Innovation Agency of Lithuania, study visits to Iceland, Norway and Denmark on Baltic-Nordic cooperation for public sector innovation and innovation procurement.
More information on the programme: