The Sakarya Metropolitan Municipality (Turkey) is currently working on two projects and is looking for partners that could join the consortia.

AER is pleased to share this research with member regions and the entire network, being this a good opportunity to be involved on projects in line with AER priorities and topics.

1) The first project targeting teenagers and refugees will be submitted within Erasmus+ Sport Programme. The project objectives are to foster intercultural dialogue among teenagers, to set up teams together and to encourage them towards sports by offering them opportunities for shared-learning and discover their individual skills.

The activities foresee within this project are the followings:

• informing and raising awareness about a healthy life
• disseminating ethical behaviour among sportsmen and sportswomen
• organising conferences where teenagers will meet their idol athletes (basketball players) like streetball tournaments to provide equal opportunities for the teenagers
• during these tournaments and events, providing the opportunity for local sports organisations to build stronger dialogue with each other.

The partners searched are:

• municipalities
• sports clubs
• federations
• local public bodies, etc.

2) The second project, mainly addressed to cities with rivers, will be submitted within the first call of Black Sea Basin Cross Border Cooperation Programme – Priority 1.1 of the first thematic objective: Promote business and entrepreneurship within the Black Sea Basin – Jointly promote business and entrepreneurship in the tourism and cultural sectors.

The project titled  “EU Eco-Labelled Green Tourism Project with Sustainable Tourism and Eco-Friendly Virtual Reality Applications”,  is targeting stakeholders in the tourism sectors such as local entrepreneurs, hotels, art crafters and tourism agencies as well as local farmers, boat owners, etc.

The short-term objectives are:

• contributing to the development of jointly promoting business and entrepreneurship in the tourism and cultural sectors through partnership with region, by developing innovative eco-friendly virtual reality applications to sustain joint touristic services and cultural actions both during the project itself and afterwards
• implementing symmetrical activities within the project together with the regions partner in the consortia

The long-term objectives are:

• sustaining the joint eco-focused touristic and cultural visible impacts among project partners in the Black Sea Basin with EU Eco-Labelled green tourism criteria
• establishing joint periodic events (joint festivals, virtual fair, etc.) within the partners’ regions

The expected results are stronger cross-border business opportunities in the tourism and cultural sectors in the Black Sea Basin, and tourism routes having green tourism criteria in partners’ regions.

The final beneficiaries are:

• local people
• local public authorities
• local municipalities
• nature parks and protected areas management bodies
• farmers’ associations
• national public bodies
• cross-border and EU countries tour operators

If you are interested in any of these 2 projects, please get in touch with AER Secretariat by 31st March.