Black Sea CONNECT was successful in delivering all the project tasks and objectives but CSA’s achievements go beyond the project tasks
-Two rounds of national consultations were held and an ample amount of awareness of the Black Sea’s unique features and critical state were raised, contributing the region to come together for a common vision for the Black Sea.
- An extensive list of marine and maritime projects was gathered and analysed under two different reports, providing input to the Final SRIA and its Implementation Plan
- One update and final SRIA have been developed with the input from broad stakeholders produced.
- One draft and Final Implementation Plan with input from broad stakeholders has been produced.
- Black Sea SRIA Final Implementation Plan was launched at a high-impact level event, at the European Parliament.
- The Operational Network of Funders (ONF) was established and actively functioned during the 2022-2023 period, providing input to the Implementation Plan. ONF expressed their interest to continue working together for the implementation of the Black Sea SRIA and concrete steps on these are being taken by METU, the coordinator of Black Sea CONNECT.
- Innovation Workshop was held with success and a Marine Innovation report was provided.
- 3 Joint Actions were piloted under the CSA. The Black Sea Young Ambassadors Programme (BSYAP) which is an education joint action has been a flagship initiative under the CSA. As Innovation Action, the Marine Litter Action Forum is organized as a major platform bringing various communities for innovative solutions. Based on the success of the actions, they are integrated into the Implementation Plan as themes and Strategic Joint Actions.
- Links with relevant EU projects, initiatives, and organizations were maintained throughout the project.
- 13.1 K users and 54.6 K visitors to the Black Sea CONNECT Website. Over 1.500 total followers from different social media channels
- 6 promotional videos including 1 epic, 1 Black Sea Blue Economy introductory motion graphic, 1 BSYA UN Ocean Decade presence and 4 event movies created
- With the major Black Sea CONNECT organized events and those that are attended by the project, the Black Sea has been made the most visible. Black Sea SRIA Implementation Plan Launch Event with the participation of more than 1020 in-person participants at the European Parliament and Marine Litter Action Forum with more than 200 attendance are among the highlights.
- Through target-oriented outreach activities organised at local, regional and international levels; big steps have been taken for Black Sea literate societies.Online Training Platform, MOOC, Black Sea Observatory on Blue Economy, and Gaming have been long-lasting capacity-building tools. Hackathon was prototyped and implemented as an active involvement tool for problem-solving on 2 occasions. Mobile Caravan, Scilabs, and Blue Economy Laboratory are also education programmes that will continue beyond the project.
- BSYA has continued to draw attention to the Black Sea. With the 2 cohorts, more than 30 ECOPs participated in at least 2 workshops, 2 trainings, 10 awareness-raising campaigns and outreach activities. They represented the Black Sea youth in more than 10 major international high-level events. The sustainability of the programme has been ensured with the link to the EU-funded H2020 BRIDGE-BS project. Based on the positive impact created towards this project, actions for BSYA are integrated into the Implementation Plan.
