National Supporting Institution organized II Transnational Partner Forum on 30th and 31st  of March 2011 in Poland (Warsaw). The representatives from five countries took part in the Forum: Poland, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Lithuania - together almost 100 participants. They represented 80 projects (46 projects from Poland, 20 from Sweden, 6 projects from Finland and 8 projects from Germany) at different stages of implementation  –  some of them were at stage  of the “project idea”, several already received financing but not started its project implementation but most of them were in different stages of project implementation. The representatives of the European Commission, AEIDL (the European Association for Information on Local Development) as well as  Learning Network on Transnational Cooperation in ESF.
 

The main purpose of this Forum, similarly to the I Transnational Partner Forum organized in autumn 2010, was to help projects to find suitable partners.  Therefore, apart from the short introductory phase with presentations on differences pertaining to the ESF implementation systems in each country as well as about the importance of taking into consideration the cultural differences while implementing such projects, the main focus was put on discussions around tables divided according to the following themes:
 
 
1. Education of youth in unfavorable situation
2. Labour market
3. Social exclusion
4. Management standards
5. SME
6. Experiences exchange
7. Social inclusion

 
The selection of themes were prepared in advance on the basis of the project’s fiches sent by the participants before the event to the National Supporting Institution.  At each table facilitators from Poland, Sweden and Finland were leading the discussions in order to help the participants find the suitable partnerships.  Those of the participants,  who could not find any partners during the first day at their table were re-examined and during the second day these projects were assigned to other tables with further possibility of partner match.

At the end of the second day each table announced how many potential partners were found - it came up that almost all projects had succeeded.  Some of them have already signed the letter of intent for further cooperation. Due to general positive feedback from participants National Supporting Institution is organizing next such event on 15th and 16th of June 2011 also in Warsaw. In order to facilitate further contacts and disseminate the idea of the working method  applied at the II Transnational Partner Forum, some materials have been placed on our web site and grouped in the following bookmarks:


• List of institutions – participants of the II Transnational Partner Forum
• Programme of the Forum
• The Project’s Fiches (short descriptions of the represented projects)
• Presentations
 

We encourage you to read the materials pertaining to the Forum. Should you have any further questions related to this subject, please do not hesitate to contact National Supporting Institution: