1. What do “the people” think of us? Feedback and awareness study of the Estonia – Latvia Cross-border Cooperation Programme Rasma Rozenberga Information manager of the Estonia – Latvia Programme, www.estlat.euwww.estlat.eu INFORM network meeting in Brussels, June 15-16, 2010

2. Main idea... Assess awareness about the Programme – In context of ETC and EU programmes in general – See the info sources people use (!) Problem to statistically track potential applicants Obtain useful feedback – Interest in cross-border cooperation – Interest in participation in our Programme – Obstacles

3. General associations

4. General associations with field-specific cooperation

5. Regarding general EU contribution

6. Awareness (I)

7. Awareness (II)

8. Source of information

9. Sector differences: awareness

10. Sector and country differences: readiness to search for info

11. Country differences in readiness to search for info

12. Sector and country differences: general cooperation interest

13. Country differences in general cooperation interest 1 - No interest 2 - We would be interested to attend joint events and meet with such organizations/ maintain contacts or cooperate as far as it does not require any special effort from us 3 - We would be ready to invest some effort to search for such organizations and establish contact (using joint events or visits to the other country, giving calls etc.), initiate some ideas and take part in joint projects 4 - We would be ready to invest greater effort and use all available tools to find such organizations (also through calls or visits of the local municipalities or other intermediaries in Estonia/ Latvia), actively attend and initiate joint events to maintain the contact, propose ideas and initiate joint projects

14. General cross-border cooperation interests Statistically significant correlations prove that interest in cooperation with any country is linked to interest in cooperation with any other country Cooperation interest not so geographically, historically or culturally determined as it migh seem

15. Cooperation obstacles for Estonians and Latvians

16. Obstacles for participation in Estonia – Latvia Programme

17. Obstacles for participation in EU programmes in general

18. Obstacles for Estonia – Latvia Programme: sector & viewing partners as competitors

19. Grouping of obstacles

20. If they don’t come to us, where do they go?

21. Alternative programmes in Estonia

22. What can we use this all and how?

23. For communication Continuous information work, especially: – for private sector – through intermediaries and “trusted actors” – in Estonia Joint efforts with other ETC programmes – info materials – seminars together Practical workshops based on obstacle groups Partner search help as much as we can provide: – contact forums – online idea sharing space – Intermediary contacts

24. On Programme level Considering of the actual cooperation interest and obstacles during strategic planning in this and the next programming periods – Programme area – Private sector – Programme conditions reg. financing – Priority areas – Split coordinating bodies for different programmes

25. Summary “... give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change things that should be changed and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other” (Reinhold Niebuhr, The Serenity Prayer, 1937)

26. Complete report of the feedback study done by the Estonia – Latvia Programme is available at www.estlat.eu/news/programme-news/survey www.estlat.eu/news/programme-news/survey