In order to rise the topic of civil safety in the project partners – Saldus (LV) and Mažeikiai (LT) municipalities, within the framework of the Latvian-Lithuanian cross-border project No. LLI-523 “MuniGuard”, thematic discussion “Cooperation and capacity strengthening in the field of civil security of municipalities and Fire Services by increasing the security of the residents of Mažeikiai and Saldus municipalities” was organized in December 21,2021. The discussion took place remotely (using the ZOOM platform), and it was organized by the project’s leading partner – Saldus municipality. Participants from Latvia and Lithuania took part in the discussion, 18participants in total.

The following main topics were discussed:

• Opportunities for co-operation between municipalities and fire safety services,
• Civil security of residents of remote from county centers places and border parishes,
• Preventive work and its effectiveness,
• The role of volunteer fire brigades,
• Opportunities for cooperation between partner countries Latvia and Lithuania, etc.

The project envisages organizing two such events. This was the first of the two, but the second will take place at the end of the project and will be organized by a partner in Lithuania – Mažeikiai District Municipality. The activities are designed to raise awareness of existing and potential co-operation both between municipalities and with other institutions, in particular fire and rescue services, to ensure more effective response to threats.

During the discussion, it became clear that the problems and the highest risk groups are the same in both partner countries. Representatives of the fire services of both countries told what the services are doing in a preventive manner to reduce the number of fire accidents as much as possible, as well as the role of local governments in preventive work.

After event project partners also discussed what further contribution could be made in a scope of this project. One of the ideas is to direct the financial resources remaining after the purchase of equipment to the purchase of smoke detectors for the socially vulnerable people and households. Partners will start working on this idea immediately in the 4^th project period.

 

Project information:

Project LLI-523 “Capacity Building of Saldus and Mažeikiai Municipalities in the Field of Civil Security” (MuniGuard) is implemented within the framework of the Interreg VA Latvia-Lithuania Cross-Border Cooperation Program 2014-2020. With the support of this project, three partners – Saldus Municipality, Saldus Technical School and Mažeikiai District Municipality Administration want to provide citizens with higher civil safety by improving public services, performing preventive actions and shortening the response time to fires and other emergencies in Saldus and Mazeikiai municipalities.

The total budget of the project is 214,062.11 EUR. The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) co-financing is EUR 181 952.78.

This article has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of Saldus Municipality (Lead partner) and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.