Hungarian Delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture visits LEITAT
On the 12th of May, a delegation of the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture visits LEITAT headquarters in Terrassa. This visit is part study trip across Europe that this delegation is making within the framework of a European project for capacity building in the field of environment.
In order to facilitate the EU Member States’ effective participation in the LIFE programme, the European Commission provided financial support (~ 1 million euro per State) to activities required to build the capacity of Member States through the LIFE Capacity Building project. 14 Member State could submit this project including Hungary, with the coordination of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of National Development and the Hungarian Development Centre. The project duration is 36 months and it has started on the 1st of January 2016.
In Hungary, the Ministry of Agriculture is the LIFE national contact point regarding the LIFE Environment subprogramme: the Department for Environmental Development in the field of environmental protection (Environment and Resource Efficiency; Environment Governance and Information) and the Department for Nature Conservation in the field of nature conservation (Nature and Biodiversity; Environment Governance and Information). The two departments act as a consultant in frame of their national contact point role, provide support letter upon request, and monitor the implementation of the on-going projects facilitating problem-solving if needed.
In order to spread information to a wider target audience and to form successful projects from project ideas, Hungary develops professional, raising awareness and project management activities, integrating the results of closed and ongoing LIFE projects.
The actions of the capacity building project facilitate the more effective participation of Hungarian project proposals in an integrated and complex way. Within the project actions, they have developed the capacity of LIFE experts, organise study trips, a networking workshop, thematic trainings for the applicants, and establish a support team, a LIFE project database and a website for instance. As result of the above mentioned activities, more project ideas can come up and the number of successful LIFE proposals can increase with the help of the enlarged and trained LIFE support team.
Hungary’s choice for the first study trip is Spain, which is one of the countries with the most successful LIFE proposal submissions. The experts will take part in this study trip in order to improve the effectiveness of the LIFE support team, so they can learn about best practices from one of the more successful Member State and widen their knowledge in order to support applicants and make it use during the trainings/workshops and communication back in Hungary. Besides, this study trip will help to exchange ideas with each other and improve the international cooperation among us.
Inter alia, the Hungarian Delegation will visit the LEITAT Technological Center which has many successful LIFE projects, such as WDS, GREENING BOOKS, BOHEALTH, ECOTEXNANO ELVISUSTECH, REMEMBRANE, and RESALTTECH.