Priorities in Practice: Our 1st Call for Proposals Small-Scale Projects Booklet
20/03/2026
The Programme has recently published a booklet presenting the achievements of the 1st Call Small-Scale Projects. It highlights how each initiative approached the respective Specific Objective from multiple angles: some focused on raising awareness and engaging citizens, others on capacity building, while several developed tools and pilot actions in different domains. Woven together, these efforts form a broader narrative, demonstrating how targeted initiatives generate meaningful impact and contribute to driving forward Interreg Italy-Croatia’s goals.
Take Specific Objective 2.2, ‘Protection of Biodiversity and the Reduction of Pollution’. That is indeed quite a complex goal to reach, which, on the one hand, demands a coordinated effort across borders, while on the other, it requires attention to local dynamics. Projects such as HABI and ML-FREE contributed to building a shared understanding of environmental challenges – ecological degradation and marine litter, respectively – and the actions needed to address them. In order to do so, they raised awareness and engaged the cross-border community, promoting knowledge exchange (through labs and training programmes) and encouraging citizens to take an active role in protecting natural ecosystems. Other projects explored similar but more focused approaches: MONI.CA and VERA, for instance, placed particular emphasis on young citizens, recognising that long-term environmental protection also depends on the ability to engage new generations. They built networks of environmentally-aware youth committed to improving air quality and developing sustainable agricultural models.
The same rationale applies to projects under Specific Objective 4.1 ‘Culture and Sustainable Tourism’. All projects produced specific joint training materials for capacity-building and contributed to sustainable tourism by promoting alternative routes that make the most of the shared Italian and Croatian cultural heritage. At the same time, they adopted different methods: AdriaticPorTLand emphasised hands-on learning through exchange labs for tourism operators, highlighting the role of traditional shipbuilding, while CREaIT, ETHNIC and OMNIS addressed accessibility by designing tailored itineraries for travellers with visual impairments and those travelling with pets or guide dogs, while also developing accessible websites and tactile tools.
With the highest number of funded Small-Scale Projects in the Call, the picture is no different for Specific Objective 5.1, ‘Integrated Governance for Stronger Cooperation’. By design, this objective is broad and projects addressed multiple issues.
Some projects focused on enhancing skills and sharing knowledge. BNA, NEWS, D.E.C. and SFERA offered training and workshops in various fields, respectively: Europlanning, SMEs governance, digital skills and rural entrepreneurship. They also produced practical guides based on their experiences. Similarly, CICERO and CO-MAY combined joint training activities with knowledge exchange opportunities to support more coordinated frameworks for disaster response in border areas and sustainable energy governance. Lastly, tackling a theme we have already seen in Specific Objective 4.1, BRICS has co-defined through study visits and exchange labs a legally-binding joint strategy and action plan to promote inland tourism. Additionally, they all promoted their results through communication activities, ensuring that the knowledge generated can be used beyond the partnership.
Another set of projects focused on improving coordination through research and concrete solutions. EFFICIENTN2K identified legal and administrative bottlenecks in the management of Natura 2000 sites – the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world – and proposed ways to improve coordination between institutions. Similarly, INABLE worked with public authorities to address barriers in public services, promoting more accessible and sustainable solutions through digitalisation.
Other initiatives took a more creative approach to knowledge-sharing. COPE and DIGITsmart both culminated in public exhibitions. The first collected and then presented best practices in multilingual pre-school education through a travelling exhibition, while the latter created a ‘digital bridge’ across the Adriatic by developing digital archive guidelines and digitalising historical photographic collections, improving accessibility and showcasing them to the public.
Finally, youth engagement also played an important role. DEMY-Coop promoted youth participation in cross-border decision-making by developing guidelines and organising forums that connected young people with key EU stakeholders. While M.A.R.I.O. focused on demographic challenges, analysing policies and proposing action plans to address youth outmigration and support more resilient communities.
Overall, these actions show that the added value of Small-Scale Projects lies precisely in their ability to approach the same strategic goals piece by piece through varied modalities. Their results prove that even relatively small initiatives can make a meaningful contribution to a better Europe across the board.
Article by Elisa Cacco, IVY at the Interreg Italy-Croatia MA
