Campaign:Atomic Threats In The Baltic Sea Region (Youth Initiative)

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This is the application text we sent to apply for a grant to the "Atomic Threats In The Baltic Sea Region" project for the period from August 3, 2013 to January 20, 2015.

We won't publish the personal details of the applicants, partner groups, bank accounts and the sums of the grant on the webpage for data protection reasons.

Application: Atomic Threats In The Baltic Sea Region
Application for: 'Action 1 - Youth for Europe. 1.2 - Youth initiatives' (Version of the application form valid as of 2013)

Name of the applicant

 * Projektgruppe "Atomgefahren im Ostseeraum"

Title of the project

 * Atomic Threats In The Baltic Sea Region

Type of Activity
This project is a Youth initiarive of the following type:
 * Trans-national youth initiative

The applicant is:
 * Applicant Organisation (APP)

Duration of the project
Start date of the project: (date when the first costs incur)
 * 03-08-13

End date of the project: (date when the last costs incur)
 * 20-01-15

Total duration of the project (in days):
 * 536

Venue(s):
 * Döbeln

Relevance to the general objectives of the Youth in Action Programme
The project aims:
 * to promote young people’s active citizenship in general and their European citizenship in particular (YiA-Prio-61)
 * to develop solidarity and promote tolerance among young people, in particular in order to foster social cohesion in the European Union (YiA-Prio-62)
 * to foster mutual understanding between young people in different countries (YiA-Prio-63)
 * to promote European cooperation in the youth field (YiA-Prio-65)

Relevance to the priorities of the Youth in Action Programme
Permanent thematic priorities:
 * Participation of young people (YiA-Prio-2)
 * European Citizenship (YiA-Prio-1)
 * Cultural diversity (YiA-Prio-3)
 * Inclusion (YiA-Prio-4)

Annual priorities:
 * Creativity and entrepreneurship (YiA-Prio-520)
 * EU citizenship and the rights that go with it (YiA-Prio-528)

National priorities:
 * "Das Projekt bezieht Jugendliche mit ein, die im Sinne des §13 SGB VIII sozial benachteiligt und individuell beeinträchtigt sind."
 * "Transnationale Jugendinitiativen sowie Projekte, die aktiv junge Menschen aus anderen Ländern einbeziehen, werden vorrangig gefördert."
 * "Die Projekte werden deutlich erkennbar von Jugendlichen selbständig initiiert, beantragt und auch durchgeführt."

Main themes for the Activity

 * Environment (YiA-Prio-714)
 * European awareness (YiA-Prio-71)

Summary of the project
The Baltic Sea is - according to the data of the HELSINKI COMMISSION, a body of scientists of the states in the Baltic Sea region - the most radioactive inland water body of the world. It was impacted by the nuclear weapons tests of the last century, the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, and by the emissions of the British Sellafield facility. These days the nuclear power stations, waste repositories, atomic transports, and uranium mining projects pose the major pollution risk to the sea and to the people living there. Our project is an international co-operation of concerned young people from countries of the affected region, supported by experienced international partners from the Netherlands and from Austria. It is dedicated to educate on safety concerns, and to spread the word about anti-nuclear initiatives.

The project takes almost 18 months starting in August 2013 and ending in January 2015. It involves some 35 young people from Austria, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, and Poland investigating around the Baltic Sea on atomic facilities, safety concerns and organizations criticizing them. The information and knowledge gathered will be published online and in printed form of flyers and a book. Additionally, information events on the "Atomic Threats In The Baltic Sea Region" will be held in countries around the sea.

Operational capacity
Many of the young project organizers have been active in the anti-nuclear field already. This project gathers people who have investigation experiences. Access to background knowledge will provided by the promoters, through the Nuclear Heritage Network we are involved to, online in the internet, and through "freedom of information" requests to the responsible authorities.

Involved to the "Atomic Threats In The Baltic Sea Region" project are people with different language skills useful for investigations in this region - such as German, English, Russian, but also Latvian, Polish, Lithuanian, or Finnish.

A main part of the investigations and practical work will be done by the participants of the project from home with their own laptops/desktop computers. Additional helpful technical equipment for this work, for project meetings and preparation of reach-out material will be provided by the project house in Mannsdorf, the main project venue of the applicant.

Within our international co-operation several people are experienced with project management, funding applications, bookkeeping, and public relations. Additionally, the coach will support the project with their experiences in the field of group process and methods as well as concerning the bookkeeping.

Composition of the partnership
Total number of partner organizations/groups: 7
 * Projektgruppe "Atomgefahren im Ostseeraum" - Germany
 * AntiNuclear Initiative - Poland
 * Sonne + Freiheit - Austria
 * Wise Minds - Latvia
 * WISE - Netherlands
 * ŽALI.LT - Lithuania
 * Luonto-Liitto - Finland

A Information on the applicant

 * name: Projektgruppe "Atomgefahren im Ostseeraum"

more information in the application form only

B Profile of the applicant
Status: Type: Activity level:
 * private (PR)
 * Informal group of young people (NFP-IGYP)
 * European (E)

Objectives and activities of the promoter: Our group has been formed to promote this project on atomic threats around the Baltic Sea. We want to investigate and educate on the risks of nuclear power, connect to anti-nuclear groups in the region, and to raise the public awareness on the impacts of this technology on human beings and environment. As an informal group we can use the infrastructure of the project house in Mannsdorf, a part of the city of Döbeln. We are in touch with activists from other countries, particularly in the Baltic Sea region.

Our group will take part in the investigations, and help to coordinate the project. We will take over responsibility for the bookkeeping of the project and for this application. We will take over the practical local preparation work for project gatherings, and we will care about the shipment of information material produced within the project.

Did your organization/group received EU grants formerly already?
 * no

Partner promoter(s)
information in the application form only

Participants in the project
information in the application form only


 * number of Austrian participants: 4
 * number of Finnish participants: 5
 * number of Latvian participants: 4
 * number of Lithuanian participants: 6
 * number of Netherlands participants: 4
 * number of Polish participants: 4
 * number of German participants: 8
 * total number: 35

Objectives and priorities
Please explain the context, the origin and the objectives of your project and in which way it meets the objectives and the priorities of the Youth in Action Programme.

Nuclear power is dangerous for people and environment in many ways: it starts with uranium mining and its further treatment, goes on with the risks during the operation of the power plants – as proofed by Chernobyl, Fukushima and Harrisburg (Three Mile Island) – and eventually there is this big problem left over: no safe solution for a final disposal of nuclear waste anywhere on earth.

Hundreds of thousands of people died in consequence of the catastrophes in Chernobyl (Soviet Union; these days: Ukraine) and Fukushima (Japan); millions of victims are expected to suffer the long-term impacts of the radiation released by these atomic facilities. Serious accidents took place in many other sites every few years, too: Windscale (1957 - United Kingdom), Mayak/Kyshtym (1959 - Soviet Union; these days: Russia), Tokaimura (1999 – Japan) are examples for nuclear accidents killing people directly. Other accidents like Brunsbüttel 2001 in Germany were close to a meltdown.

Since decades scientists warn the health impacts of radiation to be under-estimated enormously. The so-called "low" level radiation released by atomic facilities and within transports of radioactive material has the potential to damage cells and genes causing diseases, genetic damages and deaths. During the last ten years a number of studies has showed significant evidence for regular operated atomic power stations causing cancer. The "strongest" study is still the so-call "KiKK study" including the biggest data collection showing a seriously increased risks for children living close to German nuclear power plants to experience cancer.

Within the operation of uranium mines huge amounts of uranium ore are dug and stored on surface releasing radioactive materials like radon and spreading radioactivity to the surrounding water systems and environment in general. Uranium mining exposes the mostly indigenous workers to serious health risks. Thousands of cases have been officially registered already. Besides this dangerous release of radiation, the uranium mines produce huge amounts of "tailings" - radioactive and toxic waste waters stored forever in so-called tailing ponds mostly unprotected in nature.

The fuel used in atomic reactors includes a major share of the uranium-238 isotope with a half-life of some 4.5 billion years. It takes some 45 billion years before most of the isotope will be decayed. During the decay, other isotopes and elements are created with different amounts and types of radiations releasing as well with different half-life. As any amount of radiation is capable of causing health impacts, radiation exposure is to be reduced and avoided as much as possible. Thus, a safe final disposal of the radioactive waste is necessary for millions and billions of years. In the light of significant and unpredictable changes in society, knowledge of people and nature, such a safe disposal is impossible.

Some of us were involved to the "Stop Nuclear Power - Baltic Sea Info Tour 2010", and got to know about the special situation of this sea. Due to the low water exchange with the Atlantic Ocean, the majority of radioactive particles once captured in the Baltic Sea accumulate there. Thus, the fallout of nuclear weapon tests, Chernobyl accident, and Sellafield emissions concentrated in it and made it - according to the data of the scientists of the countries of the Baltic Sea region gathered in the "Helsinki Commission" (HELCOM) - the most radioactive inland water body in the world. Data also shows the radioactive impact of nuclear facilities of former Eastern European countries and Northern ones. Following this information it seems that even the biggist radioactive pollution is released by the Studsvik atomic facility in Sweden.

Getting in touch with activists in the Baltic Sea countries, learning about the facilities in their regions and understanding that the public is hardly informed at all about the specific pollution of the sea and the threats it is additionally faced to by the proposed uranium mining projects and by transports of atomic fuel and nuclear waste, we got inspired and motivated to focus on this topic more. Some of us connected with each other, experts and further organizations in this region to get prepared to start this project. We understood that there is a basic lack of information within the anti-nuclear scene as well as in the general public. When we started to create an overview for ourselves, we figured out that there are more than 60 atomic facilities in the water shed of the Baltic Sea - partly in operation, some are already decommissioned (but potentially polluted the sea in the past and still pose the risk of having left contaminated ground), and a number of them is still in the stage of being planned or constructed.

Our project aimes on educating people and public in general on the radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea, particularly by informing about the specific atomic facilities and their threats. We also want to support dedicated activists educating and campaigning against certain plants in their region by connecting them with each other and by providing the contact to them with our publication work. Thus, we want to strengthen the civil networks of citizens, and to support particularly young people to understand their rights as European citizens, to teach them as well methods of implementation of their rights and of reaching other citizens (or to put pressure on decision makers in institutions and companies) as knowledge on atomic power.

We also want to learn ourselves more about nuclear power, the policies in the European Union and in the member states, get to know experts and activists in the nuclear field and develop our skills regarding public relations, media and investigative journalism. Thus, we want to investigate facts and background information on each atomic facility in the Baltic Sea region as well as activities of organizations criticizing them. This information will be preprocessed for raising the public awareness on the risks of nuclear power, and will be provided in raw and unmodified form on our website, too. Tools for putting our goals into effect will be this website acting as a database on all atomic facilities, flyers we will produce, a book formed as an encyclopedia and a series of information events.

As atomic policies in Europe are much influenced by transnational treaties and co-operations, it is also important to understand these mechanisms, and to show other young people the importance to act together on a transnational level, too. We want to show how the European citizenship provides tools to make a change in the European, but also national, energy policies. Young people need to become aware of the European dimension of nuclear power, and the interconnections of impacts of this technology in the Baltic Sea region as well as the international treaties in effect in this area are a good example for this interdependency.

With our project, we also want to involve disadvantaged young people in an emancipated way. Many of our friends who don't share the same educational or cultural backgrounds, or who have been experienced different social or economic conditions, are often excluded from interesting projects and activities that would also increase their skills and opportunities in life. We want to be aware of differences and disadvantages, and try to make it possible for everyone involved to our project to equally take part in decision making and designing the image of the project. We also don't want to remain in the circles of more experienced and privileged Central / Northern European activists, but get to know the thinking and ways of organizing themselves of our partner groups in former Eastern European countries. This project serves us with a great chance to emancipated co-operate with each other as they can provide special skills (languages, experiences, understanding) helpful to investigate on the facilities and policies in the Eastern Baltic Sea region.

As we will gather much interesting and relevant information that needs to be provided in a suitable form to the general public, our creativity and entrepreneurship will be challenged. We will explore useful means of communication, promotion and reaching people, develop materials and methods to draw attention on our cause, and provide people with well-preprocessed material.

Partnership and activities/Project's design
''Please indicate: be involved in the project'' When sending this form in paper to your Agency, please attach an estimated overview of the planned activity.
 * ''how you found the other promoter(s), how you established an efficient partnership, and how the partner(s) will cooperate and
 * the activities foreseen throughout the project for its implementation, including preparatory and evaluation activities
 * the practical arrangements for the implementation of the Activity (food, lodging, transports, etc.)

Several participants in this project have been active in different constellations with each others and with the topic in the past already. Thus, many connections to partner groups have been established already during the last years. Luonto-Liitto for instance was the first international partner group for some of the German activists, when they were in 2007 involved to a project of the Greenkids e.V. organization visiting the Finnish nuclear reactor Olkiluoto. Over the last years there were single contacts of members of the applicant's group with members of Luonto-Liitto in projects, but the formal co-operation with the organization will be renewed with this project.

In 2008, activists from Austria ("Sonne + Freiheit") and Germany met in an international anti-nuclear network gathering organized by a French group with support of the YOUTH programme. Since that time, we met in international events and arranged mutual projects.

Several of the promoters of this project met each other in the last year's International Anti-nuclear Gathering organized by another German group. There, activists from ZALI.LT, Sonne + Freiheit and WISE were involved. The contacts to the Polish group had been established in the process of preparing the 2010 Baltic Sea Info Tour, while the contact to the Latvian activists has its origin in the Nuclear Climate Camp organized by another Finnish group with YOUTH support in Lapland in 2009.

WISE and Sonne + Freiheit are internationally campaigning groups with many networking contacts and experienced people, who several people of us met and co-operated with since several years. The German "Atomgefahren im Ostseeraum" group has been formed just lately, but many of the activists gathered here were active with other German anti-nuclear groups before, and as those involved to most of the network connections described before, too.

Roughly, the project will be separated into a preparation phase, two sections of activity phase (investigations and reach out), and an evaluation/valorization phase.

The preparation phase starts on August 3rd and will be on the one hand used to clarify and design the project more detailed and concrete, and on the other hand to share responsibilities and tasks with each other. It includes the Advance Planning Visit taking place in the middle of September, and will roughly end at the end of the same month.

From October 2013 to summer 2014 we will basically focus on investigations to discover the atomic policies, political backgrounds, critics' organizations and protests as well as the specific atomic facilities in all regions of the water shed of the Baltic Sea. These investigations will include work with "paper archives" (libraries, archives, collections of NGOs, etc.), internet search (Wikipedia; operators', authorities' and critics' websites, general search in engines), interviews with activists and representatives of concerned institutions, excursions to selected plants, and group work in international project meetings we will hold.

As soon as basic materials have been preprocessed for further public relations, we will publish first articles in magazines like the German environmental grassroots magazine "grünes blatt", the German "anti atom aktuell" magazine, or the international "Nuclear Monitor" as well as in newsletters as the Nuclear Heritage Network's "NukeNews" or the Austrian "OekoNews". These articles will also be featured on our website and offered to groups and organizers within our anti-nuclear networks for other publications (like country status reports). This second part of the activity phase will overlap with the first part (investigations) for practical reasons.

We will prepare specific flyers connected to topics we are investigating on: on the radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea, uranium mining developments in Scandinavia, specific atomic plants, etc. Step by step we will also prepare a presentation to be used in information events starting probably from summer 2014. Eventually, in autumn 2014, we want to produce a publication in the manner of a reference book providing one page about each of more than 60 nuclear facilities in the Baltic Sea region, an article on the atomic policy of each country of the area, and including background articles on radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea, Chernobyl disaster impacts and uranium mining in the region. An appendix will collect all uranium exploration sites that were made public so far - these are anticipated several hundreds of locations, too much to be provided with an article for each.

In November 2014 our evaluation and valorization phase will start. Then we will gather feedback and reflection on the group process, on the project in general and on follow-up ideas. We will gather feedback and publish it on our website. To implement some of the follow-up project ideas, we will reserve some time and capacities for reflecting on them and getting started a preparation process for some selected ones. Visble and lasting results of our projects will be the website (database of atomic sites, articles and documentation), the flyers we will have produced, the book, and the presentation that we will provide for download online, too. For sure, some activists of our group will be willing after the project end to continue holding the presentation in information events to keep on educating the public on our findings.

Practical arrangements for the project concern basically the preparation of the Advance Planning Visit and further project meetings including food, accommodation and infrastructure arrangements. This will be provided by the applicant, or for some project meetings that possibly would take place in other promoters' countries by these promoters, because it is more practical to be done by local people.

Arrangements connected to the production of materials (flyers, presentation, book), or to the arrangement of information events will be done by activists throughout the whole co-operation. We will separate tasks and share responsibilities beginning with the prepation phase, and probably update these agreements later whenever necessary.

REMARKS: Regarding the project costs listed in the budget section, we want to remark that it could look weird that we apply for a higher total amount of project costs than covered by the lump sum - this is due to the fact that our project costs are higher than the available lump sum. However, we cover this difference with an additional grant by the Greenkids e.V. association which are engaged in the Nuclear Heritage Network, too. The share mentioned in the budget section that we will provide from our own resources concerns only the 30% of travel costs not covered by the grant. This will vary depending on the real travel costs. Basically it means that our group covers these 30% of travel costs (except for the Advance Planning Visit) from our own resources.

Protection and safety
Please describe how your project ensures the protection and safety of the young people involved.

This project mainly consists of gathering of information on the internet and in archives, which does not require specific safety measures. However, we will need pictures of nuclear facilities, and sometimes excursions will be useful to figure out more, or to better understand the context. The young participants in some cases will have to visit sites, and there could be safety measures necessary to protect health or security measures to avoid later legal difficulties (e.g. copyright, right of photography). For this purpose, a basic instruction about rights, duties and personal protection measures will be developed for each special excursion or issue.

We will take care about each other and be respectful. At the beginning of the project burnout risks will be discussed, giving the participants advice how not to overload themselves with work and how to avoid a burnout. We will also hold a workshop on this topic in one of the project meetings after the advanced planning visit with printed materials and self-assessment tests.

Advance Planning Visit
Have you planned an Advance Planning Visit? - Yes

If so, please indicate proposed programme, dates and venue.

The advanced planning meeting is supposed to help to detailed design and structure our project. It will probably take place in the Mannsdorf project house from September 21 to September 22, 2013. Participants will arrive on September 20 and leave on September 23. Due to practical scheduling challenges, we will consult all active participants of our project in the beginning of August to clarify if dates and venue suite all of those who will join the meeting. Maybe we will have to change dates or venue then. Thus, this should be considered just a preliminary schedule.

September 21
 * 09.00-10.00 breakfast
 * 10.00-10.30 opening of the meeting: ice-breaking, introduction to each other and with the project
 * 10.30-12.00 creation of the Nuclear Baltic Map: a list of all nuclear facilities in the region; overview on investigation requirements
 * 12.00-12.30 coffee break
 * 12.30-14.00 creation of the Nuclear Baltic Map: sharing responsibilities for investigations and writing about specific facilities
 * 14.00-15.00 lunch
 * 15.00-17.00 clarification of the project objectives, activities, exploitation of the results and timetable in detail
 * 17.00-17.30 coffee break
 * 17.30-19.00 clarification of the project objectives, activities, exploitation of the results and timetable (continuation)
 * 19.00-20.00 dinner
 * 21.00-23.00 open evening for discussions, planning, socializing

September 22
 * 09.00-10.00 breakfast
 * 10.00-12.00 reach-out materials and strategy: planned items & sharing responsibilities
 * 12.00-12.30 coffee break
 * 12.30-14.00 visibility of the project: public relations, communication to anti-nuclear networks, promotion - sharing responsibilities
 * 14.00-15.00 lunch
 * 15.00-17.00 communication during the project: e-mail listserve, Skype, meetings, internet wiki page
 * 17.00-17.30 coffee break
 * 17.30-19.00 resume, clarification of unclear issues, closing of the meeting
 * 19.00-20.00 dinner, farewell vegan BBQ

Project's content and methodology
Please describe: social and personal development of young people involved in the project''
 * how the main theme reflects the interests and needs of participants
 * the working methods
 * ''how the planned activities and working methods will contribute to the process of non-formal learning and to the promotion of
 * how the young people will be actively involved in each stage of the project
 * how your project promotes innovative elements or approaches and how it supports creativity and entrepreneurship

Energy and environment are two major topics in both European and local level. The European Union wants to see renewable energy account for 20 % of final energy consumption by 2020, which suggests that the use, importance and role of nuclear power (currently 28 % of total energy consumption in the EU) will be reduced.

Nuclear power is also a hot topic in many European countries, including those in the Baltic Sea region. Poland is planning to build a new NPP, Belarus is building the Ostrovets NPP, Latvia and Estonia have discussed participation in the Lithuanian Visaginas NPP project. Finland is willing to build a new reactor in Olkiluoto NPP, while the previous one has not been completed yet, and is willing to build a new NPP in Pyhäjoki, close to Hanhikivi cape, which is about 500 hectares wide and full of natural treasures. Sweden has Forsmark, Ringhals and Oskarshamn NPPs, which often get into newspapers because of safety problems. The last time it happened was in October 2012 when Greenpeace activists broke in to Forsmark and Ringhals NPPs in order to draw attention to the lack of security at the plants.

Nuclear power and its threats to health, economy and the environment is one of the public concerns of young people. Thus, our topics meet the interests and needs of our participants. As we have developed this project concept ourselves, and implemented our specific needs, for instance regarding the group process, it of course also reflects our needs and interests.

Working methods are individual investigations, group reflections on this, writing and proofreading each others texts, group discussions, trainings to share skills and learn more. We will have excursions, some of us will visit archives and investigate there, there will be interviews with workers, critics, and politicians. We will prepare, layout and publish flyers and a book. The text we produce, we will also translate in as many languages as possible, and provide it online, and as far as financially possible also in printed form.

Our project process will include an Advance Planning Visit, several project meetings, communication in a mailing list, Skype conferences, phone talks and indirect communication through a wiki website which will be a desktop for us to collect information, prepare text and to start the publishing process. Later we will also have meetings with environmental pressure groups, information events and lectures to spread the word (as well in specific events as also as part of camps and congresses). We will promote the publications we produced, and we will do public relations.

Thus, we all will learn specific details on nuclear power as well as methods of investigation, media work and public relations. Our team working skills, group process experiences and self-confidence will be developed. This is also helpful for our future development and for the implementation of future projects. We will extend our contacts and networks, and strengthen our own awareness of environmental challenges and opportunities to make a change.

This project will include a lot of independent work, which means that participants will need to make their time schedules and stick to them, and require communication and analytical skills. At the beginning of the project all participants will receive a list of all nuclear facilities in the Baltic Sea region and chose the ones to do research about. Also they will receive clear guidelines about what needs to be included in each article and advice how and where to collect information. Participants will communicate with each other in every stage of the project using Skype conferences. It is also possible to have Skype conferences "on demand".

We will involve less experienced, but motivated young people to join, introducing them to the project and sharing with them skills and knowledge. More experienced people will "supervise" in certain fields, making sure that participants have understood their tasks and will be ready to help with an advice if necessary. In other fields other participants with specific skills will supervise on their field.

All decisions will be made together in an emancipated way. We will care for others which are disadvantaged due to a lack of knowledge or experiences, or due to different social or cultural background. We will also encourage all participants to share tasks and responsibilities with each other to avoid the appearance of dominance of a few main organizers.

We will figure out and develope creative means and methods to spread the word on our cause.

''The learning dimension (i.e. acquisition/improvement of competences) is an essential component of any project supported by the Youth in Action programme. The programme puts in place a process of recognition of competences gained through participation to Youth in Action projects which is called Youthpass (please visit www.youthpass.eu). With this regard, please describe:''
 * competences (i.e. knowledge, skills and attitudes) which might be acquired by the participants in your project
 * planned measures aimed at providing a place for reflection and assessment of the learning experience in your project

This project will develop and foster communication and analytical skills. Other competence supported within the project time are concentration skills and language knowledge (English, other languages). All these competences can be useful in future projects for they are essential for analytical journalism/research doing.

There will be a place for reflection and assessment of the project experience in our Skype conferences and project meetings. At the end of the project we will hold specific meetings and Skype conferences as well as email questionnaires for reflection and feedback.

All young participants will be invited to receive a Youth Path to illustrate the skills they developed with this project.

Intercultural dimension
Please indicate if and how your project reflects the following characteristics:
 * the project increases young people's positive awareness of other cultures,
 * the project supports dialogue and intercultural encounters with other young people from different backgrounds and cultures,
 * the project helps to prevent and combat prejudice, racism and all attitudes leading to exclusion,
 * the project develops a sense of tolerance and understanding of diversity.

Since the project will gather people from three different regions - Western, Eastern and Northern - of Europe, it will support intercultural dialogue. We all have different social, cultural, and partly also political backgrounds, but a common cause. Thus, we have a motivation to deal with each others and to develop a positive awareness of these differences.

The project methods and activities will actively support this intercultural exchange with formal methods, and informally in talks and every day's life activities in meetings (like cooking together or arranging other things).

European dimension
Please indicate if and how your project reflects the following characteristics; tick box(es) and then describe: present and future of Europe (YiA-Prio-81)'' (YiA-Prio-82)'' the EU's action in matters affecting young people (YiA-Prio-83)'' fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law (YiA-Prio-84)''
 * ''The project fosters young people's sense of European citizenship and helps them to understand their role as part of the
 * ''The project reflects a common concern for European society, such as racism, xenophobia and anti-semitism, drug abuse...
 * ''The project's theme is linked to EU topics, such as EU enlargement, the roles and activities of the European institutions,
 * ''The project debates the founding principles of the EU, i.e. principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and

Today and tomorrow of the European Union will depend on youth. Today, using active participation and speaking about their concerns, they can already influence things and realize their potential and power. In future as new adults they can continue things started in their teenage years and it is very likely that people who have been politically and socially active during their youth will remain active later.

This project is a chance to make the first youth created encyclopedia about all nuclear facilities around the Baltic Sea, a tool that will give the reader both a brief overview and a material for reference, and could be used for years. It is, in some respect, a unique project and a great chance for carrying out a serious research.

Impact, multiplying effect and follow-up
''Please explain the expected impact on young participants and the local communities involved in the project and what measures are foreseen to attain this impact. Furthermore, please describe the planned measures aimed at recognizing and validating the learning outcomes of participants and promoters involved in the project. In a long term perspective, please describe how you plan to achieve a multiplier effect and sustainable impact. Please also explain how you plan to follow up this project (e.g. new projects within the framework of the Youth in Action Programme, continuous contact with the promoter(s), etc.)?''

The participants will have taken part in a large scale project, whose results will be widely distributed and which will not lose its importance and topicality for many years. Also they will have improved their research and journalism skills. During this project, participants will collect large amount of information, far more then they will actually need for the project purposes. This information, that will also contain useful data, can be used for other projects, researches, articles, presentations or simply be shared among anti-nuclear activists.

The follow-up of this project will most likely be continuous contact with the promoters and a new project. This time it could be a project that involves seminars and discussions with the public on such topics as atomic policy, threats to health, environment and economics caused by nuclear power, renewable energy. At the moment it is difficult to say which countries could be involved in such a project.

Already now we have some more concrete follow-up projects in mind to result from the "Atomic Threats In The Baltic Sea Region" project: an exhibition on atomic facilities and protests in the Baltic Sea area, and a new info tour around the sea similar to the 2010 one which inspired our project of today (but shorter and more focused). Further project ideas will appear during the time until the end of 2014, after producing our first materials based on investigations we made. We will utilize the project meetings we will organize to consider on follow-up projects, too.

Visibility
Apart from the compulsory use of the Programme Logo (cfr. Part C, Publicity, of the Programme Guide), please describe:
 * how you will ensure the visibility of the project
 * how your project will provide clear promotional added value for the Youth in Action Programme.

The visibility of the project will be ensured in several ways: press releases will be written and sent to media in all partner countries. The first press release will be made shortly before the project will start. We plan to make several press releases during the project informing about state of affairs and project activities, such as information events. The last press release will be made shortly after the end of the project, informing about the project results.

Information about the project and project updates will also be sent to NukeNews and grünes blatt. NukeNews is a multilingual (English, German, Czech, Finnish, French, Russian, Lithuanian) system of newsletters that informs about atomic policies and developments, anti-nuclear campaigns and actions. grünes blatt is ...

Also information about the project will be distributed among anti-nuclear groups in different countries (all partner countries, other) via e-mail. During the project, when we will have collected and processed information, several information events will be organized in all partner countries. These events could be organized in two ways: as interactive open air events with an info tent and some creative activities (performances, short plays, games, etc.) or as formal events with presentations and discussions. The latter ones could take place, for instance, in ministries of environment, European Union information centers or in informal youth gathering places.

A project flyer will also be made. It will be available both in electronic and printed versions. PDF flyer will be available for dowload on the Nuclear Heritage Network, while printed version will be sent to all project partners for distribution in their countries. The flyer will be prepared before the first information events so it could be distributed there. The printed version will be available "on demand" for other organizations in the partner countries/organizations from other countries, too. Completed researches and links to additional materials (reports, official statements, articles in press, videos, etc.) will be published on the Nuclear Heritage Network, http://www.nuclear-heritage.net, which connects anti-nuclear activists worldwide, provide information regarding nuclear issues and anti-nuclear activities in many countries.

In the final stage of the project the book "Atomic Threats Around the Baltic Sea" will be published. The book will be printed in size A5 and consist of two parts. The first part will include background articles on radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea and impacts of the Chernobyl Disaster. The second part of the book will be dedicated to countries around the Baltic Sea (including Belarus as it is a part of the sea's water shed) and will be divided into chapters (one chapter for a country). Chapters will consist of an introduction to national atomic policy and current state of affairs. Each article on an atomic facility will include a photo of it or of the area, an introduction to the plant, technical details, contact information of active anti-nuclear groups and links to websites of critics and operators. At the end an appendix will show the names of proposed sites for uranium exploration and mining.

The promotial value for the Youth in Action Programme will be ensured by the large amount of people this project will address and its many activities. By seeing the Programme logo on the materials, which we will produce, for instance, flyers, the book people can be inspired to make their own Youth in Action project.

Dissemination and exploitation of results
Please give a detailed description of standard measures planned with a view to disseminating and exploiting the results of the project. (For inspiration, please see Part B - How to develop a good project? of the Programme Guide)

Exploitation of the results will be done by documenting our work on the Nuclear Heritage Network, http://www.nuclear-heritage.net, preparing and distributing the flyer and the book, organizing information events and sending informative e-mails to anti-nuclear networks. All of these activities will spread the word on our topics and the results.

Dissemination will be done by reflection and feedback meetings during our face-to-face meetings and by e-mail and Skype at the end of the project.

Inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities
''Does your project involve young people with fewer opportunities (facing situations that make their inclusion in society more difficult, see main situations/obstacles identified below) and/or special needs (mobility problems, health care, etc.)? If so, please describe and motivate.''

Within the applicant's group several young people are involved suffering social and/or economic obstacles, and/or are faced to health and educational differences. One person lives in a socially difficult "ghetto" due to economic problems, one person had problems with drugs in the past and is faced to deal with the consequences, another one had to experience jail and the social impacts this has on their live now. One person cancelled their school education, several others selected alternative educational opportunities due to problems with the normal school. Due to economic disadvantages, some people receive social welfare support. Two of our group members have a gluten intolerance, and being vegans at the same time they need a special costly diet. Four group members live in structurally weak areas making it difficult for them to be mobile.

We respond to these disadvantages by supporting indigent group members solidarily with their travel and communication expenses to be able to equally join the project. We also share technical equipment with them/provide technical devices for them from the project. The specific social experiences and differences we meet with a cautious and steady group process giving space to those of us who don't have the same educational or experience background to make everything understandable and joinable for everyone. We will take the time it needs to reflect and discuss the specific experiences people were faced to. To include the persons with health problems, we will provide the specific food they need, although it is a bit more expensive.

Our Eastern project participants are historically faced to specific geographic and cultural differences, particularly the young people from Lithuania and Latvia. The Soviet history has impacted their society regarding economic and social conditions and expectations. We have experiences, particularly in every day's project life with each other, that challenges can appear connected to the social and cultural differences. We will take this knowledge into account, and the coach will help us in this respect with their experience, too.

As the form didn't accept the total amount of disadvantaged participants, and only accepted those of the applicant, the figure provided there (4) concerns the applicant only. All together it concerns 14 people.

Number of young people with fewer opportunities involved in the project 4

Please indicate the situation(s) they face:
 * Social obstacles (YiA-Prio-41)
 * Health problems (YiA-Prio-46)
 * Economic obstacles (YiA-Prio-42)
 * Cultural differences (YiA-Prio-45)
 * Educational difficulties (YiA-Prio-44)
 * Geographical obstacles (YiA-Prio-47)

Details of the Coach
If you have a coach accompanying and supporting you with your activities, please provide contact details.

information in the application form only

Budget
information in the application form only

Bank details
information in the application form only

Signature of the legal representative
information in the application form only

Declaration on honour
information in the application form only