The Euroregional Center for Democracy launched in February, 2003 the "Training and IT Services for Cross-border Projects Development" project. The program, implemented with the support of the European Union through the PHARE CBC fund, addresses the representatives of Timis, Arad, Bekes and Csongrad County Councils, the representatives from Sânnicolau Mare, Arad, Chisinau Cris, Szeged, Mako, Bekescsaba City Halls and the Romanian and Hungarian non-governmental organizations active in the field of cross-border cooperation.

        The project is based on two components: training and information. The training component is composed of 5 training sessions, with a duration of 5 days, followed by an integrative institutional exchange visit.

        The training sessions will be on the following topics:

          strategic development (May 12-16, 2003)
          team building (June 2-6, 2003)
          network project proposal writing and project management (June 30-AJuly 4, 2003)
          marketing and fundraising (September 8-12, 2003)
          internet- cross-border communication tool (September 29-October 3, 2003).

        The training sessions seek to train professionals from local and regional public institutions and non-governmental organizations that have the potential to develop cross-border cooperation programs. The workgroups for the trainings are formed of 15 persons that makes the activities more interactive, providing numerous case studies. In this respect, besides the professional information, the sessions provide the participants an opportunity for creative work and facilitate exchange of ideas and new approaches in their fields of activities. The trainings are followed by an integrative institutional exchange visit carried out between October 13-24, 2003. This field visits are at the institutions/organizations involved in the project provide an opportunity for exchanging experience and knowledge. As a result, the participants have a better understanding of the partner organizations and, thus, have a more successful involvement in their current activities.

        The information component provides a tool for disseminating relevant information on cross-border cooperation and specific means of communication between parties involved in such projects. The activity is based on the establishment of an Internet resource center, the development of Internet based tools in order to facilitate information exchange and to offer free Internet services to institutions and organizations.