Indicate how the project will improve the situation of the target groups and final beneficiaries as well as the technical and management capacities of target groups and/or any local partners.
 

The project target groups will benefit directly from the actions implemented within the Openwind project so they will experience a change into their situation by :

Increasing their learning knowledge about “New methods and techniques of governance and Open government” through the exchange of know-how, study visits and exchange of experiences.
Participating directly on new Global social Media network focused on open government.
Improving their knowledge on new methods of governance (policy level) in the Mediterranean area (Capitalization conferences) and on e-government as Strategy of Development
Improving their training and capacity building on e-government technical expertise and good governance methods (At least 375 people)
Participating on developing pilot initiatives in each territory

The specific target groups will be focuses on: Regional/local authorities, technical personnel, politicians, public employees, university staff (professors, engineers, experts, ..) local association and NGOs.Quantifying by implemented project actions as follow :

380 participants in the trainings and capacity buildings initiatives, distributed as follows.

130 technical personnel/staff working on e-government
95 municipal public employees
30 elected representatives of local authorities (mayors, councilors, presidents, etc.)
85 university staff members (professors, researches, directors, administrative, …)
40 people coming from NGOs and local associations

90 stakeholders participating in the “Local Public Committees” (LPC) 12 round tables: composed by project partners, local authority politicians, people in charge of target groups, NGOs and citizen associations participating in the project.

260 stakeholders (Mediterranean national/regional/local key actors and public/private sector organizations, etc.) and partner staff members informed trough 2 Transnational Conferences.
25 technical staff and local authorities involved in the study visits.
740 citizens (target group and beneficiaries) participating in the six Information and awareness events.
142 regional/local entities (municipalities, agencies) which will be involved in the management/development of the project

Furthermore, at the end of the project the final beneficiaries (citizens, public authorities, students) will have improved the quality of public services through the implementation of pilot initiatives in the partner’s areas. They will be fully informed and aware of the advantages and benefits of Open government and that the use of ICT´s for e-Government provides.
 

Management and coordination :

On-going project management and coordination will take place throughout the project. To this end a Steering Committee (SC) and 3 Working Groups (WG) will be established. The SC is the framework for efficient management, coordination, decision-making and evaluation. The SC has the task to plan, organize and evaluate Project activities and will consist of: A) A Permanent Secretariat (PS) represented by the applicant: Project Coordinator, Technical Coordinator, Financial Manager and Communication Manager. The PS will have the function to sustain the partners in their daily work and to fulfil administrative, communicative and financial requirements. B) An appointed SC-member from each partner who will have the task to ensure on-going coordination with the PS, implement the work programme and participate in SC-meetings. The WG is the permanent tool for the correct development and “control” of transnational thematic project work.

Methods and techniques for Governance & Open Government (WG1);
Training and capacity building for Governance & Open Government (WG2) and;
Communication & Capitalization for Governance & Open Government (WG3).

Each WG will be led by an appointed WG leader who will be responsible for the coordination, monitoring and follow-up of the WG. The WGs will meet on four occasions to further coordinate, monitor and follow-up project work. At local level, “Local Public Committees” (LPC) will be set in order to guarantee the existence of participative processes and to consolidate new methods of Governance & Open Government. The LPC will be composed of each project partner, local authority politicians, people in charge of target groups, NGOs and citizen associations participating in the project. The LPCs will meet on four occasions in each project partners’ territories and will use a participatory methodology.

 

Five (5) SC-meetings will be held with the task to:

assess and evaluate activities implemented in the previous phase;
monitor and follow-up on-going activities and;
plan and organise project activities to be undertaken.

 
The SC-meetings will take place in Málaga, Palestine, Monastir, Nicosia and Sfax. The partner hosting the meeting will be in charge of organising logistics, secretariat, coffee breaks, taking the minutes and holding the presidency (together with the PS). The SC-meetings will be attended by the PS and the SC-members.

Evaluation will take place throughout the entire project. This will allow better monitoring and follow-up project activities as well as an improved management and implementation of project actions whilst still on-going. Both internal and external evaluation will be guaranteed through quantitative and qualitative reports for each activity phase. These will completed by the partners, and the participants who were involved in the activities carried out in the respective partner countries.

Communication:

  Project corporate image design

 A common communication and visibility plan will be establish as well a handbook of guidelines for communication and visibility activities will be elaborated by the applicant in collaboration/coordination will all partners. It will be approved and presented after the Launch Meeting.

 It will be common and binding for all partners and will include a common logo and design for communications between the partnership and third parties (press releases, letters, mailings, e-mail, social networks, etc.). Each partner will prepared and adapt a communication plan in order to promote the OPENWIND project locally.

  Web page and social networks

Development of the OPENWIND project website and use of multilingual and periodically updatable social networks (Facebook, Twitter, ..) to involve local citizens and public employees in the initiative. The project website will be hosted by the Applicant.

The website will include among others: project overview and background; WPs key activities and updates; partnership information and links to their web pages; space for exchange of experiences; topicality and related news; project newsletters; links and downloads; hashtags and blogs; use of social networks like Facebook, Tuenti, Twitter, specialized webs, audiovisual components (pictures, photos, videos).

Dissemination and promotional products

Leaflets: Project general dissemination in each partner local territory. They will include: project background, objectives, activities, partnership, duration and expected results, .. Will also incorporate the project corporative image, logos of the EU and the participating partners and web links.
Posters: Graphic presentation of contents.
Banners: Visuals elements of projects for the broadcasting at dissemination events, transnational meetings, seminars, forums, Edited in each language.
Merchandising: Several products will be produced, such as pens, T-shirts, etc.

Audiovisual productions

 Audio-visual material (CDRom and documentary Video) will contain relevant information on the project (ex-post), such as analysis and diagnostic studies, PPoint presentations , filming of public events, local best practices and experiences examples, working seminars conclusions, information about events and performed activities (awareness, training, ...), results and outputs, edited documents and manuals, etc. This will be broadcasted locally and of transnational level. It will be elaborated in multilingual way.

Dissemination in the media

Press media (local and regional): Press releases will be launched in each of the project phases. Press conferences will also be held to present the project milestones.
Publications: Different type of publications will be edited: monthly-quarterly e-newsletters throughout the lifetime of the project covering local egovernment initiatives and activities, local ICT news and egov best practices from well establishedegovernments around the globe; feature articles in the media and specialized magazines; publications of final documents of previous actions results (seminars, meetings, forums, diagnostics, etc..), which will be given also publicity via the project website itself, the project partners, their agencies and collaborators.

  Information and awareness raising campaigns

 Each local partner of the project will organize public information events/workshops in their territory, with the aim to present the project itself and the expected results and/or outputs in order to increase the actions visibility. Each partner will focus on their final target groups and beneficiaries at the location of the project.

 These events/workshops will be also be aimed to promote awareness raising activities and to debate the benefits of implementing Open Government and using of new technological tools for the implementation of e-Government and conducting related electronic procedures for citizens/students. The Existing Situation Analysis (ESA) by each partner will be used as background document and may establish the framework of open governance models and the evaluation of strategies.