On 17 June, 2019 Latvia-Russia CBC Programme Managing Authority and Association “Creative Ideas” signed the grant contract to implement the project “Not just books – libraries for supporting entrepreneurship!” (Not just books).
A well-established partnership – Balvi in Latvia and Dedovichi in Russia – are to continue and disseminate their experience in supporting entrepreneurship in North Latgale (Latvia) and Pskov region (Russia) by involving libraries in improving business skills and spirit among locals:
- improvement of services and equipment for business support organisations and renovations in libraries (6 facilities in total);
- 2 study visits and joint summer school for libraries, municipalities and NGOs working with entrepreneurs;
- set of activities under a joint heading “Local Buzz: Local and international activities for facilitating entrepreneurship” with individual consultations, trainings, online manual and targeted support to local entrepreneurs willing to tap on bigger markets (over 50 activities in total).
The project will tackle a distinctive and specific challenge for Programme territories: with limited local market opportunities and far distances to major economic centers, microbusinesses and self-employed persons are many in numbers but lack entrepreneurship skills and sustainability of their businesses.
The total budget of the project is 250 thousand EUR, including Programme co-financing amounting to 225 thousand EUR.
Understanding the value of business support in remote places, three more associated partners joined the project work. Bauska Central Library will bring their valuable experience in creating business libraries and entrepreneurship education centres in libraries in Latvia and Lithuania. Central Library Systems of Dnovsky and Porhovsky Districts will participate in knowledge transfer and disseminate further entrepreneurship support via libraries.
To find out more about “Not just books” project, visit http://bit.ly/LAT-RUS-NotJustBooks
