The overall purpose of the Joint Small Projects Fund is to support small scale, "people-to-people”' exchanges and "soft" local development activities involving local actors from the border regions, which are defined on the basis of local/regional needs, and which have a cross-border impact. The Joint Small Projects Fund (JSPF) supports the key objectives of the Turkish-Bulgarian CBC Programme, namely to help the border region to overcome specific development problems resulting from their relative isolation in the framework of national economies and to remove existing disparities within the cross-border region. The Programme also contributes to the establishment and development of co-operative networks across the border and the creation of links between these networks and wider European Union networks within the framework of / wþth regard to the gradual alignment of economic and social development.

The Joint Small Projects Fund will finance small-scale people-to-people projects in the following priority areas:

• Economic Development – projects focusing on strengthening the economic base of the border region;
• Environment – projects focusing on specific issues relating to the environment in the region;
• Tourism – a range of “soft” projects for the development of tourism in the region;
• Cultural Exchanges – emphasising the importance of cultural heritage and the establishment of long-term cooperation;
• Institutional capacity building – schemes improving the capacity of organisational structures in public administration and other institutions at local and regional level;
• Planning and Development Studies - creating the preconditions for common planning to jointly define development priorities.

Duration:

The duration of an action shall not exceed 12 months.

Place:

Being located within an eligible district or province in the border region between Bulgaria and Turkey. For Bulgaria this includes the districts of Haskovo, Yambol or Burgas. For Turkey Edirne and Kirklareli.