3.6 Barents Co-operation in the field of sports

developed successfully and are still viable, while others have gradually been scaled down or stopped. There is no list indicating which of the 13 projects that found buyers. A more long-term collaboration between the Russian and Norwegian partners would have made it easier to monitor the final results of the projects. The local Energy Efficiency Centres could for example have taken on this task.

Another critical comment is the one-sided Norwegian input to the seminars and workshops. The lack of time is probably the main reason for this, but the programme would undoubtedly have benefited from more systematic input from the Russian side as well, as the Norwegians normally lack the intimate knowledge about the situation in Russia which is critical for a successful project implementation.

#Institutions involved and funding. The Norwegian Olympic and Paralympics Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF), its member associations and branches at local level, and the Murmansk Regional Committee of Sport are the partners of this project. Representatives from other Russian regions within the BEAR take part in competitions and conferences from time to time. The project co-operates with Kalottidrotten in Finland and Norrbottens Idrottsförbund.

The project dates back to the 1990’s. It has been co-financed by the Barents Secretariat, NIF, the individual sports associations, and the three regions of Northern Norway. In the period covered by this evaluation the project has received 590,000 of which 160,000 from the Barents Secretariat (2002), 545,000/160,000 (2003), 550,000/160,000 (2004); 550,000/200,000 (2005), 665,000/230,000 (2006) (source: Annual Report 2006). Background. The sports co-operation has its roots in the North Calotte (Nordkalotten) co-operation established as early as 1950 (existing until 1997) and in the bilateral sports co-operation between Finnmark and Murmansk dating from 1959. In 1994 the Kalottcentralen in Finland, NIF/Kalottutvalget, Norrbottens Idrottsförbund and Murmansk Regional Sports Committee

approved a joint action programme for a Barents Sports Cooperation. Originally the Executive Committee for Barents Sport (in Norwegian: Kontaktutvalget) had an intention of having the four Barents states co-finance a position as co-ordinator one day a week. The model for this arrangement was the co-operation between the Sports Committee St.Petersburg and Södra Savolax Idrott in Finland.

Some branches of sport have their own exchanges outside the framework of the NIF project or in addition to it. Objectives. To develop the co-operation in sports to become an even better tool for developing the quality of sport in the region; increasing the exchange of athletes, trainers and leaders; building tolerance and cultural understanding among the inhabitants of the region. The intervention. The target group is young people between 15 and 25 years. The main activity within the project consist in arranging sport competitions in a wide variety of sports, such as athletics, orienteering, badminton, swimming, ski, biathlon, power lifting, skating, wrestling, basketball, judo, tennis, bowling, gymnastics, volleyball, shooting and archery. Also seminars and training of coaches and sport organisers form parts of the project. The project does not only aim at arranging the activities themselves, but also to create a transborder framework for sport co-operation. The project functions as an organisational and administrative structure for sports co-operation in the Barents Region. The Executive Committee has one representative from each state. It was established in 1994 by the Region Committee with the aim of being an ad hoc committee to prepare a strategy plan for the future sports co-operation. The Barents Conference is arranged every three years with six representatives from each country. In each of the two years between the Barents Conferences there are Leader Conferences, with three representatives from each country. The idea is that matches and competitions constitute an important platform for co-operation. Through the contact made at these events it is possible to generate activities within education and organisational development.

Results

a) Output: Many sport meetings have been arranged. Training seminars have been arranged for sport organisers. Regular meetings in the Barents sports co-operation have been arranged. b) Outcomes and impact: The organisational structure of sports cooperation in the BEAR has been strengthened, or at least kept up during the period covered by this evaluation. Young athletes have met each other and competed against each other within a Barents framework, which most likely have given an impetus to the development of an attachment to the Barents Region. Also among sport organisers the meetings and seminars have contributed to making the Barents framework relevant. It should be noticed, however, that sport cooperation between Murmansk and its Nordic neighbour regions had taken place for several decades before the Barents sport project. Discussion. The project has the function of being an umbrella for sports exchanges between young athletes in the Barents Region. The project has suffered from difficulties in getting activities financed. In particular, financing the participation from Finland (the Ministry of Education) and Sweden (Riksidrottsförbundet) has involved problems. In fact, this is a major obstacle to the project implementation. Visa costs are another serious obstacle. Luckily, the Russian consulate in Kirkenes and the Norwegian consulate in Murmansk have introduced reductions in the visa fees for sport and culture arrangements within the BEAR. The sports co-operation suffers perhaps more than many other activities from the weak multilateralism within the Barents cooperation. Sport events gain more from including more than two countries than many other activities that in fact may be more efficient when being purely bilateral. Sport events with participants from four countries attract more athletes than an arrangement between two countries. The enthusiasm for the Barents sport events varies between the athletic disciplines, wrestling and badminton being the most popular.