Cooperation project on strengthening EU's Nordic USAR modules

1. Cooperation project on strengthening EU's Nordic USAR modules Acronym: EU-NU Grant Agreement n:o ECHO/SUB/2014/694378

2. Administrative overview • Total project eligible cost: 655 954 € • EC financial contribution requested: 491 966 € (75% of total eligible costs) • The project will be implemented in the following countries: Finland and Sweden • Starting date: 01/01/2015 • Ending date: 30/06/2016 • Duration in months: 18 months

3. EU-NU project - background Finland has contributed to the development of EU Civil Protection particularly related to EU's capacity to operate in cold conditions. This has been done mainly through trainings and exercises, of which significant part has been co-funded by the European Commission (EUCC I, EUCC II, EU CoordEX 2014…). The outcomes of the development work have been distributed to Union countries through a number of events and publications.

4. Objectives of the project 1(2) • The EU-NU project supports and complementsefforts made by Finland and Sweden in the field of Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) in Cold Conditionsand thus facilitates reinforced cooperation between the two countries in the field of preparedness in civil protection. • The intended step further develop USAR activities in the region is to develop a joint Nordic USAR team, a team capable of operating in cold conditions and to share this knowledge wider within the Union Mechanism.

5. Objectives of the project 2(2) • The project's secondary objective is to share the Nordic arctic expertise in the field of civil protection. • The project disseminates results from previous projects, especially the EU Cold Conditions Module development, to the Participating States though publications and training. • The EU-NU project enhances the awareness of professionals of other civil protection modules in Participating States by offering a tactical level training in Lapland to module members of participating states.

6. Actions and means involved • The project is a part of the wider strategic aim of Nordic countries to build EU's common capacities of cold conditions in Northern Europe. The project strengthens, in particular, the capacities of a joint Nordic USAR team and builds foundations for future action. • The project would enable enhanced operational cooperation between the project partners in the framework of the Mechanism, as well as examines, through its SOP-related actions, the prospects for Northern countries to develop, exercise and register multinational assets for the Union Mechanism. • The best practices of the project and previous development work done in the field of civil protection will be shared among the PS's during the project. The project includes workshops and trainings to facilitate deeper cooperation between Nordic USAR operators. The opening workshops seek team-specific strengths and common grounds for a joint Nordic USAR team, as well as prepare the partners for a joint pre-deployment training. After the training two workshops for building common Standard Operating Procedures will be organised and the first SOP distributed to the competent civil protection authorities of Fl and SE. Cold conditions training in Lapland will be offered to all PS's who have registered a module / TAST team on CECIS.

7. Planned project structure and main deliverables

8. "Core" of the project - workshops and trainings • The EU-NU project intends to improve the level of preparedness of Northern USAR teams' in particular through joint trainings and a joint small-scale exercise to be partaken by combined FI-SE USAR team. Thus, in principle the project would offer a venue for the tactical level of USAR experts of Nordic countries to start and further develop their cooperation. • Task D consist of workshops and training event to facilitate deeper cooperation between Nordic USAR operators. The opening workshops seek team-specific strengths and common grounds for a join Nordic USAR team, as well as prepare the partners for a joint pre-deployment training (D4). After the training two workshops for building common Standard Operating Procedures will be organized and the first SOP distributed to the competent civil protection authorities of FI and SE.

9. Workshops and trainings – planned timeline

10. Outcome - expected results • Enhancement of Nordic USAR cooperation and exchange of good practices • Strengthened the capacities of a joint Nordic USAR team and builds foundations for future action • Dissemination of results from previous projects, especially the EU Cold Conditions Module development • European wide improved knowledge on rescue operations in cold conditions • Improved links between relevant actors both in Nordic countries and European wide throughout the disaster management cycle  All this will contribute to the improvement of the Union's ability to efficiently respond of future disasters and crises.

11. For more information, please contact: Ms Mervi Kuvaja, Project Manager Crisis Management Centre (CMC) Finland PO Box 1325, FI-70821 Kuopio mobile: +358 (0)50 456 2772 www.cmcfinland.fi Twitter: @CMCFinland Facebook: facebook.com/cmcfinland