At the beginning of the year, we traditionally take stock of the Programme's implementation and our collective achievements over the past year. The year 2024 marked the end of the Programme PL-BY-UA 2014-2020, the wide opening of the doors of the new edition of PL-UA 2021-2027 and already first preparations for what is planned in the Programme after 2027. Therefore, it was a time of hard work and activities on various fronts. We invite you to read their summary.

• We summarised the implementation of the Programme in the ‘Evaluation of the impact of the Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland-Belarus-Ukraine 2014-2020 on the eligible area’.
• We have prepared the final report of the Programme (soon to be submitted to the Monitoring Committee for approval).
• We have cleared the remaining 65 interim and final project reports, closing a total of 59 projects.
• We carried out 25 on-the-spot controls of projects.
  
  

• We prepared two updates to the Programme Document, which included:
  • an increase in the Programme budget by over 48 M EUR for the implementation of the ACCESSIBILITY priority (solidarity lanes);
  • adding the Small Projects Fund to the ENVIRONMENT priority (Objective 1.4 circular economy);
  • reallocation of 8.5 M EUR from priority TOURISM to priority ENVIRONMENT;
  • expanding the scope of the BORDERS priority and modifying the scope of the priorities: TOURISM, COOPERATION, ACCESSIBILITY;
  • updating programme indicators, as well as the list and budgets of intervention categories.
• We also updated:
  • Programme Environmental Assessment Report;
  • Methodology and values of Programme indicators;
  • Communication Strategy.
• We organised the 4^th meeting of the Monitoring Committee (Krosno).
• We also prepared 19 decisions, which were taken by the Committee through written procedures.
• We signed partnership agreements for the implementation of tasks for the Programme with the Branch Office in Lviv and Regional Contact Points in the Lubelskie, Podlaskie and Podkarpackie voivodeships (we hope to sign an agreement with the Mazovian Regional Contact Point soon).
• We have submitted the first request for payment to the European Commission. The application covered the expenditure of the Polish project partners to the tune of over 890 000 EUR, which was confirmed by the controllers and the Joint Secretariat.

• • We have evaluated 132 applications under the ENVIRONMENT priority, worth over 229 M EUR.
  • Monitoring Committee selected for funding 44 projects under the ENVIRONMENT priority with a total value of almost 82 M EUR.
    
    
    
    

• • We announced 2 calls dedicated to operators of Small Projects Funds (SPF) in the priorities ENVIRONMENT and COOPERATION (the budget of both SPF totals 10.2 M EUR).
  • We organised workshops and consultations for both SPF operators.

• • We contracted 66 projects, including:
    • 7 Large Infrastructure Projects (priority: ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH, TOURISM);
    • 40 regular projects in the priority ENVIRONMENT;
    • 19 regular projects in the priority HEALTH.
      
      
      
      
  • The total value of projects contracted at the end of 2024 is 142.22 M EUR, which equals 66% of the Programme financing for projects.
    
    
    
    
  • A total of 188 partners are involved in the ongoing 71 projects, of which 89 are from Poland and 99 from Ukraine.
    
    
    

• • Projects have submitted 30 requests for payment for 11.5 MEUR, 2 of them for over 890 000 EUR have already been approved.

• We have prepared packages of documents for beneficiaries:
  • ‘Programme Manual – Regular Projects. Part 1 – application’ – updates; ‘Programme Manual – Regular Projects.Part 2 – implementation’ with annexes;
  • ‘LIP Call for proposals and Implementation Manual’ with annexes;
  • ‘Manual for Small Projects Funds’ with annexes.
• We organised Opening Conference of health projects ‘Priority: HEALTH’ (Janów Podlaski).
• We conducted 6 trainings for beneficiaries (3 on the Polish and 3 on the Ukrainian side) on implementation, reporting and visibility rules for a total of over 400 participants.
• We conducted 2 trainings combined with workshops on communication for a total of over 100 participants.
• We supported beneficiaries on a daily basis in the implementation of their projects: fulfilling the Programme's obligations, including communication – developing logos for projects, verifying promotional materials, organising events.
• We prepared online materials, guidelines, FAQ section on the Programme website and organised consultations for all beneficiaries.
• We supported national and regional institutions in the preparation of non-competitive strategic projects in the ACCESSIBILITY and BORDERS priorities (roads and railways).

• • We organised a total of 30 promotion and information events – in addition to trainings and consultations, i.a:
    • Youth Educational Campaign ‘Let's follow the common trail!’ on the occasion of Interreg Cooperation Day 2024 and its Final in the Bieszczady Mountains for 80 participants from 16 schools from Poland and Ukraine;
    • Opening Conference of health projects ‘Priority: HEALTH’ in Janów Podlaski;
    • 5 ceremonial events during which the Minister and the Deputy Minister for Development Funds and Regional Policy (Managing Authority of the Programme) signed a total of 9 grant contracts;
    • A meeting summarising achievements in the projects of the Programme 2014-2020 ‘We did it – now it’s your turn!’;
    • International Conference on Capitalization in Lutsk;
    • The event ‘Borderland is our common home’ in Lviv;
    • As every year, we also participated as partners in a several events organised by other entities (e.g. in the Europe of the Carpathians in Krasiczyn, the European Funds Open Days, the Economic Forum in Karpacz) and in numerous events organised by PL-UA projects in both countries (conferences, openings, grant contract signing ceremonies, etc.).

• • Summary of project experiences from the 2014-2020 perspective ‘We did it – now it’s your turn!’;
  • Summary of the effects of the PBU Programme;
  • Publication: ‘Capitalisation of the effects of projects implemented on the Polish-Ukrainian border in the EU financial perspective 2014-2020’;
  • Issue of ‘The CROSSBORDERER’ 2024 magazine;
  • New edition of Facts&Figures information publication in Polish or Ukrainian language.

• • 3 radio programmes about the Programme projects and their effects

• • Competition “‘From Grandma's notebook’ – share a traditional recipe”

• • Programme website (maintained in 3 languages) and social media profiles (FB and YT):
    
    • We posted 68 news on the PL-UA website;
    • We created a projects' database;
    • We prepared 11 articles presenting the first signed projects;
    • We promoted the results of the projects in the series: ‘Stories from the projects’ – 7 articles;
    • In 2024, we recorded 200 543 hits on the Programme website and almost 22 000 downloads. The average time of a visit to the website was about 5 minutes.
      
      

• We organised an extensive ‘Interreg post27’ consultation campaign throughout the Programme area. As part of it:
  • we collected more than 700 consultation questionnaires;
  • we held 10 consultation meetings, 1 in each Programme region.
• The summary of this activity is the Consultation Report.

We sincerely thank everyone involved in our activities, in making the above achievements and our big and small successes, possible. And we look forward to what 2025 will bring us.