Specialists from the regions will gain new knowledge from Norwegian colleagues
Lithuanian Sports University (LSU) implements an international project entitled “Collaboration and capacity building of Lithuanian and Norwegian sport education institutions”. The project is coordinated by LSU and involves 18 partners from Lithuania – regional and urban sports and culture centres – and one foreign partner – Norwegian School of Sport Science.
The aim of the seven-month project is to transfer the experience and good practice of implementing the goals of regional policy in the area of sports of Norwegian institutions to Lithuanian local authorities and sport institutions implementing regional policy on sport.
“Many Lithuanian regions have set goals in their development plans to promote community initiatives focused on the improvement of the quality of life and the living environment, to develop the infrastructure of culture and sport, to improve the quality of services. The regions face the major problem of low level of participation of local people in sport activities, sedentary life of older people, and high juvenile delinquency. The said problems could be alleviated by more active participation of local people. Involvement of community members into sport activities is one of the answers to the problem. Norway is a leading country in Europe in terms of physical activity and wellness at community level. Participation in this project will be a good opportunity for us to learn the good practice of our Norwegian partner”, said project manager Mindaugas Jozėnas.
In November representatives of sport and culture centres participating in the project will go for a six days training in Norway. They will visit Norwegian sport clubs, schools, and community centres and will acquaint with the practice of involving people into sports. Upon return from the training project participants will use the gained knowledge in their work and pass them to regional institutions implementing sports and wellness activities.
Later experts from Norway will come to Lithuania to conduct theoretical and practical training sessions for regional institutions. Norwegians will also demonstrate equipment for recreation and healthy lifestyle. Trainers and healthy lifestyle specialists working in the regions will be trained to use the demonstrated equipment so that they can encourage local community members not only to be active but also to exercise correctly without doing damage to their health.
One of the objectives of the project is to draft a joint study programme and recommendations how to adapt the Norwegian experience for local needs. Partners and other institutions will implement the developed education and activity programmes in the local and regional organizations (sport and culture centres, schools). There are plans to enter into a cooperation agreement between LSU and Norwegian School of Sport Science. The collaboration will involve student exchange and student placements in Norway.
The project is implemented under the programme “Capacity building and institutional collaboration between the state, the support recipient, and Norwegian public institutions, local and regional authorities. The project is funded from Norwegian Financial Mechanism grants.
