STEP – neighbourhood portal for social and health care
Funded by Euregio Karelia Neighbourhood Programme 2001-2006

Objective of the project

The purpose of the project was to optimise the cooperation of the social and health care workers of East Finland within cooperation activities with the Republic of Karelia.

Main activities

• increasing cooperation and information exchange • improving the channelling of neighbourhood know-how • intensifying cooperation with the Republic of Karelia • improving the monitoring of the completion of projects and the distribution of results. • increasing the use of the Internet as a means of communication and information channel in the cooperation between Finns and Russians.

Achievements

The project was, by nature, an information-technological project, which helped to pilot and survey the possibilities to advance projects, their preparation and distribution of results as well as the related networking. During the project, the STEP - neighbourhood portal for social and health care was designed and implemented as an Internet-based tool for Finnish-Russian neighbourhood cooperation in social and health care. The building of the portal was done by the students of the communications education programme of the North Karelia College as their practical assignments. The construction of the portal was done by the students of the communications education programme of the North Karelia College as their practical assignments. The intention is that the information and services supporting the concrete implementation of neighbourhood cooperation can be found as extensively as possible from one place. The portal will include, among others, details of the projects implemented within the Finnish-Russian neighbourhood cooperation related to social and health care, as well as a registry of interpreters, translators and specialists in Finland and the Republic of Karelia. However, the implementation of the pages was delayed due to technical difficulties, and there was not enough time to make the content as extensive as planned; details will continue to be added after the project. The languages chosen for the pages were Finnish, Russian and English, so that the portal can be used on both sides of the border and also utilised more widely and internationally. The project brought together partners in neighbourhood cooperation in social and health care and organised seminars and work meetings developing border region know-how in Petrozavodsk and Joensuu. The project cooperated with several other projects developing neighbourhood cooperation. The project supported the development of neighbourhood cooperation of the social sector of the North Karelia College by organising the practical training of two students in socio-economics in Sortavala. In the future, it will be possible to initiate and intensify the educational cooperation in social and health care between Finland and the Republic of Karelia with the help of the STEP portal developed by the project. The project helped those interested in neighbourhood cooperation to create contacts in the Republic of Karelia, gave specialist neighbourhood cooperation help in social and health care to various parties, and supported new projects by bringing together various operators. The project helped to introduce new project ideas and to start and support planning of projects. Thus the aim of the project was to make wider entities from projects, utilising previous experiences and approved procedures in their neighbourhood cooperation work.