“Lever – Development Consultants S.A.,” a member of the “Samaras & Partners Group,” provides support to the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace within the framework of the Territorial Cooperation Program “INTERREG Greece – Republic of North Macedonia 2014-2020” for the implementation of the project with the acronym “FLOODSHIELD.”

This project focuses on the cross-border Axios/Vardar River, which offers the region a wide range of significant advantages across environmental, social, economic, and strategic sectors. However, beyond these benefits, the risk of flooding in the surrounding areas is equally present. Cross-border cooperation for flood management has not been effective, thereby increasing the vulnerability of the cross-border regions to floods.

The project’s scope concerns the management of flood risks of the Axios River and the exchange of information and practices from both sides of the border. The primary goal is to minimize cross-border flood risks and the resulting damages within the Axios River basin. This will be achieved by strengthening cross-border cooperation regarding organizational, technological, and social matters.

More specifically, the project combines various aspects to achieve the following specific objectives:

1. Strengthening flood risk governance in the cross-border area to achieve better flood assessment, planning, monitoring, prevention, and response.
2. Improving technical capacity for effective assessment, monitoring, preparedness, and response to cross-border flood risks.
3. Vulnerability analysis of the area using socio-economic criteria.
4. Promotion of the role of citizens and volunteer groups in civil protection actions in case of flood disasters, so that they are both able to protect themselves and actively participate in prevention and response activities.

The collaboration for the project includes bodies such as public national and regional authorities responsible for flood risk management and civil protection in their respective countries, thereby ensuring the achievement of the objectives.

(Image link: https://www.visitpaionia.gr/fysiolatriki-mageia/axios-potamos/)