EmpowerUs: Socio Economic Empowerment of Coastal Communities

Funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe program, EmpowerUs is a €6 million, three-year project that will empower coastal communities to transition towards more resilient, inclusive and sustainable coastal development.

Project Overview

Full Name: Socio Economic Empowerment of Coastal Communities
Funding: Horizon Europe Programme
Budget: €6.2 million (EU Contribution: € 5.2 million)
Duration: October 2022 -September 2025
Coordinator: Noirdland Research Institute, Norway

Key Objectives

Coastal communities face growing challenges from climate change, urban development, tourism, and shifts in cultural practices. EmpowerUs helps these communities develop integrated, flexible solutions for a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient future.

Co-assess & co-plan six innovative Transition Coastal Labs (TCLs)
Co-create, test & monitor six pilots for collaborative adaptive empowerment as Transformation Mechanisms
Enhance ocean literacy through education, awareness, and solution uptake
Evaluate transformation success, identifying barriers and enablers for scalable, inclusive coastal development
Support knowledge transfer to boost stakeholder capacity and ensure replicability of solutions

Activities

WP1 Project Management and Coordination

WP2 Transition Coastal Labs

WP3 Participatory Methods to support Social Transition and Innovation

WP4 Evidence-based and Nature-based Solutions for Cross Sectoral Innovation

WP5 Synthesis of Inclusive Transition Mechanisms that enable Just, Sustainable Outcomes

WP6 Communication, Dissemination, Exploitation and Ocean Literacy

Partnership

The EmpowerUs consortium is led by Nordland Research Institute (NRI), Norway, and brings together 16 partner organisations from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Spain and the UK.