The Association of South-Western Municipalities (ASWM) took part in the inaugural partnership meeting of the project "Integrated Network for Disaster Management in the Danube Region" (InDiMaND), held in Budapest, Hungary. The project officially launched on April 1, 2025, and aims to strengthen coordination and cooperation among disaster response organizations across the Danube region.

Led by the Budapest Fire Protection Association, InDiMaND brings together 13 core partners, including ASWM, whose involvement is critical thanks to its established role among municipalities in South-Western Bulgaria and its strong partnerships with national and international institutions. ASWM’s extensive experience in environmental protection, disaster prevention and mitigation, volunteer training, and public awareness campaigns positions it as a key contributor to the initiative.

The project will produce two major strategic documents:

• A transnationally validated set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to harmonize disaster response efforts across participating countries.
• An Action Plan for Youth Engagement, aimed at fostering sustainable volunteer participation, especially among young people.

These outputs will be further enhanced and tailored to national contexts with the support of 17 associated strategic partners, ensuring their alignment with local legislation and broad applicability across more than 10 countries in the region. This collaborative approach will help ensure the long-term effectiveness of the strategies and improve disaster resilience throughout the Danube basin.

In addition to strategic development, InDiMaND will carry out various transnational exercises, training sessions, and public information campaigns designed to promote disaster readiness and volunteerism. One of the training sessions will take place in Bulgaria’s Blagoevgrad region.

ASWM is the lead partner for Activity 1.5, which focuses on creating a comprehensive framework for the adoption of the SOPs by relevant stakeholders. This framework will be developed collaboratively, allowing project partners to adapt and expand it to fit their regional and organizational needs.

InDiMaND is funded by the INTERREG VI-B Danube Region Programme 2021–2027, under Priority 2: "A greener, low-carbon Danube Region", Specific Objective 2: "Promoting climate change adaptation, disaster risk prevention and resilience, taking into account ecosystem-based approaches." The project will run for a total of 36 months.