FAIR – Fair Assessment of Impact and Result
A key territorial challenge tackled by this project is the small size of Baltic Sea island communities, their seasonal populations, long distances, and diseconomies of scale, which result in high per-capita costs for infrastructure and services. Traditional planning models and policy assessments often fail in the archipelago context, where economies of scale break down. Public services are under pressure from demographic changes, outmigration, limited administrative capacity, and policy decisions made without island-specific assessment. Infrastructure projects or regulatory changes that work in urban settings may have unintended or even harmful effects on small islands. The lack of suitable tools to fairly and efficiently assess these impacts is a joint cross-border challenge shared by partners in Åland and Sweden.
By improving authorities’ capacity to deliver services that meet local needs and involving citizens directly in tool design, the project promotes resilient, inclusive, and participatory governance. Cross-border cooperation is essential, as partners face similar challenges under different legal and administrative systems. This shared approach allows the development of solutions that are transferable across the Central Baltic region, benefiting numerous island communities.
What we do
This project addresses the challenges by developing a digital archipelago assessment tool, co-created with local authorities, islanders, and civil servants. The tool will help public sector actors better understand the consequences of proposed policies, investments, or regulatory changes in island contexts, ensuring decisions are informed, fair, and context-aware. While environmental and child impact assessments exist at national levels, this project extends the approach to the specific needs of small island communities.
What we will achieve
During the project implementation two citizen panels will be established, 300 from Åland and 200 from Stockholm archipelago. The panels will represent all residents based on gender, age, location, occupation and other criteria to ensure broad representation in the dialogue.
The tool users, both respondents and public officials will take part in training sessions to ensure the correct use of the tool and utilize all of the functionalities.
Future goals
We aim to create a tool that is the start of something greater. The project aims to deliver a tested ready to use tool that easily can be scaled up and used in a broader area, both in the project region and also in other Central Baltic areas.
We expect the tool to provide a better understanding between residents and decision makers and also reduce friction between the two, when decisions are well founded and residents have had the chance to provide feedback and input.
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