OPEN RELIEF Online Kick-Off

On 24 and 27 March 2026, the OPEN RELIEF consortium came together online for the project's official Kick-off Meeting, bringing together partners from Croatia, Greece, and Ukraine to launch a new European collaboration focused on humanitarian design, crisis preparedness, and community resilience.

Held over two dedicated working sessions, the meeting marked the beginning of an ambitious Creative Europe project that will explore how culture, creativity, and open-source innovation can contribute to more inclusive and sustainable approaches to crisis preparedness. Throughout the two days, partners aligned their vision, confirmed the implementation roadmap, and established the foundations for close collaboration over the next two years.

The consortium worked through the project's structure, work packages, timeline, deliverables, communication strategy, financial management, and quality assurance processes, ensuring a shared understanding of roles, responsibilities, and upcoming activities.

A special highlight of the Kick-off Meeting was the participation of the project's Creative Europe Project Officer, who welcomed the partnership, congratulated the consortium on the successful launch of OPEN RELIEF, wished the project every success, and reaffirmed the European Commission's support throughout its implementation.

The meeting also provided an opportunity for partners to exchange expertise and discuss how their complementary experiences—from humanitarian design and digital innovation to creative practice, community engagement, and frugal innovation—will contribute to developing practical, open-source solutions for crisis preparedness.

Over the coming months, OPEN RELIEF will focus on several key areas:

• Building capacity by training designers, humanitarian practitioners, and community members in humanitarian design, participatory co-creation, and frugal innovation.

• Co-creating open-source preparedness solutions that are practical, repairable, adaptable, and designed with communities rather than for them.

• Strengthening European collaboration by connecting cultural organisations, humanitarian actors, makers, researchers, and local communities through a growing Community of Practice.

• Sharing knowledge and resources through open methodologies, learning materials, and practical tools that can be freely adopted and adapted across Europe.

• Raising awareness of the important role that culture, creativity, and design can play in building more resilient and prepared communities.

OPEN RELIEF is founded on a simple principle: the most effective preparedness solutions emerge when communities, designers, and humanitarian practitioners work together. By combining creativity with lived experience, the project aims to develop solutions that respond to real needs while strengthening resilience, inclusion, and solidarity across Europe.

With the foundations now firmly in place, the consortium looks forward to the first workshops, collaborative design activities, and community engagement initiatives that will shape the project's next phase. The online Kick-off Meeting marked the beginning of a shared journey—one that seeks to demonstrate how the cultural and creative sectors can play an active role in preparing Europe for the challenges of tomorrow.