00:00One town, two countries, Valga in Estonia and Valka in Latvia, share a population of around 20,000 people.
00:07When both countries joined the Schengen zone, many hoped the two sides of the twin town would grow closer.
00:14But even now, almost 20 years later, invisible barriers remain.
00:19If we don't talk, we will not grow as a city, and we need to grow.
00:23So when they offered this project, I said yes, and I also said to my friends, let's go, let's do
00:29it.
00:32They live across the street from one another, but rarely talk.
00:37Hack the border, set out to change that.
00:39Backed by the EU's Interreg Estonia Latvia program, the project brought together Estonian and Latvian school students in mixed English
00:47-speaking teams
00:48to tackle real problems and find real solutions through a hackathon, workshops and mentoring.
00:54Bringing them together actually showed them how similar they actually are, how much in common they've got.
01:00And also, they all had some amazing ideas of how they could improve the city.
01:04The ideas ranged from student exchanges to joint youth spaces and shared cultural events.
01:12The project runs on a total budget of just under 84,000 euros, with most of that coming from the
01:19European Regional Development Fund.
01:21While peripheral towns losing people, the border could be their greatest asset, a unique selling point in building direct cultural
01:29connections.
01:30Valga and Valga are both depopulating, but also their population is aging.
01:39We need to work in this direction that we as a town would provide to young generation something special,
01:49what they cannot get from something somewhere else.
01:52So the border is this niche, which provides us some concurrence possibility with the other towns, because this is a
02:01really unique place.
02:03Hidden in a forest not far from Valga, this was once a Soviet military base, built to house nuclear missiles
02:11aimed at the West.
02:12Tonight, it hosts a music festival organized by the very students who joins Hack the Border.
02:20We brought the Estonians and Latinians together to find solutions how to improve the life in twin city Valga-Valka.
02:28Youth know the challenges the best.
02:31It's now, it's the time to make their voice heard.
02:35I think it's time for a change, because even if we are two different countries, we are still one city,
02:43and we should get to know each other more.
02:46Young people from two countries having a great time together.
02:51Perhaps the best symbol of what this project is about.
02:55Join us for joining us for a warmуш Thank you and we're rem Nicki Lu episodes.
02:59We've created a next campaign.
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