The project FLOOD SHIELD focuses on the transboundary Axios/Vardar river that has the potential to provide a wide range of benefits, i.e. environmental, social, economic and strategic, but also disservices such as flood risks to the regions it flows through. Numerous challenges hamper effective cross borer cooperation in general and cooperation on transboundary floods management in particular, thereby increasing vulnerability to floods at the cross border areas of Greece and Republic of North Macedonia. The project main objective is the minimization of the cross-border flood risks and disasters at the Axios/Vardar river basin by strengthening the cross-border cooperation, organisationally, technologically and socially. In particular, the project combines different aspects to achieve the following sub-objectives:

• 1. Strengthening the flood risk governance at the Cross-border area in order to better assess, plan, monitor, prevent and react against floods
• 2. Improving the technical capacity for effective cross-border flood risk assessment, monitoring, preparedness and response
• 3. Promoting the role of citizens and voluntarism groups in the civil protection actions in case of flood disasters to protect themselves and actively involved in prevention and reaction activities.