The purpose of the project was to optimise the cooperation of the social and health care workers of East Finland within cooperation activities with the Republic of Karelia. Immediate needs included increasing cooperation and information exchange, improving the channelling of neighbourhood know-how, intensifying cooperation with the Republic of Karelia, improving the monitoring of the completion of projects and the distribution of results. Th e project would also improve the Russians’ knowledge about Finnish project workers and increase the use of the Internet as a means of communication and information channel in the cooperation between Finns and Russians.