Over the month of December, the first matching pairs activities took place between the partners of the BIGDATA 4RIVERS project. In these activities, the partners were distributed in pairs that worked closely on the transfer of knowledge and previously selected good practices. In this way, it was possible for each partner to acquire a more in-depth knowledge on a previously selected good practice, in order to assess its possible transfer to their territory, through the elaboration of the regional action plan.
The Iberian Association of Douro Riverine Municipalities (AIMRD), the Spanish partner of the project, participated in four matching pairs, two as holder and two as receptor of the good practice.
In these activities, AIMRD was able to learn more about three good practices of the project, on the subject of participatory river governance:
•    “LOVA & Water councils”, from the Swedish partner (County Administrative Board of Östergötland).
•    “Regional cooperation (public research centers, private bodies, public entities) to promote new and innovative projects for a better management of water resources”, drom the French partner (Cluster DREAM).
•    “Hub’Eau – dissemination of open water data via Application Programming Interface”, also from the French partner (Cluster DREAM).
As a stakeholder, and in order to answer the partners' questions about the good practices “ALICE: Improving the management of Atlantic Landscapes: accounting for biodiversity and ecosystem services” and “REDE DOURO VIVO / Reviving Douro Basin - multidisciplinary network of specialists to share experiences and knowledge to be applied in the protection and enhancement of the Douro River”, AIMRD promoted a matching pairs activity, with the Greek (Attica Regional Development Fund) and Swedish (Östergötland County Administrative Council) partners.
The knowledge shared by the partners and their stakeholders proved to be an advantage through the transmission of technical know-how and the clarification of possible doubts about the methodologies implemented in the different regions. It is believed that all the matching pairs activities were crucial to the progress of the action plans of each partner region.