The first objective of the project was to increase the knowledge of gender-oriented violence and to campaign to reduce it. Secondly, the objective was to familiarise the crisis centres with each others’ objectives and procedures, to support their cooperation and operational capabilities and to develop their working culture in a subject-oriented manner. Th rough the development of the crisis centres, the purpose of the project was to improve the situation of women and children in acute need of protection from violence in the border regions of Finland and Russian Karelia. Th e intention was to establish the working model of the project in good operation. Both parties were considered to benefi t from the exchange of experiences and information. Achievements: The project brought together units that were different from each other. They were trained in interaction, information exchange and cooperation and included within an electronic network. It was intended that computer technology would in the future act as a means of distance training, campaigning and fund collection. The courses provided basic information about the crisis centre models of various countries, their history, procedures and methods, present situation/development trends and the cooperation with the public sector. The courses also dealt with the norms related to gender-oriented violence, legislative changes and development programmes. The local information and transition work of the centres, as well as the creation of a democratic civic society in Russia was supported. A multicultural cross-border womens activity community was assembled. The project managed to create a multicultural learning environment, where inspiration was exchanged both ways between the east and west and an open and critical attitude to the centres own objectives and procedures promoted. The project had the greatest impact in Russia, where the dispersed, mutually competitive and inadequately funded centres were assembled into a functional and developing network, with the readiness for cross-border cooperation and equal partnership. The project activities were a part of the Barents Region NCRB network. The operations were funded by the Nordic Council up to the year 2005, but the Russians were no longer involved, since the Arkhangelsk region had been excluded from funding and the funding could not be secured from anywhere else. The coordination ended and several of the Barents and St. Petersburg units have ceased operations. The operations have partially continued in the project Welfare, Gender and Agency in Russia at the Alexander Institute. The networking of the Nordic crisis centres with Russian centres enabled their versatile and interactive development, despite the variant working environments, cultures and institutional structures. The idea of networking can also be applied to the development of other service systems.