European projects hold the European Union together
Hi everyone! My name is Antonella and I’m 26 years old. I am an Italian IVY volunteers at the National Confederation of Craft and Small and Medium Enterprises for a small project called SFERA that means Strategic Framework for Entrepreneurship in Rural Areas, in the context of the Interreg Italy-Croatia programme. /*! elementor – v3.17.0 – 08-11-2023 */ .elementor-widget-image{text-align:center}.elementor-widget-image a{display:inline-block}.elementor-widget-image a img[src$=”.svg”]{width:48px}.elementor-widget-image img{vertical-align:middle;display:inline-block} In the program areas, despite SME success, there remains a gap between urban and rural SMEs, leaving a potential avenue for growth underutilized. Rural SMEs have traditionally lagged behind their urban counterparts in terms of innovation and growth potential. However, with digitization driving the knowledge-based economy, the geographic location of SMEs is becoming less relevant, opening the door to new opportunities and markets. SFERA project aims to overcome the cross-border legal and administrative obstacles and improve the institutional and strategic capacities of public authorities and stakeholders in the Programme area. The overall objective of SFERA is to promote an integrated governance model that fosters stronger cooperation among stakeholders. By adopting an integrated approach, the project partners aim to create a supportive ecosystem that goes beyond just providing funding or infrastructure, and that recognizes the complexity and multi-dimensionality of entrepreneurship. Through communication activities, project aims to improve overall general awareness about importance of entrepreneurship in rural area, and create a dialogue between institutions dedicated to territorial development. Through wide dissemination of project results, partners will be dedicated to empowering diverse stakeholders to implement and/or engage with the development and improvement of the framework conditions for entrepreneurship in rural areas, promote shared learning and spread/share out of governance innovations. In this particular context is where I come into play. The Lead Partner has placed their trust in my hands, because an organized communication is an important step for the successful execution of the project, by putting into practice my skills and knowledge acquired during my studies in Rome and my internship in Rome. I am responsible for supporting communication efforts, including tasks like managing email and social media marketing, editing photos and videos, and providing assistance in event coordination. What I have learnt is that European cohesion policy and European projects are like the glue that holds the European Union together. They work to ensure that no community is left behind and that everyone has the opportunity to thrive. European projects foster collaboration between different regions of Europe. People share ideas, learn from others and work together to address common challenges. This sharing of knowledge and resources helps improve the quality of everyone’s life. The discovery of IVY was an extremely significant step during my early ventures into the world of work. After graduating, it provided me with the opportunity to acquire new skills and apply what I had studied and experienced during my internship. The trust that people who have been in this profession for many years place in me is the most fulfilling aspect, beyond the discovery of a world that fascinates me more and more, and that I am eager to continue exploring. – Antonella Notarangelo, IVY Project Partner for the Interreg Italy – Croatia project SFERA, at CNA Bari – National Confederation of Craft and Small and Medium Enterprises
My volunteering experience at the Technical Secretariat Structure for EUSALP
What is my structure’s main goal? The Technical Secretariat Structure (i.e. TSS) corresponds to the coordinating body of the EU Strategy for the Alps (i.e. EUSALP). The TSS project was decided upon during the 2021 French Presidency and ultimately launched at the beginning of 2023; its creation aimed at coordinating activities and events organised by the nine EUSALP Action Groups, providing them and the annually rotating Presidency with technical and administrative support. For this purpose, the TSS is composed of its manager, three policy officers, one governance officer, and one communication officer; the whole team is split across the administrative districts of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur Region (France), the Lombardy Region (Italy), and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region (France). Originally, the TSS project committed to enhance institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders to implement macro-regional territorial strategies. TSS launch (kick-off meeting): On February 6th and 7th, the kick-off meeting marked the launch of the Support EUSALP project and the TSS taking office in Nice. The event was attended by DGRegio’s representatives, the 16 Project Partners’ representatives, the TSS staff, and the Action Groups leaders. ©Frédéric de Favernay How do I help my structure to reach its goal? As an IVY reporter, I help the TSS team with communication-related tasks and support youth-related missions as well. As of today, the TSS’s main objectives are to coordinate EUSALP governance bodies (Work Package 1), to support Action Groups’ activities and to foster embedding (Work Package 2), and to involve the Alpine youth and EUSALP stakeholders in the process (Work Package 3). As during the year 2023, which was dedicated to the EUSALP Swiss Presidency, various events took place, including three Presidency thematic conferences, three meetings of the EUSALP Executive Board, two meetings of the Executive Board and the Board of Action Group Leaders, four Steering Group meetings, one Annual Forum, and further Action Groups’ thematic conferences revolving around their fields of expertise. As an IVY reporter, I have been required to attend remotely some of them as early as August to take notes to write ensuing meeting-minutes and one-pagers to be published on the EUSALP official website afterwards and forwarded to the members of the Executive Board, the nine Action Groups, and the Swiss Presidency. Prior to the events, I also designed announcements such as saves-the-date, calls for participants and registration, event plannings, etc… which were later published on the EUSALP official website and other EUSALP social media (i.e. notably Instagram and LinkedIn). In the meantime, I have been given responsibility over specific tasks related to the EUSALP contact database to update it and gather the information, to upload it on the press relations and public affairs software Augure, to create emailing lists and send mailings to the entire database. As the communication officer is currently particularly involved in the great process of refining the EUSALP official website in coordination with private contractors, I was required from time to time to proofread some articles; this task has been mainly led in English so far, but I still had the opportunity to use the other languages I know for secondary missions (i.e. writing and proofreading articles in French for the PACA Région and the French National Agency for Territorial Cohesion, proofreading a call for application in German and handling the funding request for a documentary book about the Alps written in German). The organisation of the EUSALP annual photo competition project was also handed over to me and for this purpose I worked on the bylaw, edited the legal forms, and got in touch with EUSALP partners that already have had experience in this field (i.e. the Alpine Convention). Besides, my help has also been required for more down-to-earth tasks and missions, such as printing and preparing folders for the TSS team prior to major meetings, editing price estimates for call for tenders and business trips. For upcoming November, I am requested to welcome guests and finalists for the 2023 edition of the Pitch-your-Project competition in Strasbourg. 2023 Annual Forum (EUSALP wheel handing over): During the 2023 EUSALP Annual Forum, Mr Fasel (left), Switzerland’s State Secretary of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, jointly with Mr Dieth (right), President of the Conference of Cantonal Governments, handed over the EUSALP wheel to Mr Štucin (center), Slovenia’s State Secretary for European Affairs, representing the incoming 2024 Slovenian Presidency. ©David Schweizer. Who benefits from my engagement in this structure? Overall, my engagement in the TSS benefits its staff, EUSALP main partners and Action Groups as my missions consist of promoting their events prior and after the date, coordinating internal communication while updating the contact database and embedding mailing lists. My engagement also helps to foster youth participation and opportunities in the EUSALP governance process thanks to my logistical dedication to the PYP projects, besides processing secondary posts on social media. More generally, the TSS outputs benefit local, regional, and national public authorities, sectoral agencies, interest groups (including NGOs), higher education and research organisations, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), European groupings of territorial cooperation (EGTCs), and civil society in general. How do project partners cooperate? The EUSALP project partners are 16 in total, and their cooperation relies on their participation in the different EUSALP bodies and their capacity to provide the TSS with material and financial support (contributions from project partners amounting 358.125 euros to 90.000 for a total of more than 1 million euros, besides more than 3 million euros allocated by the ERDF for the period 2023-2025). Among the 16 main partners, 13 are coordinating and (co-)leading Action Groups; one partner is specifically responsible for youth involvement. Those 16 partners constitute the EUSALP Steering Group which gathers three times a year; each of them is represented by one deputy and one substitute. From time to time, Project Partner Meetings are organised and for this occasion up to 3 more representatives per project partner are invited (i.e. finance representative, legal representative, communication representative). For the year 2023, four Steering Group meetings were organised in February (extraordinary Project Partner Meeting as
A glimpse into Interreg Italy-France Maritime Programme
What an incredible opportunity to be in Florence, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and what’s more at Interreg Italy-France Maritime, which encompasses probably one of the most wonderful cooperation areas in the whole of the European Union.
My volunteering experience
Hello. My name is Konstantinos Nakas and I’m coming from Greece. In the last few months as an IVY Volunteer I have learned a lot of things and I met new peoples. I am learning what the working environment is like and how this initiative of the European Union helps us young people to slowly join the working world. By joining the program I helped with small things in various projects that were already running. That got me interested is the HERMES project. Because it deals with culture, theater, music and thus the people who are close to each other learn the habits and customs from the ancient world until today. In my opinion this is the most creative and beautiful way for people to get to know each other. As far as we young people are involved, IVY is a way to familiarize ourselves with the countries next to us and to become “children of the whole world”, that is, to be all of Europe as one. – Konstantinos , IVY Project Partner at the Computer Technology Intitute and Press “Diophantus”
Volunteering for the French National Authority of Interreg POCTEFA
I am Florian and I’m a 23 years old French volunteer participating in the INTERREG POCTEFA programme as an IVY volunteer. This is a European territorial cooperation programme created to promote the sustainable development of the border territory between France, Andorra and Spain. The POCTEFA 2021-2027 programme is the fifth generation of Community financial aid aimed at strengthening the economic and social integration of this area. It co-finances cross-border cooperation projects designed and managed by actors from both sides of the Pyrenees and from the coastal areas participating in the Programme, safeguarding the intelligent, sustainable and inclusive development of the territory. Several local and regional institutions are involved in the management of this European programme, among which the French region of Nouvelle Aquitaine which is the French National Authority of POCETFA, where I am doing my 6 months of volunteering. As part of my duties, I am involved in the instruction of the projects that were presented in the first call of this new edition of the programme and I attend various meetings and events of the POCTEFA, such as its monitoring, its evolutions, the technical and political part, etc… It is really rewarding to contribute to such a meaningful cause. By sharing my experiences as an IVY volunteer, I want to raise awareness of the Interreg POCTEFA programme and teach about cooperation within the EU. I have gained valuable knowledge about EU Cohesion Policy, discovered several projects and seen how European regions sharing the same border work together to promote common policies and actions that bring the two countries closer together. It is important to spread the word and publicise the positive impact of the EU in our area as many cross-border projects have been made possible thanks to EU policies and ERDF funds. As an example of the achievements of the POCTEFA programme, I was able to attend a few days after my arrival in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, a cross-border seminar, held in the city of Jaca in Aragon, where the micro-projects that were financed were presented, then the other corporations that exist on the Spanish-French border were presented to inform them and invite them to set up other cross-border projects. Seminar “des microprojets à d’autres projets” 2023 – F.Hardouin – 10/05/23 – Jaca, España It was a very interesting event during which I was able to meet several institutions and people who play an important role in the cooperation between France and Spain. It is very encouraging to see the success of the projects and more generally of the calls for proposals financed by the EU, which are the fruit of important joint work between members of several States. Euroregion headquarters – F.HArdouin – 31/05/23 – Hendaye, France I have also been able to work on the call for Euroregional citizenship of the Territorial Grouping of Territorial Cooperation Euroregion Nouvelle Aquitaine – Euskadi – Navarre. I have participated in the instruction of the projects, their follow-up, several meetings and trips to the headquarters of this organisation on the Spanish-French border, in Hendaye. The Euroregion participates in projects of the POCTEFA programme and from this edition 2021/27, manages a part of the programme for a functional area West of the border, within the priority 6 of the programme ‘territorially, socially and economically vertebrate the space’. It is very interesting to see how this cooperation is organised and how all these institutional actors cooperate with each other, thanks to the European frameworks that have allowed all this. In addition, this period of volunteering allowed me to get to know better the institutional body in which I was volunteering with several professionals in cross-border cooperation. I was also able to follow the political life of the institution by observing the debates in the plenary sessions that took place and thus better understand how this body implemented national and European policies in its territory through the decision-making processes. Plenary Assembly of Nouvelle Aquitaine region – F.Hardouin – 12/06/23 – Bordeaux, France My participation in the INTERREG POCTEFA programme has been personally rewarding as it has contributed to my personal growth, skills development and knowledge of Spanish-French-Andorran cross-border cooperation. Attending the workshops and witnessing the progress of the project has allowed me to learn a lot about the subject and has helped me to write my Master’s thesis that I have done in relation to this experience. It has also instilled in me values of solidarity through collaboration with people from different places both within the diverse team of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region and with the Spanish counterparts. Overall, this experience as an IVY volunteer has provided me with valuable values and has contributed to my personal and professional development. – Florian, IVY Reporter for the French National Authority for the programme Interreg POCTEFA. Discover more about Interreg POCTEFA Click Here
DISCOVERING THE EUROPEAN CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION BETWEEN FRANCE AND ITALY
Salut tout le monde – Ciao a tutte e a tutti ! I am Antonella, I am Italian, and I have been volunteering as an IVY Reporter at the Managing Authority of the Interreg Program France Italy ALCOTRA in Lyon. ALCOTRA stands for Alpes Latines COopération TRAnsfrontalière/ Alpi Latine COoperazione TRAnsfrontaliera (Latin Alps Cross-border Cooperation). As suggested by the name, ALCOTRA is a cross-border program financed by the European Union aiming to strengthen cohesion in the Alpine area between France and Italy. The French and Italian regions and counties involved in the Program are the following: Haute-Savoie, Savoie, Hautes-Alpes, Alpes de Haute-Provence, Alpes-Maritimes, Valle d’Aosta, Torino, Cuneo, and Imperia. During the current 2021-2027 programming, ALCOTRA will be funding several projects in line with the European’s Union five major challenges: innovation and research; environment; social inclusion; territorial approach; overcoming cross-border barriers. The ALCOTRA Managing Authority is the French Region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes which oversees the implementation of the Program. The managing authority is supported by the Joint Secretariat, based in Turin, which ensures the instruction and the follow-up of the projects. The Monitoring Committee, made up of each partner involved in the Program, is the decision-making body. In July 2022, the ALCOTRA Youth Council was launched with an advisory role. It is the first Youth Council in a European cross-border program aiming to give young people a voice on cross-border issues. As an IVY volunteer, my mission is to support the communication strategy of the Program as well as the ALCOTRA Youth Council activities. My tasks include writing articles for the ALCOTRA website and posts for social networks. In May, during the Month of Europe, I contributed to promoting European values and ALCOTRA territorial missions at several events. I helped with the organization of the webinar on the renewal of the ALCOTRA Youth Council, as well as a webinar on the application of horizontal principles in projects funded by ALCOTRA. One of the best moments of my volunteering experience has been my participation at the event Transnational Citizen Dialogue, organized by Europe Direct in Lyon. The aim of the meeting was to highlight the crucial role of European projects on our territories in making European values alive. In this sense, Interreg ALCOTRA is a concrete example of a successful territorial cooperation program between two European countries aiming to develop common solutions to diversified transnational challenges. And I am honestly grateful to be a part of it! – Antonella, IVY Reporter for the Managing Authority Interreg France-Italy ALCOTRA Discover more about the Interreg proramme ALCOTRA Click Here
