The AYCH project through the eyes of an IVY volunteer
¡Hola a tod@s! My name is Amina, I come from Italy and I’ve been doing my IVY Volunteering experience for a month and a half now. I am currently volunteering with Vida Láctea in Lugo, Galicia as part of the AYCH communication team. You may ask: what is AYCH? AYCH stands for Atlantic Youth Creative Hubs and it’s an Interreg project developed by an international partnership between 5 countries (Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland and the UK) in the European Atlantic area. Its main goal is to promote entrepreneurship and youth employment, and to develop new approaches and interventions in support services for young people across the Atlantic space in the creative sector, connecting people, ideas, skills, technologies and companies in a network of hubs, in order to unlock the creative potential of young entrepreneurs. By hosting events such as Hackathons and Creative Jams, AYCH wants to create awareness around specific matters that affect the youth of these areas and to try and solve them through prototyping in international groups. During these events the participants are split into groups of 4 – 6 people and are assigned firstly a topic to work on, and secondly, a mentor to help them coordinate. The groups are given two or three days (depending on the length of the event) to prototype their ideas and prepare for the final presentation. This will happen on the last day in front of a jury that will then elect the winning team(s) and then give them prizes. The programme is aimed at young motivated people from the European Atlantic area that want to discover new ways of thinking, create ideas and collaborate in a transnational environment. Every partner finds a group of young participants, mentors and experts that will take part in the event. For every event there’s a hosting partner, while the others tend to take care of the communication and the promotion of the event. As part of AYCH’s communication team I take care of the promotion of the project. More specifically, I am responsible for social media posts and video editing before and after every event. I am truly surprised by how much I like my tasks here. Before coming here I had just a little experience in promoting events, so I got here without much expectations. Every single day I learn new things in the communication field and I am really motivated to remain in this particular sector after my experience. I also love my new “work family”, I love spending time with my colleagues during and after working hours, I can genuinely say that they represent my favourite part of this volunteering! /*! elementor-pro – v3.7.1 – 16-05-2022 */ .elementor-gallery__container{min-height:1px}.elementor-gallery-item{position:relative;overflow:hidden;display:block;text-decoration:none;border:solid var(–image-border-width) 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Volunteering for Interreg Italy-Slovenia
Hello everyone, My name is Francesco, I’m 26, it has been almost a month since I started this great experience. As an Interreg Volunteer I joined the Managing Authority of the Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia 2021-2027 Programme in Trieste, Italy. So far, everything is going well, being a volunteer is a very rich experience at both personal and professional level. My involvement at the Managing Authority consists in supporting communication with the aim to promote the work of the Programme and European Territorial Cooperation. I had the chance to work on several different tasks, making the work interesting. By now I’ve done things such as translation, data revisions, participate to EU meetings, writing reports, post news and events on website and sharing social media content. From the very first moment I arrived, I was warmly welcomed by my colleagues. They are available for any kind of questions or problems that may occur. It is a great opportunity to volunteer in a multicultural city on the Italian Slovenian border. Also on work place all thoughts and task are shared in both languages, embodying the European spirit. To improve teamwork and connection between co-workers we also share a meal all together once a week. – Francesco, IVY Reporter at the Managing Authority for the programme Interreg Italy – Slovenia Discover more about the Interreg Italy – Slovenia programme Click Here
My experience as IVY Reporter in Venice!
Hello everyone! My name is Laura, I’m italian and it’s been a month since I started my experience as IVY Reporter at the Italian National Contact Point for the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE Programme at Regione Veneto. The Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE Programme is a European funding programme that encourages transnational cooperation projects to make regions and cities more resilient to common challenges. Thought the European Regional Development Fund, its goal is to create a smarter, greener, better connected and more integrated central Europe. More specifically, the Italian NCP is appointed to provide information to potential applicants, suggest and assist beneficiaries, communicate programme achievements and support programme management. As soon as I arrived to the office I have been involved in communication activities such as social media content creation, implementation of the new regional website, and organizing the European Cooperation Day in September. The main aim of my daily task is to disseminate to the community/general public the outputs produced by project fianced during the first call financed by the programme 2021-2027of the project in our territory. Since the beginning, I have been supported by the team, which not only warmly welcomed but also always give me the right directions and advises in order to improve the daily tasks and understand more in detail all the process of the programme. Even it is only been a month since I am here, I feel I am really improving my communication and organizational skills and I cannot wait to see what the next months will bring me! – Laura, IVY Reporter for the Italian National Contact Point for Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE Programme Discover more about Interreg Central Europe Click Here
I’m volunteering for the IDEA project!
Hello friends, my name is Gabriela and I got the opportunity of volunteering for Interreg North West Europe project “IDEA”, in Belgium. This is a very important project that seeks for new sustainable resources for food/feed & chemicals in North West Europe region, in order to supply our growing population with the least possible environmental impact. In this scenario the microalgae come as protagonists, first because of their high nutritional content and others valuable components, and second because of the environmental advantages of their production, especially if included in a circular production system. Because of the great prosperity of this renewable resource, and because of the climate similarities, partners from Belgium, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Ireland and UK are working together with Interreg for the IDEA project, in which much effort is being made to optimize the entire process chain based on microalgae. Therefore, different companies and universities are necessary in this project whether is to research and give information or to do the testings and the practical work of the different sectors of production, from cultivation to processing and formulating products. As a volunteer, I’m working in the communication area of a dairy farm in Temse, Belgium, called Heirbaut ALgriculture, that is focused on shifting from animal-based to plant-based production. There they have a big microalgae cultivation system and they use this resource in their dairy products to make it more tasteful and healthier. Moreover, this microalgae cultivation is included in the milk production chain of the farm, serving as a pathway for leftover carbon dioxide from cow production. You can follow us on Instagram for more details! https://www.instagram.com/heirbaut.algriculture/ I am enjoying this experience because, as a recent graduate biologist, I feel like I can participate in a very important cause and make a difference by talking about a subject that I really like! – Gabriela, IVY Project Partner for the Interreg project IDEA, under the programme Interreg North-West Europe, at Heirbaut aLgriculture CV Discover more about the Interreg project IDEA Click Here Discover more about the Host Organization Heirbaut aLgriculture CV Click Here
My experience as IVY Reporter for the Interreg Upper-Rhine programme
My name is Aroa, and I’ve been an IVY Volunteer for almost 2 months. I am doing this experience in the Interreg Program of the Upper Rhine Region in the Swiss city of Basel. I think my experience is a bit different from other volunteers who are hosted by partners involved in an Interreg project, as I am not only in a project, but I am working at the program level. Volunteering in an Interreg program is interesting, as I am getting to know many different projects and people. This experience is also helping me to better understand how Interreg works and how the EU funds different projects. For me, the best thing is to see how a project materializes and to be involved in all stages of the process, such as attending Interreg meetings where projects are accepted or rejected, talking to prospective partners, and much more. As I said, I am volunteering in Switzerland, a country that is not part of the EU. Many of you may wonder how this is possible. And the answer is that, as you know, Switzerland is a country located in the center of Europe that has several EU countries as border partners. Therefore, especially the Swiss border regions, such as Basel and Ticino, are constantly influenced and affected by the movements of bordering countries such as France and Italy. That is why the inclusion of Switzerland as a partner in Interreg projects is part of the main objective of Interreg to promote cooperation in border regions and thus contribute to improving the lives of their inhabitants. However, Switzerland is not supported by the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF). Interreg projects with Swiss participation are partly financed by the Swiss Confederation and the cantons involved. – Aroa, IVY Reporter at the Regio Basilensis – RCP Interreg Upper-Rhine Discover more about the Interreg Upper-Rhine programme Click Here
My first month as an IVY volunteer in Greece
My name is Silvia, I come from Italy, and I joined the IVY Program as a Project Partner in Greece. In collaboration with the University of Patras, I am participating in the FRESH WAYS Project, which is aimed at promoting exchanges of fresh products and economic growth in Italy and Greece through sustainable transportation. The activities of this project are based on empowering citizens and improve their everyday life in both villages and cities, pursuing sustainability, while promoting good practices and fostering cooperation among the participating regions in the countries. At the moment I am involved in activities such as research, analysis and transfer of replicable results, community needs assessments, and communication on social media. I have learned a lot during my first month here, and I find the environment very stimulating and innovative. I’m looking forward to the months to come, and I definitely recommend taking part in the IVY Program to other young people who are willing to discover more about international cooperation and earn new experience on the field. – Silvia, IVY Project Partner at the Joint Secretariat Interreg South BalticUniversity of Patras, for the Interreg project Fresh Ways, under the Interreg programme Greece – Italy Discover more about the FRESH WAYS project Click Here
