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
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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