My name is Jip. I’m a 25-years-old IVY volunteer at the Interreg Flanders-the Netherlands programme. I have started in May, and now I am about a third into my IVY experience. Here, I see first-hand how interregional cooperation works and what it can do!

Flanders and the Netherlands share not only a language but are also very alike in culture, and they share similar contemporary challenges and opportunities. It makes sense, therefore, that they work together to address these challenges. Over the past two months, I have been visiting the various Interreg projects that try to do so. These projects cover a whole range of topics.

As an IVY, I assist with the public consultations and I visit projects and write articles about. Visiting these projects has been even more fun and interesting than I had thought they would be beforehand. This is mostly because of the enthusiasm of the project managers and the interesting topics they address. Among others, I have visited a project that is trying to reintroduce otters to Flanders and the Netherlands; a project that is trying to facilitate sustainable tourism right in a park right on the border between the two countries; and a project that trains health-care workers to become innovators at their own organization. Moreover, I have gone to castles and robotics fairs and I have been on boats and on peatery excursions. During these visits, I have spend a surprising amount of time outside in nature.