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My name is Constantinos and I volunteer as IVY Project Partner since November 2022. I live in the island of Cyprus. It’s my first time as volunteer  and the experience is wonderful. Through the IVY programme I had the opportunity to work with Nicosia Tourism Board and I met people who had experience with tourism. Nicosia Tourism Board is a non-profit organization with the mission to enhance and promote the city and peripheral area of Nicosia as a tourist and business destination. My studies are on Business Administration and my master degree is on the Tourism and local development, so the cooperation with Nicosia Tourism Board on the Interreg project EduTourism is very helpful for me as well. The Interreg project is on the Education Tourism in Cyprus. My country is an island dependent on tourism and any form of tourism development is important. The goals of this project are the creation of an Educational Tourism product that will highlight the natural and cultural heritage and extend the tourist season in the eligible areas between Greece and Cyprus. Also, the creation of a training program for trainers, teachers and tourism professionals to ensure the sustainability and repeatability of the project results, the creation of a platform that will aim to create an online community to promote educational tourism and the organization and implementation of targeted publicity actions, which will aim to inform the target groups.  I am involved in the creation of educational routes in the area of ​​Cyprus. These routes are divided into three categories, cultural, archaeological and religious. Οf these categories I have been more involved in the development of educational religious tourism. I help to create three routes which include some ancient churches in the central Nicosia. Also, the route includes some museums, that have various ancient relics and Byzantine icons.  This experience with cooperation is very helpful, I learned a lot about tourism, Interreg and how to communicate with other Interreg volunteers and beneficiaries all over the world. The work of next months will be so exciting and I can’t wait!!! – Constantinos, IVY Project Partner for the Interreg Greece-Cyprus project EduTourism at the Nicosia Tourism Board  Discover more about the Interreg project EduTourism Click Here Discover more about our host organisation Nicosia Tourism Board Click Here

Hello everyone! My name is Panoraia and I am an IVY volunteer at the GreenBuilding Project of the ENI CBC Med Programme at the University of Patras. It has been one month since I started as an IVY Project Partner and I feel grateful for the opportunity I have been given. Volunteering has a positive effect on both the community and the volunteer as it creates strong bonds between people and encourages a better quality of life. The host organization welcomed me with a warm reception and gave me more information about the tasks I have to undertake. Because of this, from the very first day I understood the philosophy of cross-border cooperation. GreenBuilding project is co-funded by the European Union under the European Neighborhood Instrument (ENI), through the ENI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme (ENI CBC Med Programme) 2014-2020 and is composed of 7 partners from 2 EU – Mediterranean Countries (EUMCs) (Greece, Spain) and 3 MPC – Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) (Lebanon, Tunisia, Jordan). The project seeks to reduce energy use and harmful environmental effects utilizing renewable energy sources and energy-saving techniques in public buildings. Αs an IVY Project Partner, during this first month, I have taken on various tasks related to GreenBuilding project such as researching energy measurement tools for buildings, supporting my colleagues in their activities and participating in a conference. I was also informed about the studies for energy refurbishment of the buildings of the three countries, Greece, Tunisia and Jordan, and learned about their requirements and the actions that will be taken in order to transform them into very low energy buildings. Continuing this journey, I will have the opportunity to meet new people and exchange opinions with different personalities. Cannot wait for new challenges. – Panoraia, IVY Project Partner for the ENI CBC Med Project GreenBuilding Discover more about the ENI CBC MED project GreenBuilding Click Here Discover more about our host organisation University of Patras Click Here

Hello everyone! My name is Clara, I’m German, and since December I’m an IVY volunteer at the Joint Secretariat of Interreg Central Europe in Vienna. Like other Interreg programmes, Interreg Central Europe is a European funding programme that encourages and supports transnational cooperation projects to make cities and regions more resilient to common challenges. Such challenges include, for example, climate change adaptation, the energy transition, or overcoming the socioeconomic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. With the help of the Regional Development Fund, the supported projects work together across borders to make Central Europe smarter, greener, better connected, and more integrated – which are all goals of the European Cohesion policy.  Connecting professionals from the public and private sectors in the programme area of Central Europe is thereby especially important since the area was formerly divided by the so-called “Iron Curtain”. The cooperation across borders helps to overcome the leftovers of this division, which contributes not only to Central Europe’s cohesion but to the European Union’s cohesion in general. This is also what makes Interreg Central Europe so special for me.   However, December not only marked my beginning at Interreg. But it was also the starting shot for the first call of funded projects under the 2021-2027 programme. On the 15-16th December, the monitoring committee of Interreg Central Europe jointly decided in Bratislava to fund 53 projects with a total budget of 100 million Euros. So at the Interreg Central Europe Joint secretariat, we are now busy contracting these innovative projects, drafting workshops, where the participants can learn about and from each other, and also preparing the second call starting in March. Personally, I support the Communications Department in its day-to-day activities. These activities include right now the launch of the new website (visit the new website, it is very informative!), starting a new Social Media campaign, and organizing our Programme Conference in March. But since everybody in the office here is very welcoming, I also had the chance to get some sneak peeks into other departments like project management or financing. In this short period of being an IVY, I already learned a lot about communication in general, the EU’s cohesion policy, and how transnational cooperation affects our daily lives. And I am very thankful to be part of this open-minded and international team for the upcoming months. Can’t wait for what’s about to come! – Clara, IVY Reporter at Joint Secretariat Interreg Central Europe Discover more about our host organisation Interreg Central Europe Click Here

Hey! I am Klara and currently an IVY-reporter at the Joint Secretariat Interreg Flanders – the Netherlands. The team was very welcoming, open and warm (even when the heating didn’t work for a moment 😉 ). I felt immediately part of the team! Last week there was the New Year’s dinner and that was quite a memorable evening! I started at Interreg in full closing event period which was really nice, because then there’s a lot to do. There were lots of interesting events planned! My first week I went to two events already: Care2Adapt (about tackling the growing staff shortage in the health sector) and C-4CE (about circular economy)! The latter was in Breda and there I met Krusha, the other IVY-reporter at Interreg Flanders – the Netherlands, for the first time. Since then we’ve been going to several events together and these are always even more fun! After those first closing events during my first week at Interreg, many more followed. Not all of them were in my area of expertise, but all the more interesting to learn about them. There are four main topics, namely strengthening innovation, support for energy efficiency and renewable energy, protecting the environment and supporting labor mobility. For instance, I learned about bio-based non-isocyanate polyurethane (short ‘BioNIPU’) and about offshore seaweed cultivation (‘Wier & Wind’) and the interesting applications of seaweed, including seaweed chips (really yummy!). Other projects dealt with corrosion research (‘Praktijklab Corrosie & Isolatie’), retention in the healthcare sector (‘Blijf aan Z’) and challenge-based learning (‘G.R.A.M.’), to name a few more. You learn a lot about all kinds of projects, relevant social and scientific topics and you meet a lot of people. So far, this new IVY adventure has been very interesting and fun! I am very excited for the rest of this experience! – Klara, IVY Reporter at Joint Secretariat Interreg Vlaanderen-Nederland. Discover more about our host organisation Interreg Vlaanderen-Nederland Click Here

Hello! My name is Marina, and I just completed two months as an Interreg Volunteer Youth (IVY) Reporter in the Joint Secretary of Interreg Program V-A Spain-France-Andorra (POCTEFA) in Jaca, Spain. An European program for cross border cooperation at the frontier between France, Spain and Andorra, which aims to reinforce the economic and social integration of the area and to promote sustainable development, thanks to the financial support of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). From the moment I stepped into the building, I felt really welcomed by my fellow Interreg Volunteers and colleagues. They introduced me to the charming town of Jaca, and the functioning of the Interreg programme. During the different meetings I participated in and the tasks I performed, I found myself really integrated in the team and I learned a lot about the working stages of what it takes to launch an European funding programme geared towards the improvement of the living conditions for the population in the cross-border area. During these two months, I took part in several working groups, in which both spanish, french and andorran regions debated to build the next call for cross border projects POCTEFA 2021-2027. In addition to that, I worked on different documents intended for the next programme 2021-2027, I translated press releases and other official documents and also helped with the financial side of the programme. I believe the IVY Volunteer Programme is an excellent opportunity to get immersed in a mostly unknown part of European Cooperation. It opens you up to a lot of interesting professionals in diverse fields, as well as different perspectives on cooperation. – Marina, IVY Reporter at the Joint Secretariat Interreg France-Spain-Andorra (POCTEFA) Discover more about our host organisation Interreg France Spain Andorra (POCTEFA) Click Here

Hello everybody! My name is Sara, I come from Italy and in the beginning of December 2022 I started my IVY experience as an Interreg Reporter at the Joint Secretariat of the Interreg CBC Italy – Croatia Programme in Venice.   The Programme area comprises 25 Italian provinces and 8 Croatian counties overlooking the Adriatic sea and it aims to efficiently address their common challenges. More specifically, the Programme enables regional and local stakeholders from Italy and Croatia to exchange knowledge and experiences, develop and implement pilot actions, test the feasibility of new policies, products and services and to support investments. As soon as I arrived to the office, I was warmly welcomed by the Venice staff with whom I have been actively cooperating. Furthermore, in the first weeks of January the staff of the JS Antenna which normally works from Zadar came to Venice and, on such occasion, I have also had the pleasure of meeting them and working with them in person.  During the past month I have had the opportunity to really dive into and contribute to the work carried out by the JS. My main IVY task consists in the collection and categorization of all outputs produced by projects financed during the 2014-2020 programming period in order to foster their effective communication to potential beneficiaries and to the general public in the months to come.  Besides that, my everyday activities range from helping colleagues with minor communication activities to being involved in the development some of the contents which will soon be published by the Programme. I am enthusiastic about what I managed to achieve in such a short period of time and I cannot wait to see what the next months as an IVY Reporter have in store for me! – Sara, IVY Reporter at the Joint Secretariat of the Interreg Italy – Croatia Programme Discover more about our host organisation Interreg Programme Italy-Croatia Click Here