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Since my arrival to Martinique, a French overseas territory in the Antilles, I have been immersed in the Caribbean culture, getting to understand its uniqueness and the need to showcase it to the world. For over a month now, I have been an IVY Project Partner in the project RICHÈS KARAYIB – We can make the Caribbean bigger, a joint initiative created by three local organisations to promote the development of a business environment in the cultural sector in the Greater Caribbean. Within the framework of the Interreg-Caraïbes programme, the project aims to develop a permanent space for meetings and exchanges, to federate the Caribbean population and diaspora as well as the international population around the Caribbean richness through a digital platform and a series of itinerant events. As we are a small – but growing – team, I have been involved in several aspects of the project. My main focus is assisting on the planning and production of the events that we organize in other partner countries. After the project launch last December, I have participated in the events in Saint Lucia and recently, in Anguilla; where we organized a culturally themed event followed by the song competition Richès Karayib Voices. With these events we try to showcase a particular aspect of Caribbean culture as well as artists, craftsmen and any other players in the cultural industry. Parallelly, the song challenge gives an opportunity to young locals in each participating territory, to demonstrate their talent and interact with music executives to strengthen their skills. With this experience I have realized how crucial it is for the different territories in the Antilles to develop linkages between them and work together to strengthen their voice as Caribbean. It is thanks to ambitious projects like Richès Karayib that local communities and stakeholders get a chance to participate to the economic development of their territory and their people. – Adriana, IVY Project Partner for the Interreg Caraibes project RICHÈS KARAYIB Discover more about the Interreg project RICHÈS KARAYIB Click Here Discover more about our host organisation ASIS W.I. Click Here

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