Hello! I’m Emma, writing to you from the beautiful city of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where I am currently volunteering as an Interreg Volunteer Youth (IVY) Project Partner at the Galicia Europa Foundation. I contribute to the implementation of the Interreg Europe project RuralYouthFuture, which aims to improve the effectiveness of youth employment policies for sustainable rural development.
When I first started looking into RuralYouthFuture, it hit me once more that “rural youth” is not simply a local issue. Young people in rural areas across Europe face common challenges, including fewer employment opportunities, brain drain, and the need to adapt to new digital skills and ways of working.
RuralYouthFuture brings these challenges together through interregional cooperation, with partners from eight countries working to address the specific needs of young people living in rural areas.
A particularly memorable part of these first two months has been bringing Interreg closer to rural communities. In San Xoán de Río, I had the opportunity to lead an activity with 25 people of different ages, most of them young people.
We talked about Interreg, RuralYouthFuture, and examples of good practices such as Innogando and Rural Move. I also introduced the IVY programme, highlighting the opportunities it offers to young people from all kinds of backgrounds and regions, including those living in rural areas.
It was a valuable reminder that European cooperation becomes much more meaningful when people can see how it connects with initiatives and opportunities in their own communities.
Perhaps the biggest lesson I have learnt so far is that European cooperation is built through many small but connected actions: a meeting where ideas are exchanged, a social media post, a good practice shared with another region, or a young person discovering an opportunity they did not know existed. From Santiago, I am beginning to see how all these pieces fit together.
RuralYouthFuture is, above all, about helping make rural areas places where young people can find opportunities and imagine a future for themselves. As an IVY volunteer, I am happy to contribute to this goal while learning, step by step, how Cohesion Policy and Interreg projects turn European cooperation into tangible action on the ground.
– Emma, IVY Project Partner at Galicia Europa Foundation for the Interreg Europe project RuralYouthEurope
