
One month has passed since I first stepped into the Managing Authority of the Interreg V-A Italy-Slovenia 2014-2020 Programme in Trieste, Italy.
My first impression of the Managing Authority was that of a welcoming and friendly environment where employees do their best to contribute in the field of cross-border cooperation and I was thrilled to be able to join them as an IVY volunteer.
For the period 2021-2027, the Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia Programme will have a financial budget of more than 88.6 million euros and its Cooperation Programme will implement its strategy on the basis of three Policy Objectives (POs):
- a more competitive, innovative and smarter Europe (PO1),
- a greener, low-carbon transitioning towards a net zero carbon economy and resilient Europe (PO2)
- a more social and inclusive Europe (PO4), as well as an Interreg Specific Objective for an efficient public administration (ISO1).
The Area of intervention extends over a total surface of 19,841 km2 and has a total population of approximately 3 million inhabitants. It covers 5 Italian NUTS 3 regions (Venice, Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia and Trieste) and 5 Slovenian NUTS 3 regions (Primorsko-notranjska, Osrednjeslovenska, Gorenjska, Obalno-kraška and Goriška).

As an IVY volunteer some of my daily tasks are:
- translating, editing and printing documents;
- writing and posting news or articles for the Programme website;
- collecting polls from public events;
- helping with the organization of events or meetings.
What I like the most about being an IVY volunteer is that I can do multiple creative tasks and every day at the office brings some new different activities. Moreover, I am learning a lot about topics that I am very passionate about: cross-border cooperation and European regional policy. Having being born and raised in a multicultural family of a cross-border region, I developed the strong belief that cooperation between public authorities and citizens from both bordering states is necessary to achieve a harmonious level of development in the cross-border area.
–Anna Labinac, IVY Reporter at the Managing Authority Interreg Italy-Slovenia.