Month: August 2022

Hi everyone! I am Federico and I come from Italy. A month has now passed since I started volunteering as Interreg Project Partner in the Interreg Europe Project S3UNICA and I feel I am learning so much during this exciting period! Here in the city of Trieste, in Italy, I am hosted by the Environment and Energy Directorate of the Autonomous Region Friuli-Venezia Giulia. S3UNICA: Smart SpecialiSation UNIvercity CAmpus belongs to the green projects of Interreg Europe and it promotes cooperation for energy transition between local councils and academic institutions. It is based on the interregional exchange of experiences among nine partners located in five different areas of Europe in Finland, Italy, Poland, Romania and Spain. These are local administrations and energy agencies as well as four universities: the University of Malaga, the Lappeenranta University of Technology, the University of Udine and the University of Trieste. The purpose is enhancing the contribution of universities in energy innovation policies as providers of technical expertise and as hands-on laboratories. The project includes five action plans that aim to create good practices of cooperation among local actors such as universities and public authorities or public-private partnerships, to increase the energy efficiency of universities buildings and infrastructure, and to improve the capacity of the actors involved to realise innovative solutions for better energy savings. The actions are inspired by the knowledge and experiences shared between the partners. As a key moment such as the transition to the second phases of realisation is now occurring, I had the opportunity to follow the concluding steps of phase 1 and the preparatory activities for the last phase. This is a great chance to learn how Interreg Europe cooperation projects are held: I was able to contribute to the conduct of these activities, participating in meetings and taking minutes, and also communicating with the other partners. It is especially interesting to work on the dissemination of activities, writing articles and updating the S3UNICA website and social networks. Doing so, I am interfacing with members of the local cooperation agency Informest which also works in the project. Thanks to this project I am gaining a real understanding of what interregional cooperation is and of how cohesion policies work in Europe. While I dealt with topics related to energy transition during my studies, here I am faced with a concrete application of cooperation on energy policies. Universities can contribute significantly to make local energy systems smarter, and S3UNICA is a great example of sharing knowledge and practices between European regions and how this can benefit territories by improving their capacity of managing energy services. I wish to thanks the International Volunteer Youth programme and AEBR for this very enriching opportunity and all the IVY team for the support provided along this experience. If you wish to know more about the project, have a look here: – Federico, IVY Project Partner for the Interreg Europe project S3UNICA at Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region -Central Directorate for environmental protection, energy and sustainable development

/*! elementor – v3.6.5 – 27-04-2022 */ .elementor-widget-image{text-align:center}.elementor-widget-image a{display:inline-block}.elementor-widget-image a img[src$=”.svg”]{width:48px}.elementor-widget-image img{vertical-align:middle;display:inline-block} Hello everyone, my name is Maria Kanellopoulou and I am an IVY Project Partner for the “MYSEA” project at EUROTraining Educational Organization in Greece. For the past 5 months I have been volunteering towards the implementation of the MYSEA Project, which aims to advance the skills of Youth, NEETs and women in order to find employment in sectors of the Green and Blue Economy. MYEA is funded by the ENI CBC Med Programme, a Programme that promotes collaboration between Euro-Mediterranean countries. For the MYSEA Project, organizations from 5 countries (Italy, Greece, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia) work together towards a common goal: to reduce existing and emerging labour market skills gaps through the provision of training and mentoring. While each country has its own national context, all of them share similar demographic challenges, skill mismatches, rigid regulations, gender gaps and persistence of certain socio-cultural norms. The resulting situation is high unemployment rates of youth, mainly NEETs, and women. Answering to this, MYSEA maps new occupational profiles in the agri-food and waste management sectors and offers 15 oriented vocational training packages, coaching, and on-the-job-training. A total of 1000 vulnerable people will attend these activities in order to gain the necessary skills to find a job. When I joined the project, we already had the results from the territorial analysis mapping the needs of the agri-food and waste management sectors in the participating countries. This meant that it was time to delve into the exciting but challenging task of developing a cross-border curriculum that would bridge the skills gap and increase the employability of our future students. In close collaboration with the rest of the team, I participated in meetings and discussions about the development of courses. I had the opportunity to express my ideas and brainstormed about how we can best help youth and women in all partner countries to improve their lives. I have an educational background in Special Education and Curriculum Design, so I was particularly happy to contribute in the project in this way. I knew the steps we had to take to design a successful course, but this was the first time that I got to see how people from different countries and backgrounds can collaborate by looking at their common needs and common Mediterranean identity. My volunteering experience in this project allowed me to experience first-hand what Cohesion Policy and collaboration is all about: listening to each other, coming up with ideas to benefit the most vulnerable above us, and being dedicated to achieving our shared goal. As I come closer to the end of my volunteering period, I am reflecting on everything I gave to MYSEA, and everything MYSEA gave back to me. I feel deeply that I am part of a cross-border team where many young people like me take part in the management and implementation of a project that will benefit other young people. In my opinion, this truly shows the power of collaboration and team-work, and I am grateful to IVY for allowing me to experience this first-hand. – Maria, IVY Project Partner for the ENI CBC MED project “MYSEA” at EUROtraining.

Hello, my name is Erika. I am an Interreg Reporter at Interreg POCTEFA, in Jaca, Spain. Interreg POCTEFA stands for “Interreg Program V-A Spain-France-Andorra”. By co-financing projects carried out by French, Spanish, and Andorran socio-economic agents located in the eligible cross-border area, POCTEFA seeks to promote and facilitate cooperation between the three countries. A programmed project can receive a funding of 65% of its total budget. For the period 2021-2027, the eligible regions are as follows: The program’s managing authority is the Working Community of the Pyrenees (CTP in Spanish and French) and currently includes 7 members. My role in the organization is to help the communication manager with diverse communication / collection of information tasks. Some of the things I do are: – Translating documents – Contacting projects from the 2014-2020 period to collect their results (to prepare for the event of presentation of POCTEFA projects results that will take place in Bilbao in October of this year) – Uploading social media and working on the webpage. As for my life in Jaca, I find the place to be quite charming. Despite being a small town, I like how you can see mountains everywhere. The city is filled with many interesting places to visit, and if you are bored, you can always catch the bus or train to another city. Here is a picture of me and the Ciudadela (and mountains) behind: Erika, IVY Reporter at Interreg Poctefa Programme.

“Cooperation moves mountains”. That was the first phrase I read as I entered the building where I volunteered for the last three months. The Joint Secretariat of Interreg POCTEFA is in Jaca, on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees. The Programme provides co-financing for regional and local institutions from the North of Spain, the South of France, and Andorra. As an Interreg Reporter, I supported the project managers with translations, social media, and other administrative tasks. Nevertheless, the IVY learning experience has not just been about what I did, but also about the opportunities I got to take part in and develop. While preparing the news for the website and attending consortium meetings, I was able to better understand how the region is directly benefiting from Cohesion Policy. I had the chance to learn from projects that are connecting both sides of the Pyrenees through sustainable mobility opportunities, and projects that are bridging the gap between knowledge transfer in topics such as medicine or nature conservation. I became aware that those who benefit the most from cross-border cooperation are citizens. Thanks to the work of Interreg POCTEFA, the people living in the Euroregion Baiona-Donostia can now travel around the territory in an electric bus, and it’s easier for meteorological agencies to exchange data on climate change in the Pyrenees. Regional cooperation is blurring the physical borders inside Europe, and, through IVY, young people are starting to play an active role in the process. They’re the ones bringing forward brave ideas and moving mountains to pave the way for a greener and more inclusive Europe. Alexandra, IVY Reporter at the Joint Secretariat Interreg POCTEFA

Young people often complain about boredom. And it’s amazing, honestly – I wish until the very last day of our lives we’d have so much energy and motivation to keep seeking more action. So what to do? How to answer this longing? To develop various skills and for the personal growth volunteering is a great option. It’s an unforgettable experience, yet not everyone is eager to try. People are scared to lose their spare time, anxious about their incompetence, or blocked to take up something completely unknown to them. IVY is a special volunteering possibility, as it shows the importance of impact by the young folks on the regional development. Teens and young adults cherish idealism and this puts a pressure on the decision makers on different levels, not to lose the real deep noble goals which should be run after. I volunteer in Joint Secretariat Interreg Poland – Slovakia in Kraków. Our office takes care of the financial and content-related supervision for the regional projects supported by the European funds. The diversity of those focuses on cultural development and transborder cooperation. We are in charge of administration and governance. I support my mentor on communication. As a consequence, we’ve got to have a bit of knowledge on everything that happens around – and to spread it to the world! We make sure all details of different regional events are visible and understandable to the wide publicity. To fulfil that, we need to stay in touch with the beneficiaries, organizers, partners and all involved in particular transborder projects. I’m extremely excited about learning more and more about the similarities and exigencies concerning those two neighbouring countries, Poland and Slovakia. Their rich traditions, cultural familiarity and possible potential makes me tick! So, here I am, not complaining of boredom anymore, but seeking more! – Hanna, IVY Reporter at the Joint Secretariat Poland-Slovakia

It’s the 28th of April and as I take a glance at the window, I can contemplate the emerald green landscape that surrounds the Basque town of Arrasate (Mondragón in Spanish); we are listening to one of the most interesting presentations I ever heard about “The Mondragón experience” and how workers there created one of the largest and most significant experiences of co-operative organizations and workers’ self-management anywhere in the world. I’m really focusing to understand the speaker’s Spanish in order to take notes, as I proudly refused the interpretation headphones kindly offered to me by Carmen, one of the city hall’s representatives. I am surrounded by European professionals from 9 countries and they are all eager to ask our speaker about the renewable energies cooperatives and citizens engagement in becoming shareholders of the cooperative they work in. The ghost-grey mist from the last days seems to slowly dissipate as we are absorbed by the triumphant entrance of Udalaitz Mountain, proudly rising above the clouds and dominating the town. You may wonder, how does this relate in any form to IVY? Let’s start by rewinding the tape to a couple of months ago. I am Roxana, at the moment based in Lille and finishing my European Affairs Master’s Degree; it’s the last weeks of University and, while anxious about exams and already nostalgic about this being our last student experience, we feel ready to dive into the labour market as young professionals. Today I’m standing at the rear of the classroom; I catch a glimpse of my classmates as I start to reflect at what the future holds for us: X is doing the Schuman traineeship, Y has applied for an Interreg North-West internship, Z will have a position at the European Investment Bank… And me? I know that I want to have a professional experience within the European projects field and I recently applied for an IVY near Lyon for a project whose rather quirky name drew my attention: SHREC; it is funded by Interreg Europe and it revolves around good practices related to renewable energy. It is a topic that I’ve come to get more and more interested in since the Green Deal and the push to rethink our future in a more sustainable manner. Fast forward two weeks: I get a call from the organisation manager who tells me I am accepted and that I should be starting two weeks later. What follows is days packed with phone calls, e-mails, documents, internet researches, house visits, and finally, two weeks later I am in Lyon, ready for my first day in the host organisation. It is called AURA-EE and it is a regional energy and environment agency located near Lyon. It aims to promote, co-ordinate and develop programmes and actions in favour of sustainable energies in the building and transport sectors, climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental protection and sustainable development. As an IVY project partner my missions are mainly related to the SHREC project. Since my arrival I have been able to participate in the drafting of the Action Plan, the document that summarizes the impact that the project had so far and the real actions to be undertaken by the organisation in the next phase of the project. Then, I participated to the Spanish partner’s regional meeting that took place in the marvellous city of Arrasate/Mondragon. Apart from the beautiful landscape I might have let some hints about earlier, we were presented with the partner’s good practices in the field of energy transition and many initiatives and projects were showcased during the three-days meeting. I also had the chance to assist to the Steering Committee which took place in the beautiful city hall of Arrasate. It allowed me to understand how partners of a project organise and discuss together their own progress, the mutual problems and possible solutions, as well as the upcoming strategies for the next phase of the project. Thus, one month of my volunteer experience has passed, and as I look from the bus window on our way to the airport, I can’t stop thinking about the inspiring projects and people we met in Mondragon, be it partners, stakeholders, or ordinary Arrasate citizens. As a team, we also feel a bit of pressure on our shoulders: AURA-EE is holding the last partner’s meeting next month and I’m motivated to put the necessary work in order to make it a successful and inspiring event. Needless to say, I am enjoying this experience and I am excited for the next steps and missions that I hope will allow me to delve deeper into the knowledge of European programmes and projects! – Roxana, IVY Project Partner for the SHifting towards Renewable Energy for Transition to Low Carbon Energy – SHREC at Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Énergie Environnement Agency (AURA EE)