Month: February 2023

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