Month: January 2024

Now halfway through my six-month journey with the EGTC GO, I find myself reflecting on the richness of this experience. In my third month, I am deeply immersed in supporting the Small Projects Fund (SPF), a cornerstone initiative of the Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia program. The SPF project, a cornerstone of EGTC GO, aims to support small-scale projects with a “bottom-up” approach. These projects are designed to strengthen the role of culture and sustainable tourism in economic development, social inclusion and social innovation. My role is critical in preparing the tools needed to kick off the first 27 SPF projects. Each project embodies a unique collaboration between Italian and Slovenian partners, spanning areas ranging from culture (music, theater, cinema), sustainable and green tourism, religion, education, and youth engagement. By early 2024, many of these projects will be ready to begin their activities, marking a significant milestone in cross-border cooperation. /*! elementor – v3.18.0 – 20-12-2023 */ .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} This experience is enriching me significantly, giving me a deeper understanding of the true value and meaning of cooperation. Being part of such a dynamic environment has allowed me to learn about EU cohesion policy in action, to see how it facilitates regional development and promotes unity across borders. As I continue my journey with EGTC GO, I am excited to see the impact of our work and the lasting contribution we are making to the cross-border community. This experience is not just about professional development; it is about being part of something bigger, a testament to the power of collaboration and shared goals in shaping a better, more cohesive Europe. – Svetlana D.V., IVY Project Partner for the Interreg Italy – Slovenia project “SPF GO! 2025”, at European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation EGTC GO Discover more about the SPF GO! 2025 project Click Here Discover more about the host organization Click Here

I would like to tell you about the exciting experience I have gained by participating in volunteer work through the Interreg project “Innovative Solutions for the Rural Food Production Sector to Diversity into Sustainable Culinary tourism services – BASCIL”. Before I accepted participation in the project, I had already heard something about such projects in my neighbourhood, but I didn’t really know how they work and how you can apply for your participation. This summer I was honoured to participate in this Interreg project and develop my existing skills as well as gain new experiences. During 3 months, I have met knowledgeable, experienced, hardworking and country-loving people from the Latvian country tourism association “Lauku Celotajs”. Before I met these people, I had no in-depth knowledge of the tourism industry, but now I have an idea of how projects can be implemented in the tourism industry. It was also a great pleasure to work in such a good team, where I could turn to for help and advice. I learned more about systems where you can develop websites. I also broadened my horizons regarding the articles of the tourism press release, so that I could interest more and more foreign guests in visiting our beautiful land – Latvia. Mainly, I was entrusted with communication with tourism entrepreneurs, providing them with all the necessary information about this year’s tourism events, which were implemented by the association “Lauku Celotajs”. I not only informed about the events, but also invited to participate in them. This year, I found out that “Home Cafe Days” are being held in Latvia for the third year. Home cafe days are an events where not only professional catering entrepreneurs can participate, but also ordinary households who live outside the city daily. The main goal of the event was that every householder could assume the role of the manager of his “cafe”. For someone it was an opportunity to realize their dream for at least two days, but for others it was an opportunity to rethink their life plan and maybe open their own, real cafe in the future. Also, one of the goals of the event was to attract visitors from neighbouring countries, sharing their traditional flavours that cannot be tasted outside of Latvia. I had the honour to be a part of such an event by accepting and processing the participant questionnaires. I also apply my knowledge to improving the descriptions of home cafes. If I ever had another opportunity to participate in this type of project, I would apply. As I mentioned earlier, this type of project allows you to expand your horizons and knowledge. These are new meetings and unforgettable experiences. Many thanks to the project partners and the team of the “Lauku Celotajs” for allowing me to apply my existing knowledge in a completely new industry.  Also, thank you for being able to make my contribution to the development of tourism. I recommend everyone to get involved and use the opportunities of such projects! – Edīte M., IVY Project Partner for the Interreg Baltic Sea Region project “BASCIL”, at the Latvian country tourism association Lauku Celotajs   @photo canva stock Discover more about the BASCIL project Click Here

Hello everyone, My name is Christina, I´m 23 years old, Ι am from Greece and I am an IVY Volunteer for the Interreg Europe project “Shared Mobility Action Programmes Exchange – SMAPE”. I have finished my studies at the University of West Attica, in the Department of Topography and Geoinformatics Engineering and I am really happy that I can now maintain my relationship with the university through a different perspective via this IVY Interreg Europe Program, while further broadening my horizons. Almost three months ago, I was warmly welcomed into the SMAPE UniWA team and so far, everything is going well. The truth is that being a volunteer in such a program is a unique experience for several reasons. The most interesting fact is that the IVY program offers the opportunity to gain important knowledge on issues such as local development, creation and improvement of benefits and services in the society. I have been familiarized with principles that matter which, until now are unknown to many people of my age, as they were to me. It is a worth trying opportunity, it opens up new dreams for the future so I suggest you to be a part of it and experience it! Now let’s move on to SMAPE! The SMAPE consortium, consisting of partners from Belgium, Germany, Norway, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, and Romania, aims to facilitate the growth of new forms of shared mobility by introducing policies and concrete actions that accelerate the uptake of shared mobility services. The overall goal is to reduce CO2 emissions and traffic congestion. The project focuses on aspects such as the integration of shared mobility with public transport and mobility as a service, the use of data (dashboards) for monitoring and policy adjustments and data sharing, the influence of attitude and behaviour, towards the optimization of the mix of mobility modes, regulations, frameworks for public-private partnerships and policy improvements. During these months of my work in SMAPE, through research I try to support the implementation of certain activities in the best possible way while doing tasks like report writing, support for preparation of interregional meeting, translations, data study. It is very important for me, as a young person, to communicate with these organizations and be able to share with them my views, my questions and my passion for work. – Christina G., IVY Project Partner for the Interreg Europe project SMAPE, at the University of West Attica Discover more about the SMAPE Interreg project Click Here Discover more about the host organization Click Here