Unforgettable 3-month experience in the culinary tourism industry in Latvia
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
3…2…1…IVY Experience in SMAPE…Let’s Go!
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
European projects hold the European Union together
Hi everyone! My name is Antonella and I’m 26 years old. I am an Italian IVY volunteers at the National Confederation of Craft and Small and Medium Enterprises for a small project called SFERA that means Strategic Framework for Entrepreneurship in Rural Areas, in the context of the Interreg Italy-Croatia programme. /*! elementor – v3.17.0 – 08-11-2023 */ .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} In the program areas, despite SME success, there remains a gap between urban and rural SMEs, leaving a potential avenue for growth underutilized. Rural SMEs have traditionally lagged behind their urban counterparts in terms of innovation and growth potential. However, with digitization driving the knowledge-based economy, the geographic location of SMEs is becoming less relevant, opening the door to new opportunities and markets. SFERA project aims to overcome the cross-border legal and administrative obstacles and improve the institutional and strategic capacities of public authorities and stakeholders in the Programme area. The overall objective of SFERA is to promote an integrated governance model that fosters stronger cooperation among stakeholders. By adopting an integrated approach, the project partners aim to create a supportive ecosystem that goes beyond just providing funding or infrastructure, and that recognizes the complexity and multi-dimensionality of entrepreneurship. Through communication activities, project aims to improve overall general awareness about importance of entrepreneurship in rural area, and create a dialogue between institutions dedicated to territorial development. Through wide dissemination of project results, partners will be dedicated to empowering diverse stakeholders to implement and/or engage with the development and improvement of the framework conditions for entrepreneurship in rural areas, promote shared learning and spread/share out of governance innovations. In this particular context is where I come into play. The Lead Partner has placed their trust in my hands, because an organized communication is an important step for the successful execution of the project, by putting into practice my skills and knowledge acquired during my studies in Rome and my internship in Rome. I am responsible for supporting communication efforts, including tasks like managing email and social media marketing, editing photos and videos, and providing assistance in event coordination. What I have learnt is that European cohesion policy and European projects are like the glue that holds the European Union together. They work to ensure that no community is left behind and that everyone has the opportunity to thrive. European projects foster collaboration between different regions of Europe. People share ideas, learn from others and work together to address common challenges. This sharing of knowledge and resources helps improve the quality of everyone’s life. The discovery of IVY was an extremely significant step during my early ventures into the world of work. After graduating, it provided me with the opportunity to acquire new skills and apply what I had studied and experienced during my internship. The trust that people who have been in this profession for many years place in me is the most fulfilling aspect, beyond the discovery of a world that fascinates me more and more, and that I am eager to continue exploring. – Antonella Notarangelo, IVY Project Partner for the Interreg Italy – Croatia project SFERA, at CNA Bari – National Confederation of Craft and Small and Medium Enterprises
My volunteering experience at the Technical Secretariat Structure for EUSALP
What is my structure’s main goal? The Technical Secretariat Structure (i.e. TSS) corresponds to the coordinating body of the EU Strategy for the Alps (i.e. EUSALP). The TSS project was decided upon during the 2021 French Presidency and ultimately launched at the beginning of 2023; its creation aimed at coordinating activities and events organised by the nine EUSALP Action Groups, providing them and the annually rotating Presidency with technical and administrative support. For this purpose, the TSS is composed of its manager, three policy officers, one governance officer, and one communication officer; the whole team is split across the administrative districts of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur Region (France), the Lombardy Region (Italy), and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region (France). Originally, the TSS project committed to enhance institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders to implement macro-regional territorial strategies. TSS launch (kick-off meeting): On February 6th and 7th, the kick-off meeting marked the launch of the Support EUSALP project and the TSS taking office in Nice. The event was attended by DGRegio’s representatives, the 16 Project Partners’ representatives, the TSS staff, and the Action Groups leaders. ©Frédéric de Favernay How do I help my structure to reach its goal? As an IVY reporter, I help the TSS team with communication-related tasks and support youth-related missions as well. As of today, the TSS’s main objectives are to coordinate EUSALP governance bodies (Work Package 1), to support Action Groups’ activities and to foster embedding (Work Package 2), and to involve the Alpine youth and EUSALP stakeholders in the process (Work Package 3). As during the year 2023, which was dedicated to the EUSALP Swiss Presidency, various events took place, including three Presidency thematic conferences, three meetings of the EUSALP Executive Board, two meetings of the Executive Board and the Board of Action Group Leaders, four Steering Group meetings, one Annual Forum, and further Action Groups’ thematic conferences revolving around their fields of expertise. As an IVY reporter, I have been required to attend remotely some of them as early as August to take notes to write ensuing meeting-minutes and one-pagers to be published on the EUSALP official website afterwards and forwarded to the members of the Executive Board, the nine Action Groups, and the Swiss Presidency. Prior to the events, I also designed announcements such as saves-the-date, calls for participants and registration, event plannings, etc… which were later published on the EUSALP official website and other EUSALP social media (i.e. notably Instagram and LinkedIn). In the meantime, I have been given responsibility over specific tasks related to the EUSALP contact database to update it and gather the information, to upload it on the press relations and public affairs software Augure, to create emailing lists and send mailings to the entire database. As the communication officer is currently particularly involved in the great process of refining the EUSALP official website in coordination with private contractors, I was required from time to time to proofread some articles; this task has been mainly led in English so far, but I still had the opportunity to use the other languages I know for secondary missions (i.e. writing and proofreading articles in French for the PACA Région and the French National Agency for Territorial Cohesion, proofreading a call for application in German and handling the funding request for a documentary book about the Alps written in German). The organisation of the EUSALP annual photo competition project was also handed over to me and for this purpose I worked on the bylaw, edited the legal forms, and got in touch with EUSALP partners that already have had experience in this field (i.e. the Alpine Convention). Besides, my help has also been required for more down-to-earth tasks and missions, such as printing and preparing folders for the TSS team prior to major meetings, editing price estimates for call for tenders and business trips. For upcoming November, I am requested to welcome guests and finalists for the 2023 edition of the Pitch-your-Project competition in Strasbourg. 2023 Annual Forum (EUSALP wheel handing over): During the 2023 EUSALP Annual Forum, Mr Fasel (left), Switzerland’s State Secretary of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, jointly with Mr Dieth (right), President of the Conference of Cantonal Governments, handed over the EUSALP wheel to Mr Štucin (center), Slovenia’s State Secretary for European Affairs, representing the incoming 2024 Slovenian Presidency. ©David Schweizer. Who benefits from my engagement in this structure? Overall, my engagement in the TSS benefits its staff, EUSALP main partners and Action Groups as my missions consist of promoting their events prior and after the date, coordinating internal communication while updating the contact database and embedding mailing lists. My engagement also helps to foster youth participation and opportunities in the EUSALP governance process thanks to my logistical dedication to the PYP projects, besides processing secondary posts on social media. More generally, the TSS outputs benefit local, regional, and national public authorities, sectoral agencies, interest groups (including NGOs), higher education and research organisations, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), European groupings of territorial cooperation (EGTCs), and civil society in general. How do project partners cooperate? The EUSALP project partners are 16 in total, and their cooperation relies on their participation in the different EUSALP bodies and their capacity to provide the TSS with material and financial support (contributions from project partners amounting 358.125 euros to 90.000 for a total of more than 1 million euros, besides more than 3 million euros allocated by the ERDF for the period 2023-2025). Among the 16 main partners, 13 are coordinating and (co-)leading Action Groups; one partner is specifically responsible for youth involvement. Those 16 partners constitute the EUSALP Steering Group which gathers three times a year; each of them is represented by one deputy and one substitute. From time to time, Project Partner Meetings are organised and for this occasion up to 3 more representatives per project partner are invited (i.e. finance representative, legal representative, communication representative). For the year 2023, four Steering Group meetings were organised in February (extraordinary Project Partner Meeting as
A glimpse into Interreg Italy-France Maritime Programme
What an incredible opportunity to be in Florence, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and what’s more at Interreg Italy-France Maritime, which encompasses probably one of the most wonderful cooperation areas in the whole of the European Union.
My volunteering experience
Hello. My name is Konstantinos Nakas and I’m coming from Greece. In the last few months as an IVY Volunteer I have learned a lot of things and I met new peoples. I am learning what the working environment is like and how this initiative of the European Union helps us young people to slowly join the working world. By joining the program I helped with small things in various projects that were already running. That got me interested is the HERMES project. Because it deals with culture, theater, music and thus the people who are close to each other learn the habits and customs from the ancient world until today. In my opinion this is the most creative and beautiful way for people to get to know each other. As far as we young people are involved, IVY is a way to familiarize ourselves with the countries next to us and to become “children of the whole world”, that is, to be all of Europe as one. – Konstantinos , IVY Project Partner at the Computer Technology Intitute and Press “Diophantus”
