Interreg Volunteer supporting Peripheral Access
Starting in February, the German Association for Housing, Urban and Spatial Development in Berlin is hosting a partner of the Interreg Volunteer Youth (IVY) initiative
Interreg Volunteer Youth (IVY) is an initiative of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) and the European Solidarity Corps, and is recruiting and deploying young volunteers (Interreg Reporters/Interreg Project Partners) to cross-border, transnational or interregional programmes and related projects. The aim is to promote solidarity and regional cooperation in Europe, through disseminating concrete achievements of Interreg programmes and projects.
Elsa started in February for a period of 6 months:
After graduating in Urban Planning and European Policies, and already several experiences abroad, I wanted to start a new adventure. And now, here I am, in the fantastic city of Berlin, doing an IVY experience at the German Association for Housing, Urban Development and Spatial Affairs. As a young spatial planner, this is for me very interesting to be involved in a project with very different stakeholders of the mobility sector such as public transport authorities, research bodies, regional development agencies… And to see how to cooperate and tackle similar issues from different rural and cross-border regions of Europe. I had also the chance to attend the second project meeting in Hungary last April.
What am I actually doing?
- Coordinating the production of the main project brochure, setting up the design and the contents in accordance with partners
- Setting up and maintaining social media channels and project website
- Supporting the organisation of the 2nd project meeting in Hungary
- Developing a communication about the relevance of high-quality rural transport by reporting study trips and writing a research article.
The most exciting part is probably to organise and report the study trips achieved and going to be done, through videos, pictures, drawings... My goal is to go on the ground, to visit the sites where the project will have an impact and to meet partners, so I am travelling mostly in rural areas, experiencing myself the reality of public transport in remote and cross-border areas.
As IVY partner, we are also involved in the activities directly related to the EU and the AEBR. That´s why I had the chance to participate to the EU open doors on the 5th of May. With other IVY volunteers, we were supporting the Cohesion Policy stand. I had the opportunity to speak about Interreg to visitors, that are usually not aware of all these complex cooperation programmes and funds. This was also the occasion to present Peripheral Access as an example of transnational cooperation to improve the life of citizens living in rural areas, a good and concrete example of what is doing the EU in regions.
