The initiative “Interreg Volunteer Youth” (IVY) managed by the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) on behalf of DG Regio to involve young people in Interreg programmes and related projects will extend beyond the European borders. From now onwards, the initiative will include also participants from some countries members of the European Economic Area (EEA) and some countries involved in Pre-Accession Assistance Cross-border Co-operation Programmes (IPA-CBC), namely Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, and Turkey; as well as Switzerland.

IVY is part of the European Solidarity Corps, a project of the European Union to benefit communities across the EU and beyond. With IVY, volunteers support specifically territorial cooperation: the aim is to enhance the communication about Interreg and the implementation of its projects.

Since 2017, almost 300 volunteers have been deployed, strengthening the brand of Interreg and its dimension of solidarity. Building on the success of the initiative, DG Regio and AEBR are now extending the geographical scope of the initiative with the objective of showing even further the benefits of coooperation among regions.

AEBR grants a financial support to the volunteers as well as a contribution to travel costs and takes care of the insurance for volunteers to allow young people to make such an experience. The mobility period can last from a minimum of 2 to a maximum of 6 months and the initiative is foreseen until December 2019. The procedure to host volunteers is very light and user-friendly.

For more information, please contact AEBR at ivy@aebr.eu.