AEBR Celebrates 6 Years of Empowering Youth through Interreg Volunteer Program
The Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) celebrates the 6th anniversary of the Interreg Volunteer Youth (IVY) initiative, a program that enables Interreg projects to host young volunteers to promote cooperation and engage with local communities.
Since the Danube Transnational Programme hosted the first IVY volunteer, the initiative has facilitated over 800 motivated young people to participate in over 320 Interreg programmes and projects, promoting the benefits of European Territorial Cooperation in border regions. The programme has received support from the European Commission and the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) with the goal of making the benefits of cooperation visible to local communities and ultimately to empower youth. The initiative has grown to become an established and well-recognized volunteering programme, with hundreds of events, projects, and social media pages being established. Additionally, IVY has created a community of young people with an interest and knowledge of Interreg, making it more visible and understandable. “If I think of you, I feel hopeful for a Europe which is based on solidarity and commitment to cooperation […]. You have made Europe’s regions closer to each other, and by doing so, Europe stronger”, said AEBR President Karl Heinz Lambertz addressing IVY volunteers and mentors. The AEBR’s team hopes that the volunteers’ contribution to making the benefits of cooperation more visible will be better recognized, and for the IVY community of volunteers and mentors to continue growing. To learn more about IVY and its impact, read the Stories of European Cooperation, a series of publications written by IVY volunteers.
