From september 15th until december 15th 2017 euPrevent was a host organization in the Interreg Volunteer Youth (IVY) program. Cristina Baciu, a volunteer from the European Solidarity Corps database, joined the euPrevent team and participated in the project ‘Senior Friendly Communities’.
IVY stands for “Interreg Volunteer Youth” and it is a pilot action to offer the possibility to young Europeans aged 18-30 to serve as volunteers in cross-border, transnational or interregional programmes and related projects. The initiative is part of the European Solidarity Corps.
The “Interreg Volunteer Youth” (IVY) initiative is aimed at involving young European volunteers to support, promote and report the concrete achievements of Interreg programs and projects, as well as generally promote cooperation across borders and related values such as solidarity. IVY gives volunteers the opportunity to familiarize with Interreg programs and projects, make them aware of the many benefits of collaboration among EU internal borders as well as enhance their sense of European solidarity, citizenship and civic engagement.
Cristina worked mainly on the cross-border health project regarding senior friendly communities. She helped promote and support cooperation between different communities from Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. By taking part in our meetings with the projectpartners of the 3 countries and sharing ideas and opinions, she was actively involved in preparing for our Activities Conference. Cristina also helped us with the construction of our website, our online assessment tools and translations. Furthermore, she has also participated at the European Week of Regions and Cities 2017 in Brussels, having the opportunity to take part in a discussion regarding cross-border cooperation on health, and in this way to promote and support our foundation and our projects.
Cristina is a recent graduate who has decided to take a year off before pursuing a Masters degree in order to gain more experience and do something different. She has joined IVY from the desire of working in a multicultural environment and have the opportunity to see how a European project is implemented and developed among participants from different countries.
“Through this experience I want to learn and develop skills which I will be able to apply later on in my future job and more importantly in life. I hope to strengthen my communication and team work skills as I believe that communication and being able to rely on other people are the key to overcoming difficulties and achieving the best results.”