Aleksandra's input as an Interreg Reporter

I’m Aleksandra, another IVY Volunteer in Danube Transnational Programme. I am very lucky to be a trainee in the Joint Secretariat. My adventure in Budapest is going to last 6 months. Hopefully it will be the 6 months of working hard, learning new skills and enjoying Budapest.

When I got an offer to become a volunteer in Join Secretariat of DTP, I wasn’t sure if I want to go to Budapest. I have visited this city before, so I was looking for different adventures. But I changed my mind after Skype interview with Eloy Gomez, who is my mentor during my staying here. After 2 weeks already I can say that I was so wrong, that I didn’t want to come here.

Because it seems like this city really likes me. Starting with a nice landlord and flatmate, through cool nightlife, and the most important, good experience on working with DTP. To be honest, at the beginning I was a bit frightened. Editing website seemed to be difficult, but when I finally got the point of those issues, I was happy to receive the e-mails and to help the projects.

The first event I took part in was NewGenerationSkills event addressed to schools and youth in Budapest. As I was working with youth before, I was very glad to attend such event. The aim was to promote the trainings for local youth, which are partially offered based on submitted local online questionnaire concerning the topic of work orientation by students of these local secondary schools.  

  

The second one was a conference in Veszprem. The event organized by Networld project let me gain new knowledge about the World War I. And the absolutely best part was the Escape Room. I had opportunity to meet interesting people. They were not only working in the historical field, but they were also very passionate about that.

  

Thematic Seminar, which was held in Prague, is one of the best memories I have from my time in DTP JS. Mostly, because I met another IVY Volunteer, Gisela. We had so many things to share that it was very difficult to stop talking and to say goodbye. But we also have learned a lot about the Programme and the projects. We realized, that sometimes we have to cooperate - when Gisela is creating promotion materials, I am checking if they fulfill the requirements. 

But it wasn't the only Thematic Seminar I took part in. Another one was in Bratislava. And I think this is the best memory until now. I asked my colleagues for opportunity to present IVY initiative for potential projects. It came out, that it had been an excellent idea! Many people started to ask questions about the Volunteering not only during the plenary session, but also during the coffe break or lunch. I also enjoyed this time a lot personally. I used to live in Slovakia for few months so I could use my slovak language skills. 

 

January was full of challenges. Apart from Bratislava event, I also took part in Capitalization workshop, where I got familiar with Capitalization Strategy. 

The biggest event I had opportunity to take part in was the Summit of the Regions and Cities organized by the Romanian Presidency and the Committee of the Regions in Bucharest. Together, with other 3 IVYs, we were there as the young journalists. 

For us, first of all, it was great to see how the event was organized, to manage the badges, interviews and conferences or debates. Secondly, we had opportunity to meet many people and also to meet each other and work together. 

       

     

There were many interesting topics discussed - youth situation, cohesion policy and the future of Europe. However for me, the most impressive was the Michel Barnier's speech about Brexit. 

At the end of the whole Summit, the Bucharest Declaration has been published. This declaration is the contribution to the preparation of the Strategic Agenda 2019-2024 to be outlined by the EU leaders in Sibiu on 9 May 2019.

The whole declaration consisted of two main topics, "Strengthening the democratic foundation of the European Union" and "Anchoring the EU's action locally to build a better future for our citizens". 

One of the points is: "It is vital to raise awareness amongst EU citizens, especially young people, about the European dimension of their identity and citizenship, in particular through education, culture and youth empowerment policies, in order to increase their feeling of belonging to the European project". It can be a good reflection for all of us. The future of the European Union depends on youth, we need to put an effort for young people to be active and make them feel that they are EU citizens. 

The last, great adventure, just few days before leaving Budapest, I had opportunity to attend the event in Vienna "Cycling the dyke". It was organized by the project DANUBEparksCONNECTED, but many other project were also present there. It was a bit challenging, since it was a biking event (and it was my first cycling trip in this season). Nevertheless, the event was very well organized and full of new content. I got to know more about the water management and other natural heritage of the Danube. My whole relation is here

   

Programme co-funded by European Union funds (ERDF, IPA, ENI)