The Fundación Tres Culturas del Mediterráneo wishes to continue supporting young people, now more than ever, and in this sense we continue to participate in the Interreg Volunteer Youth programme thanks to the cross-border cooperation project between Spain and Portugal INTREPIDA (Internationalisation of Businesswomen from Spain and Portugal towards Integration, Development and Partnerships) which belongs to the INTERREG POCTEP Spain Portugal programme.
Interreg Volunteer Youth is a proposal of the European Union to promote the mobility of unemployed young Europeans under 30 years of age and their incorporation into the world of work, through close collaboration in INTERREG projects with the beneficiary institutions, aimed at both main beneficiaries and beneficiaries in general.
The Three Cultures of the Mediterranean Foundation hosted this initiative from the moment of its publication. This allowed to start already in 2017 with the Portuguese young people Tiago Pinho and Ricardo Monteiro, continuing in 2018 with Bérénice Pereira from Versailles, France, in 2019 Giulia Calibeo from Italy. During 2020 the young women who have participated so far are Spanish, due among other things to mobility restrictions by COVID-19, this period began with Carmen Vélez, resident in Cáceres, and since September we welcome Diana Esteban, a regular resident in Madrid and who will be collaborating for six months, which is the maximum period allowed by the programme.
Diana Esteban is a 24-year-old graduate in Social Work from the Complutense University of Madrid. Last year 2019, she participated for ten months in the European Voluntary Service programme within the framework of the Erasmus Plus programme, which allowed her to collaborate in a Vocational Education Centre for minors at risk located in Aveiro, Portugal. During this collaboration she was able to participate in the organisation of educational and cultural events for the children of the centre, collaborating at the same time in the dissemination of European programmes with Europe-Direct Aveiro.
In the development of both her formal and complementary training, Diana has shown a great interest in European and international programmes, intercultural experiences, the diversity of languages and cultures and, in short, everything that makes us unique and different. Her work experience so far has been mainly focused on the educational field, working the last years in a socio-educational project for minors at risk of social exclusion, with the Centro Trama Association. During the summer of 2018, she had the opportunity to participate in an International Cooperation volunteer programme in Ghana, Africa, which was a great learning opportunity for her. All these experiences aroused in Diana an enormous interest in eradicating all forms of social exclusion, racism, homophobia, or gender violence.
Diana Esteban has found in the Interreg Volunteer Youth programme a magnificent opportunity to access other European projects and programmes such as POCTEP Spain-Portugal, where the INTREPIDA project is framed. In her own words, it is 'a formidable opportunity to support and contribute to female entrepreneurship in the cross-border area of Algarve, Alentejo and Andalusia'.
From the Fundación Tres Culturas we encourage all the beneficiaries of the different projects to take part in this wonderful initiative which is enormously positive for all parties, strengthening cooperation through the participation of young people, who will be in charge of formulating new proposals and projects in the future. We remain at the disposal of all those who would like to know more about our own experience in this initiative.
More information on the Interreg Volunteer Youth programme can be found here: https://www.interregyouth.com/
Contact person at the Fundación Tres Culturas for information on Interreg Volunteer Youth: Catalina Bejarano cbejarano@tresculturas.org +34 954088030
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