On November 8th and 9th, the INTER-RELIGIO team was at the Franco-German Forum in Strasbourg for our Citizen Engagement Activity, in connection with the pilot program Interreg Volunteer Youth. This event welcomed 7515 visitors, and 131 exhibitors, including 111 higher education institutions from France, Germany, Austria and Luxembourg. We were able to present cross-border cooperation as a concrete result of the European cohesion policy, such as the range of courses initiated by INTER-RELIGIO. A binder providing background information on the EU and presenting other Interreg projects in the region was available at our stand. In this way, both an overview and concrete results of EU cohesion policy were accessible on the spot.
Our objective was to raise awareness among a public intended for Franco-German higher education about the diversity of the diplomas offered by INTER-RELIGIO on interreligious dialogue and jointly supported by the universities of Strasbourg, Heidelberg and Basel. We also wanted to inform this public about the existence of the Interreg Volunteer Youth (IVY) initiative and to raise their awareness of the Interreg programme, which facilitates cross-border cooperation. We enjoyed interacting with an audience captivated by interfaith issues.
We are grateful to the eight students who volunteered to represent all degrees. Their support and communicative enthusiasm have greatly contributed to the success of this project. We distributed more than 400 cotton bags stamped INTER-RELIGIO, as well as leaflets about the courses and the IVY program.
In parallel with the exhibition stand, a conference entitled “INTER-RELIGIO: Boosting tomorrow’s inter-religious dialogue by cross-border inter-university cooperation” was facilitated by Professor Francis Messner and Clémence Kelche. This presentation was an opportunity to raise awareness among a young audience very interested in the richness of cross-border cooperation in higher education and religious issues.
The whole team would like to thank the Interreg Volunteer Youth Programme (IVY), the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) and the European Commission (Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy – DG REGIO). We also thank the organizing team for this exciting event, which was brilliantly conceptualized and implemented!