As you may know, AEGEE is a member of IFISO – Informal Forum of International Student Organizations (http://ifiso.org/)
It is an informal platform gathering more than 25 NGOs (mostly European, but also worldwide)
IFISO meets twice a year, always in autumn and in spring and representatives from different NGOs (mostly members of international boards or liaison officers) are getting together in order to discuss variety of things – possible cooperation and collabor
ation among NGOs on local, national and European level, exchange the best practices, networking, organizing joint events (one of the most known is LSS – Leadership Summer School that was IFISO initiative in its beginnings)
For those meetings, there is always different NGO being elected as organizer. Autumn IFISO meeting 2010 was organized by ESTIEM in Istanbul. There, AEGEE was elected as the organizer of next one, spring meeting, with me being the main coordinator.
Spring IFISO meeting 2011 was organized in Krakow, in the beginning of March, having AEGEE-Krakow responsible for logistics and similar issues. By this I would like to thank them a lot for great work that they’ve done. Professional and without problems, as usual.
Spring IFISO meeting 2011 was organized in Krakow, in the beginning of March, having AEGEE-Krakow responsible for logistics and similar issues. By this I would like to thank them a lot for great work that they’ve done. Professional and without problems, as usual.
I was responsible for the content part, as well as gathering participants fromall NGOs, creating the programme, facilitating discussions, etc…
We had 20 participants from 17 different NGOs and we managed to have really intense, fruitful and interesting
We had 20 participants from 17 different NGOs and we managed to have really intense, fruitful and interesting
discussions about many important issues.Present NGOs were AEGEE, ESN, EUROAVIA, ESTIEM, EPSA, JADE, ISHA, EGEA, EFPSA, ELSA, IAAS, IVSA, IFMSA, IPSF, BEST, EESTEC, Right to Research Coalition. How many of them do you know? :P
To mention the most important topics that we tackled during our sessions; we have a website, that you can check out for more information (it is just in its initial phase; soon, there will be more “life” the
re) and for now, the administrator of this website is EESTEC.
We discussed a lot about our (training) events and possibility to exchange trainers and participants for our events – for AEGEE, BEST, ESTIEM, EFPSA, ESN, AIESEC and some other NGOs, this is already happening, but we are trying to involve even more organizations.
We discussed a lot about our (training) events and possibility to exchange trainers and participants for our events – for AEGEE, BEST, ESTIEM, EFPSA, ESN, AIESEC and some other NGOs, this is already happening, but we are trying to involve even more organizations.
We shared best practices about institutional and corporate fundraising (having Mirek Krzanik there as expert from AEGEE for institutional FR to lead this session).
We talked a lot about decisive structure and knowledge management within IFISO and brainstormed about possibilities how to keep continuity and proper knowledge transfer between generations of international boards.
During Open Space Technology, we had discussions in smaller groups about variety of topics, focusing mostly on exchanging best practices in specific areas (IT tools, HR, facilitation of meetings, financial management…)
Apart from many other things that we discussed, one of the most important topics, the thing that I want to raise your awareness about, is local IFISO cooperation.
Apart from many other things that we discussed, one of the most important topics, the thing that I want to raise your awareness about, is local IFISO cooperation.
It is very common that there are several NGOs present in the same city (AEGEE antenna, BEST local group, ESTIEM local group, etc….) In some cases they are cooperating, having offices in the same building, organizing common events, helping and support each other if needed, etc…
But in most of the cases, they work as separate units, not even being in touch and know about each other.
One of the best examples is Ljubljana, where there are more than 20 student NGOs cooperating together on daily basis. Similar situation is in more cities, e.g. Krakow, Brescia, Eindhoven, Istanbul… where students from various NGOs are cooperating, organizing common meetings and other activities. But there are only few examples like this.
One of the best examples is Ljubljana, where there are more than 20 student NGOs cooperating together on daily basis. Similar situation is in more cities, e.g. Krakow, Brescia, Eindhoven, Istanbul… where students from various NGOs are cooperating, organizing common meetings and other activities. But there are only few examples like this.
I would like to encourage you to go to ifiso.org, check the websites of other student NGOs and check whether they are present in the city of your antenna. Try to get in touch with their local boards, try to approach them, meet with them and maybe you can also think about the way how to cooperate, share best practices and support each other.
IFISO is just an informal platform, but it is giving student NGOs (not only) in Europe a great chance to meet, get to know each other, learn from each other, exchange best practices and experiences, cooperate and by this contribute to overall development of youth organizations all around the world.
By Miroslava Ganzarcikova, Comité Directeur 2010/2011