The first month of the summer kept the Comité Directeur hyperactive, it has been full of work, events and conferences, many of them have showed that long months and sometimes years of hard work have been payed-off.
The summer also means an amazing start for all of us. Dozens of AEGEEans gathered together the last week of June to proudly say: Welcome Croatia!
Luis Alvarado Martinez (President)
During June, the workload still did not go down as some of us expected, but rather went up. The month started with the YO Fest organized by the European Youth Forum where we had a stand, and I personally attended several meetings on the Structured Dialogue on Youth Process and the League of Young Voters representing our Y Vote 2014 project. Directly after this, I got a plane to Malta to the General Assembly of Les Ancines. You can find more about it here.
I could only stay for one day and I had to come directly back for the Y Vote 2014 meeting during the weekend. Then, on Monday I was the moderator of the Panel Discussion which we, as AEGEE-Europe ,organized in the European Parliament to launch our Y Vote 2014 project with Members of EP and the European Youth Forum.
The following day, I also moderated the Panel discussion in the European Parliament again, organized together with our partners from YEU (Youth for Exchange and Understanding) on recognition of Youth Work and the LLP research which we are carrying out.
On that same week, which we started calling the AEGEE week, we hosted one last event in the Parliament on “Co-management” with several other NGOs.
A few days later I got a flight to Mollina, Málaga Spain where I represented AEGEE in the CEULAJ Center at the coordination meeting for the next University on Youth and Development organized by the European Youth Forum, North-South Center of the Council of Europe and the Spanish Youth Council. We will be one of the key partners, and host a training on Caucasus Peace Building in September. Directly after this, I travelled to the UK where I represented AEGEE-Europe, and Chaired the Model European Council in the University of Cambridge. After staying a few days in Brussels, attending different meetings, I travelled to Las Palmas GC, as speaker to a Conference organized by the European Movement in Canary Islands as panelist with different politicians and Harvard professors on EU citizenship and the crisis in the EU. Last but not least, I travelled to Croatia to the conference we co-organized with the European Commission on the EU accession of Croatia where I had the chance to meet many of you again.
Lucille Rieux (Secretary General)
Surprisingly, the rythmn in June didn’t slow down, and it was yet another busy month which was coming to an end.
First of all, June was rich in events organised and attended.
The efforts of the Comité Directeur to increase our organisation’s visibility in Brussels were very present at the beginning of the month, while preparing the presence of AEGEE-Europe in the Yo Fest of the European Youth Forum as well as organising 3 events in a row in the European Parliament. First of all, I was helping the Y Vote project team to carry out the Press Conference to kick off the project. I was also supporting Madalena Sousa, our research and administrative officer, in the preparation of a roundtable on the topic of “certification of the youth workers’ competences”, which gave room for a very fruitful debate among representatives of European Youth and Educational Organisations as well as representatives of the European Parliament. Last but not least, I was coordinating the project which was organized by AEGEE-Europe on the topic of co-management for young people within the European Institutions. You can read the concept and the results of the event here.
This month, I have also started the preparation of the Identity Meeting of AEGEE, which will take place in July, in the CD house. I have been both managing the logistic preparations and starting the analysis of the results of the consultation which has been run in the network. I have also worked together with Madalena, on the development of an internal strategy for internal recognition of Non Formal Education, which will soon be shared with the network.
To continue, I have also attended the Secretary General Days organised by our platform the European Youth Forum, which has been a good chance to exchange good practices in terms of the management of the organisation, and gave me several ideas to be implemented in order to increase our efficiency. Together with my collegues, I have attended the conference organised by the European Commission in Zagreb, to celebrate the entrance of Croatia, as the 28th member state, to the European Union. Right after that, I joined the team meeting of the project on “Validation of the competencies of youth workers – Road for greater recognition” in Faro, organised by our partner YEU. During this meeting, we have met other partners of the project, and defined the next steps of the project, both in terms of content and administration.
Anna Gots (Financial Director)
Even though it seemed that all the most important deadlines and events of this CD year were left behind, June happaned to be a hyperactive month, much busier than the previous ones.
For me, it started with the preparation of the financial part of Europe for Citizens application,which aims to support several initiatives related to EP elections 2014, next year.
Then, I spent the very first week together with the rest of the CD members in the EP, participating in three AEGEE events in a row, there.
The following week was devoted almost entirely to managing the financial follow-up of the aforementioned events in the EP and the one we had in Starsbourg at the end of April, about Human Rights.
In the meantime, I finally had time for the implementation of certain long-planned initiatives.
One of them was the start of the consultation process with treasurers of other NGOs based in Brussels and the most experienced treasurers from our Network regarding the bookkeeping software they used in order to chose a new, more suitable one for AEGEE-Europe.
Meanwhile, I revived a discussion with the Audit Commission about the importance of increasing the role of financial education in the Network and creating a informal forum for the treasurers to discuss common issues and share best practices. As a first step, the corresponding Facebook group was created, which gathered around 100 treasurers already.
Moreover, together with the treasurer of AEGEE-Enschede, I started the preparation of two proposals for the upcoming Agora, aiming to facilitate the work of the Financial Director and hopefully, to bring more transparency and simplicity to the financial presentations at the Agora.
Besides, I’ve been following events of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum and attended one of them about environmental challenges EaP countries were facing.
For the very first time, I also participated as a speaker in the meeting of the working group in EESC, discussing the last Directive on the entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of research, studies, pupil exchange, remunerated and unremunerated training , voluntary service and au pairing; giving insight on the reality our members coming from non-EU countries face when they try to obtain long-term visas and residence permits for the purpose of training and voluntary service.
Last but not the least, I participated together with tens of other AEGEEans in the youth conference in Zagreb welcoming Croatia in the EU, where together with Kathrin we gave one of the workshops about intercultural dialogue.
In the very end of the month, I joined Lucille and Madalena in the sunny Faro for the second consortium meeting of partners of the project “Validation of the competencies of youth workers – Road for greater recognition” to discuss both administrative and content-related aspects.
Pavel Zbornik (European Institutions and Communications Director)
For me, June started with submitting Youth in Action applications and the meeting of the Y Vote where I took part in the drafting of the communication strategy. Then, the AEGEE week (as other NGOs called the first week of June) has started with 2 press conferences and a 2 day conference, all hosted in the European Parliament. On AEGEE YouTube Channel, you can find videos to see more. After these events, my traveling period started: I went with Kathrin to Paris for a consultancy meeting with SAP and Accenture organised by Probono Lab where we were consulting Online Membership System with consultants from the IT field. Directly from Paris, I went to Lisbon to help with the preparation of New Media Summer School which is a youth event prior to the European Dialog on Internet Governance (EuroDIG). Within the framework of this event, we aimed to prepare pax to be able to participate at big multistake holder conferences as the EuroDIG. I’m very pleased with the participants who came from AEGEE and their role during conference. After Lisbon I went to Zagreb, as many other AEGEEans did, to participate at the youth conference to welcome Croatia in the EU.
Miguel Gallardo Albajar (Projects Director)
I started the month assisting the Y Vote team at their meeting, and then jumping into a collaboration for the so-called AEGEE week, with three events in the European Parliament. Then, I spent the weekend with the Eastern Partnership project, and the next weekend I travelled to Ireland for a conference on LGBT Youth within the framework of the Irish presidency of the EU. As many more AEGEEans, I travelled to Zagreb to welcome Croatia in the EU with the youth conference organised by the European Commission. During the week days, I attended some external conferences on the situation of Turkey, skills needed for green jobs and the presentation of a new radio in the European Bubble, EuranetPlus. The preparation of the Planning Meeting continued during the entire month, same thing happened with I’M AEGEE (Identity Meeting of AEGEE), and all the small tasks related to WGs and Projects that constitute to my daily routine…
Kathrin Renner (Vice President and External Relations Director)
Days in the office: 10
Days spent at conferences, meetings and on the road: 10
As you can see, June was one of the busiest months, interrupted by lots of small meetings, trips and days at conferences.
It started with the ‘AEGEE week’ in the European Parliament: 4 days in a row, we had events there, organised mainly by Lucille and Madalena, but requiring the support of all CD members. By the fifth day of this busy week, we’ve got used to arranging things in the still not completely ready house, and to have a long overdue team evaluation. Other meetings I had, were a consultation on our IT infrastructure with SAP and Accenture thanks to ProBono in Paris, where I went with Pavel, a 2-days funding workshop in Antwerp, organised by the European Youth Forum, where especially the part about Foundations was interesting for us, and of course the EU Youth Conference in Zagreb.
In the meantime, my main tasks in the office included the preparation of the EU Youth Conference (and fighting with the travel agency), preparing the new edition of Key to Europe together with superheroines Hara Kogkou and Alma Mozgovaja, preparing the Study Fair in Zaragoza, and the usual emails and other tasks.
I hope that this was the last crazy month, and now, in summer we will have time to relax and work on the tasks we haven’t completed yet.
Beata Matuszka (Network and Human Resources Director)
June has been a human resources month for me, almost all the events I participated in, or organised and several actions were related to Human Resources Management.
My non-HR tasks concentrated in the beginning and end of the month: the first week of the month was the so-called AEGEE week in Brussels, according to the other INGYOs. Since we had press and other conferences, I was participating in the launch of the Y Vote, and I had the possibility to be a facilitator during the conference which gathered INGYOs and policy makers to discuss the possibilities of co-management in the European Union.
Later this month, I was participating in a training for the members of European Youth Forum with Lucia Gavulova and Zuzana Caplova (AEGEE-Bratislava) and Elena Antova (Human Resources Committee): this was the kick-off of the 2-year-long project which is focusing on Membership Growth on local and European level.
Right after this training, we have arrived to that moment for what I was eagerly waiting for months: the first Human Resources Forum for INGYOs organised by AEGEE-Europe took place in Brussels. This event gathered together many organisations (BEST, ELSA, JADE, IAAS, EGEA, EMSA, ESN, YEU) and during the 2 days, there was possibility to share best practices, discuss problems, find solutions and start a strong cooperation in terms of HR management.
Before leaving for the Youth Conference in Zagreb, Mathieu Soete and I were presenting the best practices in the field of entrepreneurship at the Policy debate in the European Parliament.
In Zagreb, we weren’t only meeting with the other organisations but also with fellow AEGEEans, we had a possibility to use this time also for extra teambuilding with the Network Commissioners and for discussing some important issues.
Madalena Sousa (Research and Administrative Officer)
June became a very enriched month, filled with diverse and fruitful work for our organization.
In the beginning of the month, I was giving support to the organization of the “Co-management for youth in the European Institutions” as well as in the background preparation of the facilitators. Right before this conference, I was responsible for the organization of the Round Table on “Certification of the Competences of Youth Workers in a European Context” that took place at the European Parliament on the June 4. This event was organized by AEGEE Europe & Youth for Exchange and Understanding International and hosted by MEP Marian Harkin. For more information, please, follow the link for the press release.
During this month, in the “backstage”, I was developing several conceptual and admnistrative works, such as the internal strategy of Non Formal and Informal Learning for AEGEE (together with Lucille Rieux); preparing AEGEE-Europe’s participation on the 2nd partners meeting of the project and preparing the facilitation process to the INGOs and the Structure Dialogue in Europe that will take place in Zaragoza in the beginning of July.
In the last week of June, I was attending the “European Launch of Education at a Glance 2013: OECD Indicators” where the 2013 ‘Education at a Glance’ report was presented, which provides key information and data on education and training in OECD and partner countries, including 21 EU Member States. This report enables decision-makers to compare education and training systems, and to draw lessons for future policy. For more information about this process you can follow the link.
The last days of June took place at the 2nd partners meeting of the Project “Certification of the Qualifications of Youth Workers in NGOs – road to greater recognition of youth work”. This time, it was hosted and organized by YEU in Portugal. The meeting aimed to update the evolution of the partners in the different workpackages of the project, discuss the content with the focus on the profiles of the youth worker, quality management system of the project, Database and Network and administrative issues. For more information about this project, please, have a look on this.