He joined AEGEE in 2011 and, after a long experience in the local level as former PR reponsible and current president of AEGEE-Debrecen, he’s now running for Network Commission at the upcoming Spring Agora Patra. Balázs Kovács, also known as “Bali”, was interviewed by the AEGEEan in order to get more information about himself and his candidature.
The AEGEEan: Being a NetCommie is not an easy task. It is very demanding. What pushed you to apply for this position?
Balázs: I am the type of person who particularly enjoys empowering others while also gaining considerable amount of personal inspiration from fueling co-operation among like-minded people. I enjoy being around and working with and for people on daily matters from a more strategic point of view with a hint of thinking-out-of-the-box kind of a creative approach.
In my opinion, there is still a large need to keep inspiring more members and locals to continue discovering all the potentials this amazing Network embodies. I believe that even small antennae have a lot of unlocked available resources and co-operations to capitalize from in order to further develop themselves. Thus, once getting elected, I would like to take up the challenge of contributing to empowering antennae nearby to keep on aiming higher as well as boosting their collaborations by offering my ideas and time. Since, I believe, our great predecessors will provide us, potential future Network Commissioners, with a quality transition period filled with attentive knowledge transfer, I believe we will be able to do our very best to keep going on with their quality work as a strong new Network Commission Team.
The AEGEEan: Anna Móricz, the previous NetCom of the region you are from, resigned and an open call was issued for a NetCom Assistant to replace her. Did you apply for that?
Balázs: I have not applied to become the NetCom Assistant since my local duties as a president of AEGEE-Debrecen occupy all my free time substantially.
The AEGEEan: The local activity of AEGEE-Debrecen is very intense. How would you, as a Network Commissioner, motivate the other atennae to do the same? How would you encourage them?
Balázs: I intend to encourage as many members of antennae to participate in numerous cross-border best practice sharing events among each other as well as with other youngsters from different INGYOs. These training events are the most ideal platforms where future collaborations would be born and intense enthusiasm is built which can continue fuel local activity in the long run.
I firmly believe that personal experiences are the best means to ignite a long-lasting flame of passion among volunteers thus I also like to encourage antennae to organize cultural exchanges among each other, especially in their region. The most effective trust building for future professional collaborations (to organize joint thematic events) could be carried out by starting with more informal mutual ventures.
Moreover, if I will elected, I also prefer visiting as many of my potential future antennae as possible right in the beginning of the academic year in order to build trust and bonds we can later build on. I would like to establish our co-operation based on a shared vision and a clearly structured plan.
The AEGEEan: Do you think your studies in Media and Comunication can help you is your task?
Balázs: My addressed studies are among the highlights of my life that taught me a lot about being attentive, alert, self-aware, emphatic, clear, and more concise so I am sure they will help me a lot.
The AEGEEan: Anna was in charge of a relatively small network. If you will be elected, would you like to “keep” only the present locals or extend the current mini network more?
Balázs: As of now, we are in talks and it is yet to be decided based on the opinions and inputs of the antennae nearby as well as on the points of view of the current Network Commissioners. I am open for changes though.
The AEGEEan: Could you explain more about your idea of a mentorship program?
Balázs: I have been a huge fan of inter-generational networking ever since I was a kid. I have done an extensive research on all the lines of my family trees. When I contacted and interviewed distant relatives of mine, one would normally never even hear about, I realized how much is being forgotten and overlooked from our history, even when the resources of knowledge is mostly available for a long time from older generations.
This works in the exact same way in NGOs. I think it should be considered a crucial matter to establish an overall tradition for every current active members of AEGEE to have a personal mentor. The mentors would be former long-time active AEGEEans, ideally of the same local. This could further make us all more interconnected via the association. It would, furthermore, not only enrich our organizational culture but also could lead to slowing down the process of forgetting about our local history.
The AEGEEan: You attended a lot of AEGEE events. How did this manage to change your vision of AEGEE and its aims?
Balázs: I have been very blessed all throughout my AEGEE years. I have joined an amazingly diverse yet well-functioning local team, delivering numerous good results regardless of our HR shortcomings. I attended events enriching me with lifetime lessons, experiences and valuable encounters. AEGEE grew on me and in a very good way.
What attending all those events has done to me in this respect was becoming aware of where I can still contribute while also challenging myself.
The AEGEEan: There is an often-discussed gap between the local and European levels. Would you consider making some implementations to reduce it? In case you have already thought about it, what are the ideas you would like to be put to work?
Balázs: To put it all simple, I would say that I gradually came to realize that AEGEE’s most important strength is essentially its very own obstacle; the immense diversity of our activities. This makes it all hard to present ourselves as a precisely labeled brand serving everyone’s personal needs at once.
It requires a lot of energy, work and dedication to transmit what the European Level means, and it definitely has to become an integral part of all AEGEE events as long as all experienced AEGEEans, from all walks of our association, especially from the EL bodies will actively contribute to coming up with a common initiative about making our members familiar with what the EL deals with. Recording and spreading personal stories could and would make a huge difference, yet it cannot be solely the responsibility of the Network Commission, they entire EL should take an overall ownership of it.
The AEGEEan: Why should people vote for you? What do you think what are your strong points?
Balázs: I am dedicated, flexible, motivated, resourceful, energetic, and creative. I have built up a considerable contact network from other INGYOs up until now from my past NGO work experiences. This, combined with others’ contacts, would allow us to think out of the AEGEE box on a regular basis by cooperating with them after attending each others’ trainings.
I have also applied to some upcoming international large-scale European networking events for this summer, thus I hope I’ll be able to establish further valuable contacts for my potential future NetCom term serving the locals’ future plans.
Furthermore, I enjoy working with people, I am passion-driven and punctual when it comes to communicating, informing and inspiring others but I am also a team player, when it is needed, my general approach serves the best possible common good under all circumstances.
Written by Cosmina Bisboaca, AEGEE-Torino