About one and a half year ago, AEGEE-Budapest went through a structural change, and the previous board wanted to gather as much information as they could to implement this change as smoothly as possible. Their board had eight positions previously, and they wanted to change that. They gathered information about other locals’ boards structure, one of them being AEGEE-Utrecht, a big antenna too, which already had a well functioning board with only five people in it. That’s how the idea of an exchange came up, just like the idea of being twin antennae.
During Spring Agora Patra, the two locals signed the Twin Antennae contract.
Since then, they already had two exchanges (one in Budapest and one in Utrecht), they organised a postcrossing before Christmas, and they had Skype meetings. At the end of February they are going to have another exchange in Budapest, where they also invited the members of AEGEE-Barcelona.They are planning to design a sticker together to promote their relationship in events, they agreed to promote each other’s events, and they are going to have a facebook page together to commemorate their relationship too.
Last but not least, they won the “Master of Recruitment” prize together at Agora Cagliari. AEGEE-Budapest had no idea that
AEGEE-Utrecht also applied, and AEGEE-Utrecht had no idea AEGEE-Budapest applied! It was a truly happy surprise to be given this title together.
Luca Gallyas from AEGEE-Budapest shared with us:
We learnt a lot of things from AEGEE-Utrecht regarding their recruitment strategy and we implemented those right away. This recruitment period would’t have been this successful without the conversation we had about these matters!
Sien Rongen from AEGEE-Utrecht told us:
What I really like is that Budapest is very good in organising events with European bodies and more “serious” stuff and we are very good in organising local activities. This is something that we already learned a lot from each other. I think (correct me if I am wrong) Budapest is working on organising more local activities to get their members active and we are working on organising more activities with European themes.
Tekla Hajdu, Network Commissioner from AEGEE-Budapest shared her point of view with us too:
I can tell that there are a lot of effects of signing a Twin Antenna contract. The locals have an influence on each other’s work in a positive way, and they can see in which field they can improve. Also, sharing best practices is a way to develop the locals, and don’t forget about the friendships you can make during a twin antenna period! It is important to maintain active communication, and organise events together – no matter how small or big they are – to enhance the cooperation between the twinnies.
Written by Lia Tuska, AEGEE-Sofia/AEGEE-Thessaloniki