Network Commissioner for 57th Agora AEGEE-Europe
Kutay Kaya was interested in AEGEE’s spirit as soon as he went to his first meeting and it didn’t take him much longer to fall in love with our organization. After gaining valuable experience through local and European events, Kaya feels ready to present his candidature for Network Commissioner to Agora Bucuresti 2019. The AEGEEan had a talk with him to know his motivations and willings.
Tell us a bit about yourself. What’s your AEGEE story and what made you join?
I always consider myself lucky as I met AEGEE at the beginning of my University life. It was my second week and I was going back home like any other day when I saw the AEGEE introductions in between all other student organization promotions. I approached the AEGEE table and got some information about their work, structure and so on. They told me that they have their common meeting on the same day, which I could understand the organization much better, and told me that I should join. After joining different type of meetings as the time goes by I started to take some roles in different positions and that made me realize why I join here in the first place because here I can really work on beneficial aspects for me and for many others with amazing people. In the end, I am glad that I changed my mind about going home and participated in the meeting so that I could be a part of this life-changing organization.
Network Commission is arguably one of the most prestigious positions in the entire organization. However, the NetCom job is highly challenging. What motivated you to submit your candidature?
I believe areas are playing a critical role in AEGEE’s improvement in general. We can create many projects, make/attend events but without having constant development in our Network sadly none of these would be sustainable. I applied for Network Commission because I am well aware of this situation and my aim is to do my best for our Network in order to bring our organization to the next level, indeed this is a huge responsibility but besides from being aware of that it motivates me more to contribute with all my efficiency.
What are some current policies or projects in AEGEE-Europe do you disagree with and why?
For a while now I have been tracking Antenna Criteria Proposal, I have been following the discussions as well as the statics. In the end, according to my conclusion I can’t say that I found the current Antenna Criterias efficient enough. Still, I also understand the difficulty of making it more suitable for locals as there can be lots of exceptions and many other occasions, especially in an important regulation like this. Therefore, I support the current Network Commission on their work and proposal.
Do you have a preferred Network Area? What would you do if you’re appointed to another?
I can’t say that I have a preference about the areas. As well as all the areas have different needs and conditions also the upcoming team will have different skills and advantages. Therefore, I am sure that newly elected team will consider these points and will make a distribution in the most beneficial way possible for every area. If I get elected I will do my best about the area I will be responsible regardless of which one.
You said you are quite active at a local and European level. Do you consider that you have already contributed to improve the activity of any antenna? Which are the most common problems you see among near antennae?
Since I joined AEGEE I attended different kinds of events so that I had a chance to meet with people from the nearby antennas and also as I am a Subcom currently I have been in contact with the locals. Due to this I was helping locals through sharing my experiences, suggestions on a better way of processing, inviting all nearby antennas to our LTC and whatever is needed at that time, so I can say yes. One of the common problems (also maybe the most important) I see is also connected with the next question, without considering any other possible ways, locals requirements getting used to doing the same things, repeating them over and over again without any development. In addition, communication between the locals, in the frame of improvement, is very important and naturally it is easier to make it possible in between nearby locals. Although the current situation is getting better, I still think it is not enough and this is something that really has to be focused on.
In your program you explained how you would like to encourage each antenna to have their own mission and vision. How would you help them to detect and develop it?
Even two antennas in the same area have a different way of processing about the same thing and interests according to their current members, local culture, etc. As I will be in contact with the locals closely I will have a chance to analyze them, see what they actually need/interest and encourage them to go for those things instead of making events/projects only to say they did it but without any improvements. Orienting them to structural works which they can really develop themselves as an antenna and in the end us as an organization in general. This kind of approach will also help locals to find out their own mission and vision in parallel with AEGEE-Europe as they will start focusing what their members, antenna actually needs and shaping their own/proper way of continuity in the same time.
You also suggested the idea of creating a Subcom Team. How would you choose its members and what would their exact tasks be?
I would like to create a team of Subcom that includes experienced members, as well as members that want to develop themselves so that knowledge transfer can be much easier in between the team and also area, can take the benefits of the experienced members while enthusiastic members can find an opportunity to gain experience. In this case, it is also important to have people with different skills, having variety in the team. Besides the knowledge transfer between the team, this variety is also a necessity to help the locals as well. Every local has in need of different points so having this in the team is an important advantage. I will give them the opportunity to work closely with locals, also a small local distribution in the team which will make things easier and faster for us to communicate with the locals. Also giving them tasks that they have the interest, experience on, if it is PR for example helping a local to work with VI properly, so that they can practice but I am planning to give tasks about the aspects they consider themselves deficient or want to develop.