Marko Grdošić  – President

July made Brussels quite calm, and the level of meetings went down. The last one happening was with the Coalition of Civil Society organizations on the Erasmus for All proposal. From the beginning of the year, we have been working a lot on lobbying for our space inside of the proposal, stronger youth inclusion, recognition of non-formal education. Finally, our work started showing results. After the European Council’s proposal for a separate chapter on youth, meeting with different Members of the European Parliament has shown that we have more and more supporters. In the following weeks, the Culture and Education Committee will present its report to the Parliament and that will be the key moment for the final look of the proposal.

I have addressed the Turkish Parliament, speaking in Istanbul at a conference on youth participation and political involvement. Talking about the  latest arrestments, freedom of speech and democracy, I gave a youth’s opinion on current state, with recommendations for future actions.

Alma Mozgovaja – Secretary General

July was a very colourful month, with empowering a new AEGEE generation, getting to know more about the new internal platform for managing the membership within AEGEE, selecting assistants and setting a timeline for the Autumn Agora in Budapest, preparing a flawless knowledge transfer period for our successors and much more. It was a month with a glance into the future.

Even during the holidays I could not leave AEGEE, so I was combining the pleasant with the useful by co-organising the first IT Summer University, training new members and presenting different possibilities that AEGEE can offer. Finally, at the end of the month, the meeting with the European Youth Card Association took place. We tried to research what kind of options there are for getting AEGEE membership cards with an added value. Still, a lot remains to be done.

And now it is the time for change – our long, but extremely interesting trip called the Comité Directeur is coming to an end. It is time to give it over to new, energetic and enthusiastic CD elects.

Elena Antova – Financial Director

For me, July started with my daily work, related to reimbursements, payments and bookkeeping.  Later during the month I took part in the Leadership Summer School in Budapest, which was organized by Zero Generation with the support of other student NGOs. I attended different and inspiring sessions about Communication, Group Dynamics, Facilitation, Knowledge Transfer etc. The gained knowledge will be really useful until the end of my term and especially during the Knowledge Transfer period.

After coming back, I continued doing my regular tasks and started to prepare the structure for the Knowledge Transfer, which will take place during August. Unfortunately, because of visa issues my successor, Anna, can’t be in Brussels at the beginning of the month and we had to find an alternative way of starting the knowledge transfer, by using on-line tools. I am more than optimistic that we will be able to work even with these difficulties. At the end of the month I had to prepare some additional documents for the reporting of the General Subvention 2011 and the Beyond Europe Project.

Jüri Kirpu – Internal Relations Director

July was the month when we, as the outgoing Comité Directeur, had our last month alone in the house, before our successors would be joining us here. For me, this period was filled with matters connected to the Key to Europe preparations, many meetings of the Mediation Commission and the Network Commission, and structuring  the Knowledge Transfer period, so that I could prepare Beáta and Pavel for their duties from the 1^st of September. For the Knowledge Transfer I also arranged a visit for the new Comité Directeur to Euractiv, so that they would be able to step into their new term with a wide knowledge about the Brussels media circle.

Besides these matters, I also dealt with mediating the process of accepting new Contacts and also managing documents for existing Contacts, who are planning to be upgraded during Agora Budapest. For the Agora, the period of submitting the members lists of Locals has started, since the site was opened, which is why I hope that also your Local will be one of the first in line to upload a file with the members.

Gizem Karslı – Vice President and Projects Director

July, the month of investments and preparations for the beginning of the end. Other than the week I visited my sunny and shiny hometown, I mainly focused on three topics. I have already given the hints of a successful project last month, The Euro-Arab Project! We have had quite an efficient development meeting, where we further developed our ideas. Soon, we will connect AEGEEans with the real leaders of the Arab Spring. In addition to the Euro-Arab Project, there were promising developments in AEGEE’s involvement in the ECI for Ecocide. In a meeting with the people involved, we have elaborated our role in the process. In August, Mathieu Soete will be representing AEGEE in the Ecocide meeting in London, where a number of activists will come together. Results will come in August, stay tuned! Moreover, I worked on the preparation of the planning evaluation meeting, where we will evaluate the work of ACT, the Action Agenda, and the EBM İzmir and prepare recommendations for the brand new planning year ahead of us.

Guillermo García Tabarés – Human Resources Director

Aiming for some days off around Europe, but still within the AEGEE atmosphere, this month started for me with visiting the SU in Barcelona, where I was helping the organising team and sharing my AEGEE perspective with the participants.

My main achievement this month was to ensure the Knowledge Transfer of the bodies I was working with, as the last step of the human resources cycle. Following this, the Working Groups had a closer follow up and the whole Network can benefit from the Working Groups Manual: “How to manage a Working Group easily”. The goal of this new manual is to ensure that next generations will be able to create a Working Group step by step and easily: knowing what to do before the Agora, who to contact for each step, what to include in their Activity Plan and how to create their Working Format following a template. I hope that this will lead to stronger thematic actions and possibly new fields developed in the shape of Working Groups.

The rest of the month went by planning for our last month here and the KT period with the next  generation of the Comité Directeur.

Luis Alvarado Martínez  – External Relations Director

The month of July was a bit more quiet than the rest. Regarding my tasks as the External Relations Director, I worked on fundraising for our Annual Publication (Key to Europe) and on promoting it to partners. It is a very attractive promotion tool for externals, so we will be seeing a few adverts inside the publication.

I also continued with the preparations for the Study Fair in AGORA Budapest, contacting different Universities, platforms and institutions which can be interesting for our members.

Toguether with Alma, I have also been working on the concept of AEGEE-Europe membership cards, having meetings with EYCA (European Youth Card Association), as well as ISIC (International Student Identity Card) to try and arrange partnerships.

Appart from the fundraising tasks, I also attended the Board meeting of the European Civic Forum (where AEGEE-Europe is part of the Board) in Paris, to discuss the evolution of the European Year of Citizens 2013 project, where we will also be participating.

Waiting for the new CD to arrive and start the new cycle in my life.

Marko Grdošić  – President

June I will start with Les Anciens General Assembly. Les Anciens are a huge encyclopedia of AEGEE, past activities and best practice and we have to find a way how to benefit more from that, focusing on continuity in our work and achievements. We had a very nice exchange of views and we’re looking forward to work with the newly elected board.

European Year of Volunteering 2011 Alliance will continue its work as the European Alliance on Volunteering. Currently we are in the process of drafting the first Statutes and preparing the ground for the official establishment. More information will follow.

I’ve also had a chance to join a very fruitful advocacy day in the European Parliament. The advocacy campaign of the youth NGOs regarding the ‘Erasmus for All’ proposal is going in the great direction and we truly hope that in the end all our requirements will be included in the next funding programme. Of course, a lot of work still has to be done until we reach that point. The advocacy group of AEGEE is working hard on it and you are all more than welcome to join us!

The most important one was for sure my trip to Strasbourg to the Council of Europe. After being detached for quite some years, I have started the process of reestablishing our relations with the Conference of INGOs, following our official Participatory Status at the Council of Europe. As the most important institution working on the protection of democracy and human rights we have to make sure that our presence and opinion there is strong and continuous.

Alma Mozgovaja – Secretary General

June was again a month of traveling and meetings.

It started with a conference named “Solutions by Re-Thinking”  in Aarhus where different formal and non-formal organisations were sharing their knowledge and experience on more than 15 different topics organised by a platform for solving global challenges “Global Citizen”. I was working on ‘Education’ where we tried to generate innovative solutions for higher education what could focus on two models/ branches/ways of education: academic – what would produce scientists and academic work force; and practical – what would give more practical knowledge that is required by the labour market nowadays.

That was also a good place for networking and meeting, not only civil society organisations, but also companies who are socially responsible and want to contribute for better future.

Another meeting took place in Heidelberg where we had the concept development meeting for the next annual review “Key to Europe”.

June was also a month when I could have more time for private things – I was at a concert in London, meeting my friends, reading books and finally the last days of June my summer vacation started.

There is just 2 months left, but those are the most interesting as now we have more time to finalise things, structure documents, prepare knowledge transfer for the next Comité Directeur and enjoy summer, maybe even on one of the Summer Universities taking place this year.

Elena Antova – Financial Director

After few intensive months, June came and brought the sun to Brussels. Despite the good weather the work in the office was passing as smooth as usual.

Since I arrived back from Network Meeting Napoli at the end of May, my main task was the reporting of the financial part of the General Subvention 2011 to the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). I had to go through all bills of AEGEE-Europe for the past year and report them in a specific form. After receiving approval from an external accountant all documents were sent to the Executive Agency by Marko. At the beginning of the month, I also took part in a visit to NATO, which was organized by AEGEE-Heidelberg. The topic of the meeting was “NATO after Chicago Summit”, followed by the current projects NATO is working on.

After the financial part of the Report was done, I returned to my main tasks: checking reimbursements, making payments, arranging tickets, bookkeeping.

In the middle of June my family visited me here in Brussels. I spend some really nice days with them and with friends around Belgium. After their visit I started working on preparing the financial documents for the Audit Commission, which were requested by them during the Agora. At the end of the month, I had huge support from Nico Huurman, former Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe, and Tim de Jong, former Audit Commissioner, who came for a weekend in Brussels and helped me with correcting the previous years in the bookkeeping program.

Jüri Kirpu – Internal Relations Director

The first month of summer started off with an attendance at the “The Great Debate” in Aarhus, where the civil society platform “Global Citizens” organised an event for re-thinking solutions. The participants of the event were distributed among different topics, so as to think whether issues like the increasing population of the planet, unemployment, education etc could be approached in a new way.

My journey continued from Aarhus to Katowice, where the Network Commission had its meeting (NCM). The Netcom was there in almost full attendance, which also included some subcommissioners and outgoing Netcommies, which as a continuation from the previous NCM in Brussels was a good sign that Netcommies are continuously organised and are able to function as a team. Various things were discussed, planned and trainings were given. There was a time for wonderful recollection and a time of externalisation of different emotions, which hopefully made bonds between people stronger so as to welcome all the upcoming challenges together. Thanks to Marek and AEGEE-Katowice it would not have been possible, thank you!

Upon returning back to Brussels, Alma and I again departed from our lovely house, so that we could attend the Key to Europe concept development meeting in Heidelberg. The gathering of the team made it possible to go through various concepts, through old Key to Europes and come up with a structure and deadlines, so that from Autumn on AEGEE would have another compilation of the things that were done during the past year.

Gizem Karslı – Vice President and Projects Director

Modus Vivendi of the house has been marked by two significant happenings in June. The first: keeping European youth’s finger on the pulse of the Arab Spring. European Movement International (EMI) held the third congress on South North Mediterranean in Tunis where I had the privilege of meeting the real actors of the Jasmine Revolution; Meriam, Noumi, Mohammed, Karima and many other valuable activists. After listening to them, I once more realised that transition to democracy is as difficult as the revolution itself. However sad it is, civil society is newly born there and grounding it on democratic terms in such an environment is challenging. Yet, seeing how strong is the Jasmine women and youth and having a number of AEGEE activists working on this issue, I restored my hope for the continent. Very soon, we will welcome the Euro-Arab project to our family, a project I was dreaming of for a long time, so let me thank the project initiators that you will meet soon. With scent of Jasmine, I came back home started working on another issue that interests each and every one of us from anywhere in the world, the earth. Thanks to a dedicated fellow, Polly Higgins, we took AEGEE on board participating directly in the establishment of Ecocide law proposal that we will call a European Citizenship Initiative for and get AEGEE directly involved in EU policy development on the matter. The Round Table discussion on Ecocide was the first step of the initiative.

To conclude June, two project initiatives that will hopefully be realised with your support, we are getting closer to the farewell.

Guillermo García Tabarés – Human Resources Director

A cloudy start to summer we had in Brussels, making June already a strange month. But that’s not all; we could really see through the lower activity of the mailing lists that whole Europe is either in exam period or on holidays.

The month started with a workshop about local level human resources strategies for AEGEE-Heidelberg, who came to visit us in Brussels and who invited us to join them in a visit to NATO. Right after that we had AEGEE-Barcelona, my home Antenna, in the house. They not only enjoyed Brussels, but got to know how the head office works. Now it is my turn; in the following days I’ll pay them a visit to make a quality control check into their/our Summer University.

I worked with the two newly establish working groups the most during June, making sure that they are grounded on strong structures; Activity Plans, Working Formats, budgets, task development, etc. Moreover, I had a meeting with another team interested in creating a new Working Group! I will not spoil the surprise yet! Working Groups’ world is getting more and more active!  We may have a 9^th Working Group after Agora Budapest! Stay tuned.

Not so much to say about the HRC this month. At least, the final drafts of two surveys and the emails to announce them were cleaned. More than ever, soon there’ll be some public news.

Apart from that, I was focusing on some minor tasks: recommendation letters, knowledge transfer documents about my tasks, developing the survey about the forum as a place for discussion…

Enjoy your beginning of summer!

Claudia Fiorentino – Intern

June was my last month working with the Comité Directeur! This amazing experience is coming to an end and I am a little sad to leave my job in AEGEE-Europe. During this month I helping out with organising the archive in the basement. I helped Ioana, who is currently the Archive Assistant, with checking documents and with creating a digital Archive.  In addition I updated the list of Comité Directeur members, on the AEGEE-Europe website, from 1985 till the present, and also with updating the site which contains  AEGEE’s European Bodies.

After finding some recycling companies in Brussels, who deal with paper recycling, I arranged a meeting between Marko and Jerome Pickard from MCA Recycling company. In addition to that these last weeks  I prepared all documents connected to my internship in AEGEE.

During the second week on June, Martina Zanero from the AEGEEan, approached me for an interview, which was centred around my internship experience in AEGEE during these 4 months. I was very glad to do this for the AEGEEan  and for other young people who could make the same experience. It was amazing to see an interview on the AEGEEan!

The 22th of June will be my last working day in the CD office and I hope that my team was satisfied with my job and I hope that they will not forget me because I will not forget them! From this experience I learnt a lot, about AEGEE, people, I improved  both French and English and how to work in a team. Thank you everybody and I hope to enjoy AEGEE for a longtime!

Ioana Duca– Archive assistant

The six weeks passed by very quickly. Working with so many documents can really be challenging sometimes. You can stay and sort one folder for hours or minutes on, it depends on papers inside of it.
After the last four weeks I managed to sort almost everything and to write what is inside of boxes. Six weeks of cleaning and sorting and with everything in place we have only the important documents: projects, results, partnerships, contracts, reports, plans, meetings, agora related documentation, etc.

I didn’t have enough time to compare the archives with the digital archives in the server or to finish creating the data base with the rest of the team. I worked mostly by reading the files inside of folders and by sorting them. Next organisational steps are creating a data base for easy usage, so that it would be possible to find a file from the archives. It is now time for Eduard, Hector and Philip to continue the work.

When I started sorting the folders I was really confused about everything. After six weeks of work I am happy, that the archive is now ordered. During the “big cleaning” I found some funny documents, lists and photos. There is now a special box for photos and one for all the funny documents that were in archives.

In the end I can say that it was a pleasure to work in the archives. It was a great opportunity to discover a lot of interesting projects or locals that now are not anymore. I hope that from now on the archives will be a major interest of the future Commite Directeur and they will keep everything in order.

Marko Grdošić  – President

I guess the month of May is the hardest to describe and write about. There was an Agora! And it was for sure not an easy one. Aware of what the whole Vote of Confidence might bring, we went for it, knowing that this is the right and only solution to resolve all the internal issues and to increase the achievements in the future. And we did the right thing! Coming back to Brussels and sleeping the Agora over, we started with future planning, establishing the common ideas we will be working on for the next four months. The team spirit had a boom and it is still running at the same level!

A week after Enschede I had the knowledge transfer with Alfredo and attended two General Assemblies of the platforms we are members of: European Civil Society Platform on Life Long Learning (EUCIS-LLL) and European Movement International (EMI). Attending them gave me a lot of ideas about where AEGEE could have more influence on a European level. This I find very important in order to make our positions stronger and make our voice better heard.

At the General Assembly of EMI the most interesting topic was approving the support for the campaign Vote@16, about which we will inform the Network in the following weeks and try to gather as much input as possible. The last days of May I’ve spent on Youth in Action, together with Luis, preparing the EVS application for the next Comité Directeur.

And in the end, another meeting of the coalition which is working on Erasmus for All brought good news. The Coucil of the European Union presented their position, including a separate youth chapter which shows a great improvement and gives hope for the future development of the Commission’s proposal.

Alma Mozgovaja – Secretary General

May started with the challenging Agora. Besides spending every single moment when I was out of the plenaries for printing additional ballots, meeting with the Chair team, the Juridical Commission and you, members, yes, we also had a Vote of Confidence. I believe it will change not only us as CD and as individuals, but also the whole AEGEE network. We are demanding not just on political and institutional fields, but we are also very critical to ourselves.

This month was relaxing because I didn’t travel at all (exc. the Agora), although there were quite some things to do – registering changes of the president and newly elected Comité Directeur for the Brussels registration, agreements for the newly elected CD, attendance list as result of bar codes scanning, joining two more teams – IT Committee as CD appointed person and the Key to Europe- team.

As promised, the new assistant moved in. Ioana is taking care of physical archives in the basement of the house. I am even happier because she is not the only one working on this, we also have Edouard and Hector who are mainly dealing with electronic archives and archives structure.

Apart from this, I also attended the Secretary Generals day by the European Youth Forum (YFJ) about change management and some tools on how to manage HR, Secretariat vs. Board relations etc, which will be helpful for the implementation of further changes in the CD and in AEGEE in general.

To conclude, for every decision you make, put your heart, soul and your whole being behind it, truth and confidence are the roots of happiness. Be true and confident!

Elena Antova – Financial Director

May started with a new beginning. At the Agora in Enschede  the next generation of Comité Directeur members was elected. Seven young, enthusiastic and motivated people will represent the future of our association from the 1^st of September 2012.

At the Agora I was busy with my task as a Financial Director: AEGEE-Europe’s Registration desk, Presentation of the Budgets and Reports, Progress Meeting, presenting a proposal at the Prytania.

After the Agora was over and we finally got back to Brussels, I continued with my daily work: checking reimbursements, making payments, bookkeeping. Together with the rest of the Comité Directeur members we had a meeting for drafting and finalizing our new Activity Plan, which will represent our plans and ideas till the end of our term. We also had teambuilding sessions with Fabian, for which I am really thankful to him.  His contribution and support helped me a lot and I am sure the others as well. Before starting my travel to Napoli for the Network Meeting, I had to prepare some final updates for the External Accountant that was going to check the finances of AEGEE-Europe at the end of the month.

I took part in the Network Meeting Napoli as a trainer and Comité Directeur representative. I had sessions about the Strategic Plan, “Erasmus for All” Program, Financial Reporting and AEGEE Thematic bodies. It was a really motivating and inspiring Network Meeting, with a great team of organizers, trainers and participants.

Jüri Kirpu – Internal Relations Director

The beginning of May was full of different trials and tribulations. The Spring Agora Enschede was without a doubt one of the biggest happenings in the recent history of AEGEE, which will probably be remembered by many of us. Six of us received confidence from what can be considered as the purest voice of AEGEE and with it a new breath of energy was given to us to conclude our work here in Brussels. Upon the conclusion of our General Assembly, I asked Fabian Brüggemann to aide us by bringing us together, which he gladly accepted to do.

With the new task distribution done, quite some changes were made within the Comité Directeur, after which it was decided that I would be dealing with communications in general. With this I am now a member of the Public  Relations Committee Speaker Team, responsible for Key to Europe development with Alma and also responsible for the media partnerships, which I would like to improve for the remainder of my time here. As a complementary part to the Secretary Generals day, which was organised by YFJ, the day long session was closed by a  communications and external media relations  discussion, where different NGOs active in the youth field described their experiences. It was very interesting to take part in it, since it broadened my perspective on communicational strategic planning.

The month also included dealings with the Network Commission and the elections of the new Speaker team. Congratulations to Wieke van der Kroef and Marek Pezda for being elected for the Speaker team!

Gizem Karslı – Vice President and Projects Director

There is no question that May was the hardest month for each one of us. You may blame us or understand, you may be happy or sad, yet what happened was what our values required us to do. I had one of the hardest times in my life, and I assure you I have never had an easy one. Yet, I truly believe that we acted in the right way by not covering up serious issues.  I simply wish the direction the Agora showed us will be the best for our beloved association and ourselves. Hopefully, these will be the last sentences I will write about the infamous part of the Agora, time to put a full stop.

While we were playing difficult games in our AEGEE world, lots of things happened in the real world. For instance, more than 600 students got arrested in my home country. Among them I had my friends… Stop and think for a moment, imagine a close friend of yours behind the bars. It does hurt, doesn’t it? What else can I tell you about May? What should you or I  be concerned with more?

A health minister declared that the state will take care of the baby of a woman who was raped, the police force switched to using iron batons, 12 people were pressed for charges for the negative comments they made on Facebook about the Prime Minister’s abortion discussion and many others…

How can I write about the weather in Brussels and what I have been doing when the part of Europe I was born in is walking to its death?

If you are still talking about the Agora, the Vote of Confidence or similar topics, I kindly ask you to wake up.

Guillermo García Tabarés – Human Resources Director

May was quite relaxed after an intensive beginning at Agora Enschede.

At the Agora two new Working Groups were approved, so I was mainly coordinating their first steps, making sure that the boring bureaucracy is done as fast as possible, leaving place for actions, debates, etc while having a strong basic framework. You can find their aims and ideas in the Newsletter for May. The same way, you’ll soon know who are the new board members also.

During the Agora, the General Members Meeting of AEGEE-Academy took place as well. For the ones that are not familiar with the term, we could say that it’s the Agora of the AEGEE-Academy, as they are registered as any other local. The recently elected board was also ratified and my tasks during May were just observing the knowledge transfer and making sure that nothing is forgotten during the transition between the two boards.

Lastly, there were no updates in the HR Committee. At the Agora we finally had a face-to-face meeting with around 10 members, which motivated them to continue working. Now it’s time to see how effective this motivation was. What I can tell in advance about the work of the HRC is that a local analysis of HR strategies will come soon. Moreover, I kept on communicating with the LTC responsibles, and assisting them when it came to reimbursement possibilities.

I can only conclude with the fact that the end is starting to be visualised, but on the other hand, mailing lists are quite silent now. Be it exams or warm weather, it seems we have some time not to feel so stressed about the aforementioned idea.

Claudia Fiorentino – Intern

May has been a month full of emotions for me. Before the Agora I gave my support for organising various materials, like ballot papers and booklets of candidates for the elections. I experienced my first Agora! It was amazing! I attended the opening ceremony, plenaries and different workshops. After the Agora I was trying to find new patrons. I found their contacts so that a request of patronage could be sent to them in the name of AEGEE. In addition, I checked contract statutes of Locals in the archive.

In these two weeks I gave my support for the general administration of the CD office. I tried to find some companies who provide products for house and office maintenance, to support us and the maintenance of the CD house and office. In addition, I also contacted some recycling companies in Brussels to recycle paper for the CD Office! Our goal is to recycle everything, out of respect for the environment.

Then I was taking care of AEGEE’s files and documents in the digital archive. Some of these documents were connected to all information and documents about AEGEE and contracts of old patrons. I rechecked every contract and I created a digital archive for them. Last but not least I was taking care of the french translation of the web page’s AEGEE Partnership Offer.

In these last months a lot of things have changed in the CD Office and my experience will end in one month. I hope to give my support to the entire Comité Directeur until the end of this amazing experience!

Ioana Duca– Archive assistant

Two weeks after the Agora I arrived in Brussels, ready to start my work in the archives of the CD house. My job was and continues to be in the basement of the house, and although I am missing lots of sunlight, it is very rewarding, since it is like a daily path of discovery that I am walking on.

I have seen what is in the archives and I have prepared an action plan so as to have an overview and to know in which way the archives should be ordered. There are a lot of files, dusty files, a lot of useless papers but also a lot of interesting projects, applications for Youth in Action, activities of locals that I didn’t know existed.

Working with archives can sometimes be demanding, but also very exciting, especially if you find information about previous AEGEE projects, contracts, letters etc. My job is to read all the files from the archives, sort them, and put them in order. I have sorted the Working Group files, Les Anciens files and I have started to work on the Council of Europe files, files related to European Institutions, applications for grants and projects. Every week I work on a different field. Also, each CD member is helping me when I am working on his or her field, so as to better understand what we need to keep and what is useless.

We also have a group for this job: Alma, Edouard, Hector, Phillip and me. I work on “the front”, the three boys are preparing some ideas for creating a database for the archives (mainly IT stuff), so that everything is easier to be found, and Alma is our supervisor.

Alfredo Sellitti – President

It started coming back from the NWM in Kragujevac, “where amazing happened”: motivated participants and motivating trainers gave their best to make this event unforgettable, under the precious coordination of Marijana.

After one week home for the holidays, I went with Gizem to Strasbourg, where James Skelly and BCA organised a very interesting conference about “European – US Relations: Differing Perspectives On Environmental Issues”, in which AEGEE-Europe was partner. AEGEE contributed by facilitating some sessions, actively participating through our members present there, and bringing up a wider European perspective to the US students present.

After Strasbourg, my trip proceeded to La Chaise Dieu, to attend the General Assembly of BEST. A different structure, but a warm environment (despite the snow) welcomed me, and I had the possibility to present our organisation and our renewed partnership and bring up new possibilities for further cooperation in the future, between AEGEE and BEST, on local as on European level.

Last but not least, I had some meetings to attend in Brussels: I met with EENA 112, the European Association for the promotion of the Emergency Number 112 in Europe, in order to find possible ways of cooperation; furthermore, I had a meeting with the organisations part of the European Year of Volunteering Alliance 2011, interested in building up a new European platform to bring up and lobby for the results of the previous year.

Alma Mozgovaja – Secretary General

This month was mainly devoted to the Agora – updating the agenda of the Agora, preparing booklets, changing for the 100^th time the workshops and trying to fit sessions from our partner organisations, companies and universities, who will  all attend the Study Fair, working with the Chair team and the Juridical Commission on finalising last details, as well as preparing ballot papers. Huge amount of time was taken by the preparation of all the colourful papers called ballot papers, sealing, counting and packing them.

Every day, every event brings new experience, and this time it was Network Meeting Burgos. I have attended a few in my North and one in Odessa, but the Spanish-Portuguese network brought a new breeze in the concept of what AEGEE is and how it works. I really enjoyed the atmosphere created by the almost 70 Spanish people (among who were three Portuguese, one French and me) at a skiing resort in the North of Spain, with the landscape of Spanish winter and snow. Moreover, we managed to sign 4 CdAs and now our Network is 4 antennae richer. We discussed proposals, flagship topics, and many more topics for the upcoming Agora or concerning our members and the Network.

April also acted as a month for reflection on the work progress of the Comité Directeur. We were preparing the Interim Evaluation of the Activity Plan and thinking about how we could improve our performance and finish started projects.

Besides the big things, there were still quite some time-consuming tasks, like the selection of the Archives Assistant, the Spring Agora 2013 hosting local, and very active communication with our members about Summer Universities, Agora etc.

Elena Antova – Financial Director

When April approached it was more than obvious that spring was here. The weather became warmer, you could already see flowers in some of the trees, really nice time.

I started the month with the meeting of the Audit Commission. For this purpose, the Audit Commission arrived for one weekend to Brussels, together with their job-shadowers, in order to check the finances of AEGEE-Europe. There were never so many financial people in one place! After the Audit Commission left, I started working on some improvements of the Financial Reports and preparing the Budgets. Meanwhile, I was also preparing the calculations of the membership fees, which had to be sent to the locals before the Agora.

I had to leave Brussels for the Easter holidays and I spent one really nice week back at home. After arriving from back home, I continue working on the Financial Reports, together with bookkeeping, checking reimbursements, making payments and other regular tasks.

After submitting all financial documents, I started preparing for the Agora with AEGEE-Europe’s Registration desk, Progress meeting about Finances, the Proposal I have for the travel reimbursement of the Outgoing Comité Directeur, Activity Report and of course, my candidature for Secretary General. I don’t know if I have been so excited about something like this before. I found what I really want to do in my future in AEGEE!

Marko Grdošić – Vice President and External Relations Director

Spring continued with a lot of Network travels. During the first days of the month I was welcomed in London, attending an amazing Network Meeting. This was probably one of the most challenging ones, as we had participants from a huge variety of locals. I wanted to inspire board members of small locals with ideas on fundraising, give members of big locals a broader perspective, and advise on opportunities to bring more money for our activities. I was also invited to speak at a conference on youth participation and volunteering in Debrecen. Organised in cooperation with AEGEE, ESN and AIESEC, this one day event was an amazing example of how the local level should cooperate and work in order to achieve the most. With big support from the International Relations Office of the University of Debrecen, it brought high-school, university and exchange students into one room, gave them a great overview of the participation, non-formal education and possibilities in Debrecen. At the same time, it had a great social programme, including different shows and concerts of local bands.

Together with Luis, I continued working on creating new partnerships, of which you have been informed through different channels. Hoping that they will provide more opportunities to our members, we will continue the work, bringing more and more of them to our family. In the end, we created a proposal of establishing a new committee – Corporate Relations Committee. For this and for the European Study & Career Fair, see you this week at the Agora!

Jüri Kirpu – Internal Relations Director

April started with a rush of things to finish. Sending mails to locals who would be in danger of being downgraded and deleted, sending out two CD Telegrams and finishing up the sessions to be presented during my Network Travels. Namely, I was about to embark for two Network Meetings.

My first destination was Iași, in Romania, where the Network Meeting Iași „Feel the new wave“ took place and was special in many ways. Since Autumn 2011, AEGEE-Iași managed an amazing development, from just having a handful of members to being able to organise a Network Meeting. The event was amazing and I wish for the AEGEEans in Iași to keep being more and more active!

My travels continued with a night train to București, where during the day I managed to meet with members of both AEGEE-București and AEGEE-Ploiești, who also helped me to continue with my journey towards my next destination, Istanbul.

After a long train and bus ride, I arrived to Istanbul, where I met Anıl Baysal (Network Commissioner for the Turkish speaking locals), with whom I continued my journey to Eskişehir, where the Network Meeting Eskişehir „More Europe“ was about to start. The local organisers managed to do a really good job. The lodging was great, the place for our sessions resembled the panel discussion rooms in the European Parliament and the food was as all Turkish cuisine, simply brilliant.

After arriving back to Brussels, the wave of preparations for the Agora started, which will make a big contribution to the development of our association.

Gizem Karslı – Projects Director

April was the month of putting ideas on paper and making plans.

To be able to develop influential and impactful projects, we need to build them on a strong foundation.  For this, we are to train ourselves in the first place. At this point comes the concept of thematic European Schools. The first one, which I gladly call „ European School of Politics“, aims to clear up a common misunderstanding that our Network has. We tend to forget that we are a political organisation. Yet, as we don’t know what it means exactly, we are getting confused with our identity. The aim of this European School is to analyse what politics actually means and look back to the history of the European Project, the foundation of the European Union and, correspondingly, of AEGEE.

The second one is called the „Living Library European School“ (LLES). As you all know, the inclusion of minorities is one of the focus areas of AEGEE. Although several attempts have been taken, we are still not able to have the impact we wish to have. One of the reasons of this lack is the fact that we don’t have a strong enough background about human rights activism although we have huge potential to be a strong part of it. This fact brings up the need to train our members on human rights, where the idea of LLES stemmed from. LLES will not only focus on the cool concept of living library, but also the essence of Human Rights activism.

Briefly, these were the outstanding points of April. More information will follow, stay tuned, dear Network!

Guillermo García Tabarés – Human Resources Director

April was a very interesting month. NWM Toruń was an impressive beginning, with its 200 participants. It was a NWM where you could find 5 parallel workshops per time slot, meaning a lot of different possibilities to improve personally and AEGEEanly. I heard a lot of rumours about the so-called “Polish Network Meetings”, but I have to admit that I was positively impressed when on the first day I entered two full workshop rooms.

Poland was my departure place towards a full week event in Kyiv, where the Human Resources European School (HRES) was waiting for me, with a full group of participants, who were already so openly together that it was more than easy to integrate. Together with the other trainers, some inspiration rounds, and sleepless nights, a very special atmosphere was created. I am sure that the connection established there will go beyond the week shared! Beware, the Network has more human resources oriented strategies than ever!

Following this, NWM Brno was waiting for me,  after a short, but intense, visit to AEGEE-Lviv. This NWM was much smaller than the previous one, but also had a greater variety of countries involved, ready to create a strong networking and local level structure.

I kept on updating the state of spring LTCs and evaluated the Activity Plans created by the Working Groups in the beginning of their term.

This month gave me back my full faith in AEGEE. It is said that you are all the people you meet, so I want to thank them all for all the inspiration and motivation that they have driven in me. The Network has and will always have the power!

Luis Alvarado Martínez  – Corporate Relations Officer

This time I only left the house once, and it was for the amazing NWM Burgos, to fulfill my task as a Network Commissioner. Gathering 70 participants in the cold and snowy mountains of Burgos, we were able to discuss topics such as the new proposals, our development as Network, the future of the Youth in Action programme and many others.

In the house and together with Marko, I worked on the concept of the new Corporate Relations Committe (CRC), which will be presented during AGORA Enschede. A body to support the Comité Directeur with fundraising and corporate issues, to help both the European and the local level.

I was in close communication with the Agora Enschede organizers for the Fair and finilizing the agreements with the partners.

Several partnerships were developed, like the ones with Brussels Airlines and Monarch Airlines for travelling, and Easy Flat for logding.

Others like Interrail/Eurorail, Hostelworld, Eurolines and AEGEAN airlines will soon be announced, and our members will be able to benefit from new opportunities. These parnerships will also be useful for some projects like Summer University. These are the main ones, but with a bit more time we will have many more.

Together with Marko we worked on the EVS (European Voluntary Service) application for the Youth in Action programme, as well as on the European Culture Foundation Grant for our Summer University Project. Cross your fingers!

These two months have been very intense and I cannot wait to see what the Agora has yet to bring!

Claudia Fiorentino – Intern

April  has been an exciting time for me! During this month I was taking care of communication with the European Prime Ministers and Ministries of Education. I sent them information about AEGEE-Europe and the reaction to the upcoming programme of the European Commission, “Erasmus for all”.

In addition, I updated some candidate booklets, prepared my activity report and the slides for its presentation, at the Spring Agora Enschede 2012.

Concerning the communication with the patrons of AEGEE-Europe, I continued the communication with Mrs. Doris Pack (Member of the European Parliament) and Mrs. Androulla Vassiliou (European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism, Youth and Sport ), and with their assistants. Concerning Mrs. Pack, who is already our patron, I sent her a letter with a request for writing an article about the Higher Education Days for the AEGEE-Europe website. Concerning Mrs. Vassiliou, I followed up the request for her patronage of the Summer University Project.

Last but not least, I am working with Alfredo on the list of our possible patrons. I found their contacts, for sending them information about AEGEE.  During the end of April, I did lots of research in the archives of the house about the communication for acquiring patronage from various people.

The Agora is getting closer, so I am helping the Comité Directeur with many preparations for our Spring General Assembly.

Alfredo Sellitti – President

As for flowers, blooming in the sun after a cold winter, some interesting updates arrived in our external relations.
A partnership agreement was signed with ThinkYoung, a Brussels based youth Think Tank that develops youth policies in the Eurocrat environment. The agreement will allow AEGEE and ThinkYoung to develop together ideas and projects, combining a high human resources potential of AEGEE with the political connections of ThinkYoung.
In the same field consultations were ongoing with JEF and ESN, but so far nothing concrete had been decided. Moreover our already existing partnership with BEST had been re-evaluated and will be resigned.
In the field of Education, on Monday 19th I was interviewed by “Debating Europe” a European discussion platform, about our policies and our ideas on the current regulation and on the recent policy developments in Europe.
In this regard, I attended two meetings organised by EUCIS-LLL and I had the possibility to attend the first meeting of CULT (Education and Culture Committee) regarding Erasmus for All. The situation is at the moment extremely complicated, considering the general unhappiness with the current programme, a new draft presented by the Danish Presidency to the European Council, including a separate chapter for youth, and the willingness of Doris Pack, to propose a new programme and keep a separate programme for youth.
This month also experienced two very important moments: together with Guillermo, Claudia and Luis I was in Delft for the General Mailing and on the 24th the annual reception of Les Anciens was hosted in the head office.
March ended with my first trip after EBM, to the Network Meeting in Kragujevac.

Alma Mozgovaja – Secretary General

Finally spring! What else you can wish to make days brighter!? Thinking about Summer University and choosing the one for this summer can do it. Thus while waiting for the shipment of SU materials from Izmir to us, I made last preparation for the General Mailing.  I hope you already received all booklets and posters and you know where you will spend two unforgettable weeks of this summer!

As it happens, from time to time you need to recharge your batteries, so I spent one week in a bed with a fewer. But right on time I got well and I was ready to leave for the Chair meeting in Cagliari. It was two fruitful days and nights of checking all proposals, selecting workshops and drafting the agenda of the Agora together with Mariella, Sygrit and Ermanno. I can assure that this Agora will be different. Not only because it will have some interesting motions, a lot of proposals, motivated candidates and also the fact that it is a prolonged Agora, but also because of new Electronic Public voting, what should make all our lives better and leave more space for discussions and questions during the Agora. We also participated in the Local Training Course of AEGEE-Cagliari who kindly hosted the Chair meeting. Thank you, guys!

Second part of the month just speed up – selection of the hosting local of the EBM, preparation of the reception for Les Anciens, evaluation meeting, a couple of Open Calls, Activity report and Evaluation of the Activity Plan, wrapping up the month with small things as usually, and finally writing this telegram.

Elena Antova – Financial Director

Warm weather, flowers in the garden, you can notice that something is happening. And here came March, with the first signs of spring. The month started normally. I was assisting the external auditor for “Beyond Europe”s audit with everything needed.  After that I continue with my daily work, checking reimbursements, making payments, finding cheap tickets, bookkeeping, preparing the Financial Report of FATF.

In the middle of March, I took part in the Network Meeting Hamburg. In the last months my contact with AEGEE was only work related, which changed in some extend my perception for the organisation in general. This was the reason I decided to spend some time as a normal participant and to enjoy the AEGEE I fell in love with three years ago. The event was really nice and I spent really great time there.

After it, I came back to the office continuing with the regular tasks, starting to prepare for our internal audit, happening at the end of the month. For the first time, together with the Audit Commission three job shadowers are going to be present at the Audit Meeting. This will provide a great possibility for them to learn the things by doing, preparing them for the next step – joining the Audit Commission.

At the fourth Saturday of the month we organised the annual Back to Brussels event for our friends from Les Anciens. Even though it was smaller than the last year, the event was really nice, giving the opportunity to meet with the people who were working for the creation of AEGEE and to share with them common plans and ideas.

Marko Grdošić – Vice President and External Relations Director

From March I finally got an assistant that would help me with fundraising, so that all my tasks can be properly covered. Since Luis moved in, my focus also went to fundraising. From the first day we started drafting a new partnership offer, examining what already exists, what should be improved, what should be introduced for the first time. And finally we can say that a good document has been created, that will also be included in the website, so that possible partners get easier attracted to AEGEE. After this was done, Luis took over communication with possible companies and universities implementing new offers.

The Public Relations Committee visited our house in the second weekend of March for a meeting. During three very productive days we tackled many topics starting with Visual Identity. It had been said many times that it is something we really have to work on and this team decided to put energy into it. First progress meeting about the Visual Identity will happen at the Spring Agora Enschede. Second important result was the restructuring of the aegee.org website, which should be launched in the next couple of months.

There is of course the deadline for European Youth Foundation. I am very happy that this time we have two great proposals submitted: a conference by the European Days of Languages and the final booklet of Where Does Europe End.

In this spring time I have also had a chance to attend two Network Meetings in Amsterdam and London, which were inspiring in many ways.

Jüri Kirpu – Internal Relations Director

William Shakesperae once wrote: “Beware the ideas of March!”, which can be related to the first month of spring. The month started with a CD Chat, that has slowly developed into a nice tradition. For the first time the chat went on without any technical problems, due to the fact that it was decided to have the chat in Skype. This nice event was followed by an attendance of the panel debate about social innovation, hosted by EUCIS-LLL. Many topics were tackled there, among which was also educational reform. Apparently there are ways of making our educational systems work better, but the change is seldom reluctant to come because of conservative points of view upon which educational policies are made.

The middle of the month was crowned by my first hitchhiking experience to Enschede. Although the trip took 12 hours to the pre-Agora celebration and back, it was without a doubt one of the most adventurous trips of my life.

March contained of course like many other months lots of office work, where the preparations for the Agora, mainly collecting members lists from all Locals, took the better part of my time. This was also followed by preparing the documents and communication with Contacts which will become members of AEGEE-Europe during the Agora.

Last but not the least, the drafting of the Communication Guidelines was finalised during the PRC meeting here in Brussels. Please keep an eye out for them, because the Guidelines will be soon sent to Announce-L for final comments from the Network.

Gizem Karslı – Projects Director

And here comes the spring! Brussels can indeed be a nice city when the sun shines above it. March was the month of follow-up for me. Neither EBM nor ES2 was over yet. We may have done a good job but unless we follow it up properly, what is left behind will be nothing more than a couple of nice photos. Therefore, we have kept our communication with ES2 participants as they are developing their ideas into projects. Very soon, AEGEE’s thematic family will have fresh members, and the Projects Director will be even happier! When it comes to the EBM, together with my CD colleagues, we tried to write down a brief and useful evaluation to be given to our successors. Taking these result as a base; I will start working on EBM Valletta.

While I was busy with the evaluation and reporting part, seeing the results of the EBM İzmir spreading around, was simply priceless. Especially there is one result that made quite some change in my future plans. Martina Zanero from AEGEE-Torino, published an article about the workshop ‘Freedom of Speech: Activists or Terrorists?’ where I shared an unpleasant experience of mine upon the request of the workshop leaders. Once I read the sentence from her article ‘’Together with the workshop leaders, she opened my eyes about the fact that the police do not hesitate to attack and arrest people,’’. I realised how much we can achieve with AEGEE and I discovered that I still have the motivation and passion to take more responsibility. I think that here you know the rest of the story – I am one of the candidates for presidency!

Guillermo García Tabarés – Human Resources Director

The month started by having a chat with all coordinators of the HRC subcommittees. After the first months of work we were lacking a common identity and knowledge about other teams, apart from the recommendations that the Speaker team shared among the subcommittees from time to time. We will start working with a monthly activity plan and activity report system that will serve not just to keep track of the work and establish some deadlines and goals, but to inform the network about the last updates. Apart from that, we drafted a Speaker Team Manual as the required tasks were appearing during the development of the Committee.

The functioning of Working Groups is now running smoothly, with an established and functioning task division. The main breakthrough has been the creation of WG-BOARD-L where there is a possibility for boards to debate about issues that concern all of the Working Groups and which allows them to work in a more coordinated way about the following issues: mailing list naming, involvement in Summer Universities, effective and common PR campaign, etc.

During the last week I prepared my attendance as a trainer at the upcoming HRES by developing the casework. Besides this I was dealing with training related cooperation AEGEE could establish with ESTIEM.

Last but not the least. The CD house is not only a place for coordinating actions for opening Europe, but also for opening doors. The reason for this, is that I managed to arrange the reparation for the balcony door. Perfect for spring!

Luis Alvarado Martínez  – Corporate Relations Officer

During this month, I have been trying to continue what was done with fundraising during previous years while trying to create the basis for a new structure, bringing a bigger focus to fundraising in AEGEE. I am also coordinating the Study and Career Fair with Agora Enschede organisers. For this edition, we want to focus on our members needs: postgraduate studies, internships, jobs and grants.

I updated the data base that already existed from previous Fairs, with contacts of universities. With Marko I developed a new fundraising concept, which we will present at the Agora.

During March I also worked on developing new partnerships with big organisations (like Interrail), I started to develop a new fundraising concept for the AEGEEan, I continued the development of official merchandising for AEGEE-Europe, I started drafting the concept for the Fund Raising Committee and the development of the fundraising strategy for the Summer University Project.

This month I had the opportunity to attend the EU Youth Conference in Denmark as a Youth Delegate and an AEGEE member, as well as the EUCIS-LLL meeting, Public Hearing on “Erasmus for all” in the European Parliament and meeting with EEE-YFU, JEF and EYP on the New Media Summer School we have in common.

I helped with the General Mailing in Delft, attended NWM Amsterdam and helped with the reception of Les Anciens.

Living in this house has made me aware of all the work that still has to be done and how much potential we have as organisation, recharging batteries again and inspiring me for my next step – presidential elections.

Claudia Fiorentino – Intern

March has been special for me because  I have started   this new experience of internship in the Comité Directeur of  AEGEE -EUROPE in Brussels. Firstly I had to study the organization and  the structure and understand all mechanisms. Secondly  I started to give my support for fundraising activities, to the Corporate Relations Officer, Luis Alvarado Martinez. My task has been to invite some companies and Universities to participate in the Study Fair, during the Agora, in Enschede.

Additionally  I have been researching for Student Festivals. I tried to find some interesting Student Festivals  compatible with the aims of AEGEE. I sent information to the Project Director, Gizem Karslı.  These Student Festivals had to plan workshops, debates, meetings, about interesting topics related to  youth, social inclusion, higher education, active citizenship and cultural exchanges.

Concerning  the ongoing work about the new visual identity of AEGEE, I had to contacted European Universities of Design, to find students studying design, who could  help us to develop a new aspect of the image of AEGEE.

Last but not least, I gave my support to the President Alfredo Sellitti, to find contacts of  national governments and Ministries of Education of UE  Members  States to inform them about our position regarding  the Programme of  the European Commission “Erasmus for all”.

Alfredo Sellitti – President

February officially represented our half term benchmark, and despite being the shortest month of the year it didn’t prove to be the least busy. On the 2nd of February I participated in the consultation round for defining the Strategic Priorities of the European Youth Forum. The process is almost coming to an end, and it is supposed to finish with the presentation to the Members for approval at the upcoming Council of Members in Brussels. After this the new European Boards’ Meeting finally arrived. The event was particularly inspiring, and provided to the Network not only a draft of Action Agenda but also new ideas about projects and activities, thanks also to our external speakers present there. Thanks to Gizem, Jana, Thomas, Katja, Patrick and all the members that contributed to the success of this EBM! And of course all AEGEE-Izmir crew for their professionalism and their valid contribution to the positive outcome of the event!

Further than that, on the 17th together with Marko we met the representative of “ThinkYoung”, a Brussels based Youth Think Thank with which we are planning to start a cooperation, while on the 22nd I attended a meeting with EUCIS-LLL to update our common position about Erasmus for All – still far from a concrete result, but some leaks from the Institutions seem to confirm that we are on the right way.

Last but not the least, with the support of Philipp we managed to start LiquidFeedback, an on-line decision support system, meant to foster active participation in the life of AEGEE and the decision making process in between Agorae.

Alma Mozgovaja – Secretary General

For me February started as a proofreader  – the Summer University booklet was almost done and all it needed was a last cross-check, so that it could be sent for printing. Big thanks go out to Alperen, who arranged everything in Istanbul and of course SUCT which worked on improving the Summer Universities with the greatest dedication. During February the task distribution within the Comité Directeur was changed, after which I was appointed for the Juridical Commission. As it was high time to finalize the CIA, I spent quite some time cross-checking and proofreading CIA 22.1.

And then we arrived in Izmir for the European Boards Meeting. All in all, the EBM was very well organised – thank you AEGEE-Izmir and everybody involved who helped with the implementation of the EBM reform and making it successful. The high amount of quality workshops and a lot of thematic input in the event gave me a feeling of happiness. Hopefully it was a place for a lot of new ideas that will bring a fresh breeze to AEGEE.

February was also a special month because I got my five days of snow, which is very important for the person who enjoys winter. My discovery – you can enjoy an excellent winter holiday also in Greece where I spent few days after the EBM to get energy for the upcoming months.

February was the 6th month of our term; we are now clearly after the middle of it. Quite some things are done, a lot more is ahead and spring is around the corner to start-up more actively and passionately!

Elena Antova – Financial Director

February, February… everyone of us was waiting for this month with mix feelings, fear of the unknown, fear if everything will be alright and in the same time impatience to make this big step and to start one totally different EBM, where we will start drafting our future.

We started the month with preparations for the EBM. Even though paying membership fees is not obligatory at the EBM according to the new EBM Working Format I had to prepare the financial part of AEGEE-Europe Registration desk. During the EBM itself I was helping as observer for the 1st Focus Area: Youth Participation, Aim 1 focused on involving more active young people in local communities in cooperation with other associations. After this successful event we returned back to Brussels filled with hope, inspiration so as to tackle new challenges.

The rest of the month continued in a usual way. I was doing my regular tasks like checking  reimbursements, making money transfers, bookkeeping. Together with Jüri I visited the European Council, visit organised by EMI (European Movement International(, where we had really interesting presentation of its work and started discussion about the future of Greece in EU.

Later that month, I started preparation for an External Audit. We were informed that one of our projects will be audited and I had to make sure that everything is prepared and all documents are present. The audit took place at the end of the month and took most of my time at this period. Now are waiting the audit company to give an assessment for the project. Hopefully, everything will be approved!

Marko Grdošić – Vice President and External Relations Director

It is obvious that if there is one thing that marked February and that all of us will write about is EBM held in Izmir. It was really a satisfaction to see AEGEE going back to its roots – filled with thematic, topics in variety of fields, panel discussions, workshops. I do have to mention the added value that external speakers had during these days, giving us different approaches, sharing with us their knowledge and supporting discussions.

Second thing that caught some attention during February was an external audit sent by the European Commission for a project of ours. In the frame of Youth in Action, the Commission decided to cross-check the work of 10 finished projects, out of which one was ours. Together with Elena, we were here to assist the audit company and prove that all the work that has been done is according to the rules and regulations given by the Executive Agency. In the following weeks we will get to know the results.

Another partnership is on the way. After a succesful meeting with Microsoft, they have decided to support us. Besides the technical support, AEGEE will take part in Microsoft consultations with NGOs searching for ways how the company can support different youth initiatives from the technical aspect.

One more thing made my day was the letter from the Commission approving the application for General Subvention for 2012. For one more year Commission has recognised our achievements and decided to financially support us. It is always a pleasure to see that the hard work pays off!

Jüri Kirpu – Internal Relations Director

As for many other people in the Network, February was marked by the European Boards Meeting in Izmir. Although the weather was something that none of us expected, the EBM was more than what we had all imagined. It included many workshops about topics varying from environment to media in Hungary. Over a long time AEGEE had also an opportunity to host live panel discussions, which answered lots of enquiries, but with it also raised lots of other questions and ideas.

The return to Brussels on the other hand was a big contrast to what we experienced in Izmir. Ideas and thoughts were overtaken by daily tasks, which were accompanied with a small EBM administrative followup and start of preparations for the Agora. The Network Status had to be updated with the information that was gathered in Izmir with the answers to the questions that Network Commissioners and I asked during registration of locals at the EBM.

During the end of February Elena and I attended a small excursion to the European Council, where the European Movement International organised a small hearing on the structure of the council and also a question round about its functioning among the EU institutions. This also brought with it many thoughts about the essence of bureaucracy and to which complex functioning the institutions operate on.

The month was also concluded with a new addition to our team, namely Luis, our new assistant arrived to the house, which is why Alma and I got a new room-mate.

Gizem Karslı – Projects Director

February will be always remembered…  Two happenings of this month will be the milestones in my life. During February, I restored my trust in us, young people, once more I started believing that we can indeed change. For a long time, we have been complaining about the direction AEGEE is going, not very bright… Finally with EBM İzmir we made a concrete step towards change. Let me thank everybody who was a part of this – friends, we made it real…  The results have already started to be seen: good project ideas, motivated members, and raised awareness on certain topics, what else we could have wished for…

After EBM, I had the chance to visit my hometown for few days. Sleepless nights, stress, tiresome, what I needed was no Internet but only sun for a couple of days… Together with Marko, Guillermo and Thomas we visited Antalya and enjoyed the summer warmth in the middle of February, then they set off for the rainy capital again.

The second part of February was in Spain, together with the ES2 Castelló family. There, I fell in love in AEGEE once again…  I guess, those eight days we spent together changed my view of life.  I would not imagine myself telling that, but I really discovered myself. I taught, I learnt, I was inspired, motivated… These days were simply amazing. I strongly suggest you to take part in European Schools, you will not regret. Dear friends, non-formal education rocks, be a part and enjoy it. That’s all from February: good results, motivation and inspiration!

Guillermo García Tabarés – Human Resources Director

Even if it is said that this February had a day more, it’s still shorter than all the other months, and actually it also seemed so.

The Local Training Courses were back. They were all the time ongoing, but with this sentence I mean that a new cycle started for the ones happening in spring. Related to that, we had more than 20 applicants for the 10 places granted with the up-to-100-Euro support from AEGEE-Europe. As always, the selection was based on the need of the locals, the geographical position and the results of the LTC support that was done in autumn. I wish lots of luck for the preparations to all of them and to the ones that might still consider organising them. As they know, and I want to share with you: in case there is a need for training materials or a trainer, not only during LTC period, but anytime, you can send me or the AEGEE-Academy an e-mail!

Apart from that, February was a month of evaluations: AEGEE-Fair in EBM İzmir had a great success and it seems that there is a strong established system fixed so far. On the other hand we had an unlucky case once more with the Cultural European Night, but after analysing the inconveniences I am working on it with the Cultural Working Group.

Moreover, a mid-term evaluation happened in the core of the Human Resources Committee and all Working Groups. It was the moment to check not only their achievements, but their feelings in order to see what changes need to be done to follow the desired direction.

Last but not least, you can already check the Working Groups’ Monthly Newsletter.

Alfredo Sellitti – President

The month of January started by returning from the Christmas holidays to the “Erasmus for All” programme. During January the internal consultation process came to an end, with the publication of the reaction of AEGEE-Europe to the programme (thanks to everybody who contributed to the paper!).

On the same topic, I attended on the 11^th a meeting organised by the coalition formed by some members of the EUCIS-LLL platform and the European Youth Forum – YFJ with Mr Prats Monné, Deputy Director General of Directorate General Education and Culture of the European Commission, in order to discuss the implementation of the programme and how it could be possibly modified.

Besides this, I had a Skype meeting with the Liaison Officers in order to make the point so far and further develop our external relations strategy. An Open Call was issued for the Liaison Officer for IFISO, the Informal Forum of International Student Organisations.

Additionally, a list of possible patrons of AEGEE-Europe has been created, and currently, with the support of our IT gurus I am checking the possibilities to create an online consultation and come up with an approved list that will then be contacted.

January ended bringing a note of colour in Brussels: finally it started snowing!

Alma Mozgovaja – Secretary General

January started with an insight into the summer of 2012, what our Network is going to offer to around 2300 young people. With this I have finished something what all of us will be able explore, dream and discover, the 148 pages which contain 1000 days of summer. Yes, I’m talking about booklet for the 25th round of Summer Universities. As Jean-Paul Sartre said “To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June” and I definitely agree and enjoyed it a lot. Thank you, my dear SUCT team, for this sunny January.

The rest of my time was taken by active communication with the network through the headoffice and of course statutory events. As a last means of preparation for EBM Izmir, we had a planning meeting in Aachen few weeks before the EBM, so as to ensure smooth organisation. The new prolonged concept, new registration system, probably a new voting system were discussed with the local organisers of the Spring Agora to give the event a new shape. Besides this, the Autumn AGORA Budapest was approved and an open call was issued for the EBM 2013.

Besides these big tasks I was doing a lot of different small, but not less important things – preparing a paper to get the CD assistant for the AEGEE-Europe archives (stay tuned, Open Call will be sent out soon!), compiling communication between AEGEE-Europe and AEGEE-Skopje because of the request from several members, team management, general shopping for the house and other usual Secretary General tasks.

Elena Antova – Financial Director

I started the New Year at home together with my family and friends. During the winter vacation, I managed to see my closest ones, officially to graduate and to start making plans for 2012.

Back in Brussels I started my regular tasks checking reimbursement forms, making bank transfers, bookkeeping, updating budgets.  As I am working on closing of 2011 year, I have needed to collect all left reimbursements until the end of January.

In the middle of the month, together with the whole Comité Directeur I took part in a public hearing ‘The Economic Crisis, Education and the Labour Market’ with the special participation of Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism, Sport, Media and Youth. Our beloved Marko took part in a special panel discussion at the same hearing, about the opinion of the young people for the importance of access to education.

Later that month, together with Gizem and Marko, I attended a Radio Debate, organised by Euranet /European radio network/ at the European Parliament. The main topic was 25 years of the creation of the Erasmus program and what will be implemented in the future.

Due to my work overload connected with my tasks as a Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe: closing of the financial year, internal and external Audit and Agora preparations, I have decided to withdraw my membership from the Juridical Commission, as I won’t have the needed time to be efficient member of the Commission.

Marko Grdošić – Vice President and External Relations Director

After spending Christmas and New Year’s Eve with friends and family and afterwards being sick for more than week, January seemed like having less days than other months.

Third week of month I joined the Network Meeting in Pisa. This was first time that I attended an event in the Italian speaking part of our Network and I really enjoyed it. Southern participants proved to be really active, full of ideas for development, enthusiastic about implementation of the Strategic Plan, and network with good cooperation opportunities. They gave me whole pile of advice concerning my tasks in the Comité Directeur and this is the best way how AEGEE can go on, to develop further and most importantly to connect the local and the European level.

Day after my trip to Pisa I was very happy to attend a conference on “The Economic Crisis, Education and the Labour Market” at the European Economic and Social Committee, where I was one of the 5 panelists debating on “Getting youth on board”. I presented AEGEE point of view about combining non-formal and higher education in fighting for development of youth employment in Europe. Having AEGEE present, at such a conference, shows the importance we have on creating and developing today’s youth policies.

Last days of the month I assisted the Eastern Partnership project team in finalizing an application for EuropeAid, fund from European commission that has not been used so far by AEGEE and which could give us a big support in the future.

Jüri Kirpu – Internal Relations Director

The new year brought with it lots of new spirit and different perspectives.
The first live meeting of the AEGEEan team took place here in Brussels, where big amounts of knowledge were distributed and shared. Different topics about journalism, online media, team work and creativity were discussed, which resulted with a small rebirth of the AEGEEan Spirit.

The month continued with the meeting of the Events Committee, during which it was possible to discuss internal issues, evaluate the work done so far and think up of ways how to improve the quality of events in AEGEE, the functioning and the visibility of the Committee.

Continuing with the highlights of the month. On the 24^th of January the whole board participated in a conference about the economic crisis, education and the labour market in Europe. The reason why this occasion was memorable, was that Marko was one of the panelists in one of the debates held during the conference. The day ended with the Chat with the Comité Directeur. Although I am still in the process of finding the best solution for the chat, with every time we are improving the concept for this online conversation. Altogether a nice couple of hours were spent for making the work of the Comité Directeur more transparent and clear. Many questions were asked and hopefully also answered, thank you all who participated and we will see everybody else during the next CD Chat.

Gizem Karslı – Projects Director

January, it has been almost six months, since we arrived Brussels, almost half of our term.  After winter holidays with my family in Antalya, I arrived home at 9^th of January. Immediately after my arrival, the preparations for the EBM continued nonstop.  Final confirmations from our external guests, preparation of action meetings, recruiting facilitators and coaches were not easy tasks at all.  Together with Katja Behrent, Patrick Kabasci, Thomas Leszke and Alma we had a meeting in Aachen where we finalised the agenda and structured the back office that will function as the head quarters of the EBM İzmir. Of course it is not only us working on EBM but also AEGEE-İzmir! I feel really lucky to work with them as speaking the same language is a great help for both sides. They have prepared quite some surprises which means you will not only be a part of great thematic discussions, but also enjoy this hospitality, culture and especially cuisine of my home country.

I feel, we have done the best we can, to create a platform that will provide us with valuable thematic input. From now on dear Network, it is up to you to be a part, attend workshops and action meetings and take home a lot of inspiration and motivation that will result in strong projects. As young activists we are to take responsibility of making Europe a better place. For this very reason, EBM will be waiting for you!

Guillermo García Tabarés – Human Resources Director

As you can all imagine it was the month of the preparations for the EBM. It might seem that my tasks are not so related to it, but on the other hand we could say I am that kind of secret helper for some smaller tasks. We all want to keep the level of the previous Cultural European Nights and AEGEE Fair which is why I have assisted the main managers, giving some advise, and helping them upon request.

Regarding my tasks, the autumn cycle of Local Training Courses finished successfully, reports are gathered and now it’s time for a new open call for financial help. Hopefully we will get the applications of those who need it most.

When it comes to the Human Resources Committee, it was an easy month for me, as after winter holiday all the members were really active and were very much into the development of their tasks, to check results as soon as possible.

Apart from that, I can say that I am really happy with the work of the Working Groups, we finally managed to let the Network know what they are working on, thanks to the brand new monthly newsletter. Besides this, I had a very fruitful meeting with the AEGEE Academy in the CD House and frequently I am having chats with the board members of all the WGs separately, to keep track that they are following the changes which were done with their task distribution and that the process is happening similarly in all of them.

During January I was also in charge of analysing offers for our health insurance, and contacting some other companies to repair some minor issues of the house.

Alfredo Sellitti – President

December brought Christmas mood, a bit of cold and a lot of concerns about the future, after the European Commission released, on the 23^rd of November, a Communication about “Erasmus for all”, the programme that will take over “Youth in Action” from 2014.

Several European platforms organised meetings in order to gather feedback and comments from as many organisations as possible; of course, the European Youth Forum (YFJ) and the European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning (EUCIS-LLL) took a leading position, being the biggest stakeholders on European level, dealing respectively with Youth and Education.

Therefore the Agenda for the first two weeks was full of meetings with YFJ and EUCIS-LLL: both organisations decide to take a common position, before the implementation of the program will get to the final stage.

After all these meetings I had the possibility to travel again to Caucasus: this time I had the chance to attend the first Network Meeting in the history of AEGEE-Europe in the area! NetCom Olga Iatsyna and AEGEE-Tbilisi made a great job; the event was pretty much interesting and inspiring for the participants there.

And after Tbilisi, it came time to go back home. Since the 23^rd I was at home, spending Christmas holidays with my family.

Alma Mozgovaja – Secretary General

Happy New Year!

I wish that in 2012 you would have faith, that makes all things possible; hope, that makes all things work and love, that makes all things beautiful!

December was a short month for me, due to the fact, that I left for winter holidays on the 10^th of December, but even because of this early departure from the rest of my team, I didn’t forget about AEGEE.  I returned back to Brussels on the 26^th of December, to enjoy solitude in the office till the New Year.

December was the month that contained a lot of volunteering. We know what volunteering is, for example, AEGEE. But there are many more different forms of that. I spent one of my winter holiday weeks in Las Palmas, learning how people volunteer in different fields. All of us want to make change in society we are living in. All of us strive for a united, respectful and tolerant society. Thanks to AEGEE-Las Palmas who organised the event “From Roots to the Fruits”.

Earlier this month, I focused on the coordination of the Comité Directeur.  CD meetings, evaluation of our work, our relations with each other and looking for new possibilities to improve our performance.

Since December was the Christmas month I attended several Christmas/Winter Receptions of other organisations, where I met representatives of NGOs and stakeholders.

Last but not least, I actively contributed to the Christmas Dinner that our CD prepared all together – decorating the house, cooking our traditional dishes and enjoying the last evening all together in the house before we would re-start our term in January.

Elena Antova – Financial Director

December started for me with my regular task: checking reimbursements and making transfers. While working on the Reimbursements Manual I realised that there is a need for some changes in the form itself to make it clearer and easier to understand. Now they are both finished and will be published soon.

In the first part of the month I took part in Christmas Network Meeting in Leipzig, Germany. I am really happy that I met so many motivated, enthusiastic and energetic AEGEEans from both German and Czech speaking locals. During the Network Meeting I led three Workshops:  AEGEE for newbies, Corporate Fund raising and together with the Network Commissioner Pavel Zbornik we presented the different opportunities “Youth in Action” Program is providing.

After coming back to Brussels, I started working on Updating Budget 2011 for the General Subvention – one of the main sources of financing of our association. After the Autumn Agora the budget for 2011 was modified and these changes need to be presented to the European Commission.

In the latter part of December I traveled back home for Christmas and New Year Holidays, which I spent with my friends and family.

Marko Grdošić – Vice President and External Relations Director

December, as every year, is a month full of food, receptions and celebrations. The first two weeks together with Alfredo I attended different meetings and conferences organized by YFJ or EUCIS-LLL. The biggest focus on most of them was “Erasmus for all”, proposal of a new funding programme of the European Commission starting from 2014. In case it would get accepted by the Parliament, youth NGOs would start facing huge problems in financing its existence and projects. This is the reason why all of these conferences in Brussels have been organised, why members of the Parliament and the Commission have been invited to join, talk with NGO representatives and youth representatives. In the future months we are continuing this work, hoping to ensure enough funds for the youth sector in the future years, without getting into question their existence and work.

Last week before winter holidays I had an honor to represent the Comité Directeur at the European School 1 in Passau. After some hard working months and big focus on my tasks, this was a real mind charger. Joining this event full of fresh and inspiring participants gave me back the excitement and power that long office nights often destroy. I held some task related workshops and enjoyed very much being one of the “back office CD members”. I really encourage everyone to take part in a European School as soon as an opportunity presents itself!

Last week of 2011 I spent of course at home, enjoying company of my family and closest friends – another recharger needed for hard working and successful 2012!

Jüri Kirpu – Internal Relations Director

The month of Christmas was many things. At first it was the Network Commission Meeting here in Brussels, where we managed to bring together the new Netcom team and discuss many things that will bring the development of our Network to a new level. Many issues of cooperation with other European Level bodies were discussed. New guidelines for the Network Meetings were created and the purpose of AEGEE was discussed very deeply.

The month was also rewarding because the organisers of the Spring Agora Enschede 2012 had a meeting with the members of the Comité Directeur and the Chairwoman. During the meeting a nice synergy was created for all three bodies, which will definitely improve the preparation and the organisation of our General Assembly.

The month continued with some ups and downs, with meetings of the Comité Directeur, which put our team really to the test and to a different understanding about many things. In the end we learned a lot from our mistakes, so as not to repeat them again.

After all of this the year started to end with a visit home, where I met lots of friends, family and of course my dear beloved AEGEE-Tallinn, after being away for almost 5 months. This was really healthy in many ways, because it gave me a chance to reflect upon the work done and all the upcoming challenges of 2012.

2011 ended in Brussels, with AEGEEans from several locals, which always manages to give you energy and inspiration in the time of need, thank you AEGEE-Las Palmas and AEGEE-Kyiv.

Gizem Karslı – Projects Director

December was the month during which CD house was the busiest ever! We enjoyed December together with the Network Commission, AEGEE-Enschede, EBM Team and many other guests. I assume you can all anticipate that I was all busy with EBM preparations. Together with experienced AEGEE members, we are doing our best to realise this significant step in the best possible way for improving the quality of our thematic works. While having an EBM centred life, I can’t tell how inspiring it was to receive highly qualified and courageous workshop applications. They were not only about cultural exchange but about freedom of movement, freedom of press, youth policies and many others! So dear network stay tuned for EBM, in İzmir we will listen to strong youth opinions!

During December, I also managed to go home to see my beloved friends, family and my sunny hometown. Although I do not celebrate Christmas, I went home during this period as living in the CD house alone is not something we are used to.  Moreover, my being in Turkey was practical for EBM preparations. I had several meetings with several academics and organisations. We will see their contributions in İzmir. Although it was really hard, after finishing all my meetings in Istanbul and Ankara, I took the advice of some of the former CD members and turned my computer off to rest when I finally arrived home, in Antalya. Now, back in town and well rested, I will go on with EBM preparations!

Guillermo García Tabarés – Human Resources Director

As you are all aware of, the reform regarding the Working Groups was approved by Agora Skopje. Therefore, I gave my focus by helping them with their elections, and keeping an eye so that the agreed task division was being accomplished. I would like to wish all of them good luck and inspiration!

Besides all these points, I was working on re-establishing a newsletter for all the Working Groups to be able to keep our Network updated about their actions.

Of course, Working Groups are not the only bodies I work with. The Human Resources Committee that I am responsible for keeps on working by mainly gathering information, that’s why it might be not so known in the Network yet.

Apart from that, I spent time on some other issues: helping the Public Relations Committee to improve their human resources strategy after a deep analysis of their structure; commenting on the reports of the last Local Training Courses, so that AEGEE can little by little have a stronger system of training and materials; selecting the next coordinator of the AEGEE-Fair; taking part in the discussions for the next Exposure Photo Exhibition; and helping in the team building activity for the Network Commission that met in the CD house.

No trips from my side this month except the one back to my hometown for the winter holidays, a period in which I also attended the Christmas dinner of AEGEE-Santander, a traditional every-year visit of my mother antenna, before a perfect end of the year organised by AEGEE-Beograd. After an amazing winter holiday, let’s see what 2012 is preparing for me!

With this we would also like to have your suggestions and comments, what could help us improve in the future.

Please leave us suggestions here.

„It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity“ –  Mahatma Gandhi.

In AEGEE we have for ever had a discussion whether we should put our energy and will into quantity, for example to have a big Network, lots of projects and lots of members all over Europe and beyond or perhaps should we have less of these things and people, so that we could impact things in another way, in a qualitative way. Now a new year has started, with lots of new challenges, but this is still one of the remaining questions that is yet to be answered.

The Network

Although quite some time ago, we as AEGEEans have been trying to bring Europe together, to create tolerance among each other and to create a platform, where we could come together as people and not as members of groups with their own interests, we have for some reason strayed of this path. With this, we have also started to loose the quality aspect in our locals and maybe also the notorious European level, but still retained our quantity. This has in its own turn continued with us having up to 240 locals, but were they really following our ambitious goals or were they just there to sustain nice numbers for the purpose of our external representation? For some reason this important question has been left unanswered, which has in its own turn affected us in a very dramatic way, because lots of energy from the European level had been spent for maintaining empty local level. And how has this chain reaction continued? Well, one could speculate for ever, but it could be possible that this is the reason for us not working together for a common goal, but fighting with each other over personal differences, thus creating a distance in a place where we should idealistically come together as Europeans.

The Network Meeting
But is everything really so lost and we are not able to find a cause anymore? I would like to think otherwise.

In the end of November I had the pleasure of participating at the Network Meeting in Porto. The event was memorable for many reasons. Firstly it was a reunion, because at the meeting French, Portuguese and Spanish speaking locals came together after a long time. What was noteworthy about it, was that all of them did not speak their native languages, but they all spoke English, which according to the Netcom team in charge of the region was an amazing feat. Many topics were discussed, one of which was the creation of the federation of Spanish locals for the purposes of joining the Spanish National Youth Council (Consejo de la Juventud de España), which up until now has been quite impossible since in order to join the organisation should have a national level. During the latter part of the Network Meeting AEGEE-Toulouse and AEGEE-Porto-Invicta resigned the Convention d’ Adhesion and also AEGEE-Burgos and AEGEE-Porto-Invicta signed the Twin Antenna agreement, thus becoming one of the new twin couples.  Lastly it was also noteworthy how the local organisers managed to arrange such an amazing event with only having 10 members in their antenna. The whole Network Meeting hosted around 45 people, for which there was a hall for lodging and sessions, 3 meals per day and social activities every evening, also a small stroll around the city of Porto in the night.

Quantity?

Is it so important to be a big local to host great event? Not necessarily, because in the end the things that count are teamwork, dedication, a goal and most importantly motivation to do something. In this case it was the importance of bringing people together, to rekindle the ties, that were perhaps lost in the past and to bring back some of that European feeling, idealism and knowing, that it is possible to do big things with a small group of people.

Written by Comité Directeur 2011/12

Alfredo Sellitti – President

November was devoted to meeting externals, and was probably the month I spent the least days in the office.

On the second weekend I was in Derry, where AEGEE cooperated with BCA  and James Skelly (patron of the Beyond Europe Project) to organise the 3^rd International Student Conference on Divided Society, where students from Europe and USA gathered together to discuss and learn about how to deal with conflicts and society. Many AEGEE members took part in it, and AEGEE was facilitating the group discussion sessions (thanks also to Christian Eichenmüller for his contribution).

On the 18^th and 19^th the European Youth Forum – YFJ organised the Council of Members in Braga, Portugal, preceded on the 17^th by an advocacy training. AEGEE was present there through me and Miroslaw Krzanik, our Liaison Officer towards YFJ.

On the next week three meeting closed the series: the Steering Committee of the European Civic Forum in Paris on the 23^rd, the Federal Assembly of the European Movement International  in Warszawa from the 25^th till 26^th and the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum in Poznan from the 28^th till the 30^th together with Shushan Khachatryan, content manager of the Eastern Partnership Project of AEGEE-Europe.

Merry Christmas!

Alma Mozgovaja – Secretary General

To me it seemed that November will be a month where all tasks, communication and all details of daily work will get much clearer. In fact it is clearer, but it reveals how much we have to do to make any changes and it shows how hard we have to work to manage things we planned to do.

For me November was mainly reflection time – things I want to change in my daily work, to structure cooperation with the new Chair team, how to successfully organize the EBM with the new concept, start the preparations for the Spring Agora in Enschede and find some time for breaks during busy non-stop hours in the office.

It takes time to manage a team and to understand the needs of every single personality. Right now I know how demanding and time-consuming this can be. Every challenge we meet is a step towards growth and I’m looking for the moment when we will slowly come to a common understanding, developed norms and procedures that we all follow and respect for better synergy.

Even if November indicates the first breeze of winter, it was very sunny for me. I had holidays what was planned since spring. I was in Venezuela – with a lot of sun, uninhabited jungles, great Latin hospitality, adventures, and of course summer. It definitely gave me a lot of energy for the next months. It also inspired and prepared me for the hottest project of AEGEE – Summer University; and the SUCT meeting which took place in Athens on the last weekend in November.

Elena Antova – Financial Director

Autumn is my favourite part of the year, especially November! I started the month with a trip to Sofia

right after the Agora, after which I arrived back to Brussels, where I started the update of the locals’ statuses. Following that, I started working and prepared the financial part of the General Subvention for 2012.

From the 11^th till the 13^th I took part in the Network Meeting in Gdansk, where I was a representative on behalf of the Comité Directeur and a trainer. We had workshops about the implementation of the Strategic Plan and Action Agenda, private fund raising and the European level in AEGEE. People were always telling me that there is something special in the Network Meeting organised in Poland. Was it in the air, I cannot tell, but there should have been something, otherwise how would it have been possible to gather together more than 150 participants, trainers and organisers, and prepare a really good thematic and social content.

After the Network Meeting, I returned to my regular task, checking Reimbursement forms, making payments, going to the bank and etc. After a long meeting with the Juridical Commission we selected our five Subcommissioners. It was a hard choice, because all the candidates were really good and motivated. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take everyone, but I am really happy with the new team we have now!

At the end of the month, I started a new initiative – the Reimbursement forms Manual. Hopefully, it will be useful in the future!

Marko Grdošić – Vice President and External Relations Director

After three months in Brussels, I managed to spend the beginning of November at home. These couple of days gave me much needed rest and a lot of motivation for the future work in Brussels.

Until the middle of November I was preparing the General Subvention application. It was a hard work and I am very thankful for the mental and work related support that I got from some of my team members. Sleepless nights, coffee, activity plans, budget and the Strategic plan. This was my biggest task so far and it really felt good to send the final version of the application on the 15^th.  November also brought some happy news. The Executive Agency finally approved the report of the General Subvention 2010 with surprisingly good results. Also, New Media Summer School has been reported and approved.

In the middle of the month I had an opportunity to meet the representative of the World Bank. We had a good discussion and agreed on possible cooperation. This time the focus was not on the financial assistance but more on thematic one. Hopefully we will be able to share knowledge, information and experience in the fields we have in common. The biggest interest representative showed in Beyond Europe and Yvote campaign.

With our partner, Careers International, we agreed to have an official representative at every event they are organising. Last week I attended one of them. It was a very good opportunity to meet different companies that are looking for young graduates and look for place where we can cooperate together.

Jüri Kirpu – Internal Relations Director

In November the Agora in Struga had ended and for our team it brought lots of new perspectives for the future, mainly because we passed our first challenge as the Comité Directeur,  which was followed by a huge amount of follow up work. Official communication of deletion was sent to 12 locals for which letters will be sent in December due to technical reasons. The new composition of the Network Commission also required some attention, which was mainly connected to the election of the new Speaker Team. Congratulations to Olga Iatsyna and Koen Berghuis.

November continued with the Comité Directeur Chat. This undertaking proved to be a very good way for direct communication between the board and you, our local members, from which I personally received many suggestions for improvements in my work and much needed constructive feedback.

During November, I attended the ESN conference about their main project – PRIME, which gave me lots of insight into current day problems of exchange students.

The month ended for me with an extraordinary happening, namely the Network Meeting in Porto. The event was amazing from many perspectives, because it proved once more, that you don’t need many people to organise an amazing Network Meeting. Lots of inspiration and knowledge was given and received during it, resulting in the creation of close ties between not only locals from Spain, but also Portugal and France. After a long period, English was the main language used in this area, which was a success on its own.

Gizem Karslı – Projects Director

November has started with Network Meeting Leuven.  When I look back, I can easily say that Network Meeting Leuven was the most significant happening of November. There, we had long and fruitful discussions about student activism, current stage of AEGEE and how to enhance our thematic world. We realised that in general student associations are perceived as places to spend leisure time and have fun. They are not considered to be strong or efficient enough to tackle ‘’serious’’ issues although they are to function as efficient lobbyists for youth rights. A lot of inspirational ideas arouse there that will definitely remind our Network of the role of us as a student organisation.

During the course of the November I mainly focused on EBM preparations. As we all know, with the new format, EBM functions as a platform where we will discuss various thematic happenings and strengthen our relations and cooperation with other NGOs and with experts of the field we are working on. The reason behind the reform and the new working format is simple: enhance our thematic world and give our members an opportunity to discuss certain topics with the experts of those fields, give them a platform where they can state and defend their opinions and positions. Furthermore, during the EBM we will draft the Action Agenda 2012-2013 together. Namely, it is not going to be only certain people active on European Level to decide what AEGEE should focus in the coming year but whole Network. Therefore apply for EBM İzmir and be a part!

Guillermo García Tabarés – Human Resources Director

During November I was not travelling, which allowed me to completely concentrate on my work and implement new changes accepted during the Agora. The newly ratified Human Resources Committee started to work with new spirit and energy. The four sub-committees had their first online meetings, where they shared ideas they would like to implement in the following months. After that they divided their first tasks and the board was trying to coordinate all of them so that they would not overlap nor forget their aims. Soon some of you will receive requests from them, so get ready for the action.

Besides that I was coordinating the follow up of the Working Groups reform. Together with all of them we created a proper task division for each position, so that all the Working Groups would start to have the same internal structure and with it allow the communication to happen in a more coherent way. Together with this, all the similar positions of the Working Groups were contacted, analyzing each of their tasks in depth. We are now waiting for the last elections to be finished, having officially and for first time the PR and HR positions in their boards. Apart from that I helped them to draft the last version of their Activity Plans following a more detailed version which includes actions, discussion topics, collaborations and improvements.

Last but not least, this month was full of Local Training Courses all over the Network. I was keeping an eye on them, asking them for reports and assisting them with the reimbursement procedure when needed and getting some useful materials.