Few days are missing to Autumn Agora Catania, and one of the most important decisions we will make, is to choose the best people for the Network Commission. Alin Georgescu has already worked as a NetCommie for one year and would like to dare again and commit himself to the Network. 

The AEGEEan: Who are you? For what do we know you?

Alin: Hard question. We don’t usually ask ourselves who we are, and if we do, we come with some cliché answers. I can say I let my actions say who I am (See? Cliché!) and I’m not concerned about this question to be honest. I can be consider a traveller, I like to explore places, people, thoughts, ideas, buildings, everything. So yeah, I can define myself as traveller.

You have already been a NetCom for one year, how would you comment your year as a NetCommie?

Challenging. I didn’t expect it to be so damn challenging, honestly. I hate bureaucracy, and as a NetComm you have a lot. But I don’t mind, we are a team and I’ve always found support when I needed. But overall it’s good, I say it is ‘cause my term is not over yet, I still have until December. I want to continue, I feel I didn’t finish with this. So if something makes you wish for more, that’s good, no?

What did you achieve in your year as a NetCommie? Why would you like to run again?

I was able to come closer to AEGEEans and European Bodies. But most importantly, closer to the members from many locals. I would like to run again because I need more time. I came to that point when I’ve met the difficulties that locals are facing, I want to change the way we see the Network Meetings as training courses. In NWM Debrecen I did it differently, it was a meeting between members, a space for reflection and connecting, learning and sharing. I want more of these events. I will do it in Cluj Napoca and hopefully two more times. I want to prove that it is possible this way and there can be an amazing outcome from it.

You wrote in your programme that you would like to stabilise the current state of the locals you’re responsible for, did you notice something else that might need your commitment after one year in the NetCom?

Isn’t it enough? The engine of our organisation is at local level. No matter how many new, awesome and life changing ideas or initiatives we have, we start at local level. We are a big organisation and we have an impact at European level because we have many locals. Unfortunately we forget that a big number is made by small numbers, our members and locals. We have to focus more on their REAL needs, strengthen their activities, management and resources. This is what I want to work on, for me this is top priority: the local level.

How is the Antenna Criteria Reform, approved during Agora Enschede, working?

Less bureaucracy, but there’s space for improvement.

In the Network Status Update email that the Network received there were many locals in danger, would you like to comment this and how you will work to change this situation?

Unfortunately this is the real state of the Network that we didn’t want to see for a long time. I will continue what I’ve done so far, building a good relationship between locals, trying to improve their activities, their recruitment process and members. Network Meeting will help. Also more thematic projects funded from different grants would do the work. Currently I’m gaining more and more knowledge on this and I’m planning to work closely with locals on applying for Erasmus+ funds. Also criteria should, and they will, suffer some changes, many locals are suffering and are on that list just because of bureaucracy.

Would you prefer a Network of few strong locals or one of many common ones?

Definitely more locals, we have to create the opportunity for as many young people as possible to join our organisation and our goals. A “natural” selection will always exist but we have to open our network for everyone. Maybe one member from a weak local can be the next President of AEGEE Europe, who can deny it?

Describe the features of “the perfect NetCommie”. 

There is no such a thing as perfect. There is just the will to constantly learn, improve yourself and never give up.

In your motivation we can read “During last months I came to the conclusion, there is more work that I have to do from this position so I want to continue”. Can you be more specific about what kind of work would you like to carry out if you are elected?

In my motivation I wrote this for the simple reason that almost no one is reading it. Yeah, some people can accuse me I’m too honest, but this is reality, jut few people are reading 70% of what we write in AEGEE. I will mention again the Network Meeting, the way I see it differently than what we do it now, a mix of trainings after which we get almost nothing, you are just tired and hungover probably. I need this time to proof that we can do way more and really use this events to strengthen our Network. I would also apply for grants, which needs time, and I will focus on planning and a good management. The locals that I’m responsible for need better strategy for recruitment, activities and managing their members. Some of them are even writing that “we need some magic to make the youth do something”. The lack of motivation is still a big issue in our Network and if you combine this with some bureaucracy (I think I used it too many times), you have locals endangered.

Why would we need to vote for you?

Because I can bring something new in AEGEE. Because I’m not perfect but I’m working on it. Because I constantly learn, reflect and share. Because I’m committed to this job.

Question from the Network:

You’re running for your second term in Net.Com. In your current experience as Netcommie what you consider the best goal you achieved and which you in the top urgent to solve or complete? (Consider your personal experience and your assigned locals)

Network Meeting Debrecen is the biggest achievement. Network Meeting Cluj Napoca is the next.

You can read his full candidature here.

Written by Lisa Gregis, AEGEE-Bergamo

The upcoming Agora is a place where a new generation of NetCommies is going to be elected. The Network Commission has always been one of the most crucial Commission we had in our Network, but now maybe even more than ever. Celia believes she is motivated enough and ready to take the job. She would like to lead by example her assigned locals, pushing them to fulfill the Antenna Criteria and getting stronger.

The AEGEEan: Who are you? For what do we know you?

Celia: To define myself there are some aspects that I consider essential.
First of all, talking about me inside AEGEE I have been a member of AEGEE-Zaragoza since 2013 and I am active from the beginning. Currently, I am president of this antenna and also subcommissioner of the Network Commission. Additionally, I collaborate with the Gender Equality Interest Group.
Secondly, I consider myself as a hurricane of energy, I love doing always new things and getting engaged with new projects. I am a tidy and responsible girl, but at the same time, I have a lot of creativity and a pinch of craziness, I love enjoying every moment of my life.
Last but not least, as many members of AEGEE, I love travelling and meeting new people and new cultures around the world.

Describe your ideal leader. Is a Netcommie a leader? Why? How can you be that leader you described?

In my opinion, a leader has to be an example to follow, a role model, a person who knows how to develop strategies to achieve common a goal making everyone feel involved and working on the things they are best on. I think a leader is also a person willing to receive feedback and continuously making the team grow.
A Netcommie then has many similarities with this definition: I believe it’s important to be willing to listen to its team and to the different locals. It’s crucial to have great teamwork to bear in mind all the opinions and feelings of the team members trying to get everyone on board, feeling comfortable and heard in every moment.
In my case, I consider myself a person open to feedback and to work within a team. Along these years in AEGEE I have worked in a team in several occasions as leader (being president or main organiser of events for instance) feeling comfortable and trying to get better little by little.

What are the NetCom projects you are more interested to contribute to? Why?

If I have to choose one, I would choose the Mentorship system. I think it’s always very interesting to be able to learn from other locals and to put people in touch so that they can share their experiences and anecdotes. In this way they can develop stronger bonds among locals and learn from each other. Related to this, I would want to work on a Toolkit for contacts to make it more accessible for people interested in founding an antenna to achieve what they want in every moment.

What do you think about the Antenna Criteria Reform introduced at Agora Enschede? Would you like to change something?

In my opinion the Antenna Criteria Reform has been a great method to make the Antenna Criteria more adequate to the reality of the locals. I think this is the kind of revisions that should be carried out constantly getting adapted to the needs of the locals so they don’t become a barrier for the locals to grow but a method to make them stronger. Antenna Criteria currently don’t reflect the needs of the locals and therefore I would not want just to check if all the locals have everything done but also to get to know the reasons behind an antenna not accomplishing them. This would allow me to help them grow and get stronger.

In the Network Status Update email that the Network received some days ago, there were many locals in danger, would you like to comment this? How will you work to change this situation?

It’s truly sad to see that many antennae are in risk to be downgraded but I am aware of the huge work that some people are doing in order to avoid that. I trust in the work of the Network Commission to improve the situation every time and help locals to get developed. With the collaboration of the subcommies, I would like to have a permanent contact with the locals and get more approachable to them to understand fully their needs. This would help us not just to make sure the Antenna Criteria are followed but also to motivate the local to work in the right direction. Many times, antennae don’t fully understand antenna criteria work or which are the AC they have to fulfill. There could be a project to be implemented all along the network to explain properly what AC are, which one each antenna should fulfill and more importantly, how to fulfill them. There could be a very visual manual containing links to forms, KT documents explaining things in details, etc.

In your programme you say that you would like to bring the AEGEE Bodies closer to the members, but the strategy you proposed seems the other way around: to bring the members closer to the AEGEE Bodies. Can you tell us something you would do in order to bring the AEGEE bodies closer to the members?

Actually I think both are important. On the one hand, it’s crucial to allow members to know the European Bodies, what do they work on, how they can get in touch with each other, to show they are friendly and they are willing to help. On the other hand, it’s also very important to work with different European Bodies to be able to help the locals in any issue they may find. As Network Commissioner, I would want to count on the support of the European Bodies and to be able to work with them. To put them in touch I would want them to collaborate not just at NWM but also at LTCs or RTCs for instance.

To ensure continuity and stability, among the other things, you wrote that you would like to continue the projects made by “La Nave” locals called “Connecting Locals” and “Local of the Month”. What would you do to ensure continuity if “La Nave” locals won’t be assigned to you?

All the projects carried out in La Nave locals could be easily transferable to any other local. Having the experience of being Alejandra’s subcommie, I would be able to take those and apply them into the reality of the specific locals or even to the whole Network.
It would also motivate other Netcommies to continue and implement these projects.

Describe the features of “the perfect NetCommie”.

First of all, I would want to emphasise that it would have to be a friendly person, open to new ideas, to receive feedback, to include changes and to improve for the Network. Additionally, I think this perfect NetCommie would have to be a hard worker and proactive person open to try new things, learn from mistakes and not fearing to make new mistakes by changing for the better

How would you like to support the CD in your daily work?

I think it’s important to work in close relation with the CD as they are also aware of the Network status and they are a great source of ideas and information which is very convenient for the work of the Netcom team.
I also like the Netcom-CD pair system that is already in play and I would want to keep it as I think it’s a great way of working together having two European bodies in touch. Furthermore, I want to work closely with the CD to organise the NWMs together with the team of subcommies and the hosting local in order to have a fruitful and nice cooperation. I think it’s also very important to bring closer the work of the CD to the locals and make more visible what they do and how friendly they are to help in any issue the members may have.

Why would we need to vote for you?

One of the most important things I think it’s needed for any position you run for is the motivation and, that, I have way more than enough!
I’m willing to start to work in this new adventure and face the new challenges it brings me. Every time I take any responsibility, I fight until the last moment and I do whatever is in my hand to achieve my objectives. I can’t imagine giving up or not doing my best every day. I would like to bring this motivation to the rest of the team to be able to have a nice working atmosphere and to coordinate plenty of project helping the locals every time. I love helping and being in touch with people, understanding the different cases and trying to empathise, giving always my help and my hand for anything that´s needed. I’m a real doer and I love getting really involved to solve all different sort of challenges!

You can read her full candidature here.

Written by Lisa Gregis, AEGEE-Bergamo

After the first part of Proposals explanation, which was mainly focused on the locals, now we are turning the lights on Agora’s deadlines and timeframes. 

Agora Timeframe

Following the Motion on Informing the Network of the Agora dates, Lia Tuska on behalf of the Comité Directeur would like to change the timeframe in which the dates of an Agora have to be announced. Right now the local organisers should communicate to the Network the dates of the event at least two months before. This proposal would like to change it to eight months in order to give all the necessary time to the Network and the stakeholders of the Agora to plan ahead and have a balanced calendar of the event in the Network. In fact the proposer is also suggesting to set the time range an Autumn Agora can take place, meaning between the 1st of October and two weeks before the 1st of December.

You can read the full proposal here.

Proposal To Set All Deadlines For Publishing Official Documents at Two Weeks Before the Agora

Proposed by Evelien Kroon, Jochem Postmes and Steyn ten Kate on behalf of AEGEE-Enschede. When we talk about Agora, one of the things we might think about is meeting the deadlines. Booklets of the Agora need to be sent to the Network at least two weeks before the Agora, but not the activity report from the Comité Directeur and the annual and internal financial report from the Financial Director, which can be sent one week before. This proposal aims at setting the deadlines also for these documents at two weeks before the starting of the Agora, in order to allow the Delegates to be more prepared and better informed about what they will face at the upcoming Agora.

You can read the full proposal here.

Introducing a Preparatory Deadline for Proposals

This proposal was created in the context of the Agora Reform Task Force, but it is proposed by Maarten de Groot on behalf of the Comité Directeur, Monika Mojak, Elisa Tabbi and Joris Veenhuis on behalf of the Juridical Commission, since the Agora Task Force is not an official body of AEGEE-Europe. At the moment, if you want to put forward a proposal for the upcoming Agora, you need to send an email to the Juridical Commission, which will then upload it to the Online Voting System and they will never change until the Agora will discuss it during the Prytanium. The proposers would like to split this process in two parts, allowing the Network to discuss and still being able to edit a proposal while it is published online. The process would be the following:

• Send a draft of the proposal including at least the idea and motivation, at least 45 days before the Agora.
• After that, leave time to collect feeback from the Network.
• Submit the final proposal (which can be a different version from the first draft thanks to the feedback collected) at least one month prior the beginning of the Agora.
• In case you want to change your proposal within a month before the Agora, you can only do that in consulation with the Juridical Commission
• When you will discuss the Proposal during the Prytanium you will be requested to give a recap of the online discussion

You can read the full proposal here.

On the Candidature Application Period

As the proposal above, this one as well has been developed in the context of the Agora Reform Task Force, but is proposed by Maarten De Groot on behalf of the Comité Directeur. Since we have been facing a trend of lack of candidates during the last Agorae, the proposer would like to give the Network a wider choice. That is why this proposal would like not to close the deadline for candidates for a position until there are enough candidates for the vacant places plus one. In case there aren’t enough candidates the Chair Team will close the deadline only at the Agora.

You can read the full proposal here.

Written by Lisa Gregis, AEGEE-Bergamo & AEGEE-Verona

Agora Enschede is approaching and as the past Agora, the AEGEEan will try to help you to understand more the Proposals which will be discussed during the Prytania. These four are about the Locals and how they function.

Improving Regulations on Contracts

Proposed by Jorge Sánchez Hernández on behalf of AEGEE-Dresden. During Autumn Agora Cagliari 2014 the denomination given to a contact was changed from “Contact of AEGEE-Europe in cityname” to “AEGEE Contact in cityname”. This was decided to make PR easier for Contacts. At that time this change was not included in the CIA, so this is the case.

Furthermore, the proposer would like to allow Contacts to send more than two observers to the Agorae, in order to educate the new members that attending an Agora is a very important matter for an AEGEEan. This has also the aim to decrease the number of people going to an Agora as Visitors just to visit the hosting city and party hard.

You can read the full proposal here.

Updated Cd’A of AEGEE-Academy

Lia Tuska and Zvonimir Canjuga on behalf of Comité Directeur are proposing to strengthen the cooperation between AEGEE-Europe and AEGEE-Academy by updating the Convention d’Adehsion of the latter.

The commitment of AEGEE-Academy to provide training to AEGEE-Europe will be more specific. So not only AEGEE-Academy has to provide trainings to the individual members of Locals, but also skills development opportunities, based on Non-Formal Education methodologies, to AEGEE locals, as well as their individual members of Locals. Moreover AEGEE-Europe will recognise The Academy as the official pool of trainers of AEGEE-Europe.

AEGEE-Academy as a training organisation has developed during the years of its existence partnerships and relationships with other organisations, so in this proposal we can find more specific information about how and with whom it can cooperate. This has the purpose to give more independency to the Academy, which will have the right to collaborate with any organisation with similar scope, except for the ones in which AEGEE-Europe holds a position as member, partner, advisor or consultative status.

Moreover the Comité Directeur will appoint a member to be part of the board of the Academy who will have the same rights and obligations of the others elected board members. The Academy should also commit to support AEGEE-Europe and all its members, partner organisations and organs in all the internal educational needs with relevant training activities.

You can read the full proposal here.

Rewriting the Antenna Criterion number 12 included in: Antenna – Remaining an Antenna

Let’s start explaining what we are talking about (if you know how the Action Agenda and Strategic Plan work you can skip the first paragraph)!

The Strategic Plan (SP) is drafted every three years during an event called Planning Meeting. In the thematic part of this document you can find the Focus Areas on which AEGEE will concentrate its activities and events. The ones we will have starting from the 1st of August will be Civic Education, European Citizenship, Youth Development and Equal Rights. The Action Agenda (AA) is drafted each year in an event called European Planning Meeting (EPM). This is like a yearly list of objectives that tries to put into practice what is written in the Strategic Plan. So it can happen that if you organise an event about Youth Development (Focus Areas of the SP) but you do not fulfill the Action Agenda objectives related to that Focus Area, it is not counted as an event that contributes to the Action Agenda. The Action Agenda Coordination Committee (ACT) is the one who controls and approves if the locals have organised or not activities which contribute to the Action Agenda.

Experiencing this everyday, Juragis García, Cristina de la Parte and Svenja van der Tool on behalf of Action Agenda Coordination Committee would like to change the 12th criterion for remaining an Antenna. Right now it states that it’s a duty of an antenna to organise at least once every two years a European Event that contributes to the Strategic Plan. In case a local cannot organise it, it can be replaced by two local activities contributing to the Strategic Plan.

This proposal will make the locals organise two local activities each year (which can be replaced by a European Event – the opposite of how it is now) which contribute to the Action Agenda and not the Strategic Plan anymore. These activities must be approved by the Action Agenda Coordination Committee beforehand. This process is structured like this: the local sends an email to the ACT explaining the activity they would like to organise. Afterward the ACT will approve or not the activity. Moreover, this criterion obliges locals to maintain an active communication with the ACT, via the ACTie they have been assigned to.

You can read the full proposal here.

Antennae Criteria Reform proposal

Six months ago the Network Commission handed out a survey to gather opinions of the locals regarding Antenna Criteria. After processing all these data, Alejandra Piot Pérez-Abadín, Aleksandra Mojsova, Alin Andrei Georgescu, Gabriele Scollo, Kristina Reshetova, Loes Rutten, Mareike Ritter, Pablo Palazón Riquelme, Spyros Papadatos and Stanislav Mahula on behalf of the Network Commission drafted an Antenna Criteria Reform Proposal that is presented. Here below in bullet points the list of changes.

Remaining a Contact Antenna:

• The Contact Antennae will not have to create a bank account to keep that status, but only to become Antennae.

Remaining an Antenna:

• Now locals should send delegates to at least one out of the last three Statutory Events (usually 2 agorae and 1 EPM). With this proposal locals will have to send their delegates at least to one of the last two Agorae.
• Locals should send at least one of their board members to a NWM. With this proposal, if none of the board members can join this event, they can appoint an active member who will represent the Antenna in a NWM. This request will need to be approved by the Network Commission or the Comité Directeur.
• Each Board should send an Activity Plan to the NetCom within one month since they are elected and an Activity Report within two weeks from the end of their term. This proposal would like to extend both these deadlines to two months. Moreover the Activity Plan will need to be discussed with their Network Commissioner in a meeting arranged by the local. Same thing with the Activity Report, but the conclusions will need to be written down in an Evaluation Report. Unfortunately it is not possible to understand which conclusions the proposers are talking about. We will discover more on Prytannium!

You can read the full proposal here.

Written by Lisa Gregis, AEGEE-Bergamo & AEGEE-Verona