The month of January brought us a new Local of the Month: AEGEE-Berlin showed a movie about AEGEE members’ life and is organising not only an event for the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, but also a SU in cooperation with AEGEE-Lviv. The board talks about an exchange with AEGEE-Kyiv. Get more information about this active antenna.

The AEGEEan: After being nominated LoM, present us your local.

AEGEE-Berlin board: For thirty years now, AEGEE-Berlin has stood as an example of our values, most visibly in the broad spectrum of nationalities and cultures present within the members and on our board. We have been through difficult times before, when the antenna struggled, but now this is one of the best times! We are not only a group of students, but also a group of friends.

What can you tell us about the Pulse of Europe event? What are you organising for the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome?

As you might know, #PulseofEurope is an event organised every Sunday until the 12th of March. It is a gathering of pro-Europeans who want to stand up and be active in the fight for united Europe. As young Europeans, we consider it our responsibility to support this movement. That is why not only we have attended but also have taken to the stage to present our point of view. And not for the last time!

Considering the 60th anniversary, we have come together with five other Berlin-based NGOs (not only youth ones), in order to organise a March for Europe in Berlin for those who are not able to travel to Rome.

Which is the feedback for your SUPS, which took place in your city in January?

The SUPS was a very inspiring event with inspiring people. We were lucky to have high quality trainers and also amazing participants. This combination made it very productive and educational. We can not do differently than just to thank them all again for having been here with us.

Did you get successful in showing the movie “The Art of the Possible”? How can people watch it if they missed it?

We did air it, so I would say yes, we were successful and very pleased to have the creator of the movie, Luca Giazzi, personally there to take part in the discussions. For everyone it was a very cosy evening. The second part of the question is more for Luca than us, as he has a plan of publishing the movie.

Are you satisfied with the exchange “If I were in your shoes” with AEGEE-Kyiv? Which was the best moment of the exchange?

More than satisfied. Twenty-six youngsters from Germany and Ukraine got together to discuss the issues that modern Europe has to face and shared their knowledge and experience. The whole event was supported by the EVZ foundation and various other partners. It was a big challenge for us to organise it as it is always risky when you work with grants. Also it was very important for us becasue it showed that we, as antenna, are capable of this kind of performance. We are very grateful to all the organisers and helpers who made it possible and nailed it.

The general topic of our exchange project “If I were in your shoes” with AEGEE-Kyiv was to educate and provide experience of participatory democracy and voluntarism. Thus, on the second day in Berlin we decided to try out something new by sending all our participants in small groups to local volunteer initiatives, where they would not only be informed, but also engaged. One group went to a homeless shelter, where they helped cooking the meals, another one- to a refugee dormitory, where they built up beds. Two other groups visited different places as well.

We have been skeptical at first, but our participants were overwhelmingly moved by the experience, which was a novelty for many. They unanimously agreed on this having been the most transformative and intriguing part of the exchange in Berlin and some have voiced their will to continue such volunteering activities in their home cities. We hope the memories of this event will guide them in the future.

Have you elected a new board? Who are the board members? Can you tell us something about them?

The election of the new board took place at the beginning of January. Now we have five board members from which two are from the last year. They are all very motivated, promising and ready to make our antenna shine. And what is a better start than getting elected for the Local of the Month?

Are there any members who are also active besides your internal events?

We are very proud of the fact that there are. We have two SUCT members, one JC subcommisioner, a CD assistant for communication and a member of the Eastern Partnership project. This year we hope to get even more members interested in the work on the European level.

What are the future plans of your Local?

Besides usual exchanges and local activities, we are all already excited about the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of our local, which will be epic! Of course we are organising a SU in cooperation with AEGEE-Lviv. So save the dates: from the 18th to the 30th of August and just Hakuna Matata. We would also like to repeat the success with the conference and make another one, of course on a different topic. And the most important plan we have is to continue spreading our awesomeness.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari

Every month, many antennae around the Network organise activities that are related to our Action Agenda and Strategic Plan. Some of these locals become ACTive Locals of the Month, but often there is more than one outstanding activity taking place. One of these activities is the project “If I were in your shoes” by AEGEE-Kyïv and AEGEE-Berlin, which took place last October (Kyïv) and December (Berlin) and was related to the Youth Mobility Focus Area. We spoke to Iryna Sheremeta, President of AEGEE-Kyïv and the main coordinator of the Kyïv part of the project, to find out more!

ACT: Can you tell us a little bit more about your programme and participants?
Irina: The program was connected to the main topic of the project “Participatory Democracy”. The idea was to show young and motivated people how they can participate now and be useful for society. Participants were from different cities in Ukraine and Germany, 18-25 years old, and not only AEGEEans. We mixed activities, because we wanted to balance theory and practice as well as show our participants the city. We met with representatives of different initiatives, organised workshops connected to the topic and walked around the city. The same strategy was used in Berlin. We talked about populism, German local initiatives, for example the bicycle movement. Moreover, we visited some of them and tried the practice of mediation with children, helped in a refugee camp and in a local bicycle association.

How and when did the idea to organise this project come to your mind?
The idea to organise a serious project appeared in the heads of our board members from the very beginning of our term. It was a logical decision after a successful year of the previous board, which organised Autumn Agora Kyïv 2015 and a series of events connected to democracy. The particular idea of this project appeared during our New Years event during a discussion about our focus and how we could link ourselves to the Focus Areas.

 
Which steps did you take to realise your idea?
We did not want to make a project following some grants requirements, but we wanted to find a grant matching our idea for it. We followed the Facebook page of the German embassy in Ukraine and saw an open call there. Then, we contacted AEGEEans from AEGEE-Berlin and developed a common vision. Both locals from Ukraine and Germany were involved, because the project Meet Up is a Ukrainian-German cooperation. Then, the waiting period started and we got an answer from the grant three months later. They asked to specify the topic and to add more group work. Actually, the confirmation from the grant was the first step to realise our idea.

 
How exactly did you apply for the grant?
The application for the grant was quite extensive. It consisted of a general vision of the project, a preliminary programme, a preliminary budget, documents, which proved that we are representatives of NGOs (statutes, documents signed by Presidents, etc). We needed to fill an electronic application form and also send a paper version by mail.

 
What was the outcome of your project?
With this project, we wanted to motivate people to act and to be active in their own country. We wanted to show them that there are many possibilities to do that and many opportunities to develop your own personality. We made a video briefly explaining the main idea of the project and shared it on our pages in social networks. Also, the main task was to create ideas for policies which will be sent to the Kyïv City Council.

 
Did you have any troubles to create and realise your idea? How did you solve them?
I do not know if we can call these things troubles, but one girl from Berlin lost her purse and a boy from Cologne lost his camera. Also one participant  from Berlin had troubles on the border and we needed to send her the invitation on the day of arrival. One more participant missed the flight and did not come at all. But basically everything went well and the atmosphere was amazing and friendly.

Can you tell us a bit more about your local?
AEGEE-Kyïv is 21 years old, very active and motivated. During our history we organised two Agoras, and we regularly organise Summer Universities (SU) and local events. We had several Comité Directeur (CD) representatives in the history of our antenna and we are really proud of that.

 
Describe your local in five words.
Active, motivated, friendly, open-hearted, hospitable.

P.S. More information can be found here.
Written by Action Agenda Coordination Committee and Youth Mobility Working Group

“If my house was on fire and I could only save one thing, it would be my fridge”. How to disagree with Ralitsa “Rali” Mihaylova from AEGEE-Berlin, one of the six candidates for a position in the Summer University Coordination Team. Bulgarian by birth, the 21 years-old Ralitsa joined AEGEE-Berlin in February 2015 and now she is the treasurer (and unofficial mascot – the Bulgarian Bear) of the German local. She is studies Comuputer Science and she works as a motion designer. Within the SUCT, she aims to cover the task of Publications Responsible.

The AEGEEan: Why did you decide to run for a position in the Summer University Coordination team?

Ralitsa: I have the skills, the motivation and the spirit for the job and since my term in the board is coming to an end and I’m definitely not about to stop being active in AEGEE in the near future, I didn’t think twice about candidating again.

You already run in Autumn Agora Kyïv with great competition. What has changed in the past year?

I got to experience the SU project from a lot of new perspectives – I was participant, main organiser and I helped the SUCT with PR materials. I got a better understanding of the current issues and a clearer vision of what Summer Universities are about and how they can reach more of their potential. The only thing that hasn’t changed in the last year is my motivation!

The current team started a sort of Interest Group about Summer University (Supporters) where people helped SUCT. Would you like to keep it alive?

Definitely! I think the workload is overwhelming for four people, even if they are insanely productive. It’s also a great way to get more AEGEEans interested in the development of the project.

In your candidature you said you developed a clear idea of how you want to contribute to raising the event quality and getting more new members and non-members interested in participating. What is your idea?

The thing is that today cheap travel with awesome people is something you can find in a lot of places, some even easier and cheaper than Summer Universities, so promoting them in this way is equivalent to saying ”nothing special”. Everyone who has participated in a SU knows that it’s about way more than just travelling, and so should the people who haven’t done it yet. That’s why it all starts by clarifying the meaning of Summer Universities and the participants we want to target. I want to ”cut out” the cliches from the PR materials and social media and concentrate on the self-development, thematic content and of course on AEGEE. To expand the reach of promotion and information, I want to create more interactive content (videos, animations, infographics) and partner with other student organisations with similar member groups and activities. Other improvements I would make are expanding our pool of trainers beyond AEGEE bodies (mainly by cooperating with other students’ organisations), providing help with materials and activities for compulsory sessions and establishing stronger link between organising locals and our WGs and Projects.

How would you foster good communication between locals and Working Group and Projects?

By increasing the visibility of WGs and Projects on the SU communication channels and working on clear guidelines for what the cooperation should consist of, for example setting a minimum for thematic content and activities, and requiring a tangible end result – it could be a common project, publication, etc. That way it’s mutually beneficial and it can be a very effective promotion for future events or initiatives.

How do you envision the cooperation with other students organisations?

AEGEE has great partner organisations like ESN and BEST and I don’t see a reason why we can’t make our SUs more visible to their members and offer their trainers to cooperate with our organising locals. We have a lot in common with other student organisations, but in some areas our vision and approach is completey different, which is why I think a cooperation like this would be an amazing learning experience and should be encouraged more.

This is a recurring question when it comes to Summer Universities: the decreasing number of applications and local organisers. What do you think about these issues?
About the number of applications, I think it’s a natural result of the existence of Ryanair, Tinder and all the student projects you can participate in literally for free. We can’t and we really shouldn’t compete with them based on ”cheap and fun travel” anymore. If we put more effort into reaching people outside the network and do it with the right message and the numbers keep going down, I will personally go count the applications, because that’s impossible! As for the number of organising locals, I don’t think we have a deficiency of SUs. What we should work on is filling the event quality gap, mainly by paying extra attention to smaller and inexperienced organising teams.

In the application process we often see that certain locals are very popular, while others struggle even to find participants and (in extreme cases) are forced to cancel their Summer University. What are your thoughts on that? Do you have any idea how you can level this phenomenon?

As for the locals that struggled because of other factors, I think that before organising their next SU, they should think about their weaknesses and work out solutions first. If it is a lack of HR they could ask friends from nearby antennae to join as helpers, or organise a TSU. If their SU didn’t get enough exposure on social media, they can think of more creative ways to promote it than the usual facebook event. If they don’t have anyone who can deliver workshops, they can cooperate with a WG or project and ask for trainer reimbursement. Overall if the team is motivated, a big part of the issues are solvable, and turning to SUCT for help is always a good decision. Quality events are the best PR!

Does this ring a bell? One of the Summer University videos of this year was edited by Ralitsa Mihaylova. Check it out:

You can read her full application here. 

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Do terms like Internet Governance, Data Protection, Mass Surveillance, Edward Snowden and Intellectual Property Rights sound like the recipe of an event for internet nerds who normally don’t manage to see the sun and live behind their computer? Maybe, but this event turned out to be not like this at all. During the New Media Summer School 2014 in Berlin, 34 young participants from all over Europe and from a variety of different organizations met to learn more about this weird thing called internet and how to control it.

Internet Governance is clearly more and more in the focus of many young people, international policy makers and of course international organisations such as AEGEE. That’s why the questions around NSA, Snowden, Facebook and Google selling private data, liquid democracy and many others are important and more and more discussed. Therefore, young people need to gain knowledge about how to handle and be involved in these topics. Together, organisations like Internet Governance Forum, JEF, Young Pirates, Wikimedia Berlin, AEGEE-Berlin, Collab Berlin and many others organised the New Media Summer School (NMSS), which was a five day training taking place in Berlin. The days were filled with brainstorming, discussions and workshops on topics of internet security, protection of your personal data and the dilemma of intellectual property rights.

Since 2011, one of the aims of the NMSS is to prepare the participants to be “active” in the European Dialoque on Internet Governance (EuroDIG). This event lasted two days and consisted of a series of conferences, workshops and flash sessions, where people could exchange ideas and reflections with the possibility to be directly involved in European projects related on different topics of the Internet Governance (data protection, privacy, net neutrality, copyright, big data. etc.). All together trying to contribute to a constructive dialogue.

An interesting flash session was the session about the Global Internet Policy Observator (GIPO), a very recent project that needs people and organizations to contribute. In detail, the project is lead by the European Commission and its aim is to provide technical tools to support internet policy and governance, making information easily and widely accessible in order to enable a more inclusive participation of all stakeholders. This project is encouraged by the IGF (the most important Internet Governance Forum at a worldwide level). Now the project is under prototypization, but nevertheless, different stakeholders from all over the world are interested to be involved in creating a GIPO community.

This is only one of the many projects related to the Internet Governance field, where different stakeholder try to discuss together, finding the best solution to develop and/or improve the existing policy, thanks to this “wide dialogue”. Participants had the chance to have experts on their respective field talk about the anatomy of the internet, internet governance, self governance, net neutrality, copyrights, human rights, the Snowden revelation, privacy, mass surveillance, data protection, anonymity, the future of the internet and several other terms that at first sounded unfamiliar to many of us but as days passed became part of our vocabulary. During the preparatory events the participants aquired some valuable information about the issues that would be discussed during the conference and exchanged knowledge and ideas with other participants, professionals and organizers. Through the conference participants were given the chance to actively participate in the ongoing dialogue that was taking place in the plenaries, workshops and flash presentations.

The most important element of the EuroDIG was the dicotomy where everyone was both a producer and recipient of thoughts, ideas, arguments and messages. In this conference you could both influence the people around you but also be influenced by them. It was the interactiveness that made the EuroDIG successful and productive, as the issues under discussion were approached by a lot of different viewpoints. During the conference, participants from all sort of different backgrounds had the chance to meet each other and communicate as equals. During lunch being approached by academic professors, young entrepreneurs, businessmen, policy makers, tech people etc. was the norm. There was no sense that certain people’s opinion mattered more and participants were actually interested in hearing what you had to say no matter who you were or what was your background. During the plenaries issues that were raised in the tweets posted on the twitterwall were addressed and not disregarded as trivial.

The organisers from AEGEE Berlin and collaboratory were nothing but enthusiastic, helpful, patient and understanding, especially during the days when the heat in Berlin was just too much. The New Media Summer school was an overall interesting and thought provoking event that had a lot to offer to those who took part in it. It is an ongoing event as it is the dialogue on internet governance, the issues raised and discussed in it were, are and will continue to be of great importance in our day to day lives as users of the internet. It is important for all internet users to actively participate in the dialogue about its governance and not let decisions that concern us being made without being openly discussed in public.

Written by Mara Poniros, AEGEE-Peiraias; Holger Schmitt, AEGEE-Berlin; Pavel Zbornik, Comité Directeur and Giancarlo Nicolò, AEGEE-Udine.

The AEGEEan is proud to present our new Member of the Month from AEGEE-Berlin, Hans-Peter Bretz. You may know him by his nickname Hape. Elected for the Summer University Coordination Team (SUCT) at Agora-Budapest, he has been trying something new this year and dedicated most of his summer to it. Travelling between summer universities, meeting new people and observing how all of the work SUCT went the year before turned out in practice. The AEGEEan just could not resist from learning more.

To start off, why is your nickname Hape?

In German people sometimes have double names, which is different from just having two names: they are supposed to be used together. Instead of always saying the full name, they are often abbreviated, e.g. Karl-Heinz to Kalle, or, in my case Hans-Peter to Ha-pe or simply Hape. My name is also completely out of fashion, I have never met someone with the same name who was younger than fifty. Even though Hans sounds like the most German name, most Germans do not really get “Hape” either. But there is a famous comedian called Hape Kerkeling, so they usually ask something like “You mean like Hape Kerkeling? Wait, is he also called Hans-Peter??”

What have you been doing this summer for AEGEE? We heard you were traveling quite a bit

That is true, the SUCT got some Interrail tickets to visit Summer Universities, so I took a three week long trip from Berlin on to the East and visited eight Summer Universities (SU).

Which summer universities did you visit?

I was at the SUs of AEGEE-Praha, AEGEE-Wroclaw/Opole/Lviv, AEGEE-Poznan/Gdansk/Torun, AEGEE-Warszawa/Riga, AEGEE-Krakow/Berlin, AEGEE-Katowice/Bratislava, AEGEE-Debrecen/Sibiu and finally AEGEE-Cluj Napoca.

What were you looking for in the SUs and what were you checking?

The main idea was to look at the programmes and how they realised them, and also to get some feedback by the organisers on our work and communication. Of course it is hard to tell if 100% of a programme is done when you are there for only a few days. But you can get a good impression of how the organisers work and also some feedback from the participants. By the way, it was quite funny how my presence was perceived by the participants at different SUs. At the beginning of my trip, I was at an SU where the group had already had some time to form and bond. When I sat down with some of them between programme points to enjoy a beer and some small talk and asked a general question about the SU to break the ice, they just smiled and made jokes how they would not let me spy on the organisers. At other times, some participants would see me as some sort of complaint box for every little thing they did not like about their SU. For me, it was also very interesting to see how the organisers prepared their SU, what different approaches they took, how they interacted with their group and how the general experience was influenced by the team of organisers, but also by the participants. Often, SUs are said to have their own atmosphere, and I wanted to see where that comes from.

Any favorite SU among the ones you visited?

Before my trip, I was afraid that 2-3 days at each SU would not be long enough to get a good impression. Later I was a bit surprised how much more you get out of a few days if you try to have an open and active mind and pay attention to details instead of just being part of the masses at an event. Still, the impression of a particular SU also depended on the parts of the programme I could take part in. In Prague, I arrived just in time for the city rally, whereas my day in Poznan was the relaxing day in between other days filled with programme (both were very nice, by the way). On a more personal level, the last SU of my trip, in Cluj Napoca, was great. My first SU and AEGEE event was the same SU, 3 years earlier, and it was still done by the same core team. I met some of the old organisers and even a participant again, and also I saw some participants from AEGEE-Berlin there. You could see how having so much experience in a team helps with all the little things in a Summer University. But I also want to thank all the other organizers who hosted me, managed to squeeze me in their planning and put so much effort in their event.

Did you end up going to any SU just for fun? That means, not as a representative of the SUCT but as participant?

I did not have enough vacation to go as participant, so I did not even think about at which one I could apply for.

We have heard you did your part for the Key 2 Europe (K2E) as well. What exactly did you do for it?

As in the last two years, I was part of the research and  statistics team. But other than last year, I did not have time to join the Concept Development Meeting, so my work was mostly to scan through the lists of events and to look for anything particularly interesting or fitting the themes of the K2E.

What are your plans for the Agora? Are you coming and what are your goals for it?

I will be there, and if there happen to be any discussions where I can participate, I will.

How is the SUCT in general feeling about this year’s SU season? Satisfied?

For all of us except Costas Deltouzos, it was the first time that we got this much insight into the project. We tried some new things like the SU maps, which I think, on average, were received positively, the thematic sessions, and the learning objectives, for which we have to wait for the evaluation. We also got the highest number of applicants in the last few years, so I think all in all we can be satisfied with the SU season.

What do you do in AEGEE apart from SUCT?

For the last year, the work with SUCT consumed most of my AEGEE work time and sadly I could not go to more events than the two Agorae. I do not have any position in my Antenna in Berlin, but we are a small local and if there’s anything to do, I help and participate as much as possible.

Planning to stay in SUCT next year as well or some other big plans ahead?

At several points in the last year, I was thinking about running for a second term, but my PhD study will only get more demanding during the next two years and I would like to focus on that.

Written by Olga Volovyk, AEGEE-Kyiv