When we were taking office last August, we knew, all the 11 of us that we were assigned to handle a ship against all odds. The Action Agenda Coordination Committee was facing a wave of suspicion and doubt among the Network, due to the lack of connectivity people felt with it or maybe due to the very nature of our work, which is defining, analysing and decoding the Strategic Plan and the Action Agenda of the organisation.

Erifyli Evangelou: “ACT helped me discover how diverse our Network is”

Let’s pick it from the start though. The Action Agenda almost monopolises our work, since we have to make sure as well as strive during our term that the Focus Areas of the AA are actually respected, promoted and developed throughout the Network and its activities. For us, it could be either sticking to the basics and managing things behind our computers’ screens, or getting out there and try to infuse the Action Agenda into people’s minds, helping the locals understand it is not about “filling in an activity report” but more of a “promoting ideas that define AEGEE and feeling proud of it”, and that is what we decided to do. A group of people, of whom the majority did not know each other and most of them were rookies in the Committee. We sat down and decided to turn things around by devoting ourselves to the Action Agenda and the promotion of it, utterly aiming at establishing an honest relationship with the locals that could help fostering the dialogue with them.

Elena Efremova: “I had the best time with an awesome team”

The Network Meetings posed a great chance for us and we really took advantage of them during both seasons. Autumn Network Meetings we filled with those “ACT workshops”, which in the beginning no one knew so much about and did not know what to expect. After many hours of workshops, games, interactions and many laughs, each ACT trainer left his/her respective Network Meeting with a taste of reward and accomplishment, shown by the appreciation of the locals. We tried to show up at most places possible. Overall, both Autumn and Spring NWMs taken into account, we have managed to hold workshops in Zielona Gora, Moskva, Leiden, Aachen, Nijmegen, Bamberg, Beograd, Novi Sad, Barcelona, Bilbao, Torino, literally spreaded out as ACTies all around the map of Europe. After all, Network Meetings are the definition of active communication and contact with the locals, thare is where the bonds between AEGEEans are formed and strengthened and, if not anything, it was our honor to have served that goal.

Not to mention the EPM in Zagreb in February which was a total crash-test for our body. Our ACTies gave everything they had during the stressful, endless days of the EPM, drafting the newest Action Agenda. Managing to get together so many people in rooms to start the interactive discussions which eventually formed the newest Action Agenda is regarded as an accomplishment, especially after getting the positive Network feedback regarding the new Focus Areas.

Juragis Garcia Perez: “We became a group of friends able to deal with anything”

Our field of work was not however strictly limited to those actions. While out in the battlefield, we still had to do a lot -and I mean a LOT- behind the scenes so as to really achieve our goals. We established collaborations with fellow European Bodies and a regular and fruitful cooperation with the Network Commission and the CD of course, out of which Tekla Hajdu’s work must be highlighted. A dialogue with the Working Groups which made both parties really get the meaning of our interests came also along the way. Moreover, AEGEEans may have also noticed that the Action Agenda is now available in numerous languages, and that was something we wanted to do all the way from the beginning of our term. Having translated our “code of honor” in your mother tongue gives you the opportunity to get the ultra-essence of what you should be dealing with. The list can go on forever, though I cannot help but mention the “ACTive Local of the Month” awards our dear Elena has been handing out to every local contributing the maximum to the Action Agenda each month. These awards formed an urge to contribute to the Focus Areas spread among the Network and helped our work as well as the general aim foster.

Cristina de la Parte Rodríguez: “My whole perception of AEGEE changed through the ACT”

Our terms’ epilogue will be ACT’s presence in AEGEE’s most successful project ever, the Summer Universities. You might be wondering, can a body like ACT be integrated into crazy summer parties and amazing vacation time? The answer is yes and be prepared to experience it during Beograd’s (SUrbian Spirit: Tales of Wilderness) and Niš’s (Letters from Niš) Summer Courses which are about to happen this August. I personally express my gratitude for those two locals that believed in ACT because together we are turning this project into reality, but most importantly I promise to all of you who are attending these two events will be an unbelievable experience which will only make us wiser. 

Finally, I would like to highlight every ACTie’s personal commitment and promise to all the Network that ACT will continue its being with passion, devotion and hard work, aiming at developing the already amazing relationship we have established with the Network’s locals even further during the next term. Thank you for your trust.

Written by Constantine Bakiris, Action Agenda Coordination Committee

One might say that Summer days for AEGEEans are filled only with Summer Universities, vacations and some deserved rest. But, every year, there is a group of people who is working hard to collect all the most relevant happenings of the AEGEE Network in order to create the annual publication of the Key to Europe. With an obvious reference to our logo, the Key-to-Europe-people are not afraid of the heat, the sun or an incredible amount of mails, checking endlessly for spellings errors, for layouts and for pictures. We asked some questions to the two people who coordinated the 2015-2016 edition: former Secretary General Svenja van der Tol and former Communication Director Anna Gumbau – with a contribution by Angelos Pappas (AEGEE-Athina) as the creative director. 

Anna and Svenja

The AEGEEan: Please, introduce your project. 

Anna: The Key to Europe is the annual publication of AEGEE-Europe (not to be confused with The Song). Every year, during summertime, there is a group of AEGEEans who collect information about all the the events of the past year, write articles, check them, and ensure that all the great things that our organisation has done and witnessed are reflected on. The final result, the Key to Europe itself, can be used by AEGEE antennae for their external relations, fundraising or recruitment purposes, or just to have a nice piece of history on their shelves to look at every now and then.

Who is in the team?

Svenja: This will probably be considered the ultimate cheesy answer, but we got really lucky with a team full of amazing people. There were first of all our Editors who helped us decide on what we wanted to write about in this Key to Europe; Anna Inazemtsava (AEGEE-Grodno), Daria Lovkova (AEGEE-Moskva) and Tatiana Rodina (AEGEE-Moskva).

The articles they edited with a lot of care would not have been there without our journalists: Erik Redli (AEGEE-Bratislava), Firdevs Çazem (AEGEE-Hatay), Erika Bettin (AEGEE-Verona), Matteo Lai (AEGEE-Cagliari) and Laura Pérez Álvarez (AEGEE-León), and they would not have been picture-perfect without our proofreaders: Erik Redli (AEGEE-Brasislava) (again), Maria Zwartkruis (AEGEE-Utrecht), Sabina Guja (AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca), Mireille Voorendt (AEGEE-Utrecht) and Federica Soro (AEGEE-Cagliari).

Last but not least, to make the whole publication not just a nice read but a nice view too, we had our Research and Statistics Manager and multitasking proofreader Maria, Photo Database Manager Elena Agulló Cantos (AEGEE-Alicante) and, of course, our Creative Director Angelos Pappas (AEGEE-Athina), who made the whole design of the Key to Europe. And of course there were Anna and myself as the Editors-in-Chief. You can find all of their pretty faces on the team page, and read more about their contributions in the word of thanks (#shamelessselfpromotion).

Why did you decide to run this project? 

Anna: Hmm, initially it was not in our plans to run the project. Svenja was appointed as the Comité Directeur responsible for the Key to Europe in our initial task division, as she had a strong involvement in the last two editions and knew the job, and as the responsible for communications I wanted to be around too. However, when the open call for team members was launched, nobody applied to become the Editor-in-Chief.

Therefore, after giving a lot of thought, Svenja and I looked at each other while enjoying a rare sunny day outside in the garden of the AEGEE house and said: “shall we do this?”, “let’s do this!”. (The sun might have played a big role in this decision). We knew that we would have to devote a lot of time to it, but we wanted to ensure the highest possible quality and, after all, I think I can speak for both when I say that this is a project where two of our passions collide – AEGEE and communication! (Svenja would just like to add here that she agrees 100%).

typical example of a K2E team member working

How is the publication structured?

Svenja: Of course we start the publication with AEGEE’s Statement of Principles (#basics). After that, we continue with the prefaces by ourselves (#awkward), European Commissioner Tibor Navracsics and the former President of AEGEE-Europe Aleksandra Kluczka. Then, we have the ‘About AEGEE’ section, which explains all that you need to know about AEGEE, ranging from the visual identity to our different European bodies and from the Action Agenda to the magical AEGEE house.

More information about other organisations that AEGEE-Europe cooperates with can be found it in the section ‘AEGEE Cooperates’ and in the ‘Faces of the Network’ section you will find some people that have contributed to AEGEE in the past year, like our Members of the Month and Les Anciens. In the ‘In the spotlight’ section you can find all the big happenings and challenges of the last year, and in the ‘Happenings around the Network’ you can read even more about remarkable events taking place. As it can be expected, in the ‘Projects’ section you can find out more about our different internal and external projects, and to top it off, the ‘Looking forward’ section gives you a flash forward to the upcoming year.

What are the highlights of the publication this year? 

Anna: We tried to squeeze as many topics as possible in our publication. Of course, happenings like Brexit, the refugee crisis and the situation in Turkey could not be missed. We tried to highlight as many inspiring events as possible, and have as many voices from all over the Network represented! We also have several great, high-quality infographics and statistics in pretty Visual Identity colours (#makingPRChappy). Moreover, this year we introduced a tweet-wall, where a ton of different AEGEE members share with you what our organisation means to them! These are just a few of the highlights of the Key to Europe this year.

What is the idea behind the design? 

Angelos: On the cover, we tried to depict the typical AEGEE experience, with the different icons representing different aspects of our organisation. Inspired by the design of the publication last year [which was created by Philipp Blum and Vincent Baas, ed.], we kept the design of the articles a bit more simple to keep the attention on the articles themselves and not distract the reader too much. You can find the icons on the cover back on each of the section pages, which mark the start of a new section.

What was the hardest part of dealing with Key to Europe? 

Anna: In general, it is difficult to keep the motivation, work and consistency up during the whole summer. Svenja and I had to take some holidays at some point: even if we could not fully disconnect because we had plenty of articles to edit [she smiles, ed.]. And since most people usually have holidays as well, we often had to head-hunt people to get the articles finished. But there they are! We knew this was part of our job so we were prepared for it.

Key to Europe in numbers. Give us some. 

Svenja: 120 pages of fun, 6 sections, 16 team members, 637 likes on our Facebook page (that’s a hint, yeah), countless hours of work, 10 new grey hairs on my head, and, sadly, zero hidden unicorns.  

Unfortunately the publication was not presented during Autumn Agora Chișinău. Where and when can AEGEE members see it? 

Anna: AEGEE antennae will find them soon in their mailboxes, as the General Mailing will be coming around early December. So brace yourselves, K2E is coming!

Is there any fun fact you want to share with us? 

Svenja: The Editors-in-Chief were not supposed to be the Editors-in-Chief but rather busy enough CD-responsibles, but in the end they are very happy that they took on the job. Or is that not fun enough?

You can check the online version of the publication here. Following this link, you can read all the previous editions. 

Key to Europe team 2015-2016

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona