Aleksandra Kluczka, but you can also call her Ola, is the Current Vice President & External Relations Director of AEGEE-Europe, originally from AEGEE-Kraków. 24-year old youth activist, with a passion for Europe, civic participation and gender equality, Aleksandra aims to empower the Association and to unleash the potential in its members. She is the sole candidate for President of AEGEE-Europe and, if elected, she will be the first female president since Agata Pateka (2009-2010).

The AEGEEan: You have already spent one year in Comité Directeur (CD).Why did you decided to run for another term? And why president?

Aleksandra: Once you join the CD, you realise than one year is a very short period of time. For the first months you learn the job, get expertise in certain fields, develop relations with partners and contacts. You plan and start many initiatives that you might not have the chance to see results of yet. I am still very motivated and passionate about AEGEE, and I have plenty of ideas on how to develop it. As I have mentioned in my candidature, I decided to run for the position of President of AEGEE-Europe and devote one more year of my life to AEGEE, in order to ensure the development and continuity for the organisation. I have a vision for the organisation that I would like to offer to the members and develop it together with the elected team. After one term in the CD I believe I have all the means, knowledge and preparation to take the full responsibility for and leadership of the organisation. I am running for this position, as I want to have a feeling of a fulfilled mission and that I did everything I possibly could to improve AEGEE, before I leave it.

You stated several time that you have a clear vision of AEGEE, what it is?

Since I do not want to repeat what I wrote in my candidature, I will be brief. It is balancing the external impact of the organisation with very strong internal development and education. It is deriving inspiration from the ambitious beginnings of the organisation, while adapting to the current European challenges and keeping in mind the reality and capacity of the Network. AEGEE of my dreams is an organisation with strong human resources and learning opportunities, empowering its members through various means, building dialogue and understanding between European youth through intercultural exchange. A driving pro-European youth stakeholder, with a more defined vision for Europe, strong in thematics, policy and  advocacy work, with members involved in decision-making processes. Being a true forum for discussion, where new ideas are born and challenges European youth is facing are addressed. Financially sustainable, with diverse sources of funding, being able to have a bigger secretariat. Step by step we are closer to such vision and I want to keep driving AEGEE gradually to achieving that goal.

How do you plan to improve and strengthen the tematic part of the association?

Speaking about current developments, I truly hope that the proposal on Working Group Reform will be accepted by the Agora. I do believe this change can be a milestone for our thematic and policy work, each of the new WGs being a motor for our work in each of the focus areas of the Strategic Plan. I am also looking forward to the discussion with the Network on the future of the EPM during this Agora. I intend to continue promoting and raising awareness about how to organise AEGEE-Europe activities. I do believe we should have more thematic conferences of AEGEE-Europe devoted to a particular topic (European affairs, civic participation, SP focus areas), more than just an annual one during EPM. The 30th anniversary conferences can be seen as a step in such direction. I also believe we should have more cyclical projects. It is important that the initiative of new AEGEE-Europe projects comes from the Network, but the CD should also be proactive in starting such. Strengthening the thematic part of the organisation cannot also happen without strengthening the project management and training project and content managers. This can happen through organising ES2s, development of project management toolkits, sharing best practices and knowledge transfers between project teams, etc.

What do you think is the most important thing to take into consideration when speaking about forum of discussion? and which part of the current communication channels should be implemented?

We need to work on our organisational culture, as forum for discussion was probably the most neglected means of our organisation. The most important thing is to work on engagement of a larger amount of our members in the live and online discussions, both on internal organisational matters, but also on the current European matters, our focus areas and other topics relevant for AEGEE. Encouraging active involvement of members in discussions is what AEGEE should be about, having a bottom-up approach to the activities of the organisation. This is the place where ideas are born and exchanged, stereotypes are broken and dialogue is built. Having 13 000 members, AEGEE can still greatly develop its potential to become the forum for discussion for European youth.

While speaking about communication channels in this context, we can distinguish between live and online means. We should keep working on having more space for quality discussions during our statutory events and to make sure we make use of the opportunity of gathering even 1000 Europeans in one place. Having more high quality content events also will contribute to developing AEGEE as a forum for discussion. Regarding online channels, I want to continue the popularisation and improvement of the Forum, which should be our main online discussion space. It is important to continue informing members how to make better use of Members Portal, which should be the main means for sharing information in the organisation. Also, better usage of liquid democracy tools could be a step in the direction of more digital democracy in the organisation.

Internal development of the Network and External visibility with relevant stakeholders… What is the most important action to do in this moment?

It is interesting how you correlated the two fields together. They are more interdependent that one might think. If we want to be credible with our external work, we need to bridge the gap between what we sometimes claim AEGEE is, and our reality. Regarding internal development, I do believe that strengthening our human resources is the most crucial action. A good step in that direction can be the Strategy for Learning and Training, that will be presented to the Agora in the next days. Regarding our external visibility, I would not mention one particular action. We should definitely continue and expand  AEGEE’s position as a strong youth stakeholder among European Civil Society. We should also empower our local members and give them the tools to be able to be more engaged in external work in their communities.

How do you plan to lead and manage your upcoming team to make sure to achieve the best from each of them and lead AEGEE?

Indeed, my first and utmost goal will be to develop a strong and healthy team, based on trust, respect and cooperation. The first step will be to organise a solid team-building with the presence of an experienced trainer, in order to learn the ways how each of the team members functions, what are the needs, expectations, motivations and visions for the organisation of every single person in the team. Based on this you can start moving from being a group of people into becoming a true team. I intend to develop a common vision and activity plan for the organisation together with the whole team, making sure that everyone can work on some issues that drive them and motivate them in the work of the organisation, and put their dreams for the organisation into practice. I want to support other team members in their development, their work, their struggles, and create an environment that lets their potential boost. Team should be always a priority for me, making sure that even in busy periods we will find time for listening to each other. As I mentioned in my application, a strong, trustworthy and simply happy team, where team members can fulfil their needs and work on interesting them fields, is a basis to be able to fully focus on the development of AEGEE, contribute to its processes and empower the members. I truly believe in the power of teamwork, if you have it, there is no challenge that cannot be addressed and embraced.

May you, please, point out the most relevant aspects of your candidature?

As far as my personal traits are concerned, I would mention: experience, knowledge, skills, motivation, strength, readiness, continuity, new ideas, vision, team-oriented, determination.  Regarding my programme, in a nutshell: the team, developing our vision for Europe, focus on human resources and learning opportunities, emphasis on Strategic Plan, strong thematic, policy and advocacy work, forum for discussion, active citizenship, sustainability of the organisation.

Describe yourself and your candidature in one sentence.

An experienced passionate of youth work and AEGEE in particular, willing to unleash AEGEE’s potential together with the team and the Network.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

The Comité Directeur 2014 – 2015 of AEGEE-Europe, also known as CD52, is back at the Brussels head office, ready to continue the implementation of their Activity Plan and the initiatives they are involved in. They will not be alone though, because they can count on the help of several home-based assistants, who will support the CD in some relevant areas, ranging from website management to data analysis, network development, policy monitoring and more. The AEGEEan is reviewing some of the priorities that the Comité Directeur will have throughout 2015 until the end of their term, which YOU can also contribute to!

The Strategic Plan, a “top priority”

The new Strategic Plan 2014/17 has just started this new term. Therefore, according to the CD’s Activity Plan, implementing the new Focus Areas in AEGEE will be “a top priority”. As youth unemployment is still on the rise in Europe, the Focus Area of Youth Employment will be one of the key issues of this current Strategic Plan, and the Comité Directeur plans to bring up the topic to the Network in several ways, such as the second edition of the Youth unEmployment project. Concerning Youth Mobility, a special focus will be drawn, especially after the deletion of the Visa Freedom Working Group (VFWG). Three CD assistants will work in close cooperation in order to review the guidelines as written by the VFWG and update them.

Moreover, AEGEE-Europe’s Policy Officers will have a very relevant role in the process, since AEGEE is going to have to define its position on the Focus Areas and do advocacy accordingly, after being officially established in the CIA at Agora Cagliari. The Action Agenda Coordination Committee (ACT) will also play a relevant part by ensuring the fulfillment of the Action Agenda 2014 – 2015, and will have a big involvement in drafting the following one at EPM Burgos in February.

Launch and implementation of “new” platforms

AEGEE’s Forum was re-established right after Agora Cagliari, which brought the Network to discuss  about which platform would be the best one in order to bring back discussions online in AEGEE. The Comité Directeur will continue the implementation and promotion of the Forum, as well as the Members’ Portal, which was officially launched at Agora Cagliari. Several projects and European bodies use it in order to share information about their work and involve their members.

Moreover, 2015 could bring the new Online Membership System to life, as a replacement of our current Intranet. According to the Activity Plan, the OMS is expected to be launched at the upcoming AgorAsturias. Moreover, the AEGEE Wiki will be developed, as an information database that will gather all kinds of information, from general information about AEGEE to specific working procedures.

Discussion about AEGEE’s organizational culture and structure

Now that the new AEGEE identity has been implemented as a way to present AEGEE externally, the current CD sees it’s time to focus on the internal structure of AEGEE and how the different bodies are connected with each other. Therefore, they have planned to consult the different European bodies about their needs and relations among them, and map them, as well as to start a discussion on its organizational culture.

Moreover, this year will see the follow-up of the introduction of the secretariat strategy. The Comité Directeur is currently researching the possibilities to outsource some of their current administrative tasks to the Secretariat and funding possibilities, in order to ensure professionalism and continuity in the organization.

Strengthening quality assurance and non-formal education

The impact measurement process was recently introduced to AEGEE, and the process of gathering data about the impact of several aspects of AEGEE’s work will be followed up with throughout this year. The same applies to the quality assurance of our events. Since the establishment of EQAC, the committee has constantly been improving and it will ensure that the quality of our events is properly monitored.

What’s more, the Comité Directeur will have a big involvement in the ongoing processes of the validation of non-formal education, with initiatives such as GR-EAT (which stands for “Guidelines for Recognition – European Advanced Tool”), a Life-Long Learning project, where AEGEE is one of the management partners. The COY Project, aimed at striving for the recognition of Youth Workers, is currently coming to an end, so AEGEE will follow up on this project, together with its partners. The recognition of volunteering will also continue, in order to ensure that volunteer work is valued and recognized.

Human Resources and on-line trainings

A lot of attention will be paid to the Human Resources status of AEGEE through initiatives like the Membership Growth Project, which aims to help antennae with their membership strategies in order to become more sustainable. Currently, the locals who will take part in the pilot phase of the MGP are being selected. AEGEE will also bring trainings to the whole Network, as the first webinars and online trainings for AEGEE members are currently being developed.

…and most importantly, involving YOU

These are only some of the things that will keep the Comité Directeur busy in 2015. However, their main priority is no other than to involve you in these processes! From project management opportunities, to helping them define the organisational culture of AEGEE, applying as a home-based assistant, supporting the discussions in the forum or taking part in the consultations about several advocacy processes and policy areas. There are several areas you can support the work of the Comité Directeur in, and AEGEE members are the ones who shape the organisation, so don’t be afraid to take an active role in defining it!

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

During Spring Agora-Patra 2014, unfortunately there was no candidate for Financial Director for the Comité Directeur 2014-2015. Soon after Agora-Patra, an open call was issued to find an Interim Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe until Agora-Cagliari. According to the open call,  it is expected that this person will officially run for this position in front of the Agora to be fully elected by the network. Ioana Duca, member of AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca since April 2010, has been selected for this position and she will act as CD assistant, with no voting rights in the CD, as she was not voted by the Agora. 

How have you been involved in AEGEE until now, both  on local and European level?

I joined AEGEE in April 2010 and since then I was involved a lot on local level as I’m in AEGEE Cluj-Napoca’s board since April 2011 ( Secretary 2011-2012, President 2012-2013, SU Coordinator 2013-2014 and now as Board Adviser). I have organized a lot of events in my local: 6 SU’s, local trainings, network meetings, European Days of Languages, Culture Action Days, recruitment and SU presentations. I was mentor of AEGEE-Ploieşti for 1 year and trainer in some LTC’s for AEGEE-Iaşi and some other small things.

On European level, I was not involved that much, but enough to get some experience as I was CD Assistant for 2 months in 2012 working with archives and Financial Intern since 17th of March this year.

What pushed you to apply for the open call issued by the CD?

The fact that I liked to work with finances and budgets. I was thinking “I’m already working as financial intern and I know almost everything related with the task, why not?”

Why didn’t you run for the position before, at Agora-Patra since you were present?

I didn’t run at Agora-Patra because of some of my principles. At that moment I already had another commitment, an internship in Brussels due to start at the beginning of June. For me it is very important to respect my commitments, even if I wanted to candidate I had to solve somehow this situation with my internship first.

Everything  got solved just on time, one week before I was supposed to start my internship it was called off. “Everything happens for a reason” I was thinking. I considered it a sign and I applied for Interim Financial Director.

You are already living in Brusells in the CD house as financial assistant of Anna Gots, yet next year you will be working with a whole new CD. How will it be different for you?

I don’t see big differences, but of course it will be different. Mostly because of the amount of responsibilities and the fact that I will work in a new team. Lucky me, I already had some experience in working with two CD’s already. This will be the 3rd CD I will work with and, most of all, it will be my CD  as I will not be only an assistant.

You will be Interim Financial Director until Agora-Cagliari. Are you planning to stay after the Agora?

I will be Interim Financial Director untilAgora-Cagliari, but my plan is to continue, so I will run at Agora-Cagliari because I want to be with my new team until the end of the CD’s term. I’m looking forward to work with them.

After two years with the same Comité Directeur, the Agora elected on the 3rd of May the six people who are going to live in the CD house and work for the association for the next 12 months. Paul Smits (AEGEE-Enschede), Antonija Parat (AEGEE-Zadar), Aleksandra “Ola” Kluczka (AEGEE-Kraków), Holger Shmitt (AEGEE-Berlin), Ivan Bielik (AEGEE-Brno) and Mayri Tiido (AEGEE-Tartu) are our new Board of Directors.

Paul Smits (AEGEE-Enschede)

Paul Smits was elected as the new President and won over two very strong candidates: Léa Charlet (AEGEE-Paris) and Réka Salamon (AEGEE-Debrecen/Aachen). After being up by only three votes, he won again in the second round against Réka Salamon by only 19 votes. Being elected brought him “a shock of happiness and relief. The Agora had been very tense and put quite some pressure on me, so I have to admit I was happy this whole election thing was over. I immediately thought about the other candidates that went through a very stressful time. Going down to Réka felt like the only right thing to do, because for her the circus ended right there. The full realisation of being elected only came when I began receiving the congratulations after the plenary session.”

Antonija Parat (AEGEE-Zadar)

Even more close was the victory of Antonija Parat, elected Secretery General, with only two votes apart. For her being elected “is an honor. I feel really grateful for this opportunity, and I’m looking forward to starting my term. It took a while for me to process everything and to really understand the ways in which my life will change now. But I’m definitely excited and I can’t wait to see what the year will bring.”

The emotion to be elected was huge for everyone. “I was happy to share this moment with my friends sitting next to me. I was also really grateful that people trusted me and I thought that I want to do my best now even more”, says Ola. Holger adds “I am very grateful and very much aware of the responsibility it means to be elected by so many AEGEE members and I take this responsibility very serious. Generally I am very happy and I can ́t stop smiling, thinking about the great things to come next”.

Holger Schmitt (AEGEE-Berlin)

Building the team is the focus for all the newly elected CD members. For Antonjia “the most important thing will be knowledge transfer and teambuilding. I think it’s important for us to be fully aware of our tasks, to get to know each other and start functioning as a team. I’m really excited about getting to know everyone a bit better and starting my term. I hope it will be a great experience for our entire team, and that the Network will be happy with our work”. “I think that after some teambuilding and knowledge transfer we will work fine”, Mayri agrees. “ Also, I am more than sure that we will have a lot of fun together!”

Along with the excitement some fears may come. A part of being scared of “getting more interviews [he laughs]”, Paul only sees “interesting challenges. The only scary thing might be the high amount of these challenges, but that only means we have to plan and manage them properly.”

Mayri Tiido (AEGEE-Tartu)

Living abroad is a huge challenge and something will be certainly missed. For Mayri it is “hard to predict, since usually we don’t know what we miss until we don’t have it anymore. As being part of the Comité Directeur is a lot of work, most probably I will miss the amount of free time I have at the moment.” Ola is very familiar with living in Brussels since she had done her Erasmus there and she was an Intern in the CD house, but she says: “I might miss some Polish food too, but you just need to know where to find it!” Even getting used to new tradiction seems hard. “People in Brussels put their garbage on the streets on certain days of the week. It looks horrible!” jokes Ivan.

A lot of CD members were involved in other projects and committees. Holger Schmitt resigned from his position of Network Commissioner and Julia Fuss (AEGEE-Mannheim) was elected Netcom Assistant until Agora Cagliari. Holger has a huge trust in her. “She already gained a lot of experience being president of AEGEE Mannheim and being involved in the Spring Agora Rhein-Neckar and my subcommie for the Rhein-Neckar area, where she organized an RTC and visited many locals. I am very much looking forward to intensively work together with and support her wherever I can. Of course I will continue my personal relations I have in my NetCom area and I will be their contact person in Brussels”, he says.

Ivan Bielik (AEGEE-Brno)

Mayri Tiido was the Project Manager of the successful Health4Youth. “As the project has been already ongoing for one year and an haf, in Autumn Agora Cagliari this cycle of the project will end. I will give my best to finish up as many things as possible before August. After that I will kindly hand over the project until its ending to Matthijs Overhaal (AEGEE-Tartu, Public Relations Manager)”. Ola Kluzcka is the Content Manager of the YVote 2014 project and she admits that “we haven’t really discussed [the follow up] with the team yet, but I definitely hope so. It’s one of the things high on my agenda and I hope we will be able to realise this project. Especially with the results of the recent European Parliamentary elections showing that initiatives as Y Vote 2014 or the project about spreading europtimism are needed more than ever due to the low voter turnout and the rise in support for eurosceptics.”

Aleksandra Kluczka (AEGEE-Kraków)

Ivan Bielik will keep “a low profile in IPWG right now. Of course, I will continue in the initiative AEGEEDebate. Moreover, I am a researcher in EaP project right now.” Paul Smits, soon-to-be former Chaiperson of the Agora is working with the Chair Team to “finish up after Agora Patra. Soon after this is completed the newly elected Secretary of the Agora will be introduced and a call for an interim vice-Chair will be sent. Even more than before the Agora, I am convinced the Chair Team will be fine and will find someone motivated and capable to bring the team back to full strength.” Some rumours about interested people are already spreading in the Network.

The new team will have a heavy legacy from the Comité Directeur 2012-2014, but Antonija is sure that “the current CD set a great example for us, they did a lot for AEGEE in the last two years, and I’m really thankful for that. They are a very good team, and they set the bar for future CD’s pretty high, so following them is surely a challenge. But I believe our team is capable of taking on this challenge: I think we can learn from the current CD, but also develop our own vision and keep improving AEGEE in the next year.”

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

With the contribution of Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen