Dear reader, I’m Alejandra, member of AEGEE since four years ago and, currently, one of the members from the pool of representatives of AEGEE-Europe. Between the 10th and 14 of October, I’ve attended the General Assembly of IFMSA- Spain (International Federation of Medical Students Associations).  For me, having the opportunity to be there, participate and give everything I could to this event was a big pleasure. Now, I have this report so you can check how the event went and possible future cooperations. Thank you for this opportunity!

The event was the National Meeting (General Assembly) of IFMSA-Spain. There were parallel agendas about different topics that they have been working on during the whole year, apart from the agenda for presidents and for the exchanges responsible. Plenaries happened in order to vote motions, candidates, etc, and there were also trainings.

During the whole event, I was switching between mostly two agendas, one about human rights and the other about sexual health. The sessions were really interesting and I found many topics in which AEGEE and IFMSA can collaborate contributing with different perspectives on the same topic. I have also attended one session for presidents to know how they organise it. Apart from that, I was attending all the plenaries, and during the first plenary I held a presentation to introduce AEGEE.

Moreover, there were also training: I delivered one about how to include your association in your CV. During the whole event, I was talking with many people explaining about AEGEE and the different projects, apart from asking about the functioning of IFMSA-Spain to get more information about it. I also had the opportunity to meet the president of IFMSA International, a representative from the CEEM (Consejo Estatal de Estudiantes de Medicina) and a representative from AECS (Associació d’Estudiants de Ciències de la Salut).

The programme was a mix between bureaucratic procedures and trainings. There were six different agendas, four of them about their different working groups and with thematic sessions, one other related to their exchanges and the last one for presidents. The representatives of each local committee had to attend the one for presidents and the ones in charge of the exchanges in their local had to attend the one about exchanges. The rest of participants could switch from one to another, even if most of them tried to focus in just one. Everyday after lunch  there was the local hour, were each local committee was reunited to discuss everything to vote later in the plenaries. On Wednesday and Thursday there were trainings, three at the same time on Wednesday and two on Thursday. Anyone could choose the one that they liked the most. As feminism was a topic for this GA, there was a session about this, parallel to the trainings. Of course, plenaries were there, in order to vote motions, present candidates, vote them, etc.

As for my impressions about this event, first of all I love the idea of having different agendas. It has a really big potential so anyone can choose in which they would like to participate. This could be also implemented in our Agora, as we have parallel workshops for the visitors and we can implement this procedure and maybe improve the attendance rate of visitors. This kind of structure of course can be implemented in any other events, and we could organise thematic events with this structure, so the funding should be easier, more people with different interests would attend it, and we could have a bigger impact.

Regarding the cooperation, the different local committees can cooperate with our antennae. Right now I just have contacts in Spain, but, from here, I can work to get more from other countries in order to implement the collaboration. Also, with IFMSA International, we can talk and give them some spot in the Agora and some space. We can start with IFMSA Spain, but we can also look further and try to get this cooperation. They are medical students, so a full collaboration is difficult but still, we are fighting for the same ideals and rights, even if we look through them from different perspectives. So, at the end, we can collaborate in this topics that we have in common. I’m starting to test this local collaboration unofficially with the Local committee in Santiago with AEGEE-A Coruña and AEGEE-Vigo, and my idea is to invite two of them to our LTC.

The event opened my mind a lot. I could observe that we can improve a lot how we organise some events to give space to everyone. Everyone here was so attentive, and asking me about how my experience was going, taking the time to explain me something everytime I didn’t understand. It was a totally repeatable experience. To conclude, we should continue with this collaboration, as we can learn a lot from each other. And try to have this collaboration on the European and local level.

Written by Alejandra Piot Pérez-Abadín, Network Commission

Kids, I’m gonna tell you an incredible story, the story of how I met BEST (the Board of European Students of Technology). I joined one of their Regional Meetings (RM), which is the equivalent to our Network Meetings (NWM) but with more participants than we usually have. Not all sessions were mandatory, but instead there were some recommended and optional ones. It was a place for newbies, active members and alumni. A great place to learn and share.

Their random regions do not seem to work bad even if there are many different feelings about it, of course: there are no stable regions, but they arrange them totally randomly, which can work in order not to create any kind of “regional identity” but maybe difficult for the knowledge transfer inside their Local BEST Groups (LBG, our antennae) as well as for members to travel quite far to attend their RM.

I could not have find a better way to spend that weekend that with a bunch of Technology students that welcomed and integrated me as if I was one of them! I danced Tunak Tunak in the “BESTies” style; so I was feeling at home. We had a very nice and funny International Evening (IE) or, as we call it, European Night (EN); there was plenty of food and a death round (our EuroTrip), so you all know what I mean. It was like being in an AEGEE event but this time I shared it with new amazing people around, people that I also loved. Different associations, same great spirit. I know it; I am quite soppy!

I had the chance to learn further about BEST and about how they work, so we can use the things that seems to be working nicely for them; I made note of some topics I liked and that could be used in our Network (mainly for the NetCom when organising NWMs). It was more about people’s participation and opinions about their region and their locals development and cooperation between them than about trainers just telling stories or facts even if they also informed about their European level and about the issues concerning their whole Network; for example, discussing about the topics and candidates of their next General Assembly (GA), our Agorae. A member of the European Board (our Comité Directeur, CD) was also present in the RM just like we do in NWM to help connecting all levels easier.

I also had the opportunity to speak about what we do in AEGEE, how do we distribute areas, how my own antenna is working, how do we get fundraising, manage meals or any other issue related to events’ organisation. It was great for me to share and learn from them, and also the other way round, as we keep in contact to talk about several common topics. Our associations are really similar in terms of internal structure and we can still learn a lot from each other to improve ourselves and keep making AEGEE and BEST even more awesome. That is why we are partners, isn’t it?

Great job of Fergus Incoronato, the Regional Advisor (RA), our Network Commissioner, in charge of the content of the RM and of LBG Madrid Carlos III, the organising local. They all worked so hard for everyone to enjoy and make the most of this long weekend. Thanks again, lovely people!

As I already suggested to some antennae from my area and some LBGs: there is so much potential in this partnership that has not been developed yet; so let’s cooperate further, let’s organise some activities together… people, there’s strength in numbers!

P.S.: As it was not enough for me, I repeated the following week attending a Weekend Trip, part of the Spring Course of LBG Valencia as a guest… I am so in love with this people called BESTies!

Written by Carmen María López Banegas, AEGEE-Alicante

Do you know what AEGEE-Riga, AEGEE-Tartu and AEGEE-Valletta have in common?

In the Facebook era, we could say they have a friend in common: the Anna Lindh Foundation (ALF), a network can open many doors to their members and facilitate the foundation of new projects.

AEGEE-Riga were the last ones who “added this friend”, just a few weeks ago.

The AEGEEan interviewed one of its members, Klinta Stasjule, who had an important role in the establishment of this partnership.

Klinta, can you explain a bit more what the Anna Lindh Foundation is about?

The purpose of ALF is to bring people across the Mediterranean together to improve the mutual respect between cultures. Since its establishment in 2005, the Anna Lindh Foundation has launched and supported action across the fields impacting perceptions of people from different cultures and with different beliefs, as well as developing a region-wide Network of civil society organisations.
They provide people the opportunity to work together to promote intercultural dialogue and to create a Euro-Mediterranean region as an area of cooperation, mobility and peace.

Currently the Foundation brings together more than 3000 organisations from 43 countries!

What is their strategy to reach their aims? How do they organize the work?
The programme of the Foundation is focused on activities in fields which are essential for human and social dialogue:
• Culture and Creativity;
• Education and Intercultural Learning;
• Urban Spaces and Citizenship;
• Media and Public Opinion.

The fields of action sounds similar to the ones of AEGEE…

Yes! There are many similar things.. AEGEE also offers the opportunity to work and develop yourself in multicultural environment and promotes cooperation between cultures.

What are the main differences instead?

Mainly that they operate not only European countries, but also in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean coast countries (such as Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon…) and that this is an organisation which connects a lot of organisations such as AEGEE, thus allowing networking.

How did you hear about the Anna Lindh Foundation?

One of our active members wanted to apply for an exchange organised by ALF and she got refused as the priority usually is given to the members from the ALF Network.
We checked all the info and decided that joining the ALF could be useful and it would open new horizons!

Is the procedure to join easy? 

I would say, yes, it is. Any non-governmental, non-profit organisation, association, university, government and enterprise fund that supports the mission and wants to promote intercultural dialogue with the Euro-Med countries can join the AFL.

To become the Anna Lindh Foundation, we had to complete application forms online (one in English – http://www.euromedalex.org/node/add/member and one in Latvian). Then we were invited for a meeting with the representatives of ALF explaining our motivation to join that led us to be approved as a member of ALF Network in Latvia.

Do you have already in mind any specific initiatives that can be carried on with their support?

We don’t know yet the precise answer as we have just joined the network and haven’t participated in any initiative. But anyway, it doesn’t make any extra costs to the organisation, you should prepare just some annual reports to be submitted. So that we encourage each of you take on this opportunity if it’s possible and in case you find it attractive!

Would you suggest other antennae to become a part of this network? Why?

As I said, the aim is similar to AEGEE and this only opens wider horizons! Why not!?

Participation in the Anna Lindh Foundation network organisation does not impose any financial or legal obligations and, if you are not convinced yet, this is a list of the advantages of joining, as described on ALF’s website:

* Only the network member organisations are eligible for the Foundation for the grant project competition.
* Opportunity to participate in training seminars, conferences and various other fund and its members’ events.
* Possibility to receive regular information (advice) about the ongoing ALF and Euro-Med cooperation in the field.
* Ability to work with other organisations within the network and find partners for different projects.
* Opportunity to participate in Euro-Med policy making, decision-making processes involved in the performance of the network priorities and key tasks.

More info on the website – http://www.euromedalex.org/about !

Written by Martina Zanero, AEGEE-Torino