Even if you are not from AEGEE-Cagliari, you might have already come across the name ‘Claudio Gennaro’; albeit from either policy proposals or one of the handful of Summer Universities that he already organised. With his involvement in a lot of SUs, it comes to no surprise that he is now running for the highest organ coordinating them.

The AEGEEan: Could you briefly introduce yourself?

Claudio: I am Claudio Gennaro, you might remember me from movies like “Three years in the JC” or “Let’s change all the commas in the CIA”. I am 24, a law student for some more months and AEGEEan since 2011. I live in Agrigento, Sicily, and I am member of AEGEE-Cagliari, Sardinia.

Why did you decide to run for member of the SUCT?

Thoreau would say “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life”; this would easily represent my relationship with AEGEE and its educational possibilities. Moreover, it would be an amazing opportunity to repay AEGEE with and for the skills I gained from it.

What is your past experience with organising or coordinating Summer Universities?

I have been main organiser, co-main organiser and member of the core team of five SUs. I have also been (the best) participant in one (wonderful Break Bad in Madrid) in 2014. Since 2012, I cannot imagine calling this season of the year only “summer” without “university”.

What are your plans to improve or maintain the quality of the SUCT and of Summer Universities?

For what it would concern my tasks, I will focus on a clear communication with local organisers. My previous AEGEE experience taught me how to clearly explain a set of rules contained in the CIA to people who approach it for the first time. Constant availability will also be a priority.

Do you already have plans of cooperating with other bodies of AEGEE as the SUCT?

Cooperation with other bodies of AEGEE is surely crucial to improve the content of SUs (such as better PowerPoint presentations or material for trainers), and I will do my best to strengthen the relationship of the SUCT with them, being proactive with new ideas. Anyway, realistically, I would not only rely on that. This will have to be discussed by the entire new team to come up with a common strategy.

What would you encourage locals to incorporate into their Summer University Programme?

Life changing experiences. Undoubtedly SUs represent our main source of new members and must be appealing to catch as many of them as possible, but we also need to differentiate them from “normal” holidays to maintain their special status of “life changing” events. I would encourage local organisers to let their participants meet the diversities of their cities: a day spent listening to the story of a refugee or a young entrepreneur counts more than a day spent at the beach. Make it count!

How would you propose to make the less applied for Summer Universities become more appealing?

I believe it is impossible to determine a common path for ALL the locals. We need to consider their dimension as association, city, budget, HR and many other variables. Our locals are extremely heterogeneous and it would be a terrible mistake to consider them all in the same way. Being a member of two locals of different shape and having organised SUs with both of them, I believe myself to be in a position of understanding better the functioning of different locals. I would focus on knowing better each local organiser who needs particular help for the preparation of their SU and on how to boost the content of their programme according to their strengths and weaknesses. PR will definitely play a key role for them (but I am the wrong candidate to answer that).

You can read his full candidature here.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

You might have recognised Réka Salamon from AEGEE’s website where she is already in the team page as Vice-President and Project Director. She decided to take it one step further, using all her previously acquired knowledge in several teams and projects to take the next step and run for President of AEGEE-Europe. Her journey started in 2011 in AEGEE-Debrecen, where she was Vice-President & Public Relations Responsible. She then became CD assistant on three occasions and Speaker of the Public Relations Committee. Meanwhile she moved to Germany, becoming member of AEGEE-Aachen, she was the Project Manager of the award-winning project Europe on Track and last year she finally succeeded to fulfil her dream: working in the Comité Directeur. 

The AEGEEan: Please introduce yourself.

Réka: I am that person who called AEGEE her boyfriend. Slowly turning 26-years-old, originally from Debrecen, Hungary, having lived in different parts of Europe from Finland to Germany, and I still always joke about being from Eastern Europe. I studied English and American Studies & Communications before AEGEE started teaching me more than any of my professors. I am driven and question the way things work, I love challenges including myself and others, I fight for things I believe in. I hate Twitter because it symbolises everything that is wrong with society nowadays. And my favourite job so far was being a kindergarten teacher.

What is your vision for AEGEE?

I got this question during question time in the beginning of my term in July as well. See, the thing is: no one can have a vision for AEGEE that is universally applicable because this organisation means something different to each and every one of us. I could say I want AEGEE to be the strongest actor on the political field or have the best projects all over Europe. The path I chose in AEGEE has made me realise the power that lies in the diverse thematic work of the organisation, and how it can be placed into the societal context, the so-called external world.
But AEGEE is essentially a place for learning, a playground where you get to choose how you want to develop, who are the people who inspire you and essentially, AEGEE becomes the time of your life. My vision for AEGEE is a network where members understand and choose their path in the organisation that suits them the most – and lots of individual contributions will become collective action and the identity of the association.

After a year spent in Brussels in the CD working for AEGEE, what do you think is the strongest asset and what do you think is the weakest, therefore the one you need to take care of as soon as possible?

We need to reestablish AEGEE’s strong learning opportunities. Non-formal education is becoming a concept not widely understood, while teaching your members from the basic things on “how to manage a local” to developing entrepreneurial skills during a European School could be the reality of the organisation. Members who understand and want to learn more will build us together as a stronger network. Check  NFE’s impact in society, or how AEGEE faced Bologna process and its challenges, and check the era of European School courses to know what I refer to.

AEGEE’s strongest point is being a playground for pragmatic idealists. The organisation has worked and is working on all possible fields that the society around us could find as an important cause or problematic case. From refugees to visa regulations, from employment to peace building, from political anticipation to human rights education, we offer the space for everything our members find interesting and would like to learn more about. We are just not very good at communicating these opportunities in a simple way, but instead in a maze of an overcomplicated internal structure and intimidating levels in our work. Let’s clear up this mess so we can focus on the things that really matter to us!

What are, according to you, the fundamental features of a President?

Understanding people. It takes time to get to know someone what the artificial environment of the AEGEE headoffice does not allow. You work and live together from day 1. It takes empathy and understanding to see what drives every person in the team, what triggers their reactions and what is the way to truly respect and trust each other with them. Lead by example. The president is ultimately the person the other people rely on for direction and support, let it be moral or work-related support. This weight of responsibility can only fall on a person who proves to be the pillar of the team by deed and not only by words.

A president is able to take one step back to look at the bigger picture. The President of AEGEE-Europe is president of two very different entities: the group of seven people in Brussels and an entire organisation. Both have different needs and expectations, and finding the balance between is probably the most challenging task each year. The President of AEGEE-Europe however, can influence the sense of direction of the rest of the board and take an approach that does not allow the CD to forget about its most important task: supporting the network (and be less caught-up in the everyday reality of Brussels).

What was your biggest achievement in you first term as CD?

AEGEE Day was the main thing we have scheduled for ourselves as an objective for the whole team, and while we took different roles in the implementation in the network and in the external world, it is turning out to be a huge success. A tradition we should establish to be a yearly celebration, bringing our network together.

What is the status of the recognition of Non Formal Education (NFE) and Volunteering? Do you think it is possible to create a standardised procedure that can have AEGEEans’ skills recognised (i.e. Credits for University or trainership granted)?

The Council of Europe has drafted a recommendation to all member states of the EU to implement the first practices of volunteer recognition by 2018. Since CoE is a strong actor in the institutional sector, this recommendation is going to urge other institutions for actions as well, which means youth organisations are also likely to gain more support in the improvement of quality, accuracy and credibility of non-formal and informal learning.

With less Brussels-jargon, basically: the recognition of volunteering is a decade-long debate that has been on several tables. With so many different levels of knowledge, unclear map of competences, different youth organisations delivering different trainings, it is hard to find a universal solution. AEGEE has been, however working on the Quality Assurance for Trainings project and the GR-EAT (Guidelines for Recognition: European Advanced Tool) project that drafted guidelines for youth organisations to develop their own internal recognition tools. We have worked on researching the needs of companies and universities when it comes to volunteering and we have come up with a system that could really work.

The work on these projects is probably the most invisible one of my portfolio, yet the educational sessions taking place this spring NWM are trying to highlight the importance of non-formal education and the global struggle for the recognition of NFE. I work closely together with the Lifelong Learning Platform, the strongest umbrella organisation on the field of education, and the strategy we have drafted for volunteer recognition could move social and political recognition forward in the next two years. For further info, please ask and I can go on…

What is your idea of a bottom-up approach to the Strategic plan?

A planning meeting / idea factory with 100-150 people with at least one representative from at least 80% of our locals coming to attend a four full days event of learning about AEGEE and defining their locals’ interest and involvement in our work in the next three years. The bottom-up approach is when you bring people together and give them the space to define what AEGEE means for them and where they can and want to contribute to the organisation.

Our current structure of learning and training, the strategic plan and action agenda resembles more the structure where a small part of the network is telling the rest of the network what they should do and the official procedures impose certain topics to be worked on, but do not give them the support (financial and human resources) to properly implement their obligations. The current structure is a result of 5-6 years of paying more attention to planning than our locals’ capacity and the actions we can actually realise. We can reverse this trend and get back to the roots when idea + action was dominating AEGEE’s work and not the official documents, reporting and paperwork.

You want to bring some pioneering actions back to AEGEE, such as study trips or more thematic conferences. How would you do that?

Case study trips brought theoretical work and online discussions to their action, by actually visiting the country and exploring its reality (not from a tourist perspective). Case study trips break down stereotypes and create educational materials for the future. Thematic conferences were supported by working groups and projects but essentially they were bringing benefit for the AEGEE locals as well. Thematic conferences were all over to discuss important issues in a more meaningful way than passive-aggressive Facebook comments.

I have one more! Mini Universities. Another thing from the past, Mini Unis offered a five day long crash-course with one topic explained from all perspectives. Combined with European School trainings on Project Management, projects have emerged with strong teams who knew a lot about the topic and also knew how to manage the project. How would I do it? Explaining the benefits of the thematic events on the local level and applying for funding from AEGEE-Europe for all of these in order to support the quality events of our locals and strengthen the brand of AEGEE also on the local level.

You want to help locals to organise more thematic activities with the help of projects and working groups. How would you envision this passage? Do you think the European level is connected enough with the local level?

The talks about bringing the European level closer to local level are endless. In my view it is all about the presentation and the crucially important simplification of the information towards our members. By naming all the internal bodies differently and creating different procedures around all of them, we have given them the false image of being something “better” than the local level. I would discuss our internal knowledge management with the rest of my team and start simplifying the structure of AEGEE to make knowledge as accessible and easy to understand as possible, both for locals and for members.  

You can find the questions from the readers here, her portfolio article here and read her full candidature here. 

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

During Spring Agora Bergamo, we will also vote to elect five members of the Network Commission and one of the candidates is Aleksandra Mojsova from AEGEE-Skopje. She is currently a SubCommissioner for Jovana Trajkovic and Assistant Coordinator of the Youth Activism and Youth Policies Programme of YouthCan. Now the 23-year-old Macedonian feels ready to cover a position on the European level.

The AEGEEan: Do you think becoming a member of the Network Commission can get you more experience in AEGEE?

Aleksandra: Most definitely. However, my basic motivation does not come from gaining more experience. I simply feel like I have been very close to the matter, and after all the knowledge I have accumulated, this is the field in which I can leave a mark and help the network to develop further. Of course, this is not necessarily the only way to get more experience. I believe that there are more experienced AEGEEans that not only did not apply for this, nor for any other position, and this did not happen because they are less competent or capable, but simply because they have a different idea and have their own authentic way of applying and transferring their knowledge or expressing themselves. However, personally I feel that I caught the vibe of our network, its passion and motivation, that are driven by the AEGEE spirit that got me at once.

Besides, having the recent problem of the lack of NetCom candidates, provokes a sense of responsibility in me. The good work of the previous AEGEEans, who invested so much of their time for the network, should not be simply let go of, it must be continued – the show must go on.

What were your tasks as Jovana’s SubCommissioner?

First thing about a Network Commissioner is availability for your respected antennae. Reliability and having your locals know that they can always rely on you with any difficulties that may arise is simply a must. Subsequently, a SubCommissioner must be reliable at any time for the assigned locals he or she is responsible for. Therefore, my tasks as a SubCommissioner are primarily to push my locals for the monthly activity reports, inform them on a regular basis about upcoming events, answer to any questions they have and encourage them to apply for events or to join different European Bodies, co-organising Network Meetings (NWM) in the process of choosing participants and content development, helping with organising extra activities such as ‘Stafeta’ as well as helping my NetCommie in promoting events in the online group for the active members of our locals. Finally, I have socialized with my locals and I became good friends with them so much so that I became a member of one of the locals I was responsible for, AEGEE-Niš. I have always seen my task as a pleasure and not as a job to be done. In that sense, I really managed to identify the challenges they might be facing and offer my support in working them out.

Can you explain to us what “Stafeta” is?

The name ‘Stafeta’ comes from a Yugoslavian huge event, roughly meaning a marathon. ‘Stafeta’, however, does not have anything to do with running. ‘Stafeta’ is a mixture of Network Meeting and training course, mainly for newbies, where participants actually share best practises but also acquire some knowledge. The idea behind it was to have the Balkan version of ‘Renove’. This was firstly implemented by our previous Network Commissioner Ana Potocnik, mainly because of her idea to integrate Balkan locals, getting them closer to each other, namely, the newbies with the older, experienced members, but also for Balkan youngsters to get to meet each other. Although twenty years ago we were living in the same united country, now we hardly know our similarities or differences.

However, the event is open for everyone who would like to know more and therefore meet the Balkans, because with the ‘Stafeta’ we cover subjects that can be of everybody’s interest. This year, though, the ‘Stafeta’ had a more intercultural accent, so it was more or less like an exchange. ‘Stafeta’ is an event that adapts the needs of our locals, and I support it very much.

Why do you say several locals get highly demotivated every once in a while? What would you do to avoid it?

Unfortunately, we had to downgrade some locals due to the lack of criteria fulfillment. This was not easy for us, for our NetCommie, its SubCom team or the Network Commission in general. This can however happen for various reasons: financial problems of the local, lack of human resources, or lack of information and motivation. Often it happens that the main reason behind extincted antennae is that experienced members simply did not take care of having motivated successors, or any successors at all, which leaves the local in shaky hands, or no hands. Primarily, I would set an equal distribution of tasks between my SubCommissioners, in order to ensure that every local gets the attention it needs. I would support and centralize the struggling locals during my mandate. I would give priority to communicating richly with the members of the less strong locals first, set expectations and mutual goals, ask and give feedback, speak with every board member separately, advise them on what could be done towards a certain problem they are facing, and help them to organise creative events that would motivate the students and create a bigger visibility at the same time. Different strategies might bring different solutions for different locals. But once they learn, feel or even sense the AEGEE spirit, they shall become way more driven to keep standing, keep going, keep growing.  I could supervise, support and guide them in the process, which is not easy nor promising to necessarily bring a success, which would make the effort all the more rewarding if we manage to do so.

What are you going to transmit to locals with online trainings?

Online trainings are certainly going to be voluntary and only for those willing to participate. I am very much aware of the pros and cons of an online trainings. This is not the ideal solution compared to a live-trainings, but putting a warmer accent on it, might help for sure. I would like to cover various subjects, depending on the local needs and what we have to offer. It might be a perfect possibility to connect locals to European Bodies, Working Groups, Projects, Interest Groups, or Committees. It should be useful and also funny, nonetheless if it is a one-time or a series of training sessions would remain to be decided. Board trainings come first, however. Every newly elected board will get their online training at the beginning of their term from an experienced Board member (a part of my SubCom team) that has been in the board for at least two years. Afterwards, assigned locals will be able to choose a subject they would like to get training for, choosing from a not too long, but sufficient list of trainings available, which they will be able to choose every once in a while, say, every season, depending on their weaknesses. My SWOT (strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats) analysis of the Balkan area locals, show that more or less, we all have similar, if not the same problems, which certainly helps the situation.
The purpose of the training is to focus on strengths over weaknesses, moreover, to turn the weaknesses into strengths. And put the accent not only on knowledge exchange and constructive dialogue between Board members, but also for non Board members, as they make a great deal of each local. “Whole is when it has it All” is my motto for providing a bigger engagement of non Board members for their merits that could only encourage and motivate them in helping their local Boards, which would lead to developing of the antennae, having self-development as a rewarding outcome. However, this could be applied not only between members of locals, but also between a local and an European Body. I would not set a number of required trainings, though, it will all be dependent based on an antenna’s needs.

Which kind of events do you have in mind in order to increase visibility of the locals?

Encourage them to apply for statutory events. If however, I get to understand that this is not very feasible for the next year, I would still encourage them to apply for thematic conferences, European Schools, and training courses. I would like to see at least two Regional Training Courses (RTC) during my term, which would be enough for all interested members to attend. I can say from my one experience, that this will only motivate and encourage them to go forward, depending on the trainers of course, but also on the topics covered with the given RTC. It will include the Academy, cooperation with all the projects and Working Groups in AEGEE.

Which “best practises” do you want to share?

From People to People. From AEGEEans to AEGEEans. This is something that is an ongoing thing in AEGEE, especially at the Network Meetings. There are some quite strong locals in the Balkan network, which can offer their experience. The current NetCom team already is taking care of this, namely they have started with Sharing Best Practices Skype meetings, the first one focusing on Human Resources, on recruitment strategies specifically.

Can you tell us the benefits of Twinning Antennae?

Well, as cheesy as it might sound – “the more, the merrier” and “united, we are stronger” I find it as a rather valid saying. In cooperation with another antenna, it is maybe more demanding, and more challenging to organise an(y) event, but it is more powerful and rewarding. Events, especially those that can contribute to the Strategic Plan as part of the Antenna Criteria, sound amazing by having the parallel impact in two cities, countries or even continents. Twinning Antennae help the locals to cooperate, achieve greater deals together by helping each other. It also increases the feeling of belonging – which is a natural human inclination. Furthermore, it helps to create and develop personal connections that might help the social well-being of the members individually as well as of the locals as a whole. But first and foremost, it is the santa-ice-breaker of stereotypes. Not to mention that you can learn about one’s local’s culture for a whole wonderful year followed by memories, or long-lasting connections.

Do you feel really ready to cover the position as a Commissioner?

After being a SubCommie for more than a year, I feel naturally inclined to take a bigger step forward towards a more responsible and engaging experience. I have met the last three Network Commissioners of my area. I had the chance to get a deeper knowledge not only from our current NetCommie, Jovana Trajkovic, but also from Ana Potocnik and others from the current Network Commission. Helping locals to understand their responsibilities and helping them in achieving those and even more, will help both them and myself to fully grasp our roles, and be ready for bigger achievements in the future.

Questions from readers:

How much time per day would you dedicate for the internal tasks of the Network Commission?

As much as needed. I have learned how to deal with my priorities a long time ago, and AEGEE has been at the top for quite some time now.

Given the fact that there are no fixed regions, which locals do you want to work with?

Well Balkan locals is something that naturally comes to my mind when I think of becoming a NetCommie. Of course, it might be easier in terms of having no language barriers and sharing the same Balkan spirit. Moreover, as a current SubCommie, I would like to be here to continue with Jovana’s work. I do prefer to work with Jovana’s locals, as I know them the best, I have all the required information and SWOT analysis for each and every one of them. However as I consider myself to be of a flexible nature, therefore I am sure that I can also be a very decent NetCommie even with another region. Since all of us AEGEEans are striving for a borderless Europe, I would not strictly keep my borders in only one region, in case I must.

Your program is very local oriented, but how about the work within the Network Commission? How do you think you can contribute?

I must say that though it is apparently not very clear in my candidature, both our locals and internal work of the Network Commission are of equal importance for me. As I very much support the NWM Reform, and I can so far only see the pros of its implementation, I would continue with the collaboration with European bodies in order to make sure that we support a comprehensive overview in the Sharing Best Practices continuous process. Furthermore, I would choose to focus on the NetCom newsletter or collaboration with European Bodies with the current NetCom team, and from June, per se, the new term, we will set our new plan for our term, so I would be happy to work it out with my fellow Network Commissioners.

What do you think is the thing you, as a Network Commissioner should work more with the locals in order to improve their lives?

Allow me to quote John Donne and say that “No man is an island”. This goes for me as a NetCommie, NetCom as a body, or any other body within AEGEE. In that respect, I would say that for sure I am not going to come out as a life saviour, a ‘never seen before NetCom’. It is mutual work and understanding that I would initiate. But, what I can devotedly offer is simply communication. Rich communication. With the locals, but also the locals between themselves. Communication prevents the possible misunderstanding between any personal or professional contacts. Once I get in contact with the members of my locals, I can be very supportive and act very motivating both for my closest and wider circles. Continuous mutual feedback, setting expectations, evaluating and re-evaluating, sharing and exchanging ideas, thoughts, encouraging and appreciating.

You didn’t mention Local Training Courses (LTC), despite the fact that it recently became a criterion. How would you ensure that locals will organise one?

One thing I am sure of, if I get to become the successor of Jovana Trajkovic, is that our locals have always organised LTCs. They have seen it as a criteria even before it officially become one at AgorAsturias.

As it is the best recruitment tool there is, I will make sure that all of my locals will have this information in mind, especially if they have any recruitment issues. We can work together both with the SubCom team and my locals for a PR strategy, that I believe would ensure a bigger turnout from the LTCs.

What do you think about the Network Meeting Reform? Do you think a standardized NWM will bring more pros or cons?

It is the best thing that could have happened lately. As much as I seem spontaneous at times, and act accordingly, when is up to my work, I prefer to have everything planned in advance and follow a certain structure, meaning that the NWM Reform might be also one of the many reasons that influenced my decision to run for a NetCommie.

You didn’t mention the Action Agenda (AA) or Strategic Plan (SP) in your program. How do you think the AA and the Strategic Plan can be more present in the activities of locals?

It might have not been very clear from my candidature, but I do not like changing it now, as the space for improvement should be shown, not written. Thе Strategic Plan, and the Action Agenda, is what I, we, and AEGEE consider an imperative. Though my experience (through working with different locals) shows that locals are free to do what they want, it will be much more relishing if, as a starting point, a common ground for all of us, antennae, contact antennae, or European Bodies, was found and we plan and share accordingly to the SP and AA, all-together looking at the same horizon, moving in the same direction. As I would not like to sound demanding, I would give each local the ability to choose their interest area of action.

You can read her full candidature here.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari.