During the European Planning Meeting (EPM) in Burgos last February, attention was paid to the topic of Europe and Russia. However, another topic of this EPM was the drafting of the new Action Agenda 2015 – 2016, which will be presented at Spring AgorAsturias. An important matter, but probably also a very unknown one, since the Action Agenda is one of the most important yet also unfamiliar documents.

Together with the Strategic Plan, the Action Agenda defines AEGEE’s long-term goals and the ways to reach them. To do this as efficient as possible, the objectives in the Action Agenda should be as clear and reachable as possible in order to not end up with a fulfillment rate of less than fifty percent, as happened last year. An important task, which the participants of the EPM eagerly took on, leading to interesting discussions and a lot of new ideas.  Being responsible for the implementation of it, the Action Agenda Coordination Committee (ACT) helped to draft the new Action Agenda.

So, what did they do?

The main task for the members of ACT was to facilitate the Action Meetings together with the members of the Comité Directeur. In these sessions, participants got together to think of new objectives for the four Focus Areas of the Strategic Plan (Spreading Europtimism, Youth Mobility, Youth Employment and Civic Education). Before they started working on that however, an overview of the fulfillment of the current Action Agenda (2014-2015) was presented, which already looked quite good compared to last year’s Action Agenda! Afterwards, the drafting process started and the participants discussed, drafted, voted and finally created new objectives and activities related to it.

What will happen with these objectives?

The draft of the new Action Agenda will be presented at the Agora, during which participants will get the chance to ask questions and make amendments – just like they were given the chance on the Forum. Once everyone has had their say, it will be put up for approval by the Agora, after which it will officially be effective after the 1^st of August of this year.

How will locals be prepared for that?

First of all, just like this year new guidelines will be written that will carefully explain how the new Action Agenda can be implemented. This document will also contain concrete examples of activities that can be organised by locals that want to contribute to this Action Agenda. Secondly a new instruction video will be created, providing a basic explanation of the Action Agenda 2015-2016. Finally examples of activities that contribute to this Action Agenda will be shared on a weekly basis in the ACTive AEGEEans Facebook group.

Through this means, both the current and future Action Agenda Coordination Committee will coordinate the process from the draft of a new Action Agenda to the ACTivities organised by locals in the upcoming year.

Written by Marijn Scholte and Svenja van der Tol, Action Agenda Coordination Committee

Each year, the Days Without Meat (DWM) campaign is organised in Belgium and lasts for forty days. During these days, people join each other to eat less meat and raise awareness about the impact our eating habits have on the environment. This year, AEGEE-Leuven thought it would be nice to join with a group of AEGEEans, and they invite you to join too! We spoke to Tom Etienne, President of the local, to find out more about this initiative and how AEGEEans can join.

The Days Without Meat logo

The AEGEEan: Where did the idea to join the Days Without Meat campaign come from?
Tom: The ‘Days Without Meat’ campaign (DWM) runs every year in Belgium for forty days. This year, two of our board members suggested we take part as a local. We came up with the idea to make this a European event that everyone can participate in from their own homes. It also serves as promotion for our awesome Summer University that we will organise together with AEGEE-Tilburg on the topic of sustainability. This is important to keep in mind: we’re not pleading for total vegetarianism, but for responsible eating habits!

When does the challenge take place?
It is a forty days campaign starting on the 18^th of February and ending during the Agora on the 4^th of April!

How can AEGEEans join you, and how many already have joined?
Joining is a very easy thing to do. In the event on Facebook you can find a detailed description, but you basically just have to make an account on the website and then join the AEGEE group in order for AEGEE to become the biggest participating organisation! We have nearly 100 participants in the Facebook event, but in the actual group there is definitely room for growth! We are currently fourth in the organisations category, but we could easily climb up to the first place!

Why should AEGEEans join you?
This is not a hard question to answer. First of all, it is a perfect opportunity to show that AEGEEans care about their environment. Second, it’s something that we can all do together, and to top it off, the campaign ends during the Agora, which will definitely make for an unforgettable closing party! There is one last thing: everyone who participates gets a free veggie meal in a Greenway restaurant in Leuven (or Ghent, Antwerp or Brussels). Another reason to participate and to visit us in Belgium!

What do you think will be the biggest challenges for people joining you?
I think the name of the campaign might sound rather frightening, because it’s called days without meat, even though that is not the main objective at all. We’d like to raise some awareness about our eating habits and their consequences on our environment, not to rule out meat in its entirety.

Do you have any tips for people who want to eat less meat?
Sure, it might seem like a hell of a job to cook vegetarian if you have barely ever done that before, but it’s totally fine to simply leave out meat for once. If you’re skipping meat for several days in a row, there are very tasty meat replacements, but for instance eggs would also do the job (and they’re so much cheaper!). We will keep the campaign very active during those forty days, so you can expect lots of information, motivation, suggestions, recipes etc. so that you will never feel discouraged! No worries, AEGEE-Leuven will take good care of you.

Since your challenge takes place during both the EPM and Agora, are you thinking of some kind of cooperation or actions to bring attention to the challenge?
We have only recently contacted AEGEE-Oviedo and AEGEE-Burgos to see what it is that we could do to cooperate, but we are aware of how big and difficult it is to organise such a huge event, so we don’t want to interfere with everything they’ve done. We’ll try to make sure you can eat vegetarian though! We would very much appreciate if locals could post this wonderful campaign onto their pages and into their groups, so that we can grow to become a big and friendly group of caring and engaged people. Oh, wait… A big and friendly group of caring and engaged people? This sounds like something we all know. This sounds like AEGEE! So I have only one more thing to say to you! Show that AEGEE cares!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

In little more than a month, the spotlights will be on Burgos where the EPM (formerly known as European boards meeting, EBM) will take place. Historic capital of Castile, this northern city will captivate participants, according to Rubén Sanz Martínez, main organiser of the EPM. We interviewed him to get to know what he and his antenna have in store for us.

The AEGEEan: When and why did you decide to apply to organise the EPM 2015?

Rubén: After we organised a NWM and a Renove (one of the biggest events for Spanish, French and Portuguese speaking locals), we realised we have a lot of very active members with a lot of experience on organising big events. Since our antenna is growing up very fast and we were full of motivation, we wanted to apply for an Agora at first, but the University of Burgos is one of the smallest in Spain, so we decided that an EPM would be the perfect challenge for us. We made a good program focused on participants and … we were elected! Since then, we are working very hard on this.

What will await the participants in Burgos?

Burgos is the capital of the Old Kingdom of Castile, an amazing city where all stones have a lot of history.  During the middle ages all Spanish kings lived here, some were even crowned and buried here. Even Christopher Columbus came here to see the Spanish king after one of his trips to America. Moreover, it’s the birth place of El Cid, a Spanish hero, and the cathedral of Burgos appears in all art books as one of the top gothic cathedrals of the world. I know that Burgos is a bit unknown outside of Spain, but it will be a great surprise for all the participants. Nonetheless, Burgos was selected last year as one of the top 25 places you must go to by The New York Times.

How are the lodging and the plenary halls? Are the facilities cloes to each other?

It will be an event focused on participants. Even though we will walk from the gym to plenaries, all buildings are in the same area. Also, the places for social program will be close and we will walk there.

Let’s talk about food. Spain is famous for its cuisine, what do participants have to expect?

In 2013, Burgos had the honor of being the Spanish Capital of Gastronomy and our cuisine is one of the most popular in Spain. Even in the most remote corner of the country you can find Burgos cheese and Burgos sausage (also knows as morcilla). We are planning to have typical products of Burgos for dinner after the closing ceremony to share it with all the participants.

We are currently facing an economic depression phase. Have you had any difficulties in finding sponsors and partners?

I always say: “The most important things in life are for free” and here it’s the same. The economical situation is not the best, but we are a big team full of ultra motivated people and we are trying to get as much as possible by working hard. Step by step we are reaching all our goals. We already have all the basic features, now we are working hard for get more for all participants.

How many active members do you have in your antenna? How will you ensure that you have enough organisers and helpers?

Now AEGEE Burgos has about sixty members only, but we have fourty active members (five of them are from other cities living in Burgos) and we have chosen ten members with a lot of experience in order to have a final number of five. We can say that there will be one of us always ready to to help participants.

Why will EPM Burgos be unforgettable?

It enough to go to our website to see how nice the city is, all the work we’ve done so far, how easy it is to reach Burgos, etc…  For sure it will be an unforgettable experience for all of you!

According to the statistics on Zeus, only 290 people applied (and now applications are open again), a lot less compared to the previous EBM in Lublin. Why do you think applications decreased? Were you disappointed by the results?

Well, all of us knew there would be less participants than the previous ones. The application period was during Christmas holidays, when all people were spending time with family or focused on exams. The topic is Russia and EU, but it will be on the opposite corner of Europe, and Agora will be during Easter in Spain too, so almost all people have chosen to attend this or the other event, but I am sure and I can say proudly that nobody who comes to EPM Burgos will regret it.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

AEGEE-Barcelona is one busy antenna! They have meetings every Saturday where they meet, socialize and discuss the future of their antenna. In one of those meetings a while ago, they decided to host Fundraising European School (FRES) and it is that particular event that has made them become the Local of the Month of October. The AEGEEan interviewed Clàudia Nogués, who is the newly elected President, as well as Anna Gumbau, the Vice-President and co-main organiser of FRES.

The AEGEEan: How does it feel to be selected Local of the Month?

AEGEE-Barcelona: First of all, we did not expect to be elected as Local of the Month, so it was a great surprise for the antenna. Moreover, after organizing a good and hard-working FRES (Fundraising European School) it was the way to recognize our effort. In the name of all members of the antenna we want to thank you so much for this honor that The AEGEEan has awarded us with!

How do you keep your members active in your antenna?

We try to do many activities with different topics: ranging from our traditional weekly meetings and different lunch meetings such as barbecues or paellas for the members and friends (it is a strategy to get new members, too!) to excursions to discover Catalonia. Furthermore, we encourage all of them to apply for the hundreds of events happening around Europe, from Agorae until New Year’s Eve, and get steeped in AEGEE spirit.

You have elected a new board in October. What have been the highlight(s) of the past board year?

We are very happy with the activities and events that we have organized during this year, and the goals that we have reached. For example we prepared Agoraphobia, the pre-event for Autumn Agora Zaragoza, with lot of success. Also we have done our usual Travel Summer University, in this case with AEGEE-Valladolid.

In order to put an end to a great year, we wanted to organize a serious and formal event as Fundraising European School. But AEGEE-Barcelona doesn’t focus only on organizing events! We work everyday to maintain our members happy and help them with all they need. Also, we try to be present in different universities and make AEGEE more visible. So now we wish for the new board of AEGEE-Barcelona a bright future during this year and to keep working with our aims.

How was the organization of FRES?

Organising the Fundraising European School was a really big adventure: we had to prepare the budget, the social programme and all the logistic arrangements in a very short period of time, practically during only one month, since the event was right after the summer holidays and most of our corporate and institutional partners were out for vacation. Moreover, it is very demanding to stay full of energy, during almost ten days, for such an exhausting event… But yay, we managed!

Really, initially we organised the FRES because even though AEGEE-Barcelona has organised several events, most of them have been purely fun/leisure, with neither any learning content behind it nor any contribution to the Strategic Plan and the Action Agenda. Therefore it was a great way to step out from our comfort zone and try something new. The result, seeing that participants were having fun and enjoying the event, was really rewarding.

What did you learn from the experience?

On the thematic aspect, we got to learn how a training event is from the inside. Moreover, when we had some spare time, we always sat next to the participants during training sessions and took notes of what the trainers were saying, so we actually learnt some things regarding fundraising! On the purely organisational aspect, we learnt a lot regarding time management, and especially the importance of having a strong team, which is coordinated and has the same vision on the event.

What was the best thing about organizing the event?

Teamwork, without any doubt. When some locals organise such big events and the organisers spend so many hours working together, sometimes in very stressful situations, they always run the risk of fighting with each other, having arguments, facing misunderstandings… This was not the case in AEGEE-Barcelona, instead we always worked as a team, rowed in the same direction, got to know each other’s strengths better, and it made our friendship grow stronger. Moreover, we had many new and motivated members who learnt a lot about event management by taking active steps and we had kind of a knowledge transfer “on the spot” and while the event was taking place. Just because of this, all the effort was worth it.

Would you do it again?

Alright, the event is still too close to consider doing it again! Well, probably not FRES, and probably not even another European School, but since we have really learnt many valuable lessons in event management, we will surely come up with some other thematic event some time soon. The 30th Anniversary of AEGEE, the two upcoming Statutory Events in Spain… These are both some good excuses in order to challenge ourselves once again.

What plans does AEGEE-Barcelona have in the near future?

The new board has started with extra-motivation, with a team ranging from “oldies” to a new generation. Our main goal for this year is to keep doing things as good as the previous board. We want to organize, for example, pre-events for the EPM in Burgos and AgorAsturias. Also, we have started to think about the next Summer University. Furthermore, we are happy to have exchanges with some antennae, a part from the usual visits that we have during the year from other Spanish antennae with their Erasmus in Barcelona; moreover, we are also planning to get engaged again with the Catalan Youth Council. To finish, we would like to create a twin antenna for the next two years!

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza