Mark your calendar! From the 7th to the 11th of September you should really be in Leon for the AEGEE Idea Factory/Planning Meeting. The Spanish Local, in fact, will host this strategic event for our organisation. What is an AEGEE Idea Factory/Planning Meeting? It’s the moment when the Strategic Plan 2017-2020 will be drafted and new topics, those the association will be working on for the next three years, will be discussed. If you are already intrigued by the idea, read the interview with AEGEE-Leon and wait for the Open Call, which is coming soon. 

The AEGEEan: Why did you decide to apply?

We are one of the strongest antennas in this moment, with members in European level, huge knowledge of Action Agenda and in organising big events. And what can be better than a Planning Meeting to show that to the entire Network? Moreover, this is a great opportunity for us to open León to the whole Europe! Since we’ve already opened Europe to León, we’re sending at least ten members to the last statutory events.

What were you doing when the Comité Directeur delivered you the news?

In May, we were attending the LTC 2 when Álvaro noticed that we received an email from the Comité Directeur. We ran to read it, and we celebrated the positive result! But we had to be quiet so that members of other antennae that attended it could not discover the news… it was a secret until Agora Bergamo!

Present your local.

AEGEE-León is one of the most active antennae. Yes, that’s a cliche, BUT WE REALLY ARE! Imagine, we have been participating in the EVS program for five years now, hosting two volunteers per year and sending an average of three people from Leon to Europe per year. We were the last best SU before the “tirany” of Catania and we had organised a SUPS, NWM, and big and important events for our region, (for more than 100 hundred people!) we focused in the AA last year, with a lot of activities and workshops that fulfil it. We work a lot with the Erasmus + programme, sending each year more members to youth exchanges and training courses than to summer universities. We have around 130 members, among which there are some who have positions in the European level. We weekly organise activities for international students and for local members, both “social” and “serious” events.

Who will be in the core team? Have you already decided?

In our fantastic Core Team there are the following lions: team of coordinators, Sergio Nistal and Álvaro Nieto. Then, we also count on the big experience of members such as Alejandro M. Moya and Marcos Mato, and the great motivation of other members such as Cristina de la Parte, Genoveva García, Andrés Diez, Mario González and Enric Baltasar. Maybe we will include some more good people.

Tell us three things that make your local special.

– We work a lot with the Erasmus + programme. We currently have two Italian EVS volunteers that work for us to make events, manage the daily tasks and find and write Erasmus + projects.

– We are probably the most active antenna in the region even though our city is the smallest one!

– We have a special link with international students who let us be in contact with people of other cultures, be able to help them and know other points of view.

And now three things that make your city special.

– For sure the awesome architecture of the city! It has a lot of history, having been a Roman installment, capital of a medieval kingdom and now capital of a province.

– Tapas!! In León they put food with your drink for FREE, and really huge tapas! You cannot miss it, (is NOT like any city you have ever been, here we have real big tapas for free) for five euros we can have dinner and even get drunk! 

-The campus of the University of León is very good for this event because we will be able to go everywhere on foot. Everything is near!!

Can you give us already some sneak peaks of what we will see once there?

Even though the whole city is amazing, the most famous monument is the gothic Santa María de León Cathedral, probably the most beautiful one! It is really impressive when you see it for the first time, the second time, the third time… even old Leonese people still say so. You will also visit San Marcos and San Isidoro, which are two incredible monuments of the city you will fall in love with!

Stay tuned for the Open Call!

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

This Agora we won’t only elect the new Comité Directeur and members of different Commissions, but we will also vote on the new Action Agenda. If you are asking yourself: “What agenda?”, this article is for you, but also those who already know what the Action Agenda is, are welcome to check out what the new one will look like.

To begin at the beginning, not of the founding of the earth but of the planning in AEGEE, our association is built upon a vision, mission and means, defining who we are, what we do and what we want the future to look like. Based on that, every three years a Strategic Plan, defining Focus Areas that we want AEGEE to focus on, is created at the Planning Meeting (stay tuned for the next one taking place this autumn).

To make sure we can actually contribute to these Focus Areas, every year at the European Planning Meeting (EPM) an Action Agenda is created, which gives concrete objectives that our locals and European bodies have to achieve. Shortly said, you can consider the Strategic Plan as AEGEE’s long term vision, and the Action Agenda as the association’s homework to contribute to the vision. If you want to know more about these two documents, take a look at the EPM booklet starting on page 16.

In Bergamo, you will be voting on the Action Agenda that will start on the 1^st of August 2016 and last until the 31^st of July 2017. As you just read, it was created by participants of the European Planning Meeting, which took place in Leiden this year. After 1,5 day of a thematic conference on migration, members of locals all over the Network took a closer look at the Focus Areas we have and created a draft of new goals to achieve in the fields of Spreading Europtimism, Youth Mobility, Youth Employment and Civic Education.

Based on this draft and the feedback given on the forum, the Comité Directeur created a final version of the Action Agenda that will be presented at the upcoming Agora. Curious what you will be presented? You can find the new objectives here. In case you have any questions or suggestions to improve them, feel free to share them on the forum or come on stage after the presentation of the next Action Agenda!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, Secretary General of AEGEE-Europe 2015-2016

Ladies and gentlemen, the ACTive Local of the Month of May is AEGEE-Zagreb. Are you ready to meet the local that is full of young, motivated and hard working people? Let’s look at their story, at how they managed to organise a Network Meeting (NWM) and turn it into a success. We spoke to Marina Klanjčić,Vice-President & HR responsible of AEGEE-Zagreb.

Congratulations! ​As we would like to get to know this month’s winner, could you tell us a bit more about your local?

Marina:  AEGEE-Zagreb isn’t a very large antenna. Even though we are just 60 members, our enthusiasm is as big as any other large antenna’s. We are 22 years old and still growing at a fast rate. This year’s board was completely made up of new members, who have done an amazing job throughout the year. We surely hope this will continue in the future!

You ​have organised a NWM, as well as two workshops that have contributed to the Action Agenda. Can you tell us more about ​your events?

The Network Meeting was an international event, organised specifically for AEGEE members from our region. It was especially nice to see participants from countries far away from ours and we would like to thank them for joining us in Zagreb. During these four days our participants could learn more about AEGEE and how to be more active on local and European level. They got to know Action Agenda Coordination Committee (ACT) and Quality Assurance Committee (EQAC) as well. Our antenna was taking care of logistics of this event which means: arranging a hostel, a conference room, a place for European night, some incoming activities, social program, coffee breaks and everything else that our participants needed. We had 8 organisers and a couple of helpers, all of which made a great team.

We have also organised 2 local workshops. The first one was about time management and it was open for everybody outside AEGEE. The second one was about event management within AEGEE, organised specifically for our members. Participants could learn more about how to organise an event and also some information about ACT and EQAC. Through this, we contributed to the Action Agenda fulfilling one of the Focus Areas (Civic Education).

Why did you decide to organise a NWM​? And the workshops?

As I said before, this year’s board wasn’t very experienced (except our beloved president Zvonimir), but the Network Meeting was an excellent start. It was a great opportunity to learn something new, make connections with other locals for future events, while also strengthening our local by engaging our new members in this event. After this, we realised that we have a lot of enthusiastic new members with potential for growth. The aforementioned workshops were a result and proof of this.

What was the result?

During our NWM, we had 22 participants, all thrilled to be part of our amazing event. We are very proud and grateful for every “thank you”, and every smile we had from them. For us, this means that every sleepless night, every stressful situation and concern, have all paid off.

The workshop about Time management had around 20 participants, all equally satisfied with the material provided. Event management workshop had around 5 participants, mostly our new members, and every one of them stated that this helped them realise what AEGEE really  is.

Why do you think the Action Agenda is important for the Network, and what would you say to another local that is thinking about organising something related to the Action Agenda?

The Action Agenda is the basis of our AEGEE work and most of the events organised can be related to it. If you are ever thinking about organising something, don’t be scared and just go for it. Don’t worry if you don’t have enough experience – you have to start somewhere. Brick by brick and you will have a lovely house, right? After all, what we love the most about AEGEE is that you can ALWAYS ask for help from friends or other locals, European bodies, CD or anyone. We are all here to help each other. You will not know how strong you are until you put yourself to the test.

Do you have any other big plans for the upcoming months?

Since the summer has started, it is difficult to plan for events, but yes, we have big plans for the future, but that is all I will say for now. Stay tuned for more information!

​AEGEE-Zagreb has certainly shown to the Network that it can be an example to other locals. What would you say to other locals that want to be as awesome as you? 

Here is the list with some tips:

– Take care of your members, past, present and future.

– Make connections to other locals.

– Organise events, from smaller to bigger, from local to European.

– Ask for help from European bodies.

– Spread AEGEE spirit all the way and you will see how much you will get in return, and how happy and fulfilled you will be afterwards.

– And of course, JUST DO IT !

Which sentence would describe your local and your event?

A lot of hearts, but one soul.

Written by Tuğçe Çarpaz, AEGEE-Eskisehir

Another local being very ACTive in the past months is AEGEE-Kraków, which organised a Regional Training Course (RTC) about start-ups and investing. We spoke to Mateusz Gierczak, President of the local and Coordinator of the RTC, to find out more about what this Polish local did, does and will do! 

Can you tell us a bit more about your local?
AEGEE-Kraków is quite a big local. We have around 100-120 members, of which 50-60 are really active. We organise around 20 local and European activities during a year. A lot of them are training courses, but we also organise events like the Eastern Partnership Convention, Y Vote Convention and of course a Summer University.

You organised a Regional Training Course about start-ups and investing, called ‘On the Way to Financial Freedom’, which is the reason you were chosen as ACTive Local of the Month. Can you tell us more about this event?
The Regional Training Course was an international event for all members of AEGEE. During a five days long event, participants were given the opportunity to improve their knowledge about entrepreneurship, investments and financial intelligence. Moreover, students attending the event also learned how to establish and run their own business. They got to meet professional, experienced entrepreneurs and discuss with them about what is most important in running your own business.

How did you decide on this activity?
Actually, the former board decided on it. During one of their board meetings they were talking about the activities they could organise in Kraków. They wanted to create something new, something our local never did before. When they took into consideration the projects of AEGEE-Kraków they understood that there were not many events related to Youth Unemployment. So, they decided that it’s something we have to take care of, especially, because the topic is included in our Action Agenda. What is more, they figured that this part of our interests is quite forgotten by the antennae. The last thing they had to do, was to think about the way of organising this kind of event: a conference? Discussions? Some courses? The best way was to combine all of these activities and create a Regional Training Course open to people from all over the network, where participants can get some knowledge and discuss their opinions with people experienced in the topic. What is interesting for AEGEEans, who are young people ready for the challenges? How to set up their own business.

The RTC was not the only event implementing Action Agenda you organised in the past months. Can you tell us more about them?
I think that almost all of our activities are implementing the Action Agenda, so they are around 20 each year. I will not tell you about all of them but I would like to mention the most interesting ones. First off, the Language Conversations. This is a project where we connect with students who would like to be a teacher of some foreign language in the future or just enjoy speaking in a certain foreign language. They are teaching other students their favourite language for free, just to get some experience. Every semester we have around 300-400 places for these courses and last time we had almost 2000 applications! That is really incredible. Secondly, we have the Let’s Get Better project. Through this project we organise free training courses for students from all over Kraków. The fields of courses is very varied, so we organise soft skills but also workshops on how to use Microsoft Excel. Each course is open to a group of 10-30 students, depending on the topic. We organise around 3-4 training courses every month. Last but not least, we organise Perfect Speaker, which is a three days long project where we organise workshops and training courses on public speaking. Here, people learn how to deliver a good presentation, how to use gesticulation and mimics als how to manage with stress. It’s also open to students and free.

Do you have any tips for organising thematic activities?
The first thing is not to be scared. Many antennae think that it is impossible to organise a good event without special experience, which is not true. If you have an idea and a few people who want to work together, that’s everything you need. European projects like the Eastern Partnership Project are not very difficult, because you have substantive support from a content team. If you want to organise a training course, don’t be afraid to ask trainers in your city if the want to do it for free. You can offer them an advertisement on your Facebookpage. Usually, they don’t want anything, because they like to do it. Think also about what is already popular and where people would like to go. After that, just plan it well and pull everything together! The satisfaction you will get after the realisation is really worthy your effort! If you don’t know how to do it, don’t hesitate and write us. We will  help you with pleasure!

Are you planning to organise more activities related to the Strategic Plan and Action Agenda?
Sure. We are thinking about new activities connected to entrepreneurship and civic education. We are not sure exactly when and what it will be, but certainly you will get to know about it! 

AEGEE-Kraków has certainly shown the Network that it can be an example to other locals. What would you say to other locals that want to be as awesome as you?
As I said before: don’t be afraid to be awesome and set up awesome projects! If you have great ideas and you have a few people to help you – just start to realise the ideas. If you are not sure how to do it, ask or try to find a good way. Even if you are still not sure, try to do it on your own way. You will make it better or worse, but next time you will be smarter. Remember that you can always ask for help. In AEGEE, we are one big family and we know we can rely on each other. If one of us needs help, we will always give a hand. After all you will be incredibly satisfied that you managed to organise this great project and people will come, and say “Thank you”, as they said to us after the RTC. Finally, you will see how much did you learn by that, how much you developed and you will realise how much you can learn in future projects. You have great potential and each of you can be as awesome as you would never even imagine! Use your potential and create great projects with great AEGEE-Spirit!

Written by Monika Duda, AEGEE-Wrocław

“Against. – Against. – Against. – …” At the Agora Zaragoza, the Focus Area named “Peacebuilding” received a clear negative vote. Does that mean that AEGEE is not interested in this topic, or do we believe we don’t have the capacity to work on it? Or is there a different explanation? – A short inquiry into one of our favourite misconceptions.

Peace in Europe is a normality for most of us. This doesn’t mean that we do not have conflicts, but at there have been only a few occasions in the last 68 years where Europeans have taken up arms to settle disputes. For a reason that you will come to understand in the course of this article, I am not going to mention any regions here as ‘examples of armed conflicts in Europe’. But most of us have probably have heard about some of the conflicts that have taken place in Europe recently.

In AEGEE, the way we speak about these conflicts sometimes reminds me of the way my grandma used to speak about her quarreling grandchildren. “C’mon kiddos, don’t be bad, if you stop fighting and just forget about your argument you will get some of my cherry cake!” You may remember that when you were a kid, you weren’t particularly fond of such interventions (even if you were fond of cake), simply because your quarrel was your own business, and you felt that you weren’t being taken seriously.

Now an armed conflict is a bit different from children quarreling. This seems like a redundant statement, but I believe we need to realise that we are not talking about a boy who destroyed his brother’s Lego castle. Forgiving and forgetting becomes difficult when your father was killed, your sister raped, your house burnt and your society filled with thoughts of hatred and revenge. Trauma is still there, even when the last survivors of the war are dying of old age. Peacebuilding after war is something that takes generations.

We have quite a number of Locals in our network that are located in areas which have been affected by armed conflicts over the past decades. For me it was interesting to observe that nearly all of the locals from these areas (with only two exceptions) voted against Peacebuilding as a Focus Area. It made me wonder about why this Focus Area was proposed in the first place – had anyone ever approached these Locals for their opinion? I have been asking the delegates who voted in the plenary to comment on their decision and I will to let two of them speak for themselves.

In the words of Mert Can Yılmaz (AEGEE-Ankara):

•  “Our argument was that we have already chosen four big topics. Each of them has several aims. […] And we think that working in detail is better than achieving aims superficially.”
  
• “On the other hand, we thought peacebuilding […] is a little difficult issue in Eastern Europe.”
• “As AEGEE-Ankara, we’d like to work on peacebuilding. Besides, we have already been working on it. As an example, we did the Turkish-Greek Civic Dialogue Project. And the AEGEE-Ankara Turkish-Armenian Working Group has done a project and sereval events. We are looking for more.“

Silvija Perić (AEGEE-Zagreb) adds:

• “I’m not saying we’re against the “Peacebuilding”, but we thought it wouldn’t work out as a Focus Area since people feel annoyed when others give advice or try to help with dealing with situations they can’t possibly understand.”
• “I love mediation, but you have to know when you can use it and when is best to wait patiently until there is space for compromise and work. We should do peacebuilding, but as careful observers who are not here to judge, give advice nor trying to ‘make things better’. We should be the ones who will go there to help them with what they need, to listen, to be friends with them and in the end, just be there for them, understanding that sometimes being there next to them in silence tells and helps more than words.”

Who could have said it better?

I still believe that AEGEE has a huge potential for peacebuilding. But it is not our task to settle territorial disputes or find a political balance in a conflict of interest. We are not in a position to mediate or give advice, and we should not try. What we are good at -and what is needed, goes along Silvija’s last lines: creating friendship, understanding and solidarity, just by bringing people together and so we realise that we share the same interests, worries, and love for life. And if the situation allows it -with some intelligent facilitation, it may be even possible to “talk about it”. But that should not be our main objective.

As AEGEE-Ankara’s example shows, we have achieved important things in the past. We have a unique capacity to build bridges where others can’t. Now we have decided not to have a Focus Area about it, but that doesn’t mean we must be idle. Maybe it is even better not to have a Focus Area, because that might have created wrong (result-oriented) expectations.

Peacebuilding, in this broader understanding, should be our daily ambition, in every event we organise. Our societies are full of small conflicts and misunderstandings, prejudices and stereotypes, ignorance and mistrust that we can help resolving. And by doing so, we probably make a greater contribution to our Europe without borders than we will ever realise.

Written by Thomas Leszke, AEGEE-Köln