At the upcoming Spring Agora Bergamo, beside plenaries, prytania and workoshops, twelve Progress Meetings (PM) will take place. Excluding a Progress Meeting which will be on Friday afternoon, they will all be on Thursday and Saturday, divided in a morning slot and an afternoon one. Progress Meetings are a very important moment in AEGEE since we all can receive information about the current status of certain issues and our members can present new ideas they want to develop in the medium-long term. So go there and discuss about the future of our organisation!

On the second last session of the Progress Meetings, which will be on Saturday 21st of May from 11:45 – 13:15, two interesting PM will take place: “LGBTQ topics in Europe: what can we do?” and “My AEGEE development & White Paper in IT service”. As the titles of them are announcing, the first will be a thematic one, the second will discuss the progresses about an implementation AEGEE is carrying out for some years now.

LGBTQ topics in Europe: what can we do?

Ander Guerrero Ruiz on behalf of the Comité Directeur is the moderator of this interesting debate which will be on the 21st of May, starting from 11.45 in the “S. Lorenzo” room. The main discussions will be regarding the current situation on LGBTQ rights across Europe, analysing which are the countries recognizing and reducing them. But it is not over, during the debate we have the opportunity to take a look at the current situation within AEGEE and homophobia problems people may have noticed within it. The purpose of this Progress Meeting? Launch a huge European project for our locals about this topic!

My AEGEE development & White Paper in IT service

Pablo Hernandez Rodriguez for the Comité Directeur and Fabrizio Bellicano on behalf of the Information Technology Committee are the hosts of this meeting. It will take place on the 21st of May, starting at 11.45 in the “S. Alessandro” room. The topic is a very important one since it regards the implementation of our new online system which will be updated from a system of the 90s to a system of today. At this Progress Meeting, the implementation results of this issue, which AEGEEans really care about, are going to be shown. What is the aim of the meeting? Gather the most possible inputs to finalise the work and shape the system as AEGEEans would like to see it. For more information about this topic you can also read this interview the AEGEEan took with Fabrizio Bellicano who is the IT person developing the system and our Member of the Month of February 2016.

For more information you can download the Agora Agenda and the Workshops and Progress Meetings booklet.

Written by Mattia Abis, AEGEE-Cagliari

Spring Agora Bergamo 2016 is one week away, and last-minute preparations are in progress. The Agora Booklet has been released, and Progress Meetings are on the agenda as always. We will try to look a little bit closer on the Progress Meetings, that are taking place on the second day of the Agora.

On the afternoon of the 19th of May, from 16.15 to the 17.45, three Progress Meetings will take place: regarding the network update, democracy in AEGEE and the thematic backbone of AEGEE.

Network Update will be a progress meeting, that will be held by Maryana Semenyak, member of the Comité Directeur, and by the Network Commission. Like at every Agora, the ones present will be informed about the Network Status Changes, the motivations regarding the decision of downgrade or deletion and all the actions taken to support the Antennae and/or the Contact Antennae. A representative of the Contact Antennae or the Antennae will have the opportunity to be heard and share their point of view. Each case is individual and every one will be presented to the audience. If an objection will be arisen, the simple majority has to ratify the downgrade or deletion of the Antennae or Contact Antennae.

At the same time, the progress meeting about Democracy in AEGEE will have Thomas Leszke from Election Observation Project as a moderator. According to Statutes, Article 2, AEGEE strives “for a democratic, diverse and borderless Europe”. We can all agree, that Europe is diverse and it’s borderless, but  we are still wondering and debating all the time regarding the democracy. For this reason, The Election Observation Project invites the participants of the Agora to reflect on the democratic practices in AEGEE and search for different approaches to improve the standards.

The last progress meeting on the 19th will be on The Thematic Backbone of AEGEE. Over the last years, the association has developed a lot of projects and thematic work, that had an impact on the society that we live in and also has been “raising active and aware citizens”. The learning and development opportunities, that AEGEE has to offer everyone, are endless, and by participating in this session you can learn about it and also about the improvements, that you can make in your community as an AEGEE member.

Here you can find the Workshops and Progress Meetings booklet.

Written by Raluca Radu, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca