AEGEE-Oviedo is an antenna that is growing constantly. It was nominated as Local of the Month of April because it organised a successful Regional Training Course (RTC) in cooperation with AEGEE-León and the Youth Mobility Working Group, “To Europe and Beyond”. The event was made up of a group of 23 participants plus seven organisers and three trainers. Since the main topic of the activity was mobility, the event was based on three pillars: the concept of mobility, its barriers and benefits and different kind of mobility programmes that you can benefit from (depending if you’re looking for a job, studies, volunteering or just pleasure). Besides that and more in detail, the AEGEE members were also delivered sessions about the Erasmus+ programme, its structure and several projects in which you can participate. Furthermore, they were working on some aspects like communication or active listening. Read this interview with the board of AEGEE-Oviedo and find out about their experience.

The AEGEEan: Congratulations for being selected as Local of the Month of April. How did it feel to find out that you were nominated?

AEGEE-Oviedo Board: Grazie mille! For us it is a great honour, because this proves that our effort and work is acknowledged. We do not do things in order to receive awards, but it is nice to get recognition for the things you do, since it also serves as motivation to keep working and improving. Also, we would like to thank the network for nominating us!

Introduce yourselves and tell us your AEGEE-Oviedo story. How did it start? Can you tell us a bit more about your local?

AEGEE-Oviedo was founded by students of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Oviedo on the 21st of December 1988. As it was told by Alain Fernández at our 25th anniversary in 2013, the very first president of the local, AEGEE-Oviedo was born as a way to protest against a European directive.

In the course of 1986-1987, the need for medicine students to pass a public examination before having their compulsory internships in hospitals was implemented in Spain. According to the results of that exam, they could choose a specialisation.

To medicine students all over Spain, this seemed like a trap: after six years of hard study, they needed to pass a general exam of everything they had learnt in that time in order to be able to start their internship period. They protested and they went on strike… But since it was a European directive, it was approved anyway.

And this is where Alain and his colleagues discovered AEGEE: “If we get a better understanding of Europe, we can be more aware of what is going on”. Thus, they started a local that became one of the largest in Europe with almost 2000 members back in the nineties.

Almost thirty years later, the flame is still alive and with enough fuel for at least another thirty years of getting Europe closer to Asturias… And Asturias closer to Europe.

How did you come up with idea to organise an RTC with AEGEE-León and the Youth Mobility Working Group and how did you manage to succeed? Can you tell us the secret to organise a perfect RTC?

The idea of organising something with AEGEE-León came up almost a year ago during Spring NWM Santander 2016, when some members of AEGEE-León and AEGEE-Oviedo were talking about doing something in collaboration, because the antennae are only 120 kilometres away from each other. So we started thinking about what we could do and we came up with the idea of organising an RTC.

During the following course (2016-2017), the members of our antennae started to go to each other’s activities and do some visits, and in January we made the right decision.

Both locals started to prepare the RTC with the first and reasonable decision that half of the organisers would be from Oviedo and the other half from León, despite the fact that the event would take place in La Vecilla (León).

Afterwards, it was proposed to cooperate with the Youth Mobility Working Group, since both antennae are some of the most experienced in the La Nave area regarding mobility, but it was also a natural decision due to the fact that both antennae have members involved in that Working Group. It was the perfect mix! For us, Oviedo plus León plus Mobility meant RTC.

What were the difficult moments in organising the event? 

Well, actually, we could say that organizing an event between two locals is quite challenging. Firstly: both locals should find a common aim. Secondly: you need a team able to work and build something together without knowing each other from before. It may seem simple in theory, but the reality is not that easy! Especially when your team has to work in the distance. Maybe that was one of the most difficult parts since there are some specific tasks, like the logistic part, in which one local carries the weight of everything until the event starts.

This has nothing to do with bad experiences during our event, but sometimes trying to find the right balance between both locals is not that easy. Fortunately, both locals had the same interests and some of us were already friends before taking the decision of starting that project together so we didn’t have that kind of obstacles while organizing. That’s why if we had to choose or define the real and biggest problem, we would say the huge amount of events that were also happening in the same month and even quite near us. It’s not only about the amount of activities, but also the profile of participants you’re looking for or may be interested on the topic. At the end having so many different kind of events around means people have to choose and we got less participants that we expected, being also much more difficult for us to convince them to come.

Was the RTC productive somehow? 

Sure! We achieved our common goals, we were able to overcome difficulties as a team, new bonds were created and, at the same time, the old ones were reinforced. AEGEE-León was a great partner and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them all their effort and work that was done. Regarding to the event and the content itself, we tried to do our best and we reveiced great feedback from our participants. That means, finally, everyone learnt from each other while having fun all together.

What are you working on at the moment?

While we are writing these lines, the Summer University of AEGEE-Oviedo, “Guardians of the Paradise vol.9” is going on, making participants discover the wonders of Asturias and why the North of Spain (and this very land) has nothing to do with the clichés about our country.

In addition, we are already planning the course of 2017-2018, thinking about the activities we are going to organise for our members, starting with the after-summer BBQ, and for the international students of the University of Oviedo. By the way, did you know that, in 2018, AEGEE-Oviedo will turn 30? Stay tuned.

What is the “Impro Night”?

The “Impro Night” is an activity for our members and international students of the University of Oviedo that happens in “La Salvaje”, a pub in Oviedo, which provides us with a small stage with a mic and some instruments.

In a way, it is like a jam session, but also for speaking: if your passion is singing, showing other people how well you play the piano or the guitar, or how big of a comedian you are, this is for you.

You can also participate in groups singing your favourite song, as the aim here is just to have fun!

Did you do any other activities during the month of April?

During the month of April we also organised a Mini European School about self-development in collaboration with the AEGEE-Academy where our participants got the chance to put their routine on hold and to focus on themselves. We invited them to reflect on the path that had led them where they were, and how that path had shaped them; and finally, they also discovered how they had realised their own competences and skills, becoming aware of their potential to create an impact.

At the same time, more than 60 people of the Network came to the ‘’Primer Sidre’l Añu’’ event taking place in Gijón to eat some cachopo and drink sidra. This activity became popular after Spring AgorAsturias 2015, so we’re thinking about establishing it as a regular event during Easter.

And last but not least, some of our members went to a Training Course in which AEGEE-Oviedo was partner called ‘’Escape cyber – Enter life Training Course Erasmus+’’ in Turkey. The main purpose of this event was raising awareness among the participants about the modern phenomenon of the mental disorder of internet addiction, the supply of specialised knowledge, the development of “know how” and special tracing, acknowledgement, psychological approach and confronting techniques against this phenomenon. The crisis of values that characterises our modern and developed society leads young people to false behaviours, guiding them to social isolation and self-exclusion, to depression, to dangerous behaviours with uncontrolled consequences, mental disorders and many – many more hazardous paths.

When was the new board elected?

The board of 2017-2018 was elected on the 9th of June and, during one month, we had our knowledge transfer between old and new members, so since the 9th of July the new board is in force, even though some positions are still open and will be elected in September.

Can you tell us something about the board members?

It is a board of seven members: three of them continued from the previous board and the remaining four are fresh members. The whole team is motivated to do great things during the year.

Are there any members who take part in AEGEE projects or Working Groups?

We have members in the Health for Youth Interest Group (H4Y, Irene Dios and Sandra González), Gender Equality Working Group (GEWG, Jesús Baizán, Luz Gómez, Marga Arbina, Sandra Pandiella and Silvia García), Public Relations Committee (PRC, Gerardo García), Youth Mobility Working Group (YMWG, Laura López), the AEGEE-Academy (Eugenia Casariego, Gerardo García and Laura López) and the Juridical Commision (JC, Jesús Baizán) while in the recent past we also had members being part of the Network Commission (Olga Rivero, Juan Sordo, Marcos Herrero), Information Technology Committee (ITC, Alberto Cuesta), Summer University Coordination Team (SUCT, Gerardo García) and Chair Team (Alberto Cuesta).

Can you describe your local in one sentence?

Our local is an energetic and friendly group that likes non-formal education, organising great activities and we always have room for some social time at meetings and events.

What is your motto?

Little things can be great!

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari

Although AEGEE-Düsseldorf is a really small antenna with around five or seven active members, they succeeded to represent the essence and spirit of AEGEE. In February, AEGEE-Düsseldorf organised their first RTC, in cooperation with Diede Oudenampsen from the Academy as trainer. They managed to find accommodation and food, to fundraise some tickets and water, to invite ESN-Erasmus Students’ Network and JEF-Young European Federalists for a presentation, and more. AEGEE-Düsseldorf is continuously trying to improve cooperation with other associations (Christian associations, JEF, and ESN in particular), showing that there is no need for competition. The fact that such a small antenna can achieve such an event deserves recognition.

During the RTC, where the Düssi-fever got participants and organisers affected. Düssi is the elephant mascotte of our the local, that’s the reason behind the funny arm movements.

The AEGEEan: Congratulations, you were nominated as Local of the Month of February! Introduce yourselves, please, and tell us your AEGEE-Düsseldorf story. How did it start? Can you tell us a bit more about your local?

AEGEE-Düsseldorf: Hello lovely AEGEEans, we are AEGEE-Düsseldorf! Once upon a time, a group of Europe enthusiasts decided to bring AEGEE into Düssseldorf’s student life. That was in 19xx and afterwards there is a big gap in our history. It remains unknown until this day, what or who brought AEGEE-Düsseldorf to life. So we start our story with Benjamin Feyen, the bard. It is him, who, with help of his friends, built a solid foundation, that we are still relying upon. Our local was never really big, but that does not matter to us. What matters is the motivation and initiative of our members. Cultural speed-dates, speed-debates, free walking tours and visits from other locals is what keeps our blood pumping. But with our current board, our blood started to boil! Though few in numbers, we managed to organise the RTC “Get your local movin'” in February, with the support of our friends from AEGEE-Eindhoven. And it was amazing!

How did you come to the idea to cooperate with ESN and managed to succeed in it?

In Düsseldorf, there are many youth organisations that revolve around the European future, with young people taking action in making their ideals come true. The goals are not always 100% the same and the methods differ greatly, but we still have a common ground. That was especially true for ESN and AEGEE-Düsseldorf, since we are both nurturing intercultural understanding, so we wanted to get in contact for a long time already. It is thanks to JEF, who started an event for this sole purpose, that we could establish serious (and fun) cooperations. The first “Zukunftswerkstatt”, roughly translated to future workshop, was held at the end of 2016. JEF, ESN, EYP, YEP and AEGEE attended, all youth organisations with the European future in mind. The main purpose of the event was to get in contact and to learn about each other’s visions and goals, as well as to see where we could cooperate together.
It was a great success! Since then, we have had some debating events with JEF and participated in “March for Europe” with ESN and JEF. Now “Zukunftswerkstatt” Vol.2 will be organised by AEGEE-Düsseldorf. This time, the topic will be cooperation on social media. We really look forward to our guests’ presentations on Social Media and the shaping of concrete plans for helping each other out! We highly recommend it to all locals! Look out for who else is fighting for a bright European future and start working together.

What are you working on at in the moment?

There are a few projects we are working on. Some more history-changing, some others purely for our high spirits. We are currently establishing collaborations with other youth organisations, which will help us benefit from each other and spread Europtimism throughout Düsseldorf. It is something that we consider to be crucial and it is nice to work towards the same goal apart from the AEGEE network. Just what is happening with Pulse of Europe at the moment.
In accordance with our RTC, we decided to use sports as a mean of teambuilding. We are now doing monthly yoga sessions to keep us healthy and ready for new challenges. We look forward to Europe on Track visiting us, helping AEGEE-Köln for their pre-event and welcoming SUs and exchanges with other locals. It may not sound as much for bigger locals, but for an active circle of three to seven it feels like a rollercoaster sometimes.

How did it feel to find out that you were nominated? 

We were super happy! To find out that our efforts were noticed by our friends, it made us realise that we are all in this together. We were probably nominated because you can feel how alive we are at the moment and how indulged we are in our events.

Why do you write everywhere that you are not from Cologne? 

Hahaha that is because the cities of Düsseldorf and Cologne are long time rivals (especially when it comes to brewing beer the right way). And because the cities are really close to each other, we emphasise that we are not from Cologne. [they laugh, ed.] You will hear it during the roll call at the Agora as well!

What is your motto? Can you describe your local in one sentence?

Go with the flow and see how far it takes you. Then start paddling.

Written by Aliona Sytnyk, AEGEE-Berlin

It is already that magical season of the year! No, we are not talking about Spring and the rebirth of nature. Of course we are talking about the RTC season. RTCs (Regional Training Courses) are meetings among members and their aim (according to what is written on the AEGEE Europe member’s portal) is to prepare them to take responsibilities in board positions. We have asked for some opinions of the organisers of three RTCs all over Europe from the antennae of AEGEE-Lviv, AEGEE-Touluse, AEGEE-Pisa and AEGEE-Firenze.

All the hosts are very excited and for them this is a great opportunity to grow as antennae. AEGEE-Toulouse told us that “this RTC is one of the only events that will take place in France this year, it happens before important elections for us, so it is a great occasion to discuss the importance of Europe in French people’s life. We have 15 participants, our members will host them to allow the fee not to be too huge (because hostels are incredibly expensive in Toulouse). We really want to make this RTC unforgettable: we willl be chasing a treasure during our visit of Toulouse. The sessions will be, among others, about how to organise local events such as the European Student Festival of AEGEE-Toulouse, and about EVS!”.       

In addition, AEGEE-Lviv said RTCs are also an opportunity to create strong relationships between antennae from different countries that are part of the same Network. “Since we have become one network with Polish antennae, we planned to organise a regional event. By evaluating the abilities of our antennae we decided that an RTC would be the best option. Together with the other locals, we decided that the HR topic would be the most interesting for everyone. Due to a lack of applications, however, we decided that we would organise an LTC for our members and invite foreigners to it. We will make typical LTC sessions, but HR will still be a leading topic.” 

RTCs are also an amazing way to became closer to another antenna. For instance, AEGEE-Firenze and AEGEE-Pisa have decided to organise an RTC together. “We decided to apply for hosting an RTC because both the boards of AEGEE-Pisa and AEGEE-Firenze knew that the new members needed an opportunity to learn more about AEGEE, the possibility to join the board, organise international events and the overall structure of the association.” They also gave us some spoilers about their programme: “We will start with a double session about the structure of AEGEE: one for the newbies, one for more advanced members. Then we will talk about the organisation of European events, teamwork and conflict resolution. The next session will be about managing a local: recruiting, fundraising, how to organise thematic activities and management of a local in general.

The “European events organisation” workshop will be held by AEGEE-Pisa founder, honorary member of AEGEE-Firenze and current member of Les Anciens Paolo Santoni: “This is going to be a huge opportunity for all the participants. But let’s talk about the serious stuff: the programme will be filled with the Regional Night (which, with all the nationalities of the participants, will actually be a real EN) and we are organising games and party also for the second night”.

Written by Paola Letizia Murru, AEGEE-Cagliari

In AEGEE, we have several committees to support the work of the organisation, such as the newly revived Human Resources Committee (HRC). As the name says, this committee works on the human resources of AEGEE-Europe in many different ways. An example of this would be the Human Resources Regional Training Course, which was organised in Passau last January by AEGEE-Passau and the Human Resources Committee.

The idea of organising this training course started at Agora Chisinau after a meeting with the Network Commissioner Mareike Ritter and her local members, Antonia Erich and Svenja Kupke from AEGEE-Passau. They said: “Many members of the locals at the meeting shared their troubles with recruiting and motivating the new and old members in their local. We got so excited that we started planning right away while sitting on the floor under the stairs in the plenary hall. One hour later the entire event was mapped out!”

After the approval by the board, the members of AEGEE-Passau were ready to organise the event with not one, not two, but four main organisers. As Antonia and Svenja said: “Who needs one main organiser when you can have four? Cindy, Jana and we (Svenja and Antonia) were the perfect match! Nobody wanted to be left out. So, we basically did everything together. We did distribute some tasks but they stayed constantly in the loop on everything. One of our main assets was that our group consisted of different AEGEE-Passau generations: Andrea as our oldie but goldie, Cindy as previous secretary and gossip board member, Jana as the former president, Svenja as AEGEE-Passau mommy who takes care of all her little ducklings, and Antonia as our should-have-been-in-the-board but timing is a bitch member. Not to forget our amazing current board (Dom, Jasmin, Charlotte, Saskia, Roman) and our working group that supported us in any way possible.”

The decision was made to cooperate with the Human Resources Committee to provide the content, for which two trainers, Andrea Schmelz and Svenja van der Tol, travelled to the south of Germany to deliver sessions on the basics of Human Resources, the Human Resources cycle, identity, feedback culture, motivation, teamwork, recognition of potential, knowledge transfer and conflict management. The knowledge gathered at the sessions was implemented afterwards in case studies, in which practical tasks had to be solved in small groups. As Matthias Felder from AEGEE-Bamberg said: “All the workshops were perfectly prepared and there was a clear structure in everything as content. The theoretic part of the workshop was well linked to a case study, that always followed the theoretic part, so we needed to put the knowledge into practice. Thanks to the awesome atmosphere and the awesome trainers, this event was one of the best I attended so far and I hope we can put all the ideas we got into practice in our antenna.”

Besides the sessions provided by the HRC, a guest speaker, Heike Ehmann, from the locally based company MyMuesli was invited, who told the participants more about the Human Resources of their company. The presentation by MyMuesli was an addition that was well-liked by participants. Peter Suligoj from AEGEE-Ljubljana expressed this affection as: “The guest speaker from MyMuesli was a great choice. Heike presented herself in a very approachable manner and was willing to explain everything. Furthermore, the training made sure that our questions were on point. I imagine there is an opportunity here to collaborate with working groups such as the Youth Employment to prepare questions, that we as members could think about, and ask on such occasions. I see this as a process of fitting the newly gained knowledge in a bigger picture, and as something, we should try and facilitate.”

It wasn’t only the content that was well-liked though – good ratings were also given to the logistics of the event, which were provided by AEGEE-Passau. Antonia and Svenja: “The long planning and sleepless nights paid off! There is nothing more rewarding than getting so much positive feedback from participants and trainers. We can honestly say that we would do it all over again! The constant and great communication in our team and with the HRC made everything so easy. Sweet participants + awesome and patient trainers + motivated organisers and helpers = an unforgettable event!”

Overall, almost a month after the HRTC took place, the trainers, local organisers and participants all look back with positive memories on a well-organised event by an enthusiastic and motivated group of people. The training does not stop in Passau though, as far away as it might be for some. For more training on Human Resources in AEGEE, the committee is always there to cooperate with locals on topics related to HR! Feel free to get in touch with us via hrc@aegee.org!  

Written by Svenja van der Tol, Human Resources Committee

Like every Agora, there are proposals to modify the CIA, and, like every Agora, The AEGEEan is covering them all. In this article, we’ll provide summaries for the following three proposals: “Improving reimbursement criteria for the Mediation Commission”, “Proposal to raise the maximum height of membership fees”, and “RTC Reform”.

Improving reimbursement criteria for the Mediation Commission

This proposal was submitted by Damien Latacz on behalf of the Mediation Commision and Zvonimir Canjuga of the Comité Directeur. The idea behind this proposal was that there is currently no money allocated for the MedCom in the budget of AEGEE-Europe; it, in general, does not get any reimbursement for the Agora, while the commission is expected to actively participate and function during this event.

This proposal, if voted in favour of, will remove the clauses from the Statutes of AEGEE-Europe that deal with the prohibition of reimbursements for members of the MedCom. It will also add two new rules to article 18.12 of the General Financial Rules, that will allow for travel costs to Agorae to be reimbursed for one member of the MedCom, but that full reimbursement may not apply to the travel costs for other MedCom meetings.

You can read the full proposal, here.

Proposal to raise the maximum height of membership fees

This proposal is an rephrasing of an earlier proposal by AEGEE-Enschede at Spring Agora Patra in 2014. This proposal was then rejected, but is now brought back by Evelien Kroon, Steyn ten Kate and Lea Watzlawek of AEGEE-Enschede. For the past couple of years, members of AEGEE-Enschede were required to pay a membership fee that was higher than the maximum amount of €50,-, for which they have always been given an exception.

However, this Agora, they will propose the maximum height of the membership fee to be changed from €50,- to €70,-, which, as projected by AEGEE-Enschede, will create more financial security for AEGEE-Europe, which, in turn, would make the odds rejecting exceptions to the maximum height of membership fees asked by locals, like AEGEE-Enschede, smaller.

This proposal would affect the maximum height of membership fees according to article 1.1 of the General Financial Rules.

You can read the full proposal, here.

RTC Reform

Proposed by Mareike Wegener, on behalf of the Network Commission, this proposal is intended to curb the decrease in the number of RTCs that is organised. The proposal itself serves as a two-pronged attack; on the one hand, it is intended to make organising and participating in RTCs more attractive, and, on the other, it intends to clarify what the minimum requirements of an RTC are.

The RTCs are made more attractive to organise by adding them to the Antenna Criteria on an equal level of importance as Local Training Courses. RTCs would, furthermore, become recognised as European Events, because of which all requirements for European Events would apply. RTCs will furthermore be provided with materials for delivering the compulsory parts of the training course by the CD, and the content of which will be confirmed by the NetCom or another CD approved body of AEGEE-Europe. Financial support can be provided in accordance with chapter 5 of the General Financial Rules.

As for the requirements of an RTC, the organisers must at least provide three of the following five compulsory sessions: Member management and how to run a local, Communication with other locals, Teamwork and conflict solving, Goal setting and Strategic planning related to the Action Agenda, or a session about bodies in AEGEE, how they are working and why they exist.

You can read the full proposal, here.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

From the 2nd until the 4th of May, AEGEE-Manchester organised a Regional Training Course (RTC). As its name says, this RTC was ready to connect different members of the network to learn, share experiences and work together. We interviewed Bryn French, organiser, and Katharina Lawall, trainer, to find out more about it.

The AEGEEan: How did you come up with the idea of organising a Regional Training Course?
Bryn: AEGEE is really starting to grow in the UK and so we needed some training in order to help our antennas grow in the right direction. Organising a Regional Training Course was an opportunity to bring together different members from across the network to share our knowledge and experiences. As Manchester is a fairly new local it gave us a project to work towards to and helps us fulfill antenna criteria in order to be upgraded from Contact Antenna to Antenna as soon as possible.

What were the best moments in organising the event?
The highlight of the event for me was our final dinner. Through Pablo’s close attention to the pennies throughout the event we were able to splash out a bit extra and enjoy a fantastic meal at a local restaurant on the Curry Mile, one of Manchester’s specialities. Treating everyone to an indulgent meal was a real pleasure and it was great to see the friendships we had created over the course of the weekend.

What were the difficult moments in organising the event?
At one stage before the event we did not have accommodation, and we did not have a place to do the training. We were seriously concerned about how we were going to do it all. Fortunately things worked out, so do not panic and never give up!
However, the accommodation was on the other side of the city from the university training rooms and so I personally found transport the most stressful thing to organise. We were able to travel in style, getting taxis everywhere, but it took a lot of coordination.

How did the RTC go? Was it productive?
The RTC was extremely productive as we achieved a number of the aims. Firstly, Manchester showed that we can organise a European event and show our participants a good time. Secondly, the trainers were enthusiastic and informative and developed a good ethos in the group. Thirdly, the participants were all able to contribute something positive and also gain something to take away from the event. Finally, communication and collaboration between antennas was established and improved.

Can you brief us shortly on your programme?
The programme focused on how to motivate our members and get more people to join AEGEE. We had training sessions on teamwork, communication, leadership and public relations. For the social programme we were able to host a city tour and show our participants two different night life scenes in Manchester

What is your overall impression of the RTC?
Katharina: I really enjoyed the RTC and was impressed by how well and with how much energy the team from Manchester organised everything for us, even though they are were not so many. It showed me that so much is possible if lots of enthusiastic people work together. I was also really impressed with our participants who were so enthusiastic and eager to learn even though we had very packed training days and, as in all good AEGEE events, very little sleep.

What was the structure and thematic of the training sessions?
We wanted to design a training that would respond to what all the different UK locals present at the training course needed the most right now: a big focus was therefore on Human Resources and recruitment, but also included training sessions on Public Relations, Teambuilding, Leadership and communication in AEGEE. My co-trainer Maria Arends and me prepared and then facilitated the sessions mostly together which was great!

What was the biggest challenge you encountered during the event?
The biggest challenge for us was to design trainings which were appealing and valuable to all the participants as they were a real mix from experienced AEGEE oldies to very new members. On the other hand, I think this actually turned out to be one of our greatest assets as it allowed very dynamic sharing and learning between the participants!

Anything else you would like to add?
Just that it was a pleasure to give my first training course in Manchester and that I thouroughly enjoyed every bit of it. AEGEE in the UK is alive and kicking and I hope Manchester will invite us over for a next event very soon.

Written by Lia Tuska, AEGEE-Sofia/Thessaloniki

“It is more or less common ground that one of the weakest points of AEGEE is its internal education. In all levels of the association, active members are expected to bring results virtually without any training at all”. Although this might sound familiar to many AEGEEans, these words were taken from AEGEE’s draft project on internal education back in 1999.

Given that our internal education system has been a long-term issue and a struggle for our association, the picture looks much better now, after introducing the brand new Strategy for Learning and Training at Spring AgorAsturias 2015, and the approval of the proposals that will from now on regulate the definitions of trainings and the brand new compulsory antenna criterion for each AEGEE local to host at least one Local Training Course (LTC).

A new way to manage the internal knowledge in AEGEE

Let’s first review the different tools of internal education available for AEGEEans: firstly the on-line toolkits, which give guidelines to the members in a wide range of topics (ranging from fundraising, to policy and advocacy, public relations and budgeting). However, the initiative is still quite unknown to the network, which seldom uses such tool. LTCs and RTCs (Regional Training Courses) lacked any kind of general framework and objective until now, which were completely free for each local to organise and select its content. Finally, European Schools are a one-of-a-kind experience to gain knowledge and a deeper insight in certain topics, but they are very few taking place throughout the network, on specific dates and with a limited amount of participants – therefore, not reachable for the biggest part of our network.

According to the new Strategy for Learning and Training document, one of the strong features of formal education institutions is “the hierarchy of different levels of education. According to this hierarchy, it is then possible to define the level of knowledge required for the entry”. Therefore, this strategy aims to create a similar structure, which will provide the basis of the purpose of each training and its entry requirements, as well as the outcomes. It looks as follows:

From now on, Local Training Courses will be divided between two levels. The first level, the LTC 1, aims to integrate new members in a local antenna. According to the new proposal approved by the Agora, 50% of the content of an LTC 1 should be devoted to the following sessions: AEGEE identity introduction, AEGEE history introduction, AEGEE’s structure, local antenna introduction and its main activities, and event management.

The remaining content of the LTC1 can be decided by the locals themselves according to their own needs. The LTC 2, aimed at learning the basic knowledge about AEGEE and the skills needed in order to stay active in the antenna or a European body, follows a similar system and has communication channels in AEGEE, training opportunities, thematic projects of AEGEE, project management and communication inside the team as its own compulsory sessions.

The next level of trainings in the association, the Regional Training Courses, are defined as a support for members of local antennae who aim to become board members and, additionally, to promote the cooperation among antennae in the region and building stronger bonds among neighbouring locals. Compulsory sessions include: Management of local antenna (namely, the antenna criteria, membership management, financial reports,  etc.) and the opportunity to choose among leadership skills or strategic planning.

Last, but not least, the Strategy remarks the roles of European Schools, aimed at providing knowledge and a full-week training in a specific field (Human Resources, Public Relations, IT, Self-Development, Fundraising…). On the other hand, the Training for Trainers, aims to strengthen the pool of trainers of AEGEE-Europe. Both training courses have their learning outcomes defined by the AEGEE Academy.

A full package to organise Local Training Courses is already available in our Members’ Portal. Moreover, stay tuned, as the Strategy for Learning and Training includes references to the on-line trainings that will be soon released for testing. This means that, other than toolkits and publications, AEGEE members will have yet another tool accessible to everyone for self-development!

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

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

Local and Regional Training Courses (LTC and RTC) are key points of our organisation when it comes to internal learning. Our members learn from them, create bonds and it can serve as a start to think about running for a board position. With two proposals for Agora Asturias, the Comité Directeur (CD) along with the Network Commission (NetCom) wants to implement LTCs as antenna criteria and define LTCs and RTCs in line with the Strategy for Learning and Training of AEGEE-Europe. Let’s see how the changes in the CIA can help AEGEE achieve that.

Setting Local Training course as a criterion for Antennae

With the addition of the simple rule to have LTCs in the Antenna Criteria, the Netcom and the CD are expecting antennae to give more learning opportunities to new members. Right now LTCs are highly promoted by the Network Commission and with funding opportunities from AEGEE-Europe for trainers and material, but not all antennae are organising LTCs and some of them are highly unstructured.

With the second part of the criteria, antennae will not only have to organise a LTC but the content of it will also be monitored by the Network Commission, thus making it more professional. Furthermore, it is stated in the argumentation for the proposal that antennae will not be alone in this, because organisational and content packages will be available for them right after AgorAsturias. See the full proposal clicking here.

Defining Local Training Courses and Regional Training Courses in line with the Strategy for Learning and Training

The purpose of this proposal is to make the new Strategy for Learning and Training (link), which will be presented at the Agora and still has to be ratified by the Agora, binding for trainings. The trainings defined inside the Strategy are: Local Training Course (1 and 2), Regional Training Course, European School and Training for Trainers.

The Strategy not only defines what kind of trainings are official inside AEGEE, but also which content they should have, who is responsible for it and what the overall purpose of each training. In the document, there’s an introduction to the new concept of LTC1 and LTC2, where the first would be for entry level members, the second for involving members, and the RTC for giving Knowledge Transfer for members interested in board positions.

With a focus especially on LTCs and RTCs, the proposal aims to make the Strategy binding, defining the rules for their organization, content and funding. Furthermore, it is stated in the document that content-related information will be available for members. See the full proposal clicking here.

Written by Ruben Navarro, AEGEE-Tarragona

The latest recipient of our Member of the Month award is a member of AEGEE-Tarragona, but also speaker of the Action Agenda Coordination Committee (ACT): Ruben Navarro. His efforts did not pass unseen and we spoke with him to discover more about this guy (who is also one of the latest additions in The AEGEEan Team).

The AEGEEan: First of all, congratulations! For those who do not know you, tell us something about you, your studies, your hobbies and your life in AEGEE so far.

Ruben: Thank you Erika, I couldn’t be more excited! My name is Ruben and I’m a 23 year old Electronical Engineering student in the small city of Tarragona, in Spain. I’m vice president of AEGEE-Tarragona, speaker of the Action Agenda Coordination Committee and became a journalist of the AEGEEan just two months ago. I am excited about robots, books, movies and music. But these are just a few of my hobbies, I like to try new things so I’m doing something different every month.

You were main organiser of the Regional Training Course (RTC) Tarragona (organised in cooperation with AEGEE-Barcelona and AEGEE-Castelló). How did the event go?

The event went amazingly good. We had twenty-two participants from ten different locals from all around Spain, one from the Netherlands. The group spirit was really great, the trainers were amazing and my local was really helpful. I am really happy with the outcome of the RTC, I think we mainly fulfilled the objective, which was to activate new members. The participants were really easy-going, cheerful and everybody had lots of fun which is what counts more at the end.

I would like to give special thanks to all the trainers – some came from far away – and they all increased the quality of the event  to unbelievable levels. Just to make other antennae jealous, in the RTC we had: a Policy Officer, the Secretary of the Agora/European Planning Meeting (EPM), the President of the Audit Comission, a Liasion Officer, the HR of Agora Asturias, a Network Comissioner, a former Audit Comission member and myself.

How important do you think RTCs are in the development of AEGEE Members?

Very important. RTCs show the AEGEE spirit to new members while at the same time help you create bonds among antennae. You also get the opportunity to share experiences and best practices with other board members, and in our case, the locals are very very different, so we got to learn a lot from others. Besides that, RTCs are good for starters, this was my first AEGEE event as main organiser that involved people from other antennae. It was a really good first experience, and I’m really looking forward to organising something again.

You are board member of AEGEE-Tarragona. What are your tasks? And what were you major achievements?

AEGEE-Tarragona is a small local but still, our members are really active and we work hard to make things happen. This year I’m vice president of the antenna and my tasks, along with the president’s, are a close following and supervision of everything that happens in the local. Besides that, I’m in charge of the relations with the University, I’m working to activate new members and create a group spirit, I’m still organising some activities for Erasmus, as well as revising the work of the Erasmus Team. I’m writing projects, proposals, and in general I work to improve the internal work of the organisation and the impact we have in our local community.

About my achievements, I am really happy about the work we did last year inside the Erasmus Team, while I was in charge of it. We managed to organise four trips to other Spanish cities for more than fifty people each and we were having local activities almost every week. With these activities we reached more than 350 people. This might not be much for other antennae, but taking in consideration that we were only seven people and all of us were working, studying or both, I think it’s quite impressive. All the international students were really happy and some of them are even coming back this year just for our activities.

Next to that you are in the ACT speaker team. What is the personal evaluation of the work you have done so far?

The Action Agenda Coordination Committee is complex. First of all, almost nobody knows what we do. Secondly, very few people know about the Strategic Work of AEGEE. And thirdly, it’s not a very popular topic among members. I’m glad that we have such a fantastic team that is working hard to make that change. I am, really, really happy with the work we’re doing. Taking in consideration what was done until we started I can say that we completely changed the concept of the Committee and we achieved a lot of things that were impossible to imagine some months ago (like for example, people being interested in an ACT Workshop).

Imagine you have to explain to a newbie why the Action Agenda and Strategic Plan are important for AEGEE, what would you say?

Imagine that you have an apple, it’s red and it shines when you put it in the sun. But when you take a bite, it’s empty inside. The apple represents AEGEE, the inside represents the Strategic Work of the organisation: even though the apple shines bright, even though it looks very good, if it has no nutritional value, what is it worth? The Strategic Work is what gives our organisation a meaning, it’s what makes us what we are and shows everyone what we’re capable of.

EPM Burgos finished less than a month ago and all the participants were positively impressed and ACT was an important part of it. Were you (and the ACT) happy with the results?

Indeed we were managing with all the drafting of the objectives, which we put a lot of effort into. I can say that in general I’m happy with the work of the team, the participation of AEGEEans and what we achieved as the initial document for the next Action Agenda.

What do you think will be the outcomes of it?

There’s still a lot to see about the outcome of the EPM, after the Action Agenda gets ratified in Agora Asturias, we will have a full year and a half to actually see how achievable and realistic the objectives we drafted are, and how interested the antennae are in it. It’s going to be a lot of work for the next ACT team and Projects Director, but I’m sure everything will be great.

Last but not least, let’s do a small game. Explain you and your personality using the letters that compose your name.

I have to tell you this is very difficult.

R = Responsible

U = Understanding

B = Workaholic (I didn’t like the ones with B and I wanted to write this anyway [he laughs, ed.] )

E = Enthusiastic

N = Nonconformist

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia