Agora Enschede is approaching and as the past Agora, the AEGEEan will try to help you to understand more the Proposals which will be discussed during the Prytania. These four are about the Locals and how they function.

Improving Regulations on Contracts

Proposed by Jorge Sánchez Hernández on behalf of AEGEE-Dresden. During Autumn Agora Cagliari 2014 the denomination given to a contact was changed from “Contact of AEGEE-Europe in cityname” to “AEGEE Contact in cityname”. This was decided to make PR easier for Contacts. At that time this change was not included in the CIA, so this is the case.

Furthermore, the proposer would like to allow Contacts to send more than two observers to the Agorae, in order to educate the new members that attending an Agora is a very important matter for an AEGEEan. This has also the aim to decrease the number of people going to an Agora as Visitors just to visit the hosting city and party hard.

You can read the full proposal here.

Updated Cd’A of AEGEE-Academy

Lia Tuska and Zvonimir Canjuga on behalf of Comité Directeur are proposing to strengthen the cooperation between AEGEE-Europe and AEGEE-Academy by updating the Convention d’Adehsion of the latter.

The commitment of AEGEE-Academy to provide training to AEGEE-Europe will be more specific. So not only AEGEE-Academy has to provide trainings to the individual members of Locals, but also skills development opportunities, based on Non-Formal Education methodologies, to AEGEE locals, as well as their individual members of Locals. Moreover AEGEE-Europe will recognise The Academy as the official pool of trainers of AEGEE-Europe.

AEGEE-Academy as a training organisation has developed during the years of its existence partnerships and relationships with other organisations, so in this proposal we can find more specific information about how and with whom it can cooperate. This has the purpose to give more independency to the Academy, which will have the right to collaborate with any organisation with similar scope, except for the ones in which AEGEE-Europe holds a position as member, partner, advisor or consultative status.

Moreover the Comité Directeur will appoint a member to be part of the board of the Academy who will have the same rights and obligations of the others elected board members. The Academy should also commit to support AEGEE-Europe and all its members, partner organisations and organs in all the internal educational needs with relevant training activities.

You can read the full proposal here.

Rewriting the Antenna Criterion number 12 included in: Antenna – Remaining an Antenna

Let’s start explaining what we are talking about (if you know how the Action Agenda and Strategic Plan work you can skip the first paragraph)!

The Strategic Plan (SP) is drafted every three years during an event called Planning Meeting. In the thematic part of this document you can find the Focus Areas on which AEGEE will concentrate its activities and events. The ones we will have starting from the 1st of August will be Civic Education, European Citizenship, Youth Development and Equal Rights. The Action Agenda (AA) is drafted each year in an event called European Planning Meeting (EPM). This is like a yearly list of objectives that tries to put into practice what is written in the Strategic Plan. So it can happen that if you organise an event about Youth Development (Focus Areas of the SP) but you do not fulfill the Action Agenda objectives related to that Focus Area, it is not counted as an event that contributes to the Action Agenda. The Action Agenda Coordination Committee (ACT) is the one who controls and approves if the locals have organised or not activities which contribute to the Action Agenda.

Experiencing this everyday, Juragis García, Cristina de la Parte and Svenja van der Tool on behalf of Action Agenda Coordination Committee would like to change the 12th criterion for remaining an Antenna. Right now it states that it’s a duty of an antenna to organise at least once every two years a European Event that contributes to the Strategic Plan. In case a local cannot organise it, it can be replaced by two local activities contributing to the Strategic Plan.

This proposal will make the locals organise two local activities each year (which can be replaced by a European Event – the opposite of how it is now) which contribute to the Action Agenda and not the Strategic Plan anymore. These activities must be approved by the Action Agenda Coordination Committee beforehand. This process is structured like this: the local sends an email to the ACT explaining the activity they would like to organise. Afterward the ACT will approve or not the activity. Moreover, this criterion obliges locals to maintain an active communication with the ACT, via the ACTie they have been assigned to.

You can read the full proposal here.

Antennae Criteria Reform proposal

Six months ago the Network Commission handed out a survey to gather opinions of the locals regarding Antenna Criteria. After processing all these data, Alejandra Piot Pérez-Abadín, Aleksandra Mojsova, Alin Andrei Georgescu, Gabriele Scollo, Kristina Reshetova, Loes Rutten, Mareike Ritter, Pablo Palazón Riquelme, Spyros Papadatos and Stanislav Mahula on behalf of the Network Commission drafted an Antenna Criteria Reform Proposal that is presented. Here below in bullet points the list of changes.

Remaining a Contact Antenna:

• The Contact Antennae will not have to create a bank account to keep that status, but only to become Antennae.

Remaining an Antenna:

• Now locals should send delegates to at least one out of the last three Statutory Events (usually 2 agorae and 1 EPM). With this proposal locals will have to send their delegates at least to one of the last two Agorae.
• Locals should send at least one of their board members to a NWM. With this proposal, if none of the board members can join this event, they can appoint an active member who will represent the Antenna in a NWM. This request will need to be approved by the Network Commission or the Comité Directeur.
• Each Board should send an Activity Plan to the NetCom within one month since they are elected and an Activity Report within two weeks from the end of their term. This proposal would like to extend both these deadlines to two months. Moreover the Activity Plan will need to be discussed with their Network Commissioner in a meeting arranged by the local. Same thing with the Activity Report, but the conclusions will need to be written down in an Evaluation Report. Unfortunately it is not possible to understand which conclusions the proposers are talking about. We will discover more on Prytannium!

You can read the full proposal here.

Written by Lisa Gregis, AEGEE-Bergamo & AEGEE-Verona

Summer seems distant but AEGEEans, as busy bees, are already in the process to organise Summer Universities. The Summer University Coordination Team gave the future SU organisers the possibility to collaborate with AEGEE bodies and give their Summer Universities a content twist. We asked the bodies involved to give us some more information about how they envision the collaboration. In this first article we will understand more about Civic Education Working Group, Your Vision for Europe, The Academy, Human Resource Committee and Youth Employment working group.  

Even if summer is the season for relaxation, vacations and parties, a content Summer University is still possible. The Civic Education Working Group launched the motto “a SU that matters” last year, and a lot of locals followed them organising a Civic Education-themed Summer University. This year, the Working Group proposes to organise an event related to Civic Education, intercultural communication, environmental sustainability, human rights or active citizenship like LGBT, Democracy, Refugees/immigrants, Green SU, Climate change, Intercultural communication through music, Volunteering, European Citizenship, Debating SU, Sexual Education and much more.

Last year, 17 Summer Universities were organised in collaboration with Civic Education or on a topic related to it. We asked some of those locals to explain why you should think about it. If you think that a SU with content might be boring, you may be thinking it twice if you consider that last year AEGEE-Udine placed its SU in the first place with their The Dark Side of the Boot SU.

AEGEE-Udine Summer University The Dark Side of the Boot

Stefano Dal Farra, main organiser, says that they chose “this topic for our SU last year because we thought that, in order to create an amazing SU, participants had to know the real Italy, the real conditions in which we are living. We did not want them to see and experience Italy perceived from an idyllic point of view, as if they were seeing it from a postcard. They had to experience the reality of our country, and that meant making them realise and see Italy for what it is right now, with all its problems”. One of the problems in Italy is the refugee crisis and a lot of activities were done with refugees, in the places where they are being hosted. “Participants met them, played volleyball with them, had a human library and an open table with them,  learnt Italian with them, volunteered for them. All these activities helped the participants to clear their ideas about the refugee crisis in Europe, to really understand the causes that are behind it and to meet them, to talk with them, and to understand that they are normal and common people like us, who had to leave their countries because of the war or because of the difficult living conditions”, concludes Stefano.

AEGEE-Leuven and AEGEE-Tilburg Summer University Burgundian Bicycles Vol III: Biking through SUmmer

AEGEE-Leuven, together with AEGEE-Tilburg, organised the Summer University Burgundian Bicycles Vol III: Biking through SUmmer. Elinne Mertens from AEGEE-Leuven told us that they collaborated with the Civic Education Working Group “because all people should (learn how to) act as a responsible citizen, which is exactly what civic education is about. Besides, our European Citizen Initiative is about Civic education and a SU on it can help us reaching the goal of one million signatures and will make people aware of what Civic Education is, also raising the understanding about it”.

CrEATe the Peace with your heART was the Summer University organised by AEGEE-Eskişehir last year. Tuğçe Demir, Treasurer and External Relations Manager of the Turkish local, said that “Civic education is a theme that appeals to everyone and it is very common nowadays”. Positive with the previous experience and the active participation of their participants, AEGEE-Eskişehir decided to choose the same path for their Summer University 2017 as well: “This year we will work on the subject of volunteering under the name of green water and Civic Education. One of the biggest reasons is that the NGOs in our country and the world are working on this issue, but can we give a sense of volunteerism at a sufficient level? We have chosen this theme in order to be able to give and to allow participants to look at it from different perspectives”.

You can contact them at su@civiceducation.eu. 

Your Vision For Europe Project team members

Your Vision for Europe is a project which aims at spreading Europtimism in- and outside the AEGEE-Network, but not only. According to Elinne Mertens, member of the project’s team, they give “tools to encourage young Europeans to think about important European topics, to discuss them with others and in that way, to formulate and express their vision for Europe – an informed and critical view on certain European topics”. During the Summer University, with the help of the project’s team who will act as trainers, participants will develop critical thinking stimulating opinion-formation. They proposed a variety of broad topics as explained by Elinne: “We have proposed some broad topics – more specifically bridging Europe, envisioning Europe, peace building and conflict resolution, refugees and policy and advocacy processes – that can be specified more in different sessions according to the wishes of the SU organisers. Other topics can be proposed too, we are very flexible. Just tell us on which topic you want to stimulate ‘visions for Europe’!”

You can contact them at yourvisionforeurope@aegee.org. 

The Youth Employment Working Group works in the frame of our focus area and it aims at providing participants with the necessary skills and trainings to have a smooth transition from the educational system to the job market. To do so, the working group proposes several workshops on entrepreneurship, but also some visits to companies and activities on self-presentations. At the end, participants should acquire the skills to use and present their “AEGEE skills” on a professional level; the process of becoming an entrepreneur; resumé writing, Motivational Letters, Interviews and so on.

You can contact them at yewg@aegee.org.

The Human Resources Committee and their members want to stress the importance of volunteering and  the possibility it gives to people to develop themselves as human beings. Summer Universities represent a perfect opportunity to develop our members’ skills in a friendly and rather unconventional environment. The workshops they propose are studied to push participants out of their comfort zone, to think about their gained skills and experiences and to reflect about the value of volunteering and the importance of its recognition.

You can contact them at hrc@aegee.org.

The Academy is a partner association that “works” as our pool of trainers: for this summer they proposed to the Summer University organisers the HRESSU (Human Resources European School Summer University). The Secretary Eugenia Casariego has no doubt about why a local should choose them: “Training and Non-formal Education are the best choice for this awesome summer: fun, learning, skills development, and workshops delivered by experienced Trainers, so they will not be the typical workshops you have been through in many other events”. The topic, Human Resources, is very important for locals and bodies that rely massively onto that. “Thus, -she continues- developing skills to support, empower, train, motivate and retain members are key in the functioning of a successful local or body”.

You can contact them at board@aegee-academy.org.

Here the other bodies you can collaborate with.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

With our organisation more and more focused on training, an event made in March captured our attention: the TnT (Training of new trainers) organised from the 16th to the 23rd by AEGEE-Maribor. After having received a lot of good nomination, we decided to elect the Slovenian Antenna as our Local of the Month. We spoke with Nina Piberčnik and Petra Žula to know something more about this local and its future plans. 

The AEGEEan: Please, introduce your local.

Nina: AEGEE-Maribor is one of the two Slovenian antennae. Even though Slovenia is not very well known in Europe, AEGEE people know our country for it’s beautiful nature and Maribor, our beautiful small city, because of our events (especially for the New Year’s Eve one). On the local level, active members always take time for each other – we prepare monthly dinners, social evening, etc.  Right now, we are also putting effort in getting new active members.

How does it feel to be elected as Local of the Month?

Petra: It is a very strange feeling. We did not expect it! But I can say, that we are very proud. It is the result of our hard work.

You were awarded because of your TnT event. Please describe it. 

Petra and Nina: Three trainers from The Academy came to pass the knowledge to 21 participants from all over Europe.  The event was very, very  intensive –  we had workshops all days, and in the evenings there was a social program. The whole event lasted for eight days. The TnT took place a bit outside of Maribor, in a big house, surrounded by beautiful nature.  We were basically in the middle of nowhere (with some jumps to civilization) and we could really make a training bubble.

Why did you decided to organise such an event?

Petra:  I found out about the AEGEE-Academy during my Summer University in Santander and since then I was thinking about attending a TnT. The last board of AEGEE-Maribor had new ideas and we wanted to take our antenna to a new level. We thought about making events with content, then I got idea about TnT, I contacted AEGEE-Academy even before the application for hosting antenna came out. It was a perfect opportunity to do something new and we went for it.

How was the cooperation with The Academy?

Petra: We had some small problems, because we did not know what to expect, but in general cooperation was very good.

What is the strongest asset of AEGEE-Maribor?

Nina: Experience, but, at the same time, motivation for new things. With so many events organised, some members are already professionals in all the aspects of organisation.New members can add fresh ideas and different opinions. On the other hand we have this motivation and no fear of trying something new. Even if in the beginning we were not totally sure about how exactly we will do it, in the end we managed everything by putting effort, energy and our hearts in it.

Name one positive and one negative aspect of being part of the AEGEE Network. 

Nina: One positive: getting a bigger picture out of experiences. One negative: missing AEGEE friends from abroad.

What are the future plans of AEGEE-Maribor?

Nina: Of course we are – like every year – continuing with Summer University – this year we are organising again a Travel Summer University. We will travel from Maribor to Ptuj, and then to the sea of Croatia. This year’s main theme will be dance!

As we are known as masters of New Year University, of course we will not skip it either. Next winter, old organisers are returning… and we will once again surprise you with a great winter event. Why?  This year NYE will be 10th in a row! So you can expect an awesome anniversary celebrations.

In the future of AEGEE-Maribor we also want to organise more serious, educational events. We also want more exchanges, local trips and workshops. Let’s hope everything goes  according to plan!

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

The Summer University Project School is going to take place this year in Catania from the 7th until the13th of March. The participants will learn all they need to know in order to organize the perfect Summer University. We asked Ioana Duca, Main Organizer of SUPS 2016 and Roberto Patanè, president of AEGEE-Catania and SUPS Responsible, about the event, so now you have no excuse not to apply for it.

The AEGEEan: Ioana, you have a rich history in AEGEE. Why Main Organizer for Summer University Project School?

Ioana Duca: It is true, but in AEGEE is never too late to do something. Unfortunately, during my term in the Comité Directeur I didn’t have the opportunity to do as much as I wanted, as there is too much bureaucracy and too many other things to do, but now I’m still trying to do some things. Plus it is my favorite topic in AEGEE: Summer University and how to organize an SU.

The AEGEEan: AEGEE-Catania, winner of the best Summer University in the past years, are the local organizers. How do you think that this will influence the participants of SUPS?

Ioana: I’m happy that AEGEE-Catania will organize SUPS this year. I think we will all have the chance to see the secret behind winning best SU several times in a row. And more important for the participants, they will be able to see, observe and learn from AEGEE-Catania, a very experienced and highly prepared local. And what way is the best in order to learn? To see them in action!

The AEGEEan: Your local has been organizing great Summer Universities for the past years. Why did you choose to organize a Summer University Project School only now?

Roberto: I was the main coordinator of the best SU 2015 and an organizer in 2013 and 2014. So I just took part in the latest best three SUs out of four and as everyone knows, three is the perfect number [he smiles, ed.]. Jokes apart, this year as president I decided, together with some board members, that it is time to organize a memorable SUPS.

The AEGEEan: What is the theme for this year SUPS and why did you choose it?

Ioana: The inspirational theme of this SUPS is South Park. Personally, I’m not very familiar with this TV show. It was a proposal from SUCT (Philipp) and we all agreed that it is a nice idea that can fit with the place and the event; we have students, buses, a school and I think it is a nice and attractive idea.

The AEGEEan: How many participants will there be? Are you looking for someone special, some kind of skills and knowledge from a participant?

Ioana: We will have 25 participants. We are looking for motivated people that really want to learn how to organize the best Summer University, to learn and discover new things and to make some new friends. Skills and knowledge will be gained during this event, they just need to be open and ready to learn and experience.

The AEGEEan: Why do you think that AEGEE members should apply for your event?

Roberto: AEGEEans should apply because everyone can improve their skill such as: Event management, Fund Raising, Team building, Creativity, and so on. Also, they can discover all these along with some experienced trainers and surrounded by the wonderful Sicilian landscapes, in the most awarded as best SU city.

The AEGEEan: Did you already choose the trainers? Who are they?

Ioana: Yes, and it was one of the most difficult decisions ever. We had a lot of applications, around 20, and almost all applications were really good, motivated and experienced members and for this reason, it was very difficult to decide. Unfortunately, we couldn’t select all applicants.

The trainers team of SUPS 2016 is composed by: Lucia Gavulova –  SUCT, Paolo Furia – AEGEE Catania, Ander Guerrero – CD, Carolina Alfano – SUCT and Mateusz Muszalski – AEGEE-Kraków/Audit Commission; best team of trainers!

The AEGEEan: How are the preparations going so far for this event?

Roberto: We are still working in order to organize the accommodations, meals, social program for the participants, and make everything prepared to host the trainers for some high level sessions.

The AEGEEan: What are your expectations for this event?

Ioana: I expect to have the best organized SUPS ever, as we are in Catania! Trainers to be not only amazing (as they already are), but to share their amazingness! Last but not least, participants to be active, motivated and by the end of SUPS, to go home with a bigger luggage, full of knowledge, experience, motivation and friendship (they should pay more for their return luggage). And to show once again that the cooperation between the Academy, SUCT and AEGEE-Catania is perfect.

Here you can find the Facebook event for SUPS and you can apply here.

Written by Raluca Radu, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca

Training for Trainers (T4T) was organised this spring by AEGEE-București and took place from 14th-20th March in București. If you did not have the chance to apply for the event, you can find out in this article what the organisers think of the whole event, what challenges they encountered and how they got along with the participants. We talked to the project coordinator, Bogdan Vișan and the assistant coordinator, Irina Matei. But, we also asked three of the participants, Eva Brieler, Matej Petrov and Francesca Russo to tell us more insights about this event and get a clear idea of how the project went. 

The AEGEEan: First of all, what is your overall impression of the project?

Bogdan & Irina: The project was approached with a degree of challenge from the team but with great responsibility from all. It was a collective effort all in all and could not have been done without the help and motivation of all the team members. On the other hand, there was the trainers’ team, who managed to get every participant involved in the program despite the tight schedule and few hours of sleep. I think everything ended up being great in every aspect and despite not being perfect I can say we remain grateful for this opportunity because we learned a lot from this experience. For the effort, understanding and commitment of all taking part in this amazing project, the overall impression is satisfaction and a little bit of childish joy.

What was the biggest challenge you encountered during the event?

The biggest challenge we encountered during the event was probably right after the trainers arrived in Bucharest and had a chance to talk about some of the matter we could not discuss over conventional communication channels. Having only one day remain until the start of the T4T, we realised that our programs were not syncronized. This meant that we had to change a lot of things last-minute, but, as always, we adapted and we pulled it through.

Also, another big challenge for the organising team happened the day when the participants had to deliver their presentations. At first, it seemed very hard, if not impossible to organise and complete the tasks for the whole day. Nevertheless, it was manageable, but the satisfaction we got from making this project a reality was important to us and to the members of AEGEE-București.

What could you have done differently?

It is almost impossible not to miss things during a project this big, especially when none of the team members ever experienced a T4T project. Considering this, we would have liked to have had a better communication with The Academy and with the trainers in order to get a better vision and structure of what we had to organise throughout the event.

What did you think of the participants?

Ever since the beginning, we were very excited to meet the participants. Having said this, during all our preparations and T4T meetings, all we thought about was how we could do everything so that they feel comfortable, learn everything they need to, eat right, get to know us, our city and also have some fun. According to their feedback, we managed to reach their expectations, and we are very glad we did so, because they were all extraordinary people, joyful and eager to learn. It was a good experience, both for them and for us. We miss them terribly, but we are sure we will meet again somewhere in Europe soon enough, maybe even at our “4 seasons TSU” which we are organising together with AEGEE-Chișinău.

Do you plan to organise a similar event next year?

T4T was indeed a successful project for our antenna and many of the organising team members were motivated to get involved in other local and international projects. Some of them are even planning to coordinate other projects in the future. So, brace yourselves, AEGEE-București has big plans for you!

Now we asked a few questions to three of the participants, Eva Brieler from AEGEE-Bamberg, Matej Petrov from AEGEE-Skopje and Francesca Russo from AEGEE-Padova about the event and what kind of impression it did leave them with.

What did you like the most about this event?

Eva: The people, everyone was so super nice and open. The overall atmosphere at the event was amazing and helped to get the most out of the sessions, too. It was so stimulating to see everyone develop and learn.

Matej: This event was a great combination of content and friendship. On one hand the content was something in which we, the participants, were very interested in, and on the other hand we got the chance to really get to know each other and develop great relationships. This possibility to learn something valuable and meet wonderful people at the same time was what I liked the most about this event.

Francesca: The case study! In fact, I learnt how to work with a co-trainer, learnt the theory and to produce games and activities to deliver the perfect training.

What was the structure and thematic of the training sessions? 

Eva: Trainings (theory and praxis). The thematic was how to be a trainer: Didactics, How to prepare/deliver/follow-up, tips and tricks.

Matej: The main theme of the whole training was teaching the participants to become trainers. This included developing the attitude of a trainer, as well as formats and ways to design trainings. The structure of the training session was basically learning by doing. This included representing some theory and then doing exercises to practice.

Francesca: All the sessions were done using the non-formal education, so they were with a part of theory and many interactive activities. They covered all the knowledge needed to deliver a training. So, there were for instance, the training style, the training delivering and our path as trainers. Then we had the case study: everyday a few hours to prepare our final training performance to be delivered for local students.

What did you think of the trainers? What about the organisers?

Eva: The trainers were all very competent in their fields. The content was delivered clearly and we had a lot of fun during the training, too. The trainers were very motivating and supportive. They made a good team!! The organisers were always very helpful and attentive. Whenever we needed something, they would make sure we got it. They were all very dedicated to the project.

Matej: Lovely, lovely people! Both the trainers and the organisers. My general impression is the following: the trainers were very competent and did an amazing job in organising all the sessions, it is even more impressive how they managed to accomplish this if you take the tight schedule in consideration. The content of the session was very broad, interesting, helpful and applicable. The organisers were some of the kindest people I have ever met, always attentive and ready to assist us for everything we needed. They were also very patient with us, sometimes we were a difficult group to control, so I am appreciating this very much.

Francesca: The trainers were prepared and rich in useful suggestions while organisers were always very kind and ready to help us.

How was the social program? What kind of parties did you have? 

Eva: The social program was a bit in the background as there were many training sessions. So we went to bars to have a drink. Of course, there was a European Night and a goodbye party with karaoke.

Matej: This was an event where the social program was not the priority, the focus was always more on the training sessions. However, it is my opinion that the organisers managed to organise great things for us to do after we have finished with all the sessions. We had the chance to see the night life of Bucharest by visiting local pubs, taste traditional Romanian food by visiting a local traditional restaurant, watching (and laughing about) a Romanian comedy movie, and singing in a local karaoke bar. As you can see, it was not bad at all. [he smiles]

Francesca: We did not have an intense social program, because we did have to be awake for the morning sessions and sometimes we did have some evening sessions, too. We had a traditional food night in a characteristic pub, a EU night, a karaoke night and a romanian movie night.

Do you plan to participate in a similar event next year?

Eva: I would like that. So far, I have no plans for next year, it seems too far away. But the event was really amazing, so I can only recommend taking part in it and I would love to be a part of something similar again, too.

Matej: As I mentioned, I love this combination of being able to learn something new for a topic which I am interested in and get to do it while meeting and hanging out with new, kind people. Having said this, I will definitely consider participating in a similar event.

Francesca: Hopefully, as a trainer!

Written by Gabriela Geană, AEGEE-București

AEGEE-București is organising the Training for Trainers (T4T) event from the 14th to the 20th of March  in Bucharest, Romania. If you wish to find out the definition of a “trainer”, what’s his/her role and how you can become one, sign up and you will discover it in seven amazing days in  Romanian style. Deadline for applications is the 7th of February. We spoke with the PR Responsible of the event, Bianca Crăciunescu, in order to give you some exciting information!

The AEGEEan: Hello, Bianca! You are preparing one important European event in your local. How is everything going?

Bianca: We took the challenge of organising an European event and, so far, things are going in the right direction. We wanted to prove that we can organise this important event, and all the members of our team are working hard in order to assure that both trainers and participants will have a great time here in Bucharest.

What is the concept of Training for Trainers?

Training for Trainers is about teaching the participants how they can deliver a good quality training. There will be six  days of specialized trainings and on the seventh day participants will become trainers themselves using what they have learned and facing their fear of public speaking. Besides the training, they will also learn a few things about Romanian culture.

What have you prepared for the participants during those seven days of action?

We want to help them understand better the importance of being a trainer, starting from answering a simple question such as “What is the role of a trainer?”, to a more advanced level, when they should deliver a training interacting constantly with the participants and adapting the level of difficulty to their knowledge. The trainers are preparing for them tips and tricks, content and challenges.

What will the trainings be about? Do you follow a specific theme?

The entire program and theme of T4T will be designed by The Academy. The participants will be given the necessary techniques, methods and tools so they can deliver training sessions on topics that matter for them, the AEGEE network and any other field of action.

Is AEGEE-București preparing the participants to “work all day, party all night?”

Of course! AEGEE-București is preparing an event in the AEGEE spirit.There will be sessions of trainings and workshops, but also time for fun, and the opportunity to meet the lovely and crazy Bucharest!

Is it the first time AEGEE-București organises Training for Trainers?

It is not the first time AEGEE-București organises Training for Trainers. We organized T4T by The Academy already in the past: it was in 2008 and the team of organisers are now Alumni. Now, in 2015, we will bring even more energy to you!

What are your expectations for the event?

I expect this edition of T4T will be unforgettable for the participants, for the trainers and for us, the organising team. I hope we will meet the expectations of the participants and we will also have a lot of fun working together. So, what are you waiting for? It’s training time!

Which are the values of your local, your pride and joy?

The values of our local are: responsibility, teamwork and intercultural communication. We love the fact that we have the opportunity to organise events for young people from other locals of AEGEE and we are proud of all of our members that are active and they call themselves “lifelong volunteers”.

Written by Gabriela Cioată, AEGEE-București

You have been an active AEGEEan for quite some time, you have organised several events, been involved in projects, and taken up responsibility and duties inside the organisation. However, you notice something is missing. The motivational spark is starting to fade out…

The first edition of SES took place in 2013

Do you identify yourself with these lines? If so, you better save the dates from 22^nd to 28^th of March, which are the days the Self-Development European School 2015 (SES) will take place. The AEGEE Academy and AEGEE-Utrecht are partnering for the second time in order to bring you an inspiring event, where you will get to know yourself better, set goals to keep improving yourself, and light the spark again.

The first edition of SES took place back in 2013 in Utrecht, at a time where The Academy decided to introduce a new thematic to the European Schools. Despite being a pilot project, many participants described it as a “life-changing” event. Now, the Self-Development European School comes back to where it started. “The previous SES was a huge success for participants, trainers and organisers, and there were no doubts to apply again!”, Martijn Weekenstroo, main organiser of AEGEE-Utrecht told The AEGEEan.

Twenty lucky participants will embark in a week-long journey through self-development, with several workshops and sessions ranging from self-awareness, emotional intelligence, effective goal setting, stress management and self-leadership among others, under the management of Paweł Cieślak, experienced member of The Academy.

AEGEE-Utrecht has been preparing for this challenge for a long time, from designing the visual identity and PR materials of SES and settling the logistics to organising teambuilding activities for the organisers. They revealed some of the activities that will be taking place during the social program: “The social program will be a bit quieter than regular AEGEE events. You can think of activities like storytelling with a bonfire and playing some games”. And a European Night, of course! What’s more, we have been told that participants “will sleep in luxurious bungalows just outside of Utrecht”.

According to the organisers, Utrecht “is a thrilling student city with lots of young creative people. The city centre is not too large which makes it very cosy; it has a lot of bars and restaurants alongside the water”. The participants of SES will also get to visit the Dom tower and Dom church, which was destroyed by a tornado, and there will be an option to climb the tower and see the surroundings, and to visit the famous “boat” where AEGEE-Utrecht has its weekly social drinks!

Appealing, right? Get to know yourself, boost your confidence, set motivational goals and embark to an inspiring journey by the channels of this stunning Dutch city. But don’t miss the deadline – you can apply until February 1st. If you want to make “that” change happen this 2015, Self-Development European School is the event for you!

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

Do speaking in public, leading presentations and creating successful PR campaigns seem like pure magic to you? Or do you feel insecure about promoting your own organisation without spending too much money? Well then, PRES is just for you!

This year the 19th edition of AEGEE’s PR European School took place in Poznań, Poland. Hosted by the local antenna, all participants were taken care of with great compassion and consideration. Participants were hosted throughout the week in a hostel in the city centre, where everything was within a 15 minute walk. A three course meal was offered every day and the participants had the possibility to explore traditional Polish cuisine.

The most significant part of the weekly program was of course the training itself.  For six days in a row the participants had the possibility to be engaged in campaign development and to study in detail the components of success.

The workshops were divided into themes: day one consisted of a general introduction into the topics of PR and branding, lead by the lovely Zsofia Komaromi (AEGEE-Budapest), Mayri Tiido (Projects and Communications director) and Ksenia Lupanova (AEGEE-Moskva). The following day was especially dedicated to analytics – how to analyse the media you use, your competitors and how to manage your organisation’s profile on social media moderated by Bálint Tóth (AEGEE-Budapest) and Zsofia.

But what is all that worth when you’re unable to present your organisation the right way? Paulina Inez Wenta (AEGEE-Toruń), Mayri and Bálint dedicated their time to making presentation pros out of the trainees. The session included improvisation and short presentations, prepared by the participants themselves. By that point, everybody knew where their NGO stood in the social media pecking order and possessed the ability to make themselves noticeable. But what do we actually present? What are our tools to show the world who we are?

The answer was given by Ksenia and Gerardo García Díaz (AEGEE-Oviedo) – video materials, posters and logos: a full two days training in Photoshop, CorelDraw and Adobe Premiere with the possibility to put what was learnt into practice. Branding and marketing were also vital points for this session – well-known brands were analysed and their strategies were modified for NGOs.

The participants were given the chance to express themselves also in a non-formal environment. Every evening case studies took place. The trainees were divided into working groups, developing their own projects throughout the whole week. One of the groups was given the special task of creating a working PR strategy for AEGEE-Poznań as a way of thanking the organisers for the effort they put into making PRES happen. The KEY studies allowed all the participants to put to use the knowledge they had gained – to see in real life situations how they can apply the theory of PR.

Through this a wonderful campaign was born – the so called “Banana Project”. Max Reitmeyer (AEGEE-Dresden), Folckert van der Molen (AEGEE-Utrecht), Anna Bortoletto (AEGEE-Udine) and Aivar Yorick (AEGEE-Tallinn) put their creative minds into a wonderful long term project to present Poznań with the help of bananas. The idea enchanted everyone and the bananas became the mascot of PRES 2014.

The participants also had the task to maintain the social media profile of PRES – another way to be interactive and creative. Many good ideas were born in the process, for example an interview with the president of AEGEE-Poznań Ola Domejko.

Of course, as all of you know AEGEE is never only about work. The social program was at its peak every night. Trips to clubs and bars were organised for the participants, allowing them to blend in with the locals and experience the Poznań nightlife first hand. The cultural aspect was not missing either. An interactive Poznań tour was arranged for the trainees so they explored the old and new part of town.

By the end of the programme, when the time came to go our separate ways once more, one could not see more sad faces in one place. The people that arrived a week ago as strangers were now friends. The insecure participants were now standing straight up with confidence in their eyes. PRES was not only a training course in PR, it was an event that allowed people to feel more secure in their social and cultural interactions, to enrich their point of view and see how colourful the world is. And once you are part of that, you can never go back.

Written by Lilia Georgieva, AEGEE-Berlin

Every year the Academy, in cooperation with the Public Relations Committee, organises a one week training: the Public Relations European School (PRES). This event is an unique opportunity to develop skills in terms of PR strategy and in particular in the fields of corporate identity, presentation techniques and development of PR materials. This year, PRES will take place in Poznań, Poland (23/11/2014 – 30/11/2014): The AEGEEan met Zsofia Komaromi (AEGEE-Budapest), manager of this upcoming event, in order to understand what we should expect of the next edition of PRES.

The AEGEEan: Zsofia, can you tell us what we should expect from the next PRES in Poznań?

Zsofia: We have a great team of trainers working on the program of PRES right now, so participants should expect a week packed with exciting training sessions and workshops as well as invited guest speakers from the corporate sector. Thanks to the organizers in Poznań, a social program in the evenings and a sightseeing tour will complement these sessions.

Which are the main topics of this upcoming event?

In each element of PRES, we focus on giving participants practical knowledge and providing them with an opportunity to explore and develop their skills. The main aim of PRES is to support participants in taking a strategic view on PR and communications and help them explore the various tools, channels and best practices that they can use in order to drive the success of their antenna or European level project. Within this framework, we will cover the topics of branding, online communication, social media and media relations. Another important element of PRES is using creative messages and communication tools in order to get the message of AEGEE across and stand out from the crowd of an increasing amount of youth organisations.

What can you tell us about the trainers and the training methods?

We have a team of six trainers (you can get to know them here) who have a lot of experience in PR in NGOs, as well in the corporate sector. Many of the trainers are also members of the Public Relations Committee and Mayri Tiido, Projects and Communications Director, will also be joining us for the event.

As for the training methods, we would like to make PRES as interactive as possible, and thus allow participants to learn by doing and learning from the experiences of each other. Real-life case studies will also be an essential part of PRES, allowing participants to put their knowledge into practice, while contributing to AEGEE’s projects too.

According to you, who are the ideal participants of Public Relations European School?
We are looking for participants who would like to work in the field of PR in their local or on the European level of AEGEE. They should be enthusiastic to learn and develop their skills while exploring their creative side.

In which terms do you think that the upcoming PRES may influence a member or local’s activity?

I think that PRES provides a great opportunity to learn from the best practices of other locals and come up with new and improved ways for doing PR after the event. As for the members, we hope that PRES will motivate them to contribute to the work of AEGEE on the local or the European level.

Why shouldAEGEEans apply for this event?

They should apply because PRES is a great opportunity for them to learn from experts as well as their peers and at the same time get inspiration or figure out what could be the next step for them in their AEGEE career.

So what are you waiting for? Join PRES this autumn!

For further information visit the official website and follow PRES on facebook.

Written by Larisa Smajlagic, AEGEE-Verona

17 participants, 6 trainers, 6 main organizers, 9 days, many guests and helpers. From  the 17th till the 25th of May 2014, the AEGEE-Academy,  together with AEGEE-Enschede had organized one of the most important  trainings in our association – “European School 1” aka ES1.  

Two years after the Agora in Enschede, AEGEE was back to the University of Twente,  where  participants gained new skills and  knowledge, getting ready to become future leaders. Leadership, Project Management, Human Resources and Fundraising; those were just a few of the sessions that took place during the training. Along with the sessions, the participants were working on different Case Study tasks, that helped them to put the newly-aquired knowledge into practice right away. Moreover, thanks to the local organizers, a lovely social  programme  followed  each  hard working  day.

Among  the  guests  of  the  event were representatives from the AEGEE­-Academy  board, the  board of FATF (Foundation AEGEE Trust Fund ed.) and trainers from the Dutch National Youth Council. The event would not have been the same without Urša Svetelj (AEGEE-Ljubljana),  Training  Manager  of  the ES1  2014.  Urša  was  ensuring the smooth  process from the very first preparations on, being a bridge between the trainers and organizers involved in this ES.

It is somehow hard to describe European School 1 with just few words, but the feedback received from  the  participants  speaks  for itself.  Nevertheless,  this  event  would not  have  been  that  successful without their strong motivation, commitment and endless energy.

“You rocked! The best AEGEE event I’ve been to ­ from trainers’, participants and organisational aspects. Good job!”

“Awesome! Inspiring! enriching! a great time! great people!”

“You guys are awesome and especially the organizers. Please pass my thanks because without them this event would not be as amazing as it was.”

“I  am  extremely happy to having been here!! ES1 changed my life and it will define my future! Thank you very much for selecting me cause I really had to be here! And thank you for making this event so awesome and useful!!! Looking forward to meeting you all again somewhere in Europe! I really admire you for what you are doing! Keep up improving the world!!! ;) And good luck with everything!”

“A big hug to everyone! Thanks for this outstanding experience!”

“I am very thankful this happened to me. And I thank you for realizing it. I find everything I want to find in my life in AEGEE. Thank you for making this true.

“Organizers  and trainers, I must say a huuuuuuge thanks for the hard work. I learned a LOT and had awesome time while doing it :) Thank youuuuu all! :)”

“I will suggest my local Antenna members apply for ES.”

“European School 1” is already over, but more AEGEE trainings will follow! Stay tuned and keep the AEGEE energy alive!

Written by Elena Antova, AEGEE-Academy