Sometimes things go way all beyond any expectation. You are chatting with a friend about general random things, and you end up organising a thematic event together with a commission and a committee. Believe it or not, it all started with a joke and it ended up so happily. This is the story of how the Audit Commission of AEGEE-Europe, the EQAC-Events Quality Assurance Committee and AEGEE-Kyiv managed to organise Fun-Ance Form-Action: FAFA #1 Kyiv.

The AEGEEan: How did this whole idea start?

Luca Bisighini (President of Audit Commission of AEGEE-Europe): Believe it or not, it all started one night with a joke me and Iryna (president of AEGEE-Kyiv) discussed one night in January. Actually, to be honest, I had this idea in my mind for a very long time as I was seeing all the Network Commissioners having their own events and me having none. I would never thought it would have ended into something like this. At all. Luckily Iryna accepted my idea, in two-three days we had already a plan made and in seven days the event was on the Intranet after some Skype meetings full of enthusiasm. Fun-Ance Form-Action (or FAFA) was born.

Iryna (President of AEGEE-Kyiv): Actually it was cool idea from my point of view. I couldn’t imagine that after NY event in Krakow we would right away organise an event with the Audit Commission. It was a great example that even during entertaining events it is possible to meet people with whom you can do serious projects!

Why involve Audit and EQAC?

Maria (EQAC and AC Subcom): Audit Commission and Events Quality Assurance Committee are European Buddies who have a lot of experience to share. Both things – events management and audit and financial management – are logical things that need specific skills to be successful. It is not hard to teach about basic steps and cultivate new treasurers and event organisers, but to make them successful we need to provide proper (and interesting) education. Before, there wasn’t any specific training that could lay the ground for such discussion and providing new skill in Audit and event management. So, Audit and EQAC were involved to discuss about this steps and teach participants of FAFA this planning and auditing skills.

How were the Workshops?

Luca: The workshops about the Audit Commission and project/campaign management have been practically developed from scratch, using techniques I developed mostly out from AEGEE in my university studies – united to the cool techniques of facilitation the Academy taught me during last year as Junior Trainer. Somehow, I saw lots of people being involved in the process, activities and realised that actually the Audit Commission and treasury are not things for just an elite group of people.

Daria (EQAC Secretary): Kyiv saw new workshops of EQAC that were done according to the needs we meet in AEGEE. We didn’t have a goal to teach people how to fill assessment/evaluation forms to make their EQAC responsible happy, but tried to teach people to think critically about events.

How many participants and organisers attended the event? How was the event designed (workshops, social programme)?

Iryna: Around 15 people were involved. They were motivated to meet foreigners as the organisers’ team consisted mostly of newbies. It was great to give this opportunity to them and test them at the international level. In AEGEE-Kyiv, we always try to balance our events. That is why FAFA consisted not only of workshops, but we also had a city tour, went clubbing and enjoyed a pub crawl.

What is next for you three?

Luca: The Audit Commission got back to a good visibility and events like this one just show the good intentions we have: bringing back people to discuss about finances. All of this on our own soon 30th anniversary: it is delightful, isn’t it? You can think about joining us, following us or discuss with us at audit@aegee.org. We are here for you!

And maybe, who knows…maybe a second FAFA can be great too!

Maria: Changes are coming soon in EQAC. After Agora we will be happy to announce changes in the assessment and evaluation forms and come out for the dialogue and comments with every person who wants to have some clarification or help. Please, keep in touch with us in our pages here: EQAC page, AEGEE Events page or at quality.events@aegee.org

Iryna: We are going to be active and help dreams and ideas of our members come true. They, of course, need to be according to Strategic Plan and Action Agenda [she smiles, ed.]. On a serious note, with such events I can say on behalf of all our local that we want to give people opportunities to develop, to start their CV with interesting projects, to get new experience and unbelievable stories. Members of our antenna try to make high quality events and projects and we concentrate on those which give us opportunities for non-formal education and personal development.

Written by Luca Bisighini, AEGEE-Brescia, Iryna Sheremeta, AEGEE-Kyiv, and Maria Kochkina, AEGEE-Moskva

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

The Comité Directeur 2016-2017 introduced a new concept for trainings in their Activity Plan: the European Training Courses. These trainings are aimed at those members who want to be more active in the European bodies of AEGEE. Their perk? They take place in the AEGEE house for only a weekend. We spoke with Project and Communication Director Joanna Pankowska to learn more about this learning opportunity in our Network. 

The AEGEEan: What is a European Training Course?
Joanna: It is a weekend-long event taking place at the AEGEE house in Brussels.

What is the aim of it?
The aim is to prepare AEGEEans for taking active roles in the European bodies of AEGEE. The concept is related to European Schools and Leadership Trainings, but the most important aspect is that it is very cheap (15 Euros), taking place in the easily reachable Brussels and only one weekend long, so we hope it will make it much more accessible for everybody. It will also happen more then once a year, to make sure that everybody can find a feasible date for attending. We hope that, as a results of the event, we will see not only the increase in managing skills and understanding of AEGEE, but also, and first of all, the increase in motivation and inspiration to take up tasks of responsibility in the European Bodies of AEGEE.

Why just eight participants?
First of all, we want to ensure the quality of the event and the personal relation between trainers and participants, which should result in long-term mentoring. The other reason is more pragmatic – the only way to make such a cheap event without putting efforts into FR is to host it at the AEGEE house, which, as many of you know, faces space constraints.

What is the strongest point of the ETC?
The personal relation that would be built as a results of a weekend with a small group of very motivated AEGEEans. We hope that this relation would be beneficial for both – the participants, who would feel more encouraged to take up responsibilities, and the CD, who would be more in touch with the current and future leaders of AEGEE.

When will the next ETC be organised?
The next one will take place from the 17th to the 19th of February (you can apply until the 22nd of January).
You can find more information on the Members’ Portal or Facebook event. After that, we will have one from the 27th of March to the 2nd of April, which will be ETC + aka Leadership Training (longer version) and another from the 16th to the 18th of June.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

“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

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