After eight successful Y Vote conventions all around Europe, finally the time came to gather for one last meet up – and what place would be more suitable for this than Brussels?

By this time all AEGEEans probably know how it goes: 40 young people, finding time and motivation, came together with the desire to learn more, share their views and opinions, discuss hot topics and exchange experiences, with a few Belgian beers on top of it this time.

Maybe the fact that this was the last convention made us a very active and ambitious group of people. The atmosphere was always exhilarating and saturated with fresh ideas, orchestrated by excellent trainers who led inspiring sessions and workshops. We, the lucky participants, were pampered by great sunny weather and had an important task ahead of us: we had to go through all the recommendations that participants from previous conventions had been working on, and try to connect, transform, enhance and further incorporate them into the Student Agenda for Europe. Tough and mind challenging!

But wait a second: let’s first remind ourselves the previous Y Vote 2014 conventions.
It all started with the kick off convention in Valladolid: “Ignite the youth spark!”, followed by: “Bridging the EU democratic gap” – Las Palmas, “Youth unemployment” – Agrigento, “Austerity vs. Solidarity” – Berlin, “Gender equality” – Paris, “The role of the EU in the world” – Vienna, “Education, research and mobility” – Krakow and “Pluralism of media” – Cluj-Napoca.  And finally, the Brussels convention on the topic “More Europe, but which Europe?”. Want to know more about what made this last convention so special? Read on about the highlights!

A convention in the heart of the EU

Not only were we able to experience the “EU capital lifestyle”, but we also had a privilege to hold our debates in the European Parliament. First, the traditional debate with Members of Parliament(MEPs) was organized, followed by a discussion with NGOs(Non-governamental organizations),  who presented different innovative forms of democratic participation. Having discussions in the place where much of the decisions that affect our daily lives are made left a big impression on all of us, because it felt more realistic and transparent this way.

Education as a key matter
Although during these five days we discussed many different topics, it seems that we always returned to one subject – education. During the convention, a lot of problems about the current  education systems were identified and addressed.

According to Kostas Tsole (participant from AEGEE-Aachen), some of the problems that seem to reappear in our European society (e.g. lack of solidarity and a selfish approach towards solving problems in a strongly interdependent society and economy), might be due to education and the way we were “shaped” to think, accept and process information. Next to this, Régis Dumoulin (participant from AEGEE-Brussel/Bruxelles), stated that through education, which is expected to provide us with the right tools to be able to make the right choices, truly responsible citizens are being raised. The key is to teach “how” to think, rather than “what” to think.

It is important to underline that the concept of education was seen as the starting point to reshape our society in several conventions, even without consulting the drafts made during the “Education, research and mobility” convention.

One of the conclusions we think is vital to spread around our network is certainly the idea of “proactivity”. We include the definition of this term below and invite all of you to think about it!

PROACTIVE: (Of a person or action) creating or controlling a situation rather than just responding to it after it has happened.

Empowering young people: YOU(th) got the power!
This event definitely helped all of us to change the image of the community we live in. For some, it renewed their faith in Europe or ignited their enthusiasm again. For others, change came from within: it was truly astonishing to see how learning from others and simply exchanging helps you grow as a person. As Mauro Bellani (AEGEE-Bergamo) states, this convention prompted personal development of all of us: “I’m impressed how the Y Vote conference can change yourself! After the conference you feel more “complete”. If earlier your idea about your status as European citizen was quite unclear and confusing, after meeting new people you can learn how to add value to your opinion and what you can do to start being and remain active.”

In addition, all the workshops were great facilitators that allowed us to make our own conclusions about what “our” Europe needs. Furthermore, reading and revising the existing recommendations, made us take a step back, look at the results of all earlier Y Vote 2014 conventions and shape one final outcome. “Having those recommendations in my hands and knowing that actual policy-makers would read them made me feel empowered! And that is not an easy-accessible feeling”, says Alba Perez Barrera (AEGEE-Valladolid), although we are sure this feeling was widespread amongst all of us!

Conclusion(s)?
A lot of them! But here are the most interesting ones, ranging from very concrete to more abstract.

This convention gave us the opportunity to get information about the EP Elections in a very accessible way, through some attractive tools to play around with, such as the VoteWatch (www.votewatch.eu/), MyVote (https://www.myvote2014.eu/) and a very interesting online debating platform which has been getting a lot of attention from MEPs (www.debatingeurope.eu/), as Juan Vallés (AEGEE-Zaragoza) points out.

For Tessa Speelman (AEGEE-Utrecht), this experience was an eye-opener: it made her realise that we all have different views on the EU and its future, but we share common values and ideas. Our future is in Europe and we, youth, should never stop dreaming, participating and influencing the European decision-making.

After this final convention, we all went back home, glad for having taken part in it, and extremely happy to have met such amazing people. Because, at the end of the day, it is always about the people you meet. And this, we believe, is one of the strongest messages of AEGEE.

What are the next steps?
The EYE 2014 event was held  in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, gathering more than 10 000 young people concerned about the European Union. And, after a tour bus in the UK, the Y Vote 2014 team is leading another tour in beautiful Spain! Stay tuned, follow daily news through the Facebook page and don’t forget to vote – starting from today.

Follow daily news through Y Vote 2014 Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/YVote2014?fref=ts

Written by Hana Hudak (AEGEE-Paris) and Tessa Speelman (AEGEE-Utrecht)

Léa Charlet, 24 years old from AEGEE-Paris, is one of the three candidates for the position of President of AEGEE-Europe. She studies Law and European institutions and has been member of AEGEE-Paris since september 2011. She was HR, Secretary and President in her local and involved in the European Level as Fair Manager EBM Valletta 2013, Trainer of the Academy, Public Relations responsible of Speak Up! (2011-2012), CD assistant and, last but not least, Project manager of Y Vote 2014.

The AEGEEan: What do you think the main task as a president will be?

Léa: For me, being President means representing all the members. Once you are elected, it’s not like you can do whatever you want, you have to listen and take into consideration the needs of your members. The main challenge is to balance all of these opinions and to do what’s best, in the end, for the organisation. As President of the Comité Directeur, you need to keep the team together. You need to facilitate the creation of the vision of this Comité Directeur. You need to make everyone listen too, and make them achieve their goals and their own vision.

The AEGEEan: If you are going to be elected as president of AEGEE-Europe, what will be the first thing you will do?

Léa: First things first, I will find a week before the start of the knowledge transfer to organize a team building. I think this is a fundamental start. Working and living with six people for a year is difficult (even if I know  most of the people applying quite well). We need to find a common vision, and we need to be ready to accept each other, adapt, and to help each other learn and grow. Second would be the creation of an activity plan. Our programs need to be merged. We need to prioritize and work to actually achieve everything in one year time. I do not always believe in compromises, but more in creating our own plan, our own vision, where nobody feels left out of the process.

The AEGEEan: What is leadership for you?

Léa: I am playing the trumpet for quite some time now and I have also been conducting for a couple of years now. I have always been amazed by this feeling you have when being in the middle of the orchestra, playing your individual part following the conductor, but at the same time knowing every single other part from other instruments. This is how I see leadership. It’s not always about being the best in something, but much more having the overview, helping other people reaching what they want to achieve with others,  looking in the same direction, making them feel part of something bigger.

The AEGEEan: How would you describe in one sentence the current situation of AEGEE, regarding internal structures and activities?

Léa: Not reaching its potential.

The AEGEEan: Luis Alvarado Martinez was President for two years and he has a lot of charisma. What would you do differently than him?

Léa: I actually met Luis on my first event, my first month in AEGEE, and I was always driven by his vision and his motivation to make our association truly meaningful. I always admired his work as president. That being said, this past two years, the Comite Directeur turned itself towards externals a lot. I think it’s great that we are now really known and appreciated in the different institutions and among other NGOs. I am not saying that the actual Comite Directeur forgot the network, but the pace is hard to follow. Even being an active member and quite aware of what was happening, it’s difficult to have a clear overview of what AEGEE is doing in every sector.

So I would maybe have focused more on bringing the externals to the locals, trying more to consult with the members, in order to bring the Comite Directeur closer to the members. I realized during my internship in the Comite Directeur that it will be a lot of work, and we will have to be really committed to do this the right way, but it also requires will and awareness from the network.

The AEGEEan: In your opininion, is AEGEE really working well enough at all levels?

Léa: You can see in my previous answers that I don’t believe that AEGEE is working as well as it could be. We have a lot of potential, but face a lot of obstacles coming from the organisation itself. I already mentioned and explained most of the problems I saw there and tried to propose solutions: the lack of coordination, of human resources and the difficulty of conserving memories; the flow of great initiatives from the Comite Directeur that are hard to follow by the network, and the fact that we don’t have enough discussion and consultation in the network. We also have to be aware that right now, AEGEE is driven by Summer Universities. Most of our members are joining for this project and aren’t active after. We should work on activating and empowering those members, which could significantly increase the human resources of the organisation.

The AEGEEan: We speak a lot about the gap between the European level and locals. What do you think we need to do to fill it?

Léa: I don’t believe in this separation. The so called ‘European Level’ are regular members, organizing projects of AEGEE-Europe. Most of the time, organizing projects in locals can be just as challenging. The main problem in my opinion is that sometimes locals don’t have the knowledge to organize an event on a topic tackled by a thematic part of AEGEE and thematic bodies are not responsive enough, because they don’t have the human resources nor the capacity to be everywhere. We should work on two things: knowledge in the locals about European bodies, and an increase of human resources in those european bodies. These are the two homework assignments we have to do.

The AEGEEan: On your application you said that “we lack of coordination sometimes“. How would you improve it?

Léa: I meant two things with this sentence: one on a timeframe level and one on a thematic level. Timeframe: most of the events are happening at the same time. We have to cancel a lot, because we are not aware of what is happening in the different parts of the network. Thematically speaking: we have projects, working groups, an action agenda with concrete activities and plenty of space for the locals to do something within these fields, but still we are not always looking in the same direction. We don’t always act like a network. I think here the work of the Action Agenda Coordination team, Netcom and the new Quality Assurance committee are fundamental. They are the link, they are the ones that can help the locals to plan and cooperate.

The AEGEEan: You said “We tend to forget our past”. How will you create a common memory?

Léa: ‘”Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana.

Sometimes we might repeat the good things from the past, but for this, we have to know it. The current Comité Directeur is doing some work on the archive, but as always with archives, there is always something to be done. We have to take it out of the basement, and really give the possibility for our members to read it, digitalize it for example. But, more importantly, we have to start thinking also of the next generation. We need to keep track of the present for the future and we have to realize this in our current activities. Keep track of what we do and how we do it. We can for example take the work The Academy is doing right now, creating a database of trainings, accessible easily; or the ongoing work on the AEGEE Wiki.

The AEGEEan: What do you think is the current status of the relationship with The Academy? If there is a problem, how will you solve it?

Léa: Trainings are here to empower and develop our members, to facilitate the learning process. Right now, in my opinion we have two main actors: Network Commission, who is aware of the flow of their locals and what trainings they would need right now, and The Academy, who has the resources and the will to create trainings. What I would really like to see in the future is more cooperation between those two actors: having trainings the organisation needs, in the part of the Network which needs it the most. I think a really important point here is to rethink the point and the concept of regional training courses. This should be done in cooperation with the Academy

The AEGEEan: Let’s speak about thematic conferences, can you give an example?

Léa: A thematic conference for me is firstly meant to inform and inspire our members. The EBM is a big example, but we can do much more. In the past six months, we organized nine thematics conventions with a part of the Y Vote team, always about different topics. We realized, talking to enthusiastic participants, that it was something really missing in our Network. I’m not talking here about another 300 people conference, but medium ones, with 50 to 100 people, on the four differents focus area of our strategic plan for example.

The AEGEEan: Can you please explain a bit more about the creation of a Secretariat?

Léa: Our headoffice is in Brussels, and we have to realize that to get big grants, big projects take years. We need to have a certain continuity. We can see it in our locals, this is taking time. And especially in this Eurobubble in Brussels, personal connections and personal network are key. A Secretariat can be the bridge between Comité Directeurs changing every year. It would also let the CD focus on the association more than the administrative tasks.

The AEGEEan: Do you think the Network needs to stop enlarging and enforce or should it keep on “watching outside”?

Léa: I don’t think it’s that black and white. We have some of our newest locals that are already extremely active, with a great understanding of what AEGEE is. And some old locals that are just surviving. AEGEE is constantly changing. New locals are joining and some are deleted, it is a natural process. In the past five years, our number of locals decreased quite a lot (around 50), and if we stop getting new locals, we will endanger AEGEE in the next years.

The AEGEEan: 30 years will be a huge achievement, what are you plans?

Léa: 30 years is the achievement of the whole organisation, a celebration for all of us. I don’t have everything perfectly clear already, but I can say that the Comité Directeur should not be alone organizing this event, and I hope that many members (new, current and a bit less new) will be willing to join this initiative. I would love to have the celebration in one of the funding locals, a mix of success stories with oldies and a local willing to contribute.

The AEGEEan: Lately you attended a lot of network meetings, was it because you were interested in the topics or because of CD campaign?

Léa: Since I’ve been a member of AEGEE, I attended all the network meetings of my area (except 1 for exam reasons), so last year in autumn I was also interested to know how it works in another part of the network. I am studying in Brussels, that’s why I went to NWM Utrecht in december. I also went to Salerno this month, being a member of AEGEE-Bologna it was also a logical area to go. I know Italy as I lived there for more than a year, but I didn’t know this part of the network, and this was also my main goal going there. I can say that now I have a better overview of different regions of our network, nothing in depth of course, but it helped me understand the reality of our locals quite a lot.

The AEGEEan: What are you strengths? And your weaknesses?

Léa: People usually describe me as an energetic, hard working, convinced,  and convincing person. But I would say that I think my biggest strength is that I am always willing to learn. On the weakness part I will have to say that I reaaally need a lot of sleep. I realized it when doing the internship and traveling a lot for Y Vote. I am also a really empathic person, I sometimes tend to be oversensitive to other people problems.

The AEGEEan: Réka Salamon (AEGEE-Aachen) is doing the internship with you in the CD house and Paul Smits (AEGEE-Enschede) came out a little bit as a surprise as a candidate. What do you think about your fellow candidates?

Léa: I attended Leadership Summer School in Sofia with Paul and I appreciate and respect him and his work within our association. I know Réka a bit less in general, but I would say that she has been an asset for the communication in the Y Vote 2014 team and she is a really hardworking person.

The AEGEEan: Why do you think that people must vote for you? What are your plans if you are elected as president?

Léa: Since I entered AEGEE I was kind of interested in becoming part of the Comité Directeur. This might seem like a bit too much, but I have always been a super active member, at local level and european level since the first month I entered. My field of study and the fact that I was spending ¾ on my time on AEGEE work always motivated me to do more.

Why president then? Because I believe I am good at making the link: between people, between projects. I think I can see how to put ideas into practices. My team members are easily becoming friends and motivating people is something that I really enjoy. I would not say that people must vote for me, but that they should if they do believe in my ideas, in my capacity as a president and as a leader.

I wrote my programme already and I would like to highlight that it is a fact that I believe that the members are the most important part of our organisation. Right now most of our members are not active, we have to face it. My main focus would be to help activating those members, in order for AEGEE to become a strong organisation. The external impact of AEGEE cannot happen if we don’t have an impact on our own members first.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

Aleksandra Kluczka, but you can also call her Ola, is a 23 years old member of AEGEE-Kraków. She is currently CD assistant, content manager of the Y vote 2014 project and member of the pool of representatives of AEGEE-Europe. She studied International Trades and International Relations and she has been a member of AEGEE-Kraków since october 2009, covering the position of Vice President and Fundraiser and coordinating several local activities. She’s running for a position in the Comité Directeur with a preference for External Relations (including European Institutions & fundraising) and Projects & Working Groups.

The AEGEEan: Do you consider yourself as a team player?

Aleksandra: I definitely perceive myself as a team player and this is what I usually hear from people working with me in different teams. I believe a good team is a basis on which you can build later on, which makes it possible to achieve common goals. Personally I enjoy working with people. I gain energy, get the best ideas and motivation and I am most efficient, while working in a group. I have empathy. I believe in the sentence ‘first seek to understand, then to be understood’, to quote Stephen Covey. If  I am elected for the CD, I will do my best to ensure a good environment in the team and I will give a lot of attention to teambuilding.

The AEGEEan: If you are elected CD Member, what will be the first thing you will do?

Aleksandra: If I am elected, I believe the first thing we should do with the new team is a solid teambuilding. People can have amazing ideas and skills and work great as individuals, but if they do not become a true team, striving for the same goals, going in the same direction, they will not reach their full potential and contribute to the organisation to the biggest extent. That is why I believe the TEAM is so important. Therefore, even before the term starts, I think we should take some days specially for teambuilding with a professional trainer. Also, we should start working on our strategy and goals we want to achieve with the team as soon as we are elected. It seems that one year term is a long period, but in fact it passes very quickly and as we know, it takes a long time from the creation of an idea to its implementation

The AEGEEan: How will you involve AEGEE members to catch opportunities Liaison Officers provide to the members?

Aleksandra: I think the first step is to acquaint our members better with the organisations Liaison Officers cooperate with. We should have more workshops on statutory events explaining the work of organisations such as United Nations, OSCE, OECD, etc., in a youth-friendly way: their relevance for AEGEE, the benefits they provide and the impact we can have. Then, we should share on a bigger scale the opportunities these organisations provide, information about conferences, internships, scholarships and other initiatives, but also the processes AEGEE is involved in. There are plenty of opportunities, just to give an example of fully funded United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Summer School in New York. Information is key!

Currently I am a Youth Ambassador of Model OSCE and I support our Liaison Officer towards OSCE, Ermanno Napolitano (AEGEE-Milano), on bringing this organisation and its opportunities closer to our members. I can already invite you to our workshop at Agora Patra explaining the functioning of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and how AEGEE is involved there. We will collect your ideas for an AEGEE side-event that will be organised during the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting of OSCE in Warsaw this year and let you know how you can get involved. We will also update you on the state of youth policies there and I will tell you more about the Youth Action Plan that is being developed, waiting for your ideas!

The AEGEEan: Liaison Officers and Policy Officers are not so known in the Network, especially among non- European level active members. How will you make Liaison Officers and Policy Officers ‘more famous’?

Aleksandra: I don’t think we should make Policy Officers and Liaison Officers ‘more famous’, but we should definitely keep updating the Network more clearly about the purpose of their work. This question is quite related to the previous one. I do see the need to acquaint our members more with the topics and areas Policy Officers and Liaison Officers take care of, which can be done by, again, more interactive workshops during statutory events, online hangouts with questions & answers sessions, etc. However, I am aware that making members already active on the European level more familiar with the work of POs and LOs is not too difficult. The biggest challenge is how to pass this information to all members on the local level. I think the responsibility rests also on the board members. It would be good if in each board there was one person responsible for informing the members on the developments in AEGEE-Europe, also regarding the achievements and opportunities provided by the work of Liaison Officers and Policy Officers. I believe that the new CD should pay even more attention to informing, but also asking for opinions of board members of locals and improving communication channels with them.

The AEGEEan: You said that ‘ideally we could have an AEGEE representative appointed towards each national youth council’. How will you manage to do that?

Aleksandra: I think we should adopt common AEGEE strategy towards national youth councils. We should do proper research and create a database with all national and regional youth councils in Europe, check and keep track of which of the antennas are already involved in those councils and encourage other locals to participate. In order to achieve that, we should communicate properly to our members the specifics of youth councils,  the impact they have in the youth policy field and the benefits resulting from the membership. Once  AEGEE locals join national youth councils as member organisations, a common representative of AEGEE towards the national youth council in a particular country could be chosen.

I believe  that involvement in national youth councils can be of great benefit for AEGEE members and locals. My antenna, AEGEE-Kraków is a member of Polish Council of Youth Organisations (PROM) and I used to be  the representative of my local towards it. This experience made me realise, how  many opportunities it provides for member organisations. Member organisations have the ability to shape youth policies in their country and take part in consultations regarding it, start new initiatives and projects with other member organisations, get involved in the working groups,  Structured Dialogue and they have access to interesting conferences or trainings.

The AEGEEan: How will you create a regional pool of trainers?

Aleksandra: This idea would have to be discussed with the team and the Academy for sure. Regional pools of trainers don’t necessarily have to be official bodies at first. We should start with creating databases of people with training experience based in different parts of our AEGEE Network. The reasoning behind this idea is the fact that many locals do not have the capacity or human resources to organise a Local Training Course for their members. I come from a local that organises 4 LTCs per year – two for new members and two Management Training Courses for future project coordinators and I realised how unbelievably empowering such events are for the members and how crucial they are for the development of the organisation as a whole. The  biggest impact AEGEE can ever have is on its members and LTCs are in my opinion the first step to empower them.

The AEGEEan: Who is going to take care of the online trainings?

Aleksandra: In my programme I mentioned not only the fields I would like to be the main responsible for if being elected to the CD, but also a general vision and issues that I think are crucial for the further development of AEGEE. Some of the other candidates mentioned in their applications the will to work on online trainings and I am sure they will do a great job with that. Of course I am willing to support them in this process. Online trainings would ensure that every AEGEE member has the access to training opportunities. Not everyone has the capacity in terms of time or finances to attend an international training course, therefore online trainings would be an important step for empowering a bigger amount of our members and giving them tools for personal development.

The AEGEEan: Can you explain a bit more about the concept of a secretariat?

Aleksandra: In my opinion, the main purpose of creating the Secretariat is to professionalise our organisation and diminish the administrative workload CD members currently have, enabling them to devote more time to strategic planning and developing new ideas for the organisation. Implementation of a Secretariat means employing people to take care of some aspects of the organisation’s administration, if AEGEE receives a grant for this purpose. At the same time, leading the organisation and choosing directions of development would stay within CD’s competences, which would still consist of volunteers. There are many variants of a Secretariat, AEGEE should adopt  a model best suiting its needs if the new CD decides to continue the efforts of the current CD in this matter.

The AEGEEan: Knowing that fixed positions in the Comité Directeur ideally do not exist, LTC/RTC and online trainings are more Network Director related tasks. How do you think you, as possible external director, could be involved?

Aleksandra: According to the CIA and the real workload in the CD, fixed positions do not exist. Of course, each board member has some focus areas and preferred tasks, but in fact each of them needs to develop a big dose of flexibility and undertake different kind of tasks, both internal and external. My preferred official position is External Relations indeed, but I would still like to support other fields, such as development of thematics and trainings.

The AEGEEan: You are the Content Manager of Y Vote 2014 project. What did you learn by this experience? How do you think you can apply your knowledge to your term in the Comité Directeur?

Aleksandra: Y Vote 2014 has been one of the most important learning experiences of my life. We started working on the project already in January 2013, having a meeting in Brussels, where we developed the concept of the campaign and the activities.  Since then I became the Content Manager of the project, and as I mentioned in my candidature,  I was responsible for developing the Students’ Agenda for Europe and the content of nine Y Vote conventions taking place between September 2013 and April 2014. I was coordinating the work of the content teams, the communication with hosting locals and supervising the logistic preparations. It was a great opportunity to develop my training, facilitation and public speaking skills during the conventions, as I attended seven of them as a trainer. I have facilitated panels with Members of the European Parliament and their assistants, as well as with other external speakers and experts. While preparing the conventions, I have broadened my knowledge about the functioning of the EU as well. Finally, I have learnt how to work hard under a big pressure of time in an international team spread around Europe. I realised even more, how important proper communication is and the necessity of  a solid teambuilding. I believe that the above mentioned experiences are extremely relevant for  the work in the CD. As we all know, during the term CD members work under a huge pressure of time, coordinate many processes in the organisation parallelly, work with AEGEE members on different initiatives, represent the organisation externally, facilitate discussion panels, give trainings and that’s just a tip of the iceberg. I believe that my experience and skills makes me capable of managing all those challenges. With the Y Vote 2014 project we wanted to empower  and inspire young people to become multipliers of the project, to spread the passion for Europe and awareness about the impact of the EU on our daily lives. I hope we managed to have an impact on  participants of our activities. The project has had a huge impact on myself. It motivated me to contribute to the European project even more, made me realise, what we are capable of  in this organisation and that I want to devote my next year to contribute to AEGEE to the highest possible extent.

The AEGEEan: Do you already have any idea for a follow-up of Y Vote 2014 project?

Aleksandra: I am very glad you asked. First, we need to  finalise the Y Vote 2014 and do the follow-up regarding the Students’ Agenda for Europe that was created by AEGEE members during Y Vote conventions in the past few months, consisting of recommendations for Members of European Parliament on topics relevant for youth. Before the  European Parliamentary elections we  will send it to all candidates to European Parliament to address the vision for Europe students have. Once we get the support for the ideas, after the elections we will keep reminding the newly elected MEPs, what they promised to young people. I believe we should not remember about Europe only once in 5 years, before the EP elections, but on a constant basis. I do not want to suggest a concrete vision for a project on spreading eurooptimism yet, as I would like to give the ownership to the future project team.  But I believe such project should raise awareness of young people concerning the impact the EU has on our daily lives and the benefits coming from the European project.

The AEGEEan: Lately you attended a lot of Network Meetings. Was it because you were interested in the topics or because of CD campaign?

Aleksandra: Indeed, in the past few weeks I attended three Network Meetings – in Alicante, Leiden and Salerno. While deciding to go to them, of course the idea of CD campaign and preparations crossed my mind. But more importantly, I wanted to get to know better significant parts of our Network. I think it’s extremely important for a CD member to know the people, the needs and challenges the different parts of the Network are facing. Knowing the people personally is also very helpful for the purpose of good communication in the future. Apart from this, my role in NWMs was more active. In Alicante I was a trainer, leading a workshop about conflict resolution, facilitating some sessions and performing a session about the upcoming European Parliamentary elections and the structure of the EP (together with Léa Charlet from AEGEE-Paris). Also in Salerno and Leiden I led workshops about EP elections.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

Halfway December a group of AEGEE members gathered in Utrecht for the Network Meeting (NWM) ‘Key to your AEGEE future’. It was a weekend full of brainstorming about AEGEE and developing your personal skills: two aspects you need in order to work on the key to your AEGEE future! The amount of sessions and social activities were well balanced, resulting in a productive and inspiring NWM that was very well hosted by AEGEE-Utrecht.

The participants were lodged in the ‘Centre for the World, Peace and Environment’, which sounded already as a suitable location for an AEGEE event. In the course of Friday evening, AEGEE members were arriving mainly from Dutch, Belgian, French and German locals. On behalf of the Comité Directeur (CD), Anna Gots from AEGEE-Kyïv was present to support and contribute to the NWM. Louise Noël, from the partner organization Board of European Students of Technology (BEST), joined the NWM as well.

The first important things was to get to know each other and to have a nice start of our time together in Utrecht. Therefore, a pub crawl was planned, where participants had to battle in groups against each other. Probably, the usual sense of mutual solidarity in AEGEE was even strengthened by the Christmas feeling that was present at all pubs and squares in town.

On the next morning the NWM was kicked off by a session about the Action Agenda Coordination Committee (ACT) and the Strategic Plan. CD member Anna Gots, Ana Potočnik from AEGEE-Ljubljana and Anna van den Berg from AEGEE-Groningen discussed the Action Agenda 2013-2014, which contains the concrete guidelines for AEGEE until August 2014. From the three focus areas, Youth Participation, Bridging Europe and Social Inclusion, aims were discussed and objectives that could be implemented by local boards were highlighted. During the conversation about Bridging Europe, the contribution from Anna Gots about the current situation in Ukraine, and the one from Rasim Zulfigarov (AEGEE-Bakı) about the tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan were very valuable. The overall message was that not only the CD, but also locals can easily implement the objectives of the Action Agenda in their local activities.

Louise Noël gave an introduction about BEST before Mayri Tiido from AEGEE-Tartu started her workshop about teamwork and communication. Don’t think you could have a rest sitting on a chair during that session! By means of small games, exercises and tasks, Mayri Tiido showed the importance of communication and explained you can make a big impact with small changes. Besides, improvisation games were played during this active session in order to trigger the participants’ creativity and to think out of the box.

And, how do you gain and keep enough AEGEE members? How do you gain and transfer the knowledge in your local? According to Dominique Lenssen from AEGEE-Leiden and Tom Simons from AEGEE-Enschede, your local needs a good Human Resources cycle, as they explained during their practical session about HR. As a part of the recruitment step, elevator pitches about AEGEE were developed and practiced. Furthermore, the importance and implementation of the integration of new members, their maintaining and their knowledge transfer steps in the HR cycle were discussed.

Besides, there is no progress in AEGEE without goal-setting. To achieve these goals, you need a good time management and motivation. These elements together formed the topic of the session given by Maartje Natrop from AEGEE-Utrecht, speaker of the AEGEE Academy (ACA). The participants were asked to think about their personal goals in AEGEE in 2014 and to determine the order of their priority. “Time management is not always that easy”, Maartje admitted. Therefore she handed the crucial ingredients for a good time management. With this eye-opening session, we were all ready to achieve our goals in 2014!

It was time for drinks, dinner and a good night out in Utrecht. Even more participants arrived and local members from AEGEE-Utrecht joined as well. It was time to relax and to look back at the inspiring sessions. Eventually it was time to dance together in the historical cellars of Utrecht, located adjacent to canals in the city centre.

On Sunday, already the last whole day of the NWM, we started with a brainstorm session about the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of the locals that were present. Members of the same local gathered together and made a SWOT analysis of their local which they presented to the group. It became clear the locals present have aspects in common but also differ a lot from each other. A weakness that have several locals in common, is a low numbers of (active) members. The presence of many other student associations besides AEGEE was often considered as a threat to the locals. Large differences were observed in the knowledge transfer, the fundraising possibilities, the activity on European level and the number and character of local activities. We could see how other locals are organized and we could learn a lot from each other.

CD member Anna Gots gave an update on the AEGEE Identity presented and ratified during the Autumn Agora 2013 in Zaragoza. She gave an inspiring speech about the importance of our identity and her strong belief in it was convincing and motivating to come in action. During a brainstorming session, the tools, mission and vision of AEGEE were implemented in new elevator pitches.

Do you know all countries in the European Union? Do you know all countries in which you can pay with Euro? Matthijs Overhaal visualized Europe with the help of the participants and explained more details about the history, challenges and future of the EU and the European Parliament. This session was logically followed by a session on the Y Vote 2014 project, given by Léa Charlet from AEGEE-Paris, Project Manager of the Y Vote 2014 project. Léa explained the approach of the project, which aims to motivate and increase the number of young European citizens that will vote during the European Parliament elections taking place in May 2014. We contributed to the program by thinking about ways to promote the project and the elections. How would you motivate young people on the street or at your university to vote?

Iris Hordijk from AEGEE-Utrecht, former speaker of the Environmental Working Group (EnWG) and the current Policy Officer on Sustainability, gave a session on sustainable development. There was a brainstorming session about sustainability in our universities in order to contribute to Iris’ position paper on this same topic.

The final session of the day was offered by the Dutch National Youth Council (NJR). As external trainers, they succeeded very well in implementing many aspects of AEGEE and the NWM in their session. They focused on the planning and structure of projects. The session ended with the question: how would you describe this NWM in one word? Among others, the NWM was labelled as inspiring, different, motivating and awesome.

As an overall impression of the NWM, it can be said there was a good balance between session with an AEGEE topic and sessions about personal development. The NWM has been considered by many participants as very good and productive. There was enough time and space to have discussions, to inspire each other, to make new friends, to have fun and to create lots of memories and new plans.

Thanks to AEGEE-Utrecht, thanks to our Network Commissioner Dominique Lenssen, thanks to all the trainers of this NWM and thanks to all the participants for the inspiring, motivating, awesome event!

Written by Margo van Berkum, AEGEE-Leiden

Pictures taken by Sandrine Lafay, AEGEE-Leiden