Last May, AEGEE-Lublin organised the Aktywator project (Youth Employment Focus Area) and First Aid training (Civic Education Focus Area). For this reason, they were chosen as an ACTive Local of the Month. We spoke with Martyna Jarosz – Advisory Board, Honorary Member and previous Secretary of AEGEE- Lublin, to find out more!

ACT: Which emotions did you have when you know that AEGEE-Lublin was chosen as ACTive local of May?

Martyna: Thank you so much for the nomination! We still can’t believe it. We were very excited by knowing that AEGEE- Lublin was chosen for this designation. We’re pleased that our whole effort is noticed. This gives us even more motivation to act.

Why did you decide to organise Aktywator project and First Aid training?

We decided to organise First Aid training for many reasons. Firstly, I always wanted to promote civic education, so I was the originator and the main organiser of the First Aid training, because is there anything more important in the world than human life? However, there may be situations in which it is threatened. We should all acquire practical first aid skills so that, in difficult situations, we can respond quickly and effectively to save lives. That is why we organised a pre-medical First Aid training to make Lublin’s society aware of the importance of stopping and saving someone’s life. Secondly, there are many such training available but little practiced. Our training was practical, practical and much more practical. [she laughs, ed.]

Aktywator project is a training event aimed at young residents of Lublin, whose main idea is motivation for various types of extracurricular activities and self-improvement. We decided to organise Aktywator project because it is already at its 10th edition. This project was held every year for several years, after which it had a three-year break. A year ago, it got another chance and was reinstated. We hope we succeeded! In addition, it is a good opportunity to promote our antenna in the community of Lublin.

What was the result of your activities?

The First Aid workshop was attended by 25 people. We heard only very good opinions in evaluation from the workshop participants. They liked the practical nature of the course, so I think our assumptions have been achieved. People learnt how important is First Aid thanks to this workshop. And most importantly – they can do it!

This year’s edition Aktywator project didn’t have a lot of participants, but the opinions about this project were very interesting and they want to participate in subsequent editions. Trainers received comments that they conducted very professional training. What’s more, we achieve new partners for cooperation, including a bakery, a cinema, a restaurant and a gym.

In the organisers’ opinion both projects were one of the best decisions we made. And from the results we are proud of it!

How do you inform your members about the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan?

Our members have been informed about the Action Agenda and Strategic Plan during main meetings, Local Training Courses and the general meetings just before both Agorae. We constantly encourage all the members to explore all of AEGEE’s communication channels and we inform them about every local activity. Furthermore, we talk about European events and inform new members about AEGEE-Europe.

Do you have any other activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan?

Recently, we organised a few Action Agenda activities, such as self-presentation workshops, workshops on how to effectively train, First Aid training etc. We love to talk about it during our weekly meetings. We strongly want to encourage everyone in Lublin to participate in Network Meetings, Agorae or European Planning Meetings, where you can learn more about the Action Agenda or Strategic Plan. In addition to this, you can meet amazing people with whom we develop exciting relationships and make an exchange of experiences which help us grow even further. I see that this year our members are even more interested in active activities, they have a lot of innovative ideas. I hope we will surprise you again soon!

Why should other locals organise activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan?

The Action Agenda and Strategic Plan help us to build a better Europe, because they set out an action plan.  These activities motivate members to actively engage in projects for common success and development. A Strategic Plan shouldn’t be understood as a restriction or an obstacle. We should all use it, since it is a help for us to work effectively. It’s our inspiration for our ideas to be realised. Every action is beneficial, even the smallest, because it will always leave its sign and will be an inspiration to others. In addition, thanks to the Action Agenda and the Strategic Plan, we can be described as a stronger local, we have goals and we set the course of action.

Do you have any tips for organising thematic activities?

The key is to take action -capital A! Most people do nothing because they are afraid of the problems or challenges that they will face or they are just lazy to do anything. But the way to organise activity is to make one decision. This decision is to ACT! The most important thing is to move on from one place to another without thinking about this as another obstacle to overcome. Then it’s just getting better and better!!!

You should also cooperate according to your plan, which will help you not to get lost during the organisation of a project. We should be open to help others, work with them, listen to ideas, activate and motivate them. This makes work more easier and enjoyable.

Remember! In organising activities, it’s not about being successful but even about getting the satisfaction of what you do, having pleasure and get to know fascinating people. 

Can you tell us a bit more about your local?

AEGEE- Lublin was founded in 1993, so this year we celebrated our 24th birthday. Every week we try to spend time together, both preparing projects and having fun. For us every new member is a new idea. However, every new idea can turn into a fascinating project. We get to know each other better organising such projects, and this creates a great atmosphere between us and generates a lot of positive energy. We learn from each other’s experience and work.

That’s what AEGEE- Lublin is all about.

We currently have about 15 very active members. That doesn’t stop us from doing brilliant things. We create this small Polish Antenna, but we have a lot of passion to work and new ideas to involve. We try to participate to events like Network Meetings and Agorae. The projects that we implement are based on the needs of our members and their ideas. We have a few events which have a continuation. We will not let them die. In May we prepare the Aktywator. This is one more edition of the training project – a few days of practice, workshops and training. Moreover, we want to repeat the First Aid training.

In a small but well-integrated TEAM there is power to work! That’s us!

Characterise your local in one sentence.

We’re the local of inspiration. Just like Lublin has a motto – the city of inspiration. You don’t feel it, unless you come to us.

Written by Elena Efremova, behalf of the Action Agenda Coordination Committee.

Last April, AEGEE-Barcelona organised the Youth Employment Conference. The event was directly connected with the Action Agenda (Youth Employment Focus Area). For this reason, they were chosen as the ACTive Local of the Month. We spoke to Néstor Saura Torres, president of antenna, to find out more!

Which emotions did you have when you knew that AEGEE-Barcelona was chosen as ACTive local of April?

We were all amazed about it! Also receiving the news all together during our Summer University has been very special! We are really happy to see that all our effort is being recognised. Thank you!

Why did you decide to organise the Youth Employment Conference?

We decided to organise this conference for many reasons. On one hand, we thought that it would be really interesting for many people, as unemployment here is a big problem now for young Spanish people. On the other hand it was a good opportunity to show all the work that we do in AEGEE, as this topic is part of the Strategic plan 2014-17, and also to strengthen our relation with the university.

Also, it has been a good opportunity to organise something different that we hadn’t done before.

What was the result of the conference?

The reality is that we did not have an extraordinary big amount of attendants, but the general opinion from most of the people who came was that the conference has been really interesting.

Also, we received positive comments about the quality of the speakers. They were representatives of the European Commission, the regional government of Catalonia and the University of Barcelona, and they all offered great speeches explaining the roots of the problem and the solutions proposed by the institutions.

How do you inform your members about the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan?

We have some key moments to inform about it during the year: the Local Training Course and in the general meetings just before both Agorae. We constantly encourage all the members to explore all the communication channels and we inform the new joiners personally.

Do you have any other activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan?

We try to introduce some sessions about the Action Agenda in every event we do. We are really active on this point, as we have organised three events in the last nine months including a Network Meeting! Sometimes we like to discuss about the Focus Areas during our weekly meetings.

Why should other locals organise activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan?

They should organise as much as possible because the Action Agenda and the Strategic Plan are the reasons why AEGEE exist. We cannot forget that apart from cultural exchange and some other general ideas, we are involved in this organisation for building a better Europe, and we already have those guidelines to do it. Also, organising this kind of activities can motivate their members to become more active and also willing to give a hand in the European level.

Do you have any tips for organising thematic activities?

It may seem too obvious, but it’s important to focus on one single topic and not touching softly many. It would make everything easier and the results would also be better.

Another important tip is asking for advice to other people. For example, we received much help from some ACTies as Borja and Juragis, as they are always willing to help motivate members. Also external help is always important: without the support of the university this conference couldn’t have been possible.

Can you tell us a bit more about your local?

AEGEE-Barcelona was founded in 1986, so it’s one of the oldest in all the Network! Last October we celebrated the 30th anniversary with a great party where we were able to meet old members from the last decades, and of course many interesting stories about the ancient AEGEE!

Nowadays we have around 60 members and around 15-20 are active. We try to do at least one activity every week and this last course was highly intensive. Now we are just finishing our Summer University, organised together with our twins from AEGEE-Thessaloniki.

The next steps are getting new active and motivate members and continue having fun with the current ones. Of course we are also thinking about interesting events and activities for the next months! We are willing to meet you all in Barcelona!

Characterise your local in one sentence.

We are unstoppable! That’s our definitive motto since some months ago, when some members from other antennae were trying to make fun of us.

Written by Elena Efremova, on behalf of the Action Agenda Coordination Committee.

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

Last March, AEGEE-Cagliari organised a seminar on entrepreneurship, giving students the necessary knowledge to start their own start-up. For this reason, they were chosen as the ACTive Local of the Month. We spoke to Francesca Zorcolo, President of the local, to find out more!  

ACT: Congratulations! As we would like to get to know this month’s winner, could you tell us a bit more about your local?
Francesca: This award is really a surprise for us, thank you so much Action Agenda Coordination Committee (ACT)! AEGEE-Cagliari was “born” in 1995 and so far we are the only antenna on our beautiful Sardinian island (we are working on that as well). Currently, we have about 110 members, among which 40 active one. We work in a constant and active way at the local level to promote the principles of AEGEE-Europe, and also at the European level we try to be present as much as possible!

You have organised the “Professione Startup” seminar. Can you tell us more about your event?
The seminar lasted for two days, one focused on theory and one focused more on practice, with the goal to give a thorough knowledge about the profession of entrepreneur. We invited several experts and consultants in the business field, who started their work on our island and were recognised for their innovation power. During the first day, purely theoretical, these experts gave lectures in front of the participants. The topics, chosen by us and tackled by the experts, were how to start a business and make it stand out in the start-up national environment.

The experts in this field explained the start-up world basics and its internal processes such as working stages; research of team members; colleagues’ relationship; how to best motivate the team; working methods and how to best advertise one’s business or product to the consumers. These highly trained and engaging experts succeeded in depicting the current job market and how we, with our ideas, can shape the future.

On the second day, March 18, the participants were involved in a workshop in which they put into practice all the skills learned on the previous day. The group work, carried out by the participants, was based on specific practical cases taken from the business world such as identifying products that make elders’ life easier or finding services suited to redevelop historic goods and local products. It was without any doubt a great occasion to challenge ourselves and be in the shoes of an entrepreneur developing brilliant ideas for start-ups in a full learning environment.

Why did you decide to organise this seminar?
The idea for a “Profession Startup” came in 2015, following the desire to give young people alternative methods for their employment. We also wanted to offer a new perspective for all the people that wish to create their own business and realize their own ideas, but do not know how to start. Our main goal, besides offering important info and first-hand accounts by field experts, was to create and develop some useful practical skills for the participants so that they could challenge themselves and compare their own ideas. Unfortunately, because of the current university system, students do not have many chances to engage with self-made businesspeople. The opportunities for youngsters to develop group-work skills and to challenge themselves in those practical jobs that mirror the activities of a start up are not enough. For this reason we decided to fill this gap with our work, passion and goodwill.

What was the result? 
This is the second edition of the programme, which we decided to propose again, because last year we received so many positive feedback. Our desire is to keep on developing this programme, by examining the topic, in every edition, in new and different ways and perspectives. 50 students from the University of Cagliari participated in an active way. Their favourite session was the workshop in which they were able to put into practice, in a business case scenario, the theoretical knowledge acquired the previous day. At the end of the workshop, every group presented its own project to the other participants, having the opportunity to receive feedback and compare their works.

Moreover, we wanted to deliver the message that start-ups are suitable for all, not only for students of Economics. Intelligence does not need to be studied, all everyone needs is will, hard work and having a dream. A great example of that is the life of one of our experts, which aroused great admiration among the participants. This person started by being a liquor seller and although he did not hold a degree, did not have many financial means and did not work in a friendly environment, succeeded in designing and developing an internet application, which today is downloaded in every corner of the world and translated in more than 20 languages.

Why do you think the Action Agenda is important for the Network, and what would you say to another local that is thinking about organising something related to the Action Agenda?
We believe that the Action Agenda is very important because it allows us to work as a coordinated network: by having a set of focus areas on which we can concentrate our energies, we can have a great impact on reality. TO be more specific, we have the possibility to examine the same topic, at the same time, but in a total different manner according to the parties involved. All the locals should be encouraged and spurred to give their own creative contribution to the Focus Areas. For that reason we tell them “throw
yourself into it! You are going to feel much more as a part of the network”.

Which sentence would describe your local and your event? 
We put passion in everything!

The AEGEEan also covered AEGEE-Cagliari’s entreperneurship’s seminar in another article. To know more about this seminar, click: here.

Written by the Action Agenda Coordination Committee

This Agora we won’t only elect the new Comité Directeur and members of different Commissions, but we will also vote on the new Action Agenda. If you are asking yourself: “What agenda?”, this article is for you, but also those who already know what the Action Agenda is, are welcome to check out what the new one will look like.

To begin at the beginning, not of the founding of the earth but of the planning in AEGEE, our association is built upon a vision, mission and means, defining who we are, what we do and what we want the future to look like. Based on that, every three years a Strategic Plan, defining Focus Areas that we want AEGEE to focus on, is created at the Planning Meeting (stay tuned for the next one taking place this autumn).

To make sure we can actually contribute to these Focus Areas, every year at the European Planning Meeting (EPM) an Action Agenda is created, which gives concrete objectives that our locals and European bodies have to achieve. Shortly said, you can consider the Strategic Plan as AEGEE’s long term vision, and the Action Agenda as the association’s homework to contribute to the vision. If you want to know more about these two documents, take a look at the EPM booklet starting on page 16.

In Bergamo, you will be voting on the Action Agenda that will start on the 1^st of August 2016 and last until the 31^st of July 2017. As you just read, it was created by participants of the European Planning Meeting, which took place in Leiden this year. After 1,5 day of a thematic conference on migration, members of locals all over the Network took a closer look at the Focus Areas we have and created a draft of new goals to achieve in the fields of Spreading Europtimism, Youth Mobility, Youth Employment and Civic Education.

Based on this draft and the feedback given on the forum, the Comité Directeur created a final version of the Action Agenda that will be presented at the upcoming Agora. Curious what you will be presented? You can find the new objectives here. In case you have any questions or suggestions to improve them, feel free to share them on the forum or come on stage after the presentation of the next Action Agenda!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, Secretary General of AEGEE-Europe 2015-2016

One of the four points of Strategic plan 2014-2017 is the Youth Employment, and with the Working Group reform passed during Spring Agora Asturias 2015, there is a specific body dealing with it: the Youth Employment Working Group. The group right now consists of five active members and several supporters, the first generation of working groups. We talked with Kristóf Papp, YEWG coordinator, and he spoke about the work they have done so far and their future project. 

The AEGEEan: What are the main aims and tasks of YEWG? Who are the members?

Kristóf: The YEWG is working hard on fulfilling the Action Agenda 2015/2016 and providing members and locals with the essential toolkits and knowledge for organising events related to the Youth Employment with a special focus on job-seeking and entrepreneurial skills. We also aim to organise an advocacy event to help the dialogue between the young people, decision-makers and actors involved such as universities and employers. Sebastiaan Rood is the Policy Officer on Youth Employment who is responsible for the realisation of the event. I, Kristóf Papp, am the Working Group Coordinator. Our job is supported by excellent members such as Kateryna Radochyn, Theodora Giakoumelou and Jorge Sánchez Hernández.

 How do you feel, considering your Working Group was born a little time ago and it was your turn to break the ice?

It is a great honor, but also a huge responsibility with a heavy burden. The system is not perfect yet, there are barriers that we have to overcome and some problems we or the future generations will have to tackle. However, I must admit the idea behind the Working Groups is great. These think-tanks can operate perfectly in the future with the proper amount of resources and a working supporting structure. Something candidates for Comité Directeur should also keep in mind![he winks, ed.]

What kind of work do the Policy Officer and the Coordinator do?

The Coordinator supports the work of the Working Group, coordinates its every day work, the distribution of the tasks and ensure the communication within the Working Group, and also between the Working Group and the external bodies, such as the CD. The Policy Officer is an essential part of the Working Group. His tasks are to monitor the external and internal news related to youth employment; to inform the Network about the external happenings related to youth employment and start discussions about it within the Network; gather the opinion of the Network, and based on that, to develop policy and position papers.

 Do you help Antennas with organising any Summer University?

None of the locals has approached us asking for help organising SUs, yet.

  What is your idea of Youth Employment?

Youth Employment is a complex question and personally I don’t think there is enough space here to answer your question, specially since I wrote a thesis on the topic [he smiles, ed.] To narrow it down, the Youth Employment can be tackled only by a strong cooperation between the education providers, the employers, the decision makers and the young people.

    How can you get involved in YEWG? How can an AEGEE member contribute?

We welcome all the feedbacks and initiatives. We encourage everyone to express their opinions on the Action Agenda 2016/17 on the Forum. Also, if any of the members wish to contact us, feel free to write to me from kristof.papp@aegee.org. 

    Which are the activities you have carried on until today?

Most of activities so far have covered representation on the statutory events, and other local events. It has also been a huge task for us to establish the Working Group with a full membership and tackle the problems coming from operation.

What are your future plans?

As I’ve mentioned, we are going to organise a conference on youth employment with the contribution of different related actors. We are also encouraging the locals to organise similar advocacy events, and if they need any support or material, please approach us. One of our other tasks is to recruit new members for the Working Group, so if you feel the eager to get involved, step up!

Do you have a Facebook or Twitter page in order to follow your work?

Not yet, but we really hope it will be launched soon.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Another local being very ACTive in the past months is AEGEE-Kraków, which organised a Regional Training Course (RTC) about start-ups and investing. We spoke to Mateusz Gierczak, President of the local and Coordinator of the RTC, to find out more about what this Polish local did, does and will do! 

Can you tell us a bit more about your local?
AEGEE-Kraków is quite a big local. We have around 100-120 members, of which 50-60 are really active. We organise around 20 local and European activities during a year. A lot of them are training courses, but we also organise events like the Eastern Partnership Convention, Y Vote Convention and of course a Summer University.

You organised a Regional Training Course about start-ups and investing, called ‘On the Way to Financial Freedom’, which is the reason you were chosen as ACTive Local of the Month. Can you tell us more about this event?
The Regional Training Course was an international event for all members of AEGEE. During a five days long event, participants were given the opportunity to improve their knowledge about entrepreneurship, investments and financial intelligence. Moreover, students attending the event also learned how to establish and run their own business. They got to meet professional, experienced entrepreneurs and discuss with them about what is most important in running your own business.

How did you decide on this activity?
Actually, the former board decided on it. During one of their board meetings they were talking about the activities they could organise in Kraków. They wanted to create something new, something our local never did before. When they took into consideration the projects of AEGEE-Kraków they understood that there were not many events related to Youth Unemployment. So, they decided that it’s something we have to take care of, especially, because the topic is included in our Action Agenda. What is more, they figured that this part of our interests is quite forgotten by the antennae. The last thing they had to do, was to think about the way of organising this kind of event: a conference? Discussions? Some courses? The best way was to combine all of these activities and create a Regional Training Course open to people from all over the network, where participants can get some knowledge and discuss their opinions with people experienced in the topic. What is interesting for AEGEEans, who are young people ready for the challenges? How to set up their own business.

The RTC was not the only event implementing Action Agenda you organised in the past months. Can you tell us more about them?
I think that almost all of our activities are implementing the Action Agenda, so they are around 20 each year. I will not tell you about all of them but I would like to mention the most interesting ones. First off, the Language Conversations. This is a project where we connect with students who would like to be a teacher of some foreign language in the future or just enjoy speaking in a certain foreign language. They are teaching other students their favourite language for free, just to get some experience. Every semester we have around 300-400 places for these courses and last time we had almost 2000 applications! That is really incredible. Secondly, we have the Let’s Get Better project. Through this project we organise free training courses for students from all over Kraków. The fields of courses is very varied, so we organise soft skills but also workshops on how to use Microsoft Excel. Each course is open to a group of 10-30 students, depending on the topic. We organise around 3-4 training courses every month. Last but not least, we organise Perfect Speaker, which is a three days long project where we organise workshops and training courses on public speaking. Here, people learn how to deliver a good presentation, how to use gesticulation and mimics als how to manage with stress. It’s also open to students and free.

Do you have any tips for organising thematic activities?
The first thing is not to be scared. Many antennae think that it is impossible to organise a good event without special experience, which is not true. If you have an idea and a few people who want to work together, that’s everything you need. European projects like the Eastern Partnership Project are not very difficult, because you have substantive support from a content team. If you want to organise a training course, don’t be afraid to ask trainers in your city if the want to do it for free. You can offer them an advertisement on your Facebookpage. Usually, they don’t want anything, because they like to do it. Think also about what is already popular and where people would like to go. After that, just plan it well and pull everything together! The satisfaction you will get after the realisation is really worthy your effort! If you don’t know how to do it, don’t hesitate and write us. We will  help you with pleasure!

Are you planning to organise more activities related to the Strategic Plan and Action Agenda?
Sure. We are thinking about new activities connected to entrepreneurship and civic education. We are not sure exactly when and what it will be, but certainly you will get to know about it! 

AEGEE-Kraków has certainly shown the Network that it can be an example to other locals. What would you say to other locals that want to be as awesome as you?
As I said before: don’t be afraid to be awesome and set up awesome projects! If you have great ideas and you have a few people to help you – just start to realise the ideas. If you are not sure how to do it, ask or try to find a good way. Even if you are still not sure, try to do it on your own way. You will make it better or worse, but next time you will be smarter. Remember that you can always ask for help. In AEGEE, we are one big family and we know we can rely on each other. If one of us needs help, we will always give a hand. After all you will be incredibly satisfied that you managed to organise this great project and people will come, and say “Thank you”, as they said to us after the RTC. Finally, you will see how much did you learn by that, how much you developed and you will realise how much you can learn in future projects. You have great potential and each of you can be as awesome as you would never even imagine! Use your potential and create great projects with great AEGEE-Spirit!

Written by Monika Duda, AEGEE-Wrocław

A new month comes with a new ACTive Local of the Month. This month, the Dutch local AEGEE-Utrecht was elected for covering all of the Focus Areas of the Strategic Plan within one month organising four different activities. We spoke to the President of the local, Folckert van der Molen, to find out more about this local and their Action Agenda involvement!  

First of all, can you tell us a bit more about your local?
AEGEE-Utrecht was founded in 1987 by a group of local law students. Now we have grown to be one of the largest locals in the network, with nearly 300 members. It is headed by a full-time board of five people. In total there are about 20 committees with a total of 125 members in active positions. This allows for a full calendar of activities, with an average of 3 activities per week.

Which activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan did you organise?
We organised a workshop on professional profiling, an international night, a vegetarian dinner and an outgoing exchange with AEGEE-Budapest. Our workshop, contributing to the Focus Area of Youth Employment, aimed to teach participants how to profile themselves in the labour market. A lot of present people later mentioned they found it very inspirational and helpful.

Our International Night, contributing to the Focus Area of Spreading Europtimism, was organised in cooperation with other internationally oriented student associations in Utrecht and gave us the chance to bring together international and local students for a memorable night.

Our vegetarian dinner, contributing to the Focus Area of Civic Education, contributed to the 40 days without meat action organised by AEGEE-Leuven. One of our committees already organises dinners for our members once every month around a theme. This time they decided to go with a Greek and vegetarian theme. Although the Greek cuisine is known for their delicious meat dishes, they managed to create some outstanding vegetarian Greek dishes.

Last but not least, our exchange, contributing to the Focus Area of Youth Mobility, was organised in cooperation with our twin antenna AEGEE-Budapest. As part of our twin antenna agreement, we hold at least one exchange per year. This time, we also invited AEGEE-Barcelona to join us for five days of sightseeing, fun and new and old friendships.

Why did you decide to organise these activities?
As one of the larger locals, we feel we should strive to maximize that potential. That’s why for every idea for an activity, we ask ourselves a simple question: is this a true AEGEE activity? That means, how do we contribute to the goals we set out to achieve? For all these activities we think we managed to give the real AEGEE spirit to the participants and certainly bring Europe a little closer to home!

What were the results of your activities?
Actually all activities had a great number of participants. The International Night for example attracted almost 500 people. For the exchange we even had to disappoint some people for whom there was no more room. Even the workshop had a pretty good attendance, while we have in the past found it difficult to get a lot of people for that kind of activity.

Do you have any other activities related to the Action Agenda planned?
Our plans mainly focus on getting our members more active in Europe and not only in Utrecht. While not directly related to a specific focus area, this should have a positive impact. That said, we do have a couple of activities planned. For example, a hitchhiking competition in cooperation with other locals, or a trip to The Hague, to visit the Humanity House where you can experience life as a refugee. Also, we are one of the organising locals for the Democracy in Practice training courses, which of course is a big contribution to the Civic Education focus area. There are more examples, but let’s not name them all here!

Do you have any other big plans for the upcoming year?

Always! We are planning to throw the best gala we have ever seen, in the most amazing location available in Utrecht. Shortly after that we will celebrate our birthday and have a lot more activities that together we call our theme month. This year the theme is stories, which gives a lot of room for great activities. In the summer we will organise our Summer University “Meet your new partners in crime”, in cooperation with AEGEE-Delft and AEGEE-Amsterdam. And after that the focus will be on recruitment and introduction, because before the start of the next academic year we hope to find about 100 new members for AEGEE-Utrecht.

Why should other locals organise activities related to the Action Agenda?
Because any organisation can throw social nights or whatever, but as AEGEE we can do much more than that. Our whole raison d’être is to make Europe more connected and to be the voice of young people. The AEGEE network provides amazing opportunities to make an impact. It would be a waste not to take advantage of that!

Do you have any tips for organising thematic activities?
Involve as many people as possible! It is tempting to do everything by yourself or even with just the board members, since a lot of times it’s even more efficient that way. A big part of the impact of organising these kind of activities however is in giving people the experience to organise and connect themselves to the European Project. Get some inexperienced members on the team or find partnerships with other associations. The joy of seeing other people grow is just as great as putting all the pieces together yourself.

Which objective of the new Action Agenda do you look forward to working with the most?
Actually I am pretty happy about all of them. As we have many active committees, it is up to them to decide what they think is interesting or important. We don’t need to focus on just one of the aims. AEGEE belongs to all members and I am looking forward to seeing what each of them comes up with on their own. As President of AEGEE-Utrecht I am looking forward most of all to facilitating all the crazy ideas they bring to us and supporting them in making them a reality.

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

During Autumn Agora Cagliari, Policy Officers were established as a body of our Network. President Paul Smits and Secretary General  Antonija Parat on behalf of the Comité Directeur presented a proposal to formally establish them in order to set some rules. The proposal was accepted with an overwhelming 94.49% of votes in favour.

The position of Policy Officers was launched in 2012 by the Comité Directeur 2012-2014 to  to express the  views and concerns of the Network and bring them up to the policy level. The Network has now four new Policy Officers who will work for one year on the Focus Areas of the Strategic Plan 2014-2017 (Youth Mobility, Youth Employment, Europtimism and Civic Education). But this is not all. The Comité Directeur (CD) 2014-2015 decided to also address two other topics this year, namely Education and Gender Equality. Six positions were created, but the CD strongly encouraged applicants to develop their ideas on a topic that was not mentioned, but could be important for the Network. A lot of applications suggested the topic of LGBT so the CD decided to appoint a Policy Officer to work on that topic too.

Pablo Hernández Rodríguez, Policy Officer on Youth Participation

For the second year in a row Pablo Hernández Rodríguez willwork as a Policy Officer: “Last year I was Policy Officer on Youth Participation, something that helped me to develop skills to work better on Youth Employability now”, he says. Member of AEGEE-Alicante since 2010, he became active in AEGEE right after Agora Alicante 2011 “having strong references like Miguel”. Being a Policy Officer (PO) for the second year is a spur for Pablo: “I decided to continue as PO mainly because now I’m better prepared to work on this position being in the place where I can contribute the most”. As uncertain as it is nowadays, Employment is a big issue for youngsters and according to Pablo “AEGEE understood its responsibility and put this issue on the stage so, now, what we need to do is to give solutions and support initiatives that make us think positive in this field”. He continues: “I think that young people have to have proper internships and future perspectives in their labour live, something that I want to put a lot of effort into. It’s also very important to look for a solution for the lack of local job opportunities so young people don’t have to go to capital and big cities or abroad but also find job places in their home towns.”

Teo Šarić, Policy Officer on LGBT

Teo Šarić is the Policy Officer on LGBT. Member of AEGEE-Zadar, he got motivated to apply for the position of Policy Officer when he “was a member of the Y vote Bus tour in UK, a campaign to engage First Time Voters in the Elections of the European Parliament in May 2014. We were speaking a lot [about LGBT ed.] with people on the streets about this topic”. LGBT is the suggested topic and for Teo “very important to AEGEE because a lot of young people are feeling insecure and do their “coming out” when they are students. So it’s nice to see that there are people who are interested to help, advice and support you and who are working on the topic in your own association”. Teo has a lot of experience with the topic of LGBT issues, being one of the organisers of the Pride Parade in Split (his hometown) and in Zagreb. “The first gay pride in Split in 2011, where anti-gay protesters were throwing rocks, tin cans, tomatoes, tear gas and glass bottles at the LGBT activists, motivated me to be an activist. It was very sad and emotional to me to watch, sit and do nothing. I had to take actions”. For his work as Policy Officer Teo has a clear idea: “I want to make sure that no one is taken down by the actions, language and attitude of others. It is particularly important that everyone demonstrates mutual respect and avoids any attitude that would be hurtful or dismissive. It is important that we are aware of our own attitudes and actions, and that we are willing to challenge our own prejudices in a constructive and respectful manner”.

Alfredo Sellitti, Policy Officer on Youth Mobility

In the aftermath of the deletion of Visa Freedom Working Group, visa issues and youth mobility have never been so important. The Policy Officer on Youth Mobility is Alfredo Sellitti, member of AEGEE-Salerno since 2006. “Youth Mobility is a wide concept. If we want to bring it to our interest, I would say that youth mobility is a great (if not the first) engine to build up a real European civic sense, in the broadest possible meaning”, Alfredo says. “This tool is probably the most powerful to increase cross-border competencies that will influence, besides the natural effect on personal development, a civic development and boost the economy by bringing new experiences and know-how in the system”. When asked why he applied for such a position, he stated that he “has always been interested in the policy making field, and when I was in CD I realised how little support we had from the Network, as the organisation had plenty of great ideas but not a good structure to canalise them. Therefore, when I saw the open call, I thought it was a great opportunity to keep  working on something I like and help AEGEE to improve its structure to better lobby for our interests”

Turgut Tosun, Policy Officer on Civic Education

Former president of AEGEE-Ankara, and member of the local since 2007, Turgut Tosun is the Policy Officer on Civic Education. “After spending years in AEGEE and gaining lots of experience, I decided to transfer what I learnt from my journey to other motivated AEGEE members”, he says. “It was my turn to help youth workers and activists with a subject that I trust myself. Then, I found myself writing my application for being a Policy Officer”. Even if we are living in democratic countries, there are many other theories that Europe is going through an anti-democratic process. “I believe that AEGEE will use civic education for strengthening and supporting members to be active citizens so that we can help Europe be more democratic and have young people who are aware of it”. Says Turgut, “In AEGEE, I think that we can integrate civic education in our local or regional training courses in order to raise the awareness of active citizenship and democracy among our members”.

Sofia Lobakina, Policy Officer on Education

One of the two girls elected, is Sofia Lobakina from AEGEE-Voronezh, who is Policy Officer on Education. Very active on the Local Level, this is her first experience on the European level, but she has “the motivation to contribute, a relevant experience to base my contribution on and an eagerness to learn more and develop the topic of Education in AEGEE”. Even if Sofia feels a huge responsibility in presenting the vision of the Network on the topic of Education, she finds that “AEGEE, one of the largest students’ organisation in Europe, is missing a clear basic position on the topic of Education, though we have some successful projects, like Higher Education Days (HED) and Europe in Exchange (EiE)”. She continues: “What is more important, is to advocate non-formal education and informal learning and their future recognition and quality assurance”. In fact, according to her vision, Education “is like a time bomb, the input you make now will be visible only in years. So the boldest experiments should be time-proved. However some things stay clear, high quality and equality are the basic points of it, and education is an always-going process and not just a place, list of courses or diploma”.

Miha Ilc, Policy Officer on Europtimism

Student of European Studies in Ljubljana, but now living in Estonia for his Erasmus, Miha Ilc (AEGEE-Ljubljana) is the Policy Officer on Europtimism. Tightly connected with his field of study, Europtimism is a “wide field, so it is going to be a really challenging task for me, but I’ll do my best. I usually compare it with a mosaic. There are different pieces that compose the whole picture (politics, economy, welfare, taxes etc.). Currently this “whole” in Europe doesn’t have a nice look and we need to fix it in the interests of all of us. Europtimism is at this point on the lowest level since the establishment of the European Union and the beginning of European integration, which is definitely not good for the future of Europe”. The scepticism on an united Europe is high, but for Miha “just criticising and observing it passively won’t change anything. Therefore we need active debates and discourses about the future of European Union.We have the capabilities and knowledge to improve the general opinion of the EU, to promote Europtimism and shape our future in a positive way. The only thing that we need is will and a long-term strategy”.

Léa Charlet, Policy Officer on Gender Equality

Léa Charlet (AEGEE-Paris) is the Policy Officer on Gender Equality. Member of AEGEE-Paris since September 2011 she was the Project Manager of the Y Vote 2014. Always a strong supporter of the thematic work within the Association, she now works for the Association of the friends of Franck Biancheri, an organisation which aim to promote the idea of our founder. “Gender equality is a topic I am extremely interested in for some year now, and since Agora Zaragoza I am trying to find people interested in the subject to start a project after the end of Y Vote. A lot of people were interested, so when the open call arrived I was ready to go for it and become policy officer”. says Léa. Her idea about gender equality is to reach a perfect equality where “everything is in the nature, let’s just not put people into boxes and accept the combinations around us. When we are dividing the world into Men/women we are taking a lot of people out of the equation”. Regarding her work she see that the mail concern is the awareness. “I think both me and Teo (Policy officer on LGBT, ed)  have this challenge to overcome as policy officer, that before being able to give AEGEE an official position, we need to make people aware of the subject, give the tool for people to think and then finally, ask for an opinion”. She concludes.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia.

For most young people, internships are the first step towards the labour market during or right after their degree. It is counted to be around four and a half million interns in the EU per year, from which -and this is the most striking part- 59% are unpaid, 40% have no contract (meaning, short social protection and no clarity of the tasks to be carried) and 30% have no learning content, whereas internships are acknowledged to be a crucial learning experience instead.

Youth organisations such as the European Youth Forum (YFJ in their acronym) have been advocating for long on youth rights and on quality internships. Some influential publications on the topic have been released so far, such as the booklet Quality jobs for young people and, more recently, the European Quality Charter on Internships and Apprenticeships, a charter with the basic guidelines for internships that are of quality and valuable for young people. Moreover, with the help of several partner organisations, the YFJ organised the first Europe Interns’ Day, taking place on July 18th in Brussels and which gathered over 200 people, according to the official figures by the YFJ.

Protesting under sunny Brussels for quality internships

Hence, the day started with interns and members from the European Youth Forum’s member organisations took over Place Luxembourg (the square right next to the European Parliament, also known as ‘Plux’ by the euro-bubble inhabitants) to protest against unpaid and unfair internships as a “modern way of slavery and exploitation”.

Under the (mostly unexpected) Brussels’ sun, the protesters could hear the voices of representatives of several youth organisations, such as InternsGoPro, Generation Europe and also AEGEE, which was represented by our Projects Director, Miguel Gallardo Albajar. We could also hear the words from the leaders of Génération Précaire, a French youth organisation that successfully pushed for changes in the law for internships and apprenticeships in France.

The discussion moved forward to the European Parliament, with a panel discussion that was firstly welcomed by Léa Hannaoui-Saulais, member of AEGEE-Lille and the Eastern Partnership Project who also presides EPSA, the European Parliament Stagiaires Association, which aims to empower the interns at the EP. “I have done five internships; four of them have been unpaid. I had done this because I was sure that would be useful for further professional experience”, she aknowledged, and she pointed that unpaid internships are indeed undervalued in tasks and salary and increases the risk of labour abuse. “We should start believing in ourselves”, she said, “but also companies must play their part”.

 Commissioner Vassiliou: “interns are not to meant make coffees”

One of the highlights of the day was the address of the Commissioner on Education and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou. She was clear on the role internships play on an individual’s learning process: “internships are a learning experience, but not in an abstract way. Interns are not volunteers”, she said. “And, foremost, interns are not there to make coffees”.

She recognised internships as “more than just a supplement to formal education” and that a quality assurance is needed in order to make a good transition towards the job market. Commissioner Vassiliou also stressed the role of internships in order to gain “soft and interpersonal skills”.

In the question round, the Commissioner was asked about her term in office, which will soon come to an end, and the legacy that she has left to her successor. “My legacy will be built on the transition to the labour market”, she stated. “I did my best in order to bridge the gap between education and employment and between skills mismatch”. Her successor, Vassiliou said, “will build their work on that”.

The launching of the European Label of Quality Internships

The importance of taking fair internships with a strong learning content was stressed throughout the event, but is there any method that can be used to evaluate the quality of internships? Well, one of the aims of the event was actually the launch of the European Label of Quality Internships by the organisation InternsGoPro. With this rating method, InternsGoPro enable interns to rate their company’s practices according to a specific criteria, and also gives visibility to the best employers that ensure that their internships bring an added value to their interns.

The label rates which are the best employers by the following seven criteria: Learning content, Remuneration, Supervision & Mentorship, Contract & Clarity of Tasks, Networking, Working Atmosphere and Career development. Each criterion corresponds to a certain number of points which determine whether an internship offer is eligible for a Label. Furthermore, there are three types of labels according to the  punctuation: Gold, Diamond and Platinum.

Therefore, not only interns themselves can benefit from checking which are the best places to take up an apprenticeship, but also employers and companies are interested. Acording to Régis Pradal, co-founder of InternsGoPro, this is a label that “can give high visibility and reputation”, through employer branding, e-recruitment of new talents and consulting.

Through bottom-up initiatives like this, the partner organisations believe that a light will be shed on the conditions under which many interns are, “a modern way of work exploitation” as it was mentioned in Place Luxembourg’s protests. If you wish to take a look at InternsGoPro’s project and even rate your own internship, you can check their website.

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

Pictures by the European Youth Forum and Project 668