GB Report Rotterdam 88th International Session of the EYP by International Office of the European Youth Parliament

EUROPEAN YOUTH PARLIAMENT

88 International Session in Rotterdam th

Governing Body Report

INTRODUCTION International Sessions are the flagship events of our organisation, as the only events aiming to bring together participants from all countries where EYP is present, fostering cohesion and cooperation, as well as setting an example for events all across the network. Due to their importance in the network, a report is drafted after each International Session (IS) to allow and maximise the impact of best practices from such events, as well as to learn from approaches that proved to be less effective. The aim of this report is thus to share a glimpse of the session with the network, facilitating knowledge sharing from one event to another. It is submitted according to the Policy on International Sessions and the Guidelines for IS reports.

Contents & Methodology The report is authored by the Governing Body (GB) member present throughout the event, Maria Manolescu. It is based on her observations of the event, discussions and meetings with participants at the session (officials, teachers, delegates, International Office representatives), post-event Skypes held with leadership members, as well as event evaluations submitted by officials and participants1. The report is structured in four main parts: (1) Event Overview; (2) Highlights: i. Best practices, ii. Lessons Learnt; (3) Miscellaneous; (4) Discussions; (5) Event Evaluations: i. Delegates, ii. Teachers, iii. Organisers, iv. Media Team, v. Chairs. Acknowledgements EYP exists because its volunteers work tirelessly all around Europe, and this event has been no exception. EYP owes thanks to all those who volunteered their free time, energy and insight to enable this event to take place, from the leadership team, to all officials at the events, as well as teachers and delegates. Particular thanks go to the Head-Organisers of the event, Constanza Schoute and Yannick Louwerse, who dedicated close to two years of their lives to the event, as well as to EYP the Netherlands for hosting the session. Nothing in this report is meant, nor should be interpreted, as taking away from the immense gratitude the organisation owes them for allowing EYP to continue to exist. Disclaimer This report is an internal product, aimed for the EYP network. Its focus is to gather learning points and approaches to be considered in future events, and thus only offers snippets of the event. Ideas and conclusions are not placed in the general context and are not sufficient to offer an accurate picture of the event, the EYP program or its impact to an external reader. For any questions regarding the report, you can reach out to the author at m.manolescu@eyp.org or, for more general matters, you can contact the International Office at info@eyp.org. 1

An overview of evaluation results from all participants are available in the final section of this report. Worth noting that unfortunately, only 7 chairpersons filled in and submitted the event evaluation survey.

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Session Overview .............................................................................................................................. 3 Highlights ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Best Practices ............................................................................................................................... 4 1. Welfare & Inclusion.................................................................................................................................. 4 2. Engaging formats: Citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Dialogue, EuroConcert, Panel Debate ...................................................... 5 3. Media Team vision, engagement with locals ......................................................................................... 6 4. Teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; program .................................................................................................................................. 7 5. Transfers .................................................................................................................................................. 7 6. Blind Selections....................................................................................................................................... 7 7. Experts ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 8. Leadership Weekend & Officials Closing Ceremony .............................................................................. 8 Lessons Learnt.............................................................................................................................. 9 9. Venues ..................................................................................................................................................... 9 10. One officials team vision & team meetings...................................................................................... 10 11. Ownership, masterplan, task allocation, communication.............................................................. 11 12. Approaching possibility to take time off responsibly...................................................................... 13 13. Double roles ...................................................................................................................................... 14 Discussions ......................................................................................................................................14 14. Resolution typing (academic quality vs welfare)............................................................................. 14 15. Relation with NOC............................................................................................................................. 14 16. CMO weekend ................................................................................................................................... 15 17. Committee exchange & Engagement fair ........................................................................................ 16 18. Policy deviations, evaluations.......................................................................................................... 16 Miscellaneous ..............................................................................................................................17 Event Evaluations ............................................................................................................................19 Delegates ....................................................................................................................................19 Teachers .....................................................................................................................................29 Organisers ...................................................................................................................................39 Media ..........................................................................................................................................49 Chairs .........................................................................................................................................56

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SESSION OVERVIEW The 88th International Session of the EYP took place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands from 13th - 21st October 2018, under the theme ‘Discovering Global Europe’. The event was head-organised by Constanza Schoute and Yannick Louwerse, presided by Sophie Scannell (IE) and edited by Maria Fedoruk (UA) and Jannis Betschki (AT). EU Commissioner Bulc joined the session for a Citizens’ Dialogue, a highly engaging discussion with participants after the Opening Ceremony. The Head of UNCHR the Netherlands, Mrs Andrea Vonkeman, addressed participants at the opening of the General Assembly. During the free day, 12 delegations got to visit the Embassies of their countries in the Netherlands, and met with their Ambassadors (pictured: the Swiss delegation at the residence of the Swiss Ambassador to the Netherlands, after a joint dinner).

The event was supported by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ program. Among other notable partners were the FFO (secured by the EYP Office), the Ministry of Transport and Water Management, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, and the vfonds. The International Office supported with fundraising €60,000, as well as assisting with the Erasmus grant (€48 000).

The event was successful in achieving the objectives expected from an International Session, enabling a highlevel experience for delegates, inspiring them to continue in EYP and to become more open-minded, tolerant, active citizens - as exemplified by some of the quotes offered by delegates:

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‘One of the best experiences of my life. I will never forget my EYP experience in rotterdam 2018. And i would like to thank everyone who contributed in making it happen ’ ‘EYP is the platform that helps young individuals to grow beyond their limits and to expand their horizon’ ‘I felt connected to young Europe, and felt like a European citizen more than ever.’ ‘Rotterdam made me realize that EYP is something I want to do more!’ Links: Session website ~ Topics ~ Academic Prep Kit ~ Resolution Booklet ~ Facebook Page

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HIGHLIGHTS Best Practices The event was successful, as evident from the positive event evaluation results from participants, available in the final section of this report. The approaches and concepts outlined below are a selection of the most successful practices, aimed to enable other events and officials to follow the example of Rotterdam IS.

1. Welfare & Inclusion Rotterdam IS set a new standard for participant welfare in EYP, through a clear vision and determination to focus and ensure participants’ welfare. This translated in practice in the following aspects: - Program allowed for rest: with few exceptions, the mandatory program ended early every day (around 21h). Some delegates and their teachers noted that they felt more rested during the IS than during their national sessions. Officials were told explicitly that there was no expectation or pressure for them to stay up for social get-togethers after the end of the official program. Media team had ‘no screen’ evenings almost every day. All officials were encouraged to take time off, be it a morning to sleep (for media and organisers), as well as moments to step out from the committee for chairs, when the VPs would cover their committees2. - Food: the organisers ensured at least one warm meal a day, and diverse cuisines throughout the session; dietary needs were well taken care of, and food was overall very good and available for all food requirements; credits go, among others, to Arne van Rooijen and Hannah Wessels, the organisers responsible for catering and food. A teacher with a track record of accompanying delegations to ISs noted it was the first time in an IS that his delegates got sick and then also got better still during the session, which was thought to be due the availability of nutritious food and possibility of rest. - Financial support: Head-organisers wished to ensure the event did not place additional financial burdens on participants. Travel reimbursement (at least partial) was offered to all participants and was, at the time of writing in process. All dinners (delegation and committee ones) were covered. The cultural programme on the free day included at least one free option, to ensure everyone could enjoy the program; all options were negotiated/selected to offer affordable prices - credits for this go to Yinglan Zhou and Suzanne van Spijker, the orgas taking lead on the cultural programme. - Dress code & Theme party: Throughout the session, there was no strict dress code imposed on participants; on the contrary, they were explicitly discouraged from buying new clothes for the event3. The theme party was Gabbers, a music style originating in Rotterdam in the 90s. Not only was the theme connected to the host city, but the appropriate dress code was casual and sport-y, meaning participants did not need to spend money on outfits for the party.

Teams had different ways of scheduling the time off to ensure it has no negative impact on the overall work - organisers scheduled ‘sleep ins’ for individual organisers, while the media team had a doodle for ‘open slots’ individuals could pick, with a maximum number of people possible for each slot. 3

‘For Rotterdam 2018, while we will suggest the traditional dress codes, we will not be enforcing these and we would strongly discourage you from purchasing any special items for this session. Instead, we do want to urge you to consider your choice of clothes so that it is respectful to other participants and (high-placed) guests and appropriate for the event.’ - Rotterdam IS Welcome Booklet, p.6. 4

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2. Engaging formats: Citizens’ Dialogue, EuroConcert, Panel Debate Rotterdam IS saw one of the most interactive Opening Ceremonies, thanks to a Citizens’ Dialogue with EU Commissioner Violeta Bulc, on the topic of mobility and the single transport area, having as a key message for participants the importance of standing up and engaging. After briefly addressing the event participants, the Commissioner took questions, while walking around the audience. The dynamic atmosphere was also enhanced by the use of a CatchBox throwable microphone. The format for the event is strongly encouraged to be followed for similar events, as it allows for more engagement and interaction of delegates with high level individuals. The format was the result of discussions between the Commissioner’s team and the EYP Office. Due to the success of the Citizens Dialogue, the President made a sensible decision of giving more time for more questions from delegates, sacrificing her own speech to participants. The President’s decision in the interest of delegates and chairs who might have otherwise become stressed with a delay in the time Committee Work would start, is appreciated. Simultaneously, it would have been ideal for the speech to take place, as it is an opportunity for the delegates and participants to learn from and be inspired from a long-time active EYP volunteer.

Similarly, a very interesting Panel Debate was organised on the last day of Committee Work. The theme was “Multiculturalism - A recipe for peace?”, and Ton Legerstee (from the Rotterdam Municipality/Mayor’s Office) and Naema Tahir (well-known jurist and author on multiculturalism) were in attendance as speakers, benefitting from a professional moderator with experience with youth events - Dylan Ahern. Thanks go to Arne van Rooijen and Laura Korn, the organisers responsible for the Panel Debate. The theme, format and speakers, as well as the use of the CatchBox Throwable microphone, contributed to an engaging event, despite many delegates being quite tired. In the future, the GB and HOs would like to emphasise that including a Panel Session is not mandatory in the program. If desired to be organised, it would ideally be more connected to the session theme and should not take place at the end of Committee Work. As that day is particularly stressful and intense for delegates, a more relaxing, informal program element or even a free evening would be more desirable.

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The program element rated highest at Rotterdam IS was the EuroConcert, hosted by Maciej Kryński (PL, chair), Zina Janssen (NL, orga) and Elena Ignatiadou (GR, media team member). The hosts, together with Hannah Wessels (orga in charge of the event) put together a very engaging and interactive program, including performances from the hosts, a lipsync/dance off competition on stage between representatives of each team, delegates included, as well as very diverse art forms presented through high quality acts. The hosts were selected through an open 4 call, a practice which is recommended to be continued .

3. Media Team vision, engagement with locals The Media Team had a solid vision and performed exemplarily during the session. Firstly, already after their selection, they agreed to have their application shared with the Selection Report, to assist future applicants by offering an example of a successful application. During the CMO weekend, the media team discussed and agreed on their target group and purpose, developing a mission statement that guided their work. The three pillars of their vision were: session community, engagement of locals and academic involvement. The use of EYP NL’s Instagram was done in awareness of its audience and led to doubling the accounts’ followers number and increasing the interactions by around 300%. Media team members appreciated being able to make use of and practice a variety of skills-set, and the majority of participants appreciated the media team’s projects. A consistent theme from delegates and officials in IS evaluations is a wish for more pictures to be published, and Rotterdam is no exception. Perhaps beyond planning for sufficient pictures to be made available, more can be done to do expectation management and explain the role of the media team at a specific session, considering the approach to media teams progresses and differs from event to event, and delegates might come with expectations from national events, especially in terms of presence of media team members in their own committee. The idea of engagement with locals as a core pillar of the vision is quite novel for ISs, and is recommended to be considered by future media teams. Activities and media team projects engaging with locals allowed participants to understand the host city better, and create a more harmonious link between participants and Rotterdam. Editors noted however, that this approach takes media team members away from the session for a substantial amount of time. While they do not consider it affected the work in Rotterdam, it is worth considering for future planning.

Trondheim IS started the practice for open call for presenters, also open to delegates. 6

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4. Teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; program The Teachers program was highly lauded by the teachers. They appreciated the balance between elements of the program that were mandatory, optional and free time, as well as clarity on which elements fell in which category. As evaluations show, they ranked highly all program elements. Of note is a visit to ProDemos in The Hague â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they received a presentation on the educational methods used by ProDemos, learnt about the history of the Netherlands and how they came about the current democratic state, after which they had a guided tour of the Dutch Parliament, and got to witness a debate. The opportunity for a short trip only with teachers allowed them to get to know each other better. The teachers also had optional workshops on Understanding Europe, and EYP methodology which were similarly highly appreciated. Thanks goes to Laura Korn, the organiser responsible for the teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; program. Teachers noted that getting to visit a school or meet with teachers from the host country and discuss different approaches to curricula and teaching across different countries would be a desired workshop in future events, as well as a crash course on the culture and society of the host country.

5. Transfers The great majority of transfers throughout the session (all but one for delegates) were done by foot. This was a great way for participants to breathe some fresh air in between program elements, as well as to discover the city through an environmentally friendly and cost - free means of transport. Anyone who had mobility issues was offered public transport tickets - in practice, these were only officials. Future events are encouraged to plan for as many transfers on foot during the session, while ensuring that those who are not comfortable with walking distances have an alternative (covered for by the session)5. Walking as a means of transfer is of course only possible if venues are chosen close to each other. Organisers should calculate how long one would spend walking throughout a day, as while one transfer might be short, one too many in a day might become overwhelming and tiring.

6. Blind Selections Editors and the president wished to carry out blind selections for their teams. With the help of the HR Assistant, all applications were anonymised, which allowed the panel to blindly review and categorise applications in three categories: those that (a) fulfil the criteria; (b) do not fulfil the criteria; (c) are in between/uncertain. After looking at clusters and when needing to decide between candidates, or when uncertain about an applicant, evaluations were looked into, which naturally meant that the identity of applicants was revealed. The leadership team thanks the HR Assistant for the assistance offered throughout the process, as anonymising all applications was very time consuming. The GB and BNC are encouraged to reflect on the use of blind selections for future events, considering that evaluations should normally be fully considered in the selection process, albeit applications playing a stronger 5

Some delegates mentioned in the event evaluation report opting for public transport at times and a wish that that would have been covered - so either they were not aware of the option to have it covered or they did not have mobility issues, and opted for public transport as a personal preference.

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role. From a practical point of view, instructions for applications and evaluations to exclude names and pronouns could greatly facilitate the process. It is also worth mentioning that if one of the selection panel members has close relations with one of the applicants, according to the Policy and Guidelines, they need to inform the panel and in practice abstain from the discussion on the respective applicant. Recognising the applicant through the anonymised application removes the anonymity of the applicant.

7. Experts All committees had an expert visiting them, and this element was mostly very well received by delegates as evidenced by a delegate quote presented below. Chairs, leadership, IO and GB assisted with identifying potential experts. ‘Our expert allowed us to place our committee topic in the context of the real world. We were no longer just delegates discussing a written topic, but delegates analysing the world we live in.’ ‘The most valuable thing I personally got wasn’t information. It was motivation and passion to work on the topic, to dig deeper, to look at things from yet another perspective’

Among the most notable experts were Dr Spyros Angelopoulos (University of Tilburg) and Alexander de Chalus (UNHCR), who both received particular feedback from the delegates in the committees they visited about how engaging and informative their sessions were. It is evident however that the process of identifying, inviting and welcoming experts to our events - in general, can benefit from a more professional approach. Considering this is a regular practice in most EYP sessions, and especially International Sessions, materials should be developed to assist NOCs and officials to make the most out of the experience.

8. Leadership Weekend & Officials Closing Ceremony These two elements have now been implemented for several ISs in a row, with highly positive results. It is recommended that they are considered and implemented at upcoming events, as well. A leadership weekend, brought the session president and editors to meet with the HOs in Rotterdam ahead of the session. The event allowed the leadership to develop a common vision for the session, discuss how they would be working together and plan for the Chairs - Media - Orga (CMO) weekend. Such a ‘formal’ leadership weekend first took place ahead of Laax IS, though had occurred before in other formats (e.g. president meeting HOs) for some years before. This has always been considered of great use and is recommended to be planned for all future ISs. Such a meeting should be held of course when event funding allows for reimbursement to ensure volunteers do not incur additional costs. The officials had their own closing ceremony at the end of the first day of GA. This allowed for a more intimate, personal closure for officials, without a hard deadline, which also meant that the GA Closing Ceremony could be more efficient and fully focused on delegates, while still giving credit and public acknowledgements to officials. In Rotterdam, the Officials Closing was done all together, whereas in Trondheim IS, where the concept was first implemented, it was firstly a closing with all officials, after which every team had its own closing. Based on insight from officials at the two events, the latter format is recommended for future ISs. 8

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Lessons Learnt EYP is an educational organisation, and all our events are meant to offer opportunities for learning. The aspects below are a few of the key lessons learnt from Rotterdam IS, aimed to enable future event organisers and officials to learn from the Rotterdam 2018 experience.

9. Venues The session dates, taking place outside of holidays and during a time of exam preparations, made it particularly difficult for ideal and affordable venues to be found. It is highly advised that NOCs consider school/university dates when setting the dates of their IS and be flexible in adjusting these dates if they realise they might lead to difficulties. Venues are an essential part of the experience and thus would justify adjustments in the dates initially planned for (if done in advance, of course). The Rotterdam organising team is to be applauded for making the most out of a very difficult situation. Unfortunately, the only venues feasible (available and affordable) were not always ideal. The TB venue allowed for an inside room for each committee (which is always advisable as a possibility and as a back-up plan in case of bad weather), but did not present a lot of opportunities for TB outside in a green space. The CW venue did not allow for a dedicated room for each committee, which made it challenging for some of the chairs and their delegates. Further, the media team shared the room (albeit big) with the organisers, yet missed an additional room needed for an essential part of their vision (the Media Lab). The GA was held in a church - while common in the host country to make use of churches for meetings, organisers should be aware that this could be a culturally sensitive issue. Some participants pointed out feeling uncomfortable eating and debating in a church. The venue was also challenging due to its acoustics and seating, especially as Coffee Breaks and lunch, served in the same room, needed to be set up a bit in advance, which was a great distraction from the debates. In planning and identifying venues, organisers are recommended to look not only for appropriate venues for the different program elements, but also to ensure appropriate ventilation and temperature at the venue. Water should ideally always be available for participants. The possibility to leave the venue for fresh air should also be looked into beforehand. In Rotterdam, this was only a challenge at one evening event due to the venueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s internal rules. The hostel that accommodated delegates was the only option for this high number of participants. It was also a great place, very close to the Central Station and a building symbol of the city. However, the hostel rules that forbade presence in front of the hostel, on the balconies or lobby after 22h, meant that delegates were forced to be in their rooms6. The number of people in one room, as well as differing preferences for sleep over hanging 6

To note that the Rotterdam organisers reacted to this towards the end of the session, as it became apparent to be a need from delegates and offered optional evening programs for people who wanted to hang around. 9

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out, meant that some delegates struggled to sleep and some felt constricted. Ideally, venues allow for dedicated areas for people to socialise. Similarly, having three different accommodations (for delegates, officials and teachers) placed additional strains on the organising of the event, yet - once again, the organisers are to be commended for smoothly managing the situation. The GB encourages the development of the venue checklist included in the IS organising guides, to include more details about the needs from venues for each program element.

10. One officials team vision & team meetings The leadership wished to create one team across all officials, an objective that has been on the agenda of many sessions in the past years. To implement the vision, among others, All Hands meetings bringing all officials were held almost every other day. These meetings aimed to, in a concise manner, (i) discuss the previous day, highlighting success and areas of improvement; (ii) share announcements of concern to all teams for the upcoming days, contributing to developing an understanding from all teams as to the challenges every teams would face. The meetings would ideally be scheduled and announced before the session to all officials, to ensure that everyone is aware of them, as well as allow for the best moment for them to be chosen, considering complicated logistics are involved in attempting to synchronize the schedule for all teams, with different program elements taking place in different venues. Further, the leadership considered that more advance planning for each meeting is beneficial, including what to convey and what to get from each such meeting. Officials noted that summarised points for announcements should always follow these meetings. The concept received mixed results from officials, who further considered more was needed for successful inter-team cooperation. Bringing together officials from all teams at different times during the session, for a brief (!) meeting, following a clear and common structure, is a great practice that is recommended for future events. Similar events, bringing together all officials, took place in two other ISs, Rennes IS and Trondheim IS7. The Rotterdam IS format was an improved version, being much more concise (compared to Rennes) and benefitting from a common, clearly established structure (compared to Trondheim). Bringing together officials from all teams at different times during the session, for a brief (!) meeting, following a clear and common structure, is a great practice that is recommended for future events.

However, the teams suffered from a lack of team specific meetings. Members of the leadership team consider that the emphasis put on creating one officials team, together with the wish to ensure a reduced number of meetings for welfare reasons, distracted from covering the basics usually covered through team specific meetings. The OneTeam vision foresaw no team specific meetings taking place. The media team was an exception, as it held morning briefings to ensure the entire team was on the same page and to do task allocation, complementing it with 1 on 1 talks between the editorial team and media team members for personal support.

In Rennes IS, the officials held joint meetings. In Trondheim, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Town Hallsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; were held a few times during the session, aiming to enable an understanding by every team of the challenges and experiences of the other teams, as well as emphasizing the feeling of a collaborative project. 10

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The orga team held 1 or 2 meetings to celebrate success, but no other team meetings. Organisers would have wished for more meetings, and considered that only having meetings for positive aspects stifled constructive criticism. The chairs team did not have any team meeting, and only decided to hold Buddy Group meetings after chairs requested it, on the third day of the session. Credit goes to the Rotterdam IS leadership for taking the concept of a one officials team further than any other officials team before them. The lesson learnt from the experience is that All Hands meetings cannot replace team meetings, neither from an operational point of view, nor in offering the needed emotional support. Some members of the leadership seemed determined in their wish to avoid long meetings that can get turned into long venting sessions, as an ineffective way of using time. While indeed there is a risk for team meetings to be unconstructive, it all depends on the manner in which they are structured, chaired, and approached. For the organisers, it is essential to have meetings, even if only short briefings (as the media team held) to ensure everyone is clear on all tasks of the day, all tasks are allocated and everyone is informed. Online communication cannot replace this fully and a business-chaired meeting would bring a significant improvement. Further, for any team, part of what makes EYP special, is sharing challenges and success with fellow team members - it allows one to not feel alone in their struggles, feel understood and supported, and greatly contributes to bonding the team in a short time. An international session is a very intense experience for everyone involved, and even more so for officials who, beyond the workload, often feel pressured to perform at a very high level (even higher than what they actually are expected to). To ensure their welfare, emotional support needs to be provided to them and a meeting with all officials is not the appropriate medium for it. Whether through team specific meetings or smaller inter-team groups (like buddy groups), it is essential for team leaders to approach their officials team as a committee in that sense, ensuring individuals have an opportunity to vent when frustrated, feel supported and celebrate success. Future teams are encouraged to continue to reflect on ways to foster and facilitate a feeling of one officials team, through inter-team cooperation and opportunities for socialising. Short meetings bringing together all officials, as one method towards this goal, are recommended to be used in future sessions, considering the learning points shared above, but complementing team specific meetings. The GB encourages the development of tools to gather best practices for team leaders in planning and running successful and efficient officials team meetings.

11. Ownership, masterplan, task allocation, communication The HOs deserve praise for their vision for the organising team revolving around ownership. Every organiser was lead responsible for at least one task. Organisers appreciated the freedom and sense of ownership the Constanza and Yannick fostered. They applied the principle of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;trust and verifyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Overall, this is an approach that is encouraged to be adopted in future events. The implementation of the vision offered some lessons for future ISs. One of the main points from an organising point of view is the importance of having a finalised master plan ahead of the session, with as many of the tasks, small and big, assigned. Latest the day before or the morning of an event, all smaller tasks should be assigned during a brief meeting that would allow everyone to know who does what, what the logistical challenges are, where support might be needed, so people are also aware of the 11 European Youth Parliament

peak times to be ready to jump in if needed. For Rotterdam, as for most tasks only the lead organiser was assigned, most often requests for support were shared on the spot on the Slack channel, which led to considerable delays and ineffective use of the human resources available. One such example is the dinner before the Panel Session when food arrived, but there were not enough organisers to help set it up, nor to later serve the food. At the same time, the organisers in charge of the Panel Debate were dealing with setting the room for the panel session, meeting speakers, dealing with last minute cancellation from another speaker and so forth. In the meantime, other organisers were around and available to support, but did not know they were needed. Once someone went around to find organisers who were available to help, things were quickly remedied. In the meantime, noticing the bottleneck, the teacher accompanying the Swiss delegation, Mrs Debrunner, jumped in to help - our thanks to her for her support! Others also joined to assist. This situation pointed to a pattern that can easily be avoided in the future by planning more in detail beforehand, and a more thorough discussion with organisers responsible for a task to ensure that all aspects are planned and covered for. The situation also evidences the challenge that arises from an increasing dependence on instant communication when using Slack or online platforms at events. There seems to be an expectation that once something is posted, it is instantly received or understood, which in practice is not the case. Officials noted that while Slack was a good platform to use, it was often quite chaotic, at times finding it difficult to filter important announcements through non-relevant, random messages. Further, many announcements were sent out late at night for the next day, or when someone asked about it (a problem that can also be prevented by going through the program for the next day together to clarify all aspects and assign all tasks). Delegates also noted difficulties with the program and event announcements. A Facebook group was created for delegates, yet announced only at check-in which meant that not everyone was a member of it. Some announcements for delegates also came in late during the night for the upcoming day, be it through the FB group or on flip charts posted in the hallway that were not always very clear. Delegates mentioned having different sources of information, which at times were conflicting. It is also important to mention that online communication is also fully dependent on access to the internet, which remains expensive for non-EU countries and WiFi is not always available. With Slack having become so common of a platform during EYP events, ever since it was first introduced during Tampere IS 20158, it is strongly encouraged to develop guidelines on how best to make use of it during an event, to ensure we can build on lessons learnt. For example, as regards communication through Slack, it is important to ensure that officials do not circumvent the protocols agreed upon, by using Slack (e.g. chairs requesting organisers to bring items rather than using the materials flipchart, as agreed upon in the beginning). Some of the leadership members and the GB recommend that the primary means for announcements at a session should not be electronic. Slack or similar platforms can provide an additional channel, but it should not fully replace offline communication. Live announcements of important and last-minute changes have always proved successful in EYP - they should not be completely excluded and should be planned in advance (when do we need to announce what). Visual displays of a program for the upcoming day on a flipchart, for example, in the accommodation are also a good method, yet efforts should be made to ensure information is presented in a clear and concise manner, and displayed at an appropriate time (i.e. before delegates arrive at the accommodation and go to their rooms).

See details in the Tampere IS Innovation Report, p. 8 onwards. 12

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12. Approaching possibility to take time off responsibly During the event, several chairs studying in the Netherlands left the official program to take exams during Committee Work and GA. This is unfortunately a breach of the Code of conduct which foresees that officials are obliged to attend all mandatory parts of the program. It should be mentioned in the particular instance that the board was informed and approved of it. In one case, the board found out afterwards, the reason was not actually an exam, but a work commitment. Beyond the Code of Conduct, this is also unfair towards other potential applicants as an individual applying for the chair or media team indicating they would not be able to attend the full duration of the event would not be selected, so such a practice places officials living in the host country at an unfair advantage. While it is understandable to make exceptions for organisers, chairs in particular are the only ones responsible for their committee and it is of significant difference when someone else steps in to support the committee, compared to organisers who more easily and often change tasks during the IS.

As stated above in the welfare section, all officials were given the possibility to take time off when needed. For chairs, they were encouraged to take time off during Committee Work and GA. In retrospective, the board noted that some chairs ended up taking considerable amounts of time away from their committees during CW, and the exact duration was only apparent to the board after the fact. During GA, the chairs were strongly encouraged to take a debate off, with a maximum of two chairs taking time off per debate and an expectation for the option to be used reasonably. This was inspired from Izmir IS, where it was considered successful, yet there chairs were more restrained in making use of it. In Rotterdam, several chairs took several debates off, including to leave the session for exams. This resulted in chairs asking on the spot media team members and organisers to step in and replace them. Editors and Head Organisers felt this placed undue pressure on their team members, who were expected to abandon or postpone their own tasks and who felt obliged or pressured to take up the offer, or perhaps found it more exciting than their other tasks. The GB would like to emphasise that each official is selected for a specific role and there is no expectation from media team members or organisers to replace chairs, and the latter should be aware that a request from their side can seem appealing and/or pressuring for other officials. Of course, everyone is encouraged to support everyone else, but perhaps not as far as replacing oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role. Just how a delegate might need a few minutes outside from the GA, chairs and all officials should also have the possibility. Chairs should however be mindful of the importance of their presence during GA, when delegates are often stressed and nervous and can benefit from the presence and emotional support of their chair. Just as it would be frowned upon a delegate missing several debates in a day, 13 European Youth Parliament

the same is applicable to chairs. Boards of future sessions should ensure that this is respected, that all chairs are present at all mandatory parts of the program, and that options to take time off are used reasonably. Missing several debates in a day is not a reasonable manner. Further, the GB discourages the practice of ‘strongly encouraging chairs to take a debate off’ during GA. Rather, the GB hopes future boards can explain and ensure chairs have an awareness of the importance of their presence during GA, and explain that taking a 20 - 30’ break when needed to recollect oneself is okay, but one should not miss significant portions of GA. Further, a decision from a chair to do so should not automatically lead to an additional task for other officials, rather the committee should be explained and prepared to function by itself for 20 - 30 minutes.

13. Double roles Two officials, a chair and an organiser, also worked as intern and student assistant for the International Office in the lead up to the session and, in one case, during it as well. This created some difficult situations for everyone involved and placed additional pressures on the individuals concerned. There is agreement across the board (the officials in question, the leadership team, the GB and IO) that such situations should be avoided in the future and individuals should not hold double roles. The IO is requested to ensure as an internal rule that team members, especially those working on the IS portfolio, do not apply/attend an IS as officials during their mandate.

DISCUSSIONS 14. Resolution typing (academic quality vs welfare) While progress is made with every IS to improve welfare methods, one of the consistently difficult evenings at a session is resolution typing. For some reason, despite resolutions having very little impact on the long run for both participants and the organisation, high expectations of academics in content and language lead teams to spend the whole night working on resolutions that few days after the session, nobody reads anymore. The GB considers that as an educational organisation, the focus should be on providing participants with a learning experience and supporting them throughout, rather than insisting on expecting everyone reach a very high standard of academics for the resolution. The author invites the GB and future IS leadership teams to reflect on new methods and new approaches to resolution typing, perhaps even in changing the time of resolution typing from evening to the free day, to ensure it does not put unreasonable burden on officials.

15. Relation with NOC While the HOs and the NOC both reported having good relations throughout the project, the NOC would have wished for a closer cooperation. In practice, the HOs updated the NC board on progress (albeit too rarely, from the NC perspective), and the NC board assisted with offering financial leads. During the session, the NC president attended meetings with partners and guests, and members of the board also came in to support during the Dutch Night, as well as during Officials’ Closing Ceremony to ensure that there is still support and 14

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supervision available for participants. The NC board offered to help more in the lead up to the session, but they were not taken up on their offer, which they regretted. ISs are a great potential for development for a NC, of course if planned as such and opportunities explored. They are a great capacity building experience for members of the NC. However, it should be planned in advance how human resources will be handled between the IS and the daily business of an NC. For Rotterdam, three of the IS organisers were also selected as HOs of regional sessions taking place close to the IS, which the Rotterdam HOs worried could lead to overstretching the organisers in question. Further, NCs should use the event to invite partners, whether supporting the IS or not, to elements of the IS (EuroVillage, EuroConcert, GAâ&#x20AC;Ś), and plan to welcome and entertain them. It is a great opportunity to show EYP at its best, an experience that can prove useful for future partnership requests. Finally, care should be made to give the IS visibility in national media, by sending press releases ahead of the IS and inviting journalists to certain parts of the event. At the recent Summit of IS HOs, all HOs agreed that the issue of cooperation with host NCs should be further explored. The IO was encouraged and is in the process of planning Skypes with host NCs of future ISs to discuss about the opportunities that hosting an IS can bring, and how the NC can take more advantage of it. Both NCs and HOs are encouraged to openly discuss needs and expectations, and how both can support each other throughout the project.

16. CMO weekend For the majority of ISs, a Chairs Academic Training is held. For Laax, Brno and Rotterdam IS, rather than only a chairâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s weekend, a gathering of chairs, media team and organisers was held. For Leipzig IS, besides orga weekends, there was a CAT-MAT (media academic training) organised during the same weekend. The CMO weekend received mixed results from the Rotterdam leadership team. Having trialled it a few times, the author encourages the GB to look into the concept further to assess the extent to which bringing all teams together has a higher impact than facilitating an additional meeting for the media team. While the social aspect of getting all officials together is of note, the leadership were not certain of the extent to which the dynamics between officials would have been different at the session without the CMO weekend. Further, having all teams together means more activities and workshops are held together, which takes from the time each team has to focus on its own work and fellow team members.

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17. Committee exchange & Engagement fair As a way of increasing delegates’ awareness on other committee topics than their own, visiting committees or committee exchanges have taken place at some ISs for a very long time (at least as far as Basel IS 2005). The logistics have differed and in absence of a concept document – (outlining the concept and gathering best practices and areas of improvement), the concept stagnates and the same mistakes risk being repeated. An ‘Engagement fair’ is also a program element aiming to familiarise delegates with other session topics. It is like EuroVillage, but rather than having a table per country, there is one table per committees. Delegates go from table to table discussing and engaging on all topics. The Media Team led the Rotterdam Engagement Fair, with each media team member preparing various interactive measures for each table. Tampere IS called it ‘Action Village’9, Laax IS ‘Lobby Event’10 and Trondheim IS referred to it as ‘Idea Village’11. These events have been positively ranked by delegates, but implementation logistics have differed. The author encourages the GB to draft concept papers, defining the program elements and collecting dos and donts based on past practices, to enable future events to build on the concepts and make use of the lessons learnt in the past.

18. Policy deviations, evaluations As per policy, every report should include policy deviations recorded at the event. While no major concerns were recorded, a few incidents must be mentioned: -

As mentioned above, there was no President Speech during the Opening Ceremony, contrary to the Policy on International Sessions; The board amended the GA procedure, without having consulted and obtained the green light from the GB in this regard, as foreseen by the Policy on International Sessions; At the farewell party, 3 delegates had a bit too much to drink. They were accompanied to the accommodation. 3 - 4 delegates were caught smoking weed during the farewell party. They were taken back to the hostel immediately; for underaged delegates, their teachers and parents were informed. All NCs concerned were informed.

All team leaders fulfilled their obligations to submit evaluations for their team leaders. Unfortunately, 4 chairs did not submit any evaluations for their team members, and did not inform the HR Assistant that they do not intend to do so. It would however appear, that they had not been informed of this obligation by neither the HR Assistant, nor the board.

See Tampere IS Innovation Report, p. 6.

See Laax IS GB Report, p.9.

See Trondheim IS GB Report, p.9. 16

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Miscellaneous -

All teachers felt they could trust the organisers and that their delegates were in good hands, that the program of the session was appropriate and that their students learned and developed themselves during the session; Teachers reported delegates worried about money, as it was not certain what they would have to cover during the event. Ideally, there would not be any other costs for participants beyond the travel and participation fee. However, that is understandably not always feasible. In such cases, it is essential for participants to be informed clearly and in advance what they would have to cover themselves. Good practice to introduce the Safe Person (in Rotterdam still called ‘Participant Welfare Officer’) and the GB member during officials’ and general teambuilding, as it contributed to more individuals approaching them during the session and having an understanding of their role at the event; Several organisers were trained for first aid ahead of the event, which is encouraged for all future events; they were announced during officials’ teambuilding, and ideally, should also be introduced to all session participants; EuroVillage had soup available as well, to ensure possibility for warm and enough food for participants, independently of the offer from EuroVillage; further, leftovers were used during Coffee Break the next day; There was one incident in which an external local harassed one of the delegates during a EuroConcert break, taking place outside the building; Sander Wagemans (organiser) and Luc Vorsteveled (President of EYP NL) are to be applauded for stepping and calming the situation; Teachers wished for more cultural parts of the program, while delegates would have enjoyed more free time (to be considered in the context of their accommodation not allowing for delegates to leave the premises, nor to hang out outside - as it would have disturbed neighbours); Embassy visits were organised during the free day and were greatly appreciated by delegates who had an opportunity to meet with the ambassadors of their country to the Netherlands; invitations were sent to all embassies, in their native language; it is worth mentioning that while a great addition for the experience, such visits are not essential and it should be considered that they can be quite a hassle to organise if the embassies are in another city from the session. If held, plans should be made for organisers to assist delegations, rather than counting on other officials (from that country) to do so, to ensure flexibility for officials. HOs aimed to have an international team of organisers and were very successful in it. The orga team consisted of 14 Dutch organisers and 10 international ones, a great way of contributing to capacity building of the network. That organisers spoke English all the time and their friendliness was highly appreciated by other officials in the event evaluations. The HOs noted however that in working with an international team, it should be 17

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considered that organisers living outside the host country are more restricted in what they can do in preparation for it. The selection process, task allocation and timeline for it should be planned accordingly. Teachers suggested that a quiet space during the session would ideally be available for participants who wish to get a way for a bit and recollect, meditate or pray. This should be added in the check-list for venues and organisers should plan for such a room to be available. Leadership mentioned presence and support from an experienced former IS team leaders as beneficial. As this is not per se in the role of IO or GB members present at the session, and they might not always fit the profile, it has been long practice to have a trainer present in both CAT and the session. The GB encourages session leadership to continue the practice, ideally selecting trainers through an open call12; IS media teams need to include in post-event planning sending materials to the EYP Office, and ensure they do so in a reasonable time. Simultaneously, it is important to ensure clarity in EYP organisational needs from IS media teams (what type of content necessary to be provided and clear deadlines) for e.g. pictures from the event to be shared with the EYP Office as needed for reporting, partner management, stock pictures etc; Media teams and NOC should plan the media products with a long-term view; for Rotterdam, the session website and products were hosted on a personal server, which meant that once the server was no longer of personal use to its owner, the content from the media team was/is no longer available; this is of course regretful and challenging for reporting; The IO and GB would also like to thank Einars Pomerancis for a wonderful job with taking care of guest management.

Having trainers for chairsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; team specifically is a long tradition for ISs, most often through invitations. The Trondheim IS leadership had open calls for a trainer for CAT, and another one for the session itself, outlining needs to be covered and support wished from all teams. 18

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EVENT EVALUATIONS

Delegates

How did you cover the costs for your participation in the session? 3% Parents

11%

Other option

13%

School

57%

My pocket money

16%

Travel grant

How satisfied were you with the communication (i.e. the information provided via email, on the website, etc.) in preparation of the session? 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Very dissatisfied

Dissatisfied

Somewhat satisfied

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Satisfied

Very satisfied

How satisfied were you with the flow of information during the event? 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Very dissatisfied

Dissatisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Satisfied

Very satisfied

How useful did you find the following resources in preparation of the session (travel booklet, academic preparation kit, welcome booklet, sessionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s web-site, member platform event)? 100 80 60 40 20 0 Very unuseful

Unuseful

Somewhat useful

Useful

Very useful

Please explain your previous answer: [extract of most relevant quotes] The Sessionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website was very helpful with the schedule, but also with information on location and fun background history! The travel kit was helpful as I read through it to see the most advantageous means of transportation money and time wise. The academic preparation kit was very impressive, and I thought it to be very easy to read through and well prepared. The travel booklet was complete and easy to use The TO for my topic gave me the insight needed to develop quite a precise vision of the way I would have wanted the resolution to be structured. The ones for the other topics provided a sufficient amount of information without being heavy to read, also thanks to the way the kit was designed. The welcome booklet was flawless as the kit. I didn't use the season's web-site at all and almost nobody referred to that during the Session. The member platform event was not any different than usual for me. They were all extremely useful. Helped me with travel logistics, how and what to pack as well as gave me an insight on the topic. Facebook group was also very useful and effective as a way of communication. At no point did I feel like I lacked any sort of necessary information. 20

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The travel booklet and welcome booklet were both comprehensive and helpful. The academic preparation kit was as ever extremely useful, though I felt the topic overview for my own committee wasn't entirely satisfactorily comprehensive or comprehensible, a tad muddled in purpose at times just. (Though the lay out was lovely). I didn't really use the sessions website or member platform event though I found the social media pages useful, which I think may have been linked to them at times.

Please rate the quality of the following logistical aspects of the session 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Overall Organisation

Accommodation

Very bad

Bad

Catering

Fine

Good

Transfers

Very good

Please rate the quality of the approach used during the following programme elements: 120 100 80 60 40 20

Very bad

Bad

Ge ne ra l A ss em bl y Ex pe rt s' in pu t Pa ne l D eb at e

GA P re p

Te am bu ild in Co g m m i tt ee W or k Eu ro vi lla ge Eu ro co nc er t

Fine

Good

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Very good

N/A

How helpful did you find the following new programme elements 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Ammendment procedures Very unhelpful

Committee exchange Unhelpful

Dutch night

Panel debate

Somewhat helpful

Helpful

Engagement Fair Very helpful

What did you find most valuable during the exchange with key speakers and/or experts? [extract of most relevant quotes] Our expert allowed us to place our committee topic in the context of the real world. We were no longer just delegates discussing a written topic, but delegates analyzing the world we live in. Communication with experts was the best part of the academic aspect. We could read endlessly about measures in place, but just an hour with an insider gave much better result. I feel like having the occasion to talk with an expert on any topic you might be interested in or working on is always one of the best ways to reach a more in-depth understanding. Talking with the expert we had was enlightening, seeing as we got to hear the perspective of a person directly involved in our topic and ask questions which the internet could never hope to fully explain. Asking questions and receiving fully informed answers is always a very pleasant method of learning. I really enjoyed tons of useful insights from experts. They drastically improved committeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s understanding of the topic.

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How well do you think your chair fulfilled his/her role of facilitating the work of your committee?

Not well at all

0% 2% 5% 21%

Not well So and so Well

72%

Very well

Please explain your previous answer: [extract of most relevant quotes] We had a great chair who let us do our job independently and didn't micromanage but was there to help us if we faced an obstacle. My chair did pretty well, he left us to our own record most of the time which i appreciate, because then we got to be a close group (we still talk!!!) and have more flowing conversations. Committee work he helped when needed, he relieved uncertainty and helped us relax when we were stressed during OC writing. GA he could have been more active and helped us gain a wider sense of what to ask and how to approach a topic She was a nice person but I am not going to withhold my opinion. I think the quality of chairing did not match the level of everything else, and the event itself. Firstly, she was not there for a lot of the time and when she was we only did phrasing and played games. What is worse however, is that the feedback was, in my opinion at least, rather biased and unsubstantiated as some claims made about me were based off the judgement of someone who was not involved in committee work (the bulk of EYP). Again, I liked her as a person, but I have to stay as objective as possible. Our chairperson was honestly beyond any expectation. She was always clear in her explanations, understanding and easy to talk to and approach with any matter. She knew exactly how to manage in any situation with us. I feel like she is a person anyone could stand to learn from. Couldn't have asked for a better chairperson She was very good and helped us a lot. sometimes the energy of the group deceased but this has more to do with the complexity of the topic, than with the fulfilment of our chair's role The chair was not very involved with our team. I believe she gave us the appropriate amount of assistance considering the nature of the event. It's an IS, we're not supposed to be babied. Maybe chairs overall could have been a bit more present at the GA, but then again, they need to have fun as well so I don't really mind that we had to be a bit independent. He was like Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, not always present, sometimes leaving us without us knowing where he'd gone, but always there for council, help and to guide us through the journey 23 European Youth Parliament

We didn't have enough team building, which showed its consequences during the committee work The only aspect in which I believe he lacked a tad bit was the teambuilding. Throughout the rest of the event, he was wonderful and very down to earth. I feel like we started working on our topic a bit too early and we did not have enough time to properly get to know our fellow committee members, which we made up for as the delegates during our own free time.

How well did the media team contribute to your social and/or academic experience at the session? 6% Not well at all

39%

5% 17%

Not well So and so Well

33%

Very well

Please share any recommendation(s) you have to further improve the work of the media, chairs, organisers teams [extract of most relevant quotes] More interaction with the media team. Some more information sharing from the organisers team would be useful (timely sharing of information and more details) Organising was a bit sloppy. Organisers pretty much busy at all the time. Better time planning - getting behind on the time table is such a basic stuff now. For the organisers: I think it is extremely important to try and improve the level of professionalism while also not exaggerating on the “strictness”. A lot of times the departures happened at a much later time than announced but at the same time people could almost never go buy what they needed. MTMs should be really engaged in committee’s work, I’ve experienced in on this session and this is something EYP should try to persue on every session. Media input helps to understand the topic but also helps delegates to relax and take a break. POST MORE PICTURES! We were constantly being photographed but we didn't get to see the results... :( I don't have many recommendations, as everything was perfect. The only thing I wanted to share is the following: my backpack was lost during EuroVillage, and immediately the day after I got to hear that the backpack was found (which was great) - however it took the organisers three days to get the backpack to me. My ID-card was in it and two cell phones as well. It's not a big deal really, the fact that the backpack was found immediately after 24

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EuroVillage is super and I didn't really need the backpack, and of course the organisers were super busy with lots of other things, but an idea for next time might be to use one clear place for the lost and found? I did not see a media team member around with their camera taking photos through the session. Our committee photographer was qualified and good at her job. But unfortunately I think media team could be a little more active at the session. Engagement fair was cool and usefull and it could be even better if we had better logistics for that event. Organisers team was cool, relaxed and able solve problems immediately which was good and comforting to have. Thanks for everyone for their efforts. I was very confused about whether we were supposed to get picked up at the airport. My delegation and I had to get to the hostel by ourselves, which wasn't a problem but I would have preferred more clarity on this subject. We were told that there were Organisers at the airport, in that case I would recommned making them more visible or obvious The location of the eurovillage was very poorly chosen. Media team - Nothing major to improve in my opinion. The media projects did manage to capture the essence of the session, which I believe to be their purpose overall. I even managed to get some Instagram-worthy photos. Chairs - Didn't notice anything to improve either. They all seemed great - experienced, knowledgeable and incredibly fun. I, of course, had the best chair of them all. Organising team - Must congratulate them. Were all great, lovely to speak to and always willing to help. Plus the session in terms of organisation (as well as everything else) went perfectly well I would say. Thank you all for such an amazing time. Thank you guys for an unforgettable experience. <3

How interesting did you find the session topics? 0% 2%13%

Not interesting at all Not interesting

46%

Somewhat interesting Interesting

39%

Very interesting

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How well did you understand the session's theme and do you think it was integrated into the different programme elements? Not well at all

2% 9% 38%

15%

Not well So and so Well

36%

Very well

Please explain your previous answer: [extract of most relevant quotes] I understood the theme and could see how it tied to the setting (Rotterdam) as well as different committees topics, but on the go I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel it was emphasised enough, as i dont recall considering it much during the session Effectively integrated and agreed with the overall idea - engaging is what really makes the experience unforgettable I was a unaware of the exact theme I think it was well incorporated into the different aspects of the session, I can't really say more The idea of a global Europe was, I felt, exceptionally well integrated into the session. I found each topic sentence for discussion and the evening activities like the multicultural society panel debate broadening and deepening my understanding of it, and I loved it! Appropriate to Rotterdam, and everything in the session appropriate to it Every time I heard something new about an activity we had planned, or the topic of a certain commitee, or even information on the city of Rotterdam and I thought back to the theme, I would be like: 'Whoa...that's GENIUS' Global Europe was present in the topics and in the discussion but not as much culturally

Please share one insight/piece of knowledge which you gained through Committee Work: [extract of most relevant quotes] We can learn so much from each other about the world around us and ourselves through simply sitting down to have a chat. Perseverance, patience and peace are key! No matter what, make sure everyone is motivated, everyone can hold on and push through the long days, everyone listens to each other in turn and have a calm and friendly relationship 26

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to each other. That’s what we ensured while writing our Golden Rules, and I’ve taken this to be my life’s Golden Rules. As my committee’s topic was secularism I understood the importance of it and how being secular can effect the country. Also I learnt which countries in EU are pro secular and which are against it. I discovered that every opinion you've ever disagreed with is held by someone. They're all valid, even if there wrong! Cultural differences were no longer an abstract concept once committee work was started but international cooperation and shared passion were equally realities that I had never truly experienced before. I gained imense Insight into the conditions in which People across Europe live and lead their lives. Not necessarily great poverty (but not excludin it either), but the way they handle different things, the way they interact with others, and just the general feeling of people form all different countries. Greece's welfare was significantly effected by the crash. in 15 years working in the UK Starbuck paid no corporation tax Reaching a consensus is hella hard (mostly impossible) I learned about a very important and significant problem that many nations around the world, not only in Europe, face and struggle to overcome. The realisation struck me when I started seeing the similarities between the problematic systems we were talking about and the system that I live in. Everyone came from a different background so it was important to take into account the fact that we each have different opinions. What I learned is that we should allow everyone to speak their mind and decide upon things together, as a team. Learning about the struggles of people from different mobility contexts and how it affects their life was very insightful as living in a capital with all I could want all around me I never had to think about it before

Please share any recommendation(s) you have to further improve the preparation and/or the event itself (with regards to programme, content, or other aspects): [extract of most relevant quotes] I would suggest to improve food catering part. People were very hungry during the dinners and did not get much when they approached orgas during the first time. For me personaly having the GA in a church was a bit uncomfortable. I guess it would be better to avoid such cultural issues as this one. For religious people it's unacceptable to eat pasta in a church, sorry. If ever there are to be events hosted in such a small venue such as the one we used for most parties (and the EuroVillage), I highly recommend letting participants go outside. I understand the safety risks involved, but surely there must be better solutions than keeping people inside at all times until they leave. No other recommendations come to mind. While organisers think that it is absolutely vital to have at least some new programme element to offer for every day, be it something cultural or academic, it should also be noted that a lot of people might want to just go roam around in the city, discover new places, instead of being either gated in the hostel, or have to ask for a permission to go the shop (and still with an organiser) 27 European Youth Parliament

The aspect of transfers was a bit chaotic. I understand that it is really difficult to manage big groups and full respect since you did quite an amazing job. I suggest putting some "responsibility" on the committee delegates in for example making sure that everyone comes to the meeting point. The delegates will feel that they are treated more like adults and less like primary school children. More opportunities to go out especially for food since sometimes you might be hungry at different hours or might not like the food provided Topic on JURI was too much. In my opinion young people should not disscuss such heavy topic especially when they don’t know much about it. There were people from Western Balkan countries and they didn’t feel comfortable discussing such thing More freedom and organisation with the medical forms. I do not understand why I had to stand at the euro village begging to be let out because I felt like passing out. My medical form did include a previous heart surgery. I would recommend giving more freedom to participants. Not letting us get out of the overcrowded and airless club was terrible decision which almost eliminated overall good impression.

Please write one sentence that best describes your EYP experience: [extract of most relevant quotes] I never would have known how much impact those nine days would have on me EYP is all about lifetime connections with crazy and amazing people An unforgettable experience from which I learned so much both academically and personally making bonds and memories which will stand to me for many years to come I felt at home in a foreign country with people that felt like my international family It was a life changing experience, which opened my eyes in a way nothing else could. I am forever grateful for this chance I got and cherish each memory from the session. My EYP experience was life changing. If you’re looking for a lot of fun, knowledge and interesting people, you’ll find it in EYP Meeting new people and realising that you have so much more in common than you thought, discussing topics you never even imagined of talking about with someone else, and the constant love and support you receive from all the people around you. EYP teaches you how to be a more mature and engaged European citizen; you get to share your experiences and learn about different cultures, points of view and topics that you wouldn't have discovered otherwise. This session, without any exaggeration, has been the best week of my life: I have met so many people I have connected with, I have amazing friends from all across Europe, and have gained incredible insight into interesting topics that are relevant in everyone's lives. I managed to break the shell surrounding me that is the idea that I am the only one.

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Teachers

I received the practical information on time, giving me and my delegates enough time to prepare. 8% 33%

Agree

59%

Strongly Agree Disagree

I knew what to expect, therefore preparation proved to be easy.

42%

Agree

58%

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Strongly agree

I read the Invitation/Welcome booklet before the event. 8% 17% Strongly agree

75%

Do you have any proposals on how to improve the practical preparation?

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Agree Disagree

I read the Academic Preparation Kit available on the member's platform and shared via email. 17% 41%

agree no opinion

42%

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strongly agree

My delegation used the Academic Preparation Kit to prepare the committee topics 25% strongly agree

75%

agree

I supported my delegation in preparing for the discussions that they were going to have at the International Session. Agree

8% 25%

Strongly Agree

42%

Disagree

25%

No opinion

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How would you rate the topic overviews in the Academic Preparation Kit on the following aspects? 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Provided easily accessible information on the topics

Helped delegates to understand the core conflicts inherent in the topics

Strongly agree

Agree

Disagree

The overviews were too long.

Strongly disagree

After having read an overview carefully the delegates knew what further research they still needed to conduct to complete my understanding of the topics. No opinion

Delegates knew that they were meant to prepare the topic and had informed themselves appropriately. 8% 42%

50%

Strongly agree agree no opinion

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Do you have any proposals on how to improve the content preparation?

I had problems with funding and sponsoring for the travel cost and participation fees. 8% 8%

Disagree

17%

50%

Agree Strongly disagree

17%

Strongly agree No opinion

The cost of my participation in the session were sponsored or funded by a third party 17%

Yes, both the travel costs and the participation fee Other option

75% Yes, but only the participation fee.

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If (part of) your expenses were covered by a third party, please elaborate who covered the expenses 8%8% 23%

School/Uni Split among delegates

61%

EYP NC Other option

I do consider the participation fees as reasonable regarding the offerings of the session

42% 58%

Agree strongly agree

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I had the feeling that I could trust the organisers of the session and that my students were in good hands 17% Strongly agree Agree

83%

The session programme was appropriate. 8% Strongly agree Agree

92%

The level of logistics and organisation was professional

42% 58%

Strongly agree Agree

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Any additional comments or observations concerning your general impression of the session?

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I know other organisations offering similar events like the EYP 17%

Agree

58%

17%

Strongly agree Disagree No opinion

The EYP is a unique educational experience 8% Strongly agree Agree

92%

The practical learning experience at this session is very important and of great value for the students. 8% Strongly agree Agree

92%

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Organisers

How did you cover the costs for your participation in the session?

17%

My own salary

41%

17%

My pocket money Parents Other

25%

I am

8% Local orga Intl orga

92%

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Please rate the following statements 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 The training I received before the session was sufficient for supplying me with the expertise needed to successfully cope with my session tasks. Not true at all

I felt I was well integrated in the team

Not true

felt confident to felt I can make a tackle my meaningful responsibilities (as contribution to the member of the session organisersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; team).

Somewhat true

True

Totally true

The training helped me improve: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 My ability to Ability to work facilitate group under pressure work Not true at all

Not true

Ability to take initiative

My teamwork Communication skills and interaction

Somewhat true

True

Totally true

Please share any recommendation(s) you might have on how to ensure that organisers are appropriately prepared to fulfill their roles: More specific trainings, smaller modules The working structure which we had for the trainings was quite nice, with having the first training/meeting in february to get to know each other and understand which teams we are working in during first block and the 2nd meeting in August for more clearly developing the 2nd block tasts and our personal goals for the session! What I cannot stress enough, which Yannick and Constanza managed well is the creation of responsibility and ownership for each organiser concerning their tasks, but it is hard, I base my judgement on my feelings and those of the poeple 40

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we talked to, to feel true ownership under all the self-pressure put up by ourselves when we work on this project, as such, I believe more of a focus could be put on self-development (This session was the best for this topic, yet maybe a more interractive approach or a video could be made, where previous IS organisers talk about their experience in organising an IS and on the importance of self development and self care over stressing for perfection!) The previous section work booklets, such as of Lax and Trondheim were great help in understanding the little mysteries of the job, but some things were still clouded and explained through documents sent by the office, to decrease the time for the exchange of these and decrease the huge amount of workload the office experiences because of ISs, maybe it's a possibility to create a drive with the different parts of the session explained in different folders, as such giving access to the newest ISs organiserd and revoking access after the end of the session. Organisers can be given more responsibility in the early phases - they will do more then. The focus should have been less on the actual 'skills' of organising but moreso on what we would concretely be doing at the session. Individual skypes with organisers going through the masterplan and their responsibilities individually with the head-organisers, perhaps in conjunction with the relevant core-organiser, are absolutely vital to having a good preparation for the session. This also means the masterplan ought to be done long before the session

The head organisers were competent and managed the team well. 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Not true at all

Not true

Somewhat true

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True

Totally true

Slack facilitated my work 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Not true at all

Not true

Somewhat true

True

Totally true

Please rate the quality of the following logistical aspects of the session: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Overall organisation

Accommodation

Catering

Very bad

Fine

Bad

Event venues Good

Transfers

Very good

Please rate the quality of the approach used during the following programme elements: 12 10 8 6 4 2

Bad

Fine 42

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Good

Very good

Du tc h ni gh t

s' in pu t

Ex pe rt

GA p re p

er t

Very bad

Eu ro co nc

Eu ro vi lla

How inspiring/useful etc. did you find the following new programme elements: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Panel debate Very bad

Officials CC Bad

Fine

Good

Very good

During the session... 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 ...I felt supported to further develop my knowledge and skills. Not true at all

Not true

...I received constructive feedback on my work from team members.

Somewhat true

True

Totally true

Within your team, what worked particularly well? Everyone was open to suggestions and we all sat together whilst performing tasks in the orgaroom during the day & night; if you wanted to change up something, you could quite easily approach the person in charge of an event/task and discuss it with them. We also were understanding of each other's situations, and tried to help out wherever possible. I liked the structure of sub-teams, it was very clear who to report to immediately and who to turn to for help. Slack, it was used on top of the game! The extra time spend talking about all the bits of how to use it payed off in my opinion!Also, just communication with everyone, I felt as I can be honest with everyone at the team and I felt like they can be honest towards me, both critically and when giving compliments! 43 European Youth Parliament

People taking their own responsibility by lack of a masterplan The well-structured Slack helped a lot in keeping conversations streamlined. The division between tasks and events also helped a lot, as the responsibility that came with it motivated a lot to work on the task/event.

Within your team, what did not work well or was challenging? Please share recommendation(s) you have on how to improve the work of the organisersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; team: The late and lack of clear communication; sometimes, especially near the end of the session, we'd receive information for the next day late at night via Slack, which resulted in some confusion as to what and how in the morning. Maybe go through the programme or at least the transfer for the next day before everyone goes to sleep. It also felt like we had a shortage of hands from time to time - I don't know if it's because of a gap high person:workload ratio or ineffective deployment of organisers. Peak moments should be communicated clearly in advance / orgas should schedule additional hands in for these moments, in the form of a list of available orgas for example. I would have liked to know more about what others were up to, as I roughly knew about some, and had no idea what others were doing. That would have contributed even more to a feeling of ownership. Some of the international organisers had a hard time intergrating in the team as everyone knew each other already, thus making the session less valuable to them. - There was too little focus on the personal well-being of organisers, especially in terms of workload and stressmanagement - Feedback to organisers from superior organisers was very often focussed on things that could have gone better, which is good in its own right, but focussed too little on positive elements, which may have felt some organisers feel somewhat underappreciated at times - There was a general lack of organisers meetings. When they did take place, there was a large emphasis on positive elements of the organising team which was nice, but also stiffled more critical feedback and conversations which could have been very useful - Organisers need buddy groups in one way or another, in order to vent out frustrations

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Please rate the following statements 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 The communication between the organisers’ team and the EYP Office was good. Not true at all

It was helpful to have Monika at the session.

Not true

Somewhat true

The cooperation between the different officials team was effective. True

Totally true

Which aspects of the work of the chairs’ team were particularly successful? Academics, fun atmosphere The chairs were quite clear and realistic in communicating their needs and questions; they'd also understand our reasoning once clarified. They were also willing to help out in certain elements of the session, such as accompanying delegates. They were very kind and mostly very understanding. I believe their work with the delegates, I have rarely seen a session where the chemistry between the delegates and their chairperson (for most/all of the committees) is so good! Bravo! keeping their delegates happy and considered towards other officials The individual chairs were very capable and the quality of the resolutions reflected this

Please share any recommendation(s) you have to further improve the work of the chairs’ team, also with regards to them offering support to the organisers’ team: Better prior communication Chairs could have been more helpful in cleaning up etcetera, especially after having been just asked to It would be great if the chairs team could realise that the Organisers do everything to comply to the wishes of everyone but especially the chairs and also expres that. Although defintely a note applying to all chairs, some chairs seemed somewhat unaware of the large (logistical) tasks and workload the organisers were facing, and thus were not always as understanding of things that went wrong.

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How did the media team contribute to your experience of/at the session? Great output, fun atmosphere The media team was really present around us at most times, which was cool - we could see what projects they were in the process of creating and the outcome. They approached us for things easily and so could we. The documentation/footage of the session is quite authentic and nice to watch post-session! Impressive output, while also all being greatly apart of the session and visible in it, such a fantastic balance between work and leisure was found for this media team! I am happy I got to talk and get to know many of them! I really liked the clear structure of projects the media team had, as well as their interviews with locals. The media output was of course were nice and offers good memories to the session. Also, the media team were generally just very open and nice people to talk with

Please share any recommendation(s) you have to further improve the work of the media team: More pictures of organisers Often the organising team is sort of overlooked at a session, and leaves without any real evidence they were there. Also, there were not a lot of pictures taken outside of the main events, so I missed pictures from for instance the parties, which would have been nice to have, also to showcase that part of the session. Publish more work during the session, publish more photos and make sure that the quality of the articles published is higher More interaction between the media team and orga team would be great, I barely got to interact with the media team. it would be nice if the work of the organisers is shown in the session output. I can not judge this from my position and experience

The CJO Workstream Groups... 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 ...enhanced cross-team cooperation before and during the session. Not true at all

...positively contributed to ...strengthened my ability to the overall team spirit actively contribute to the session

Not true

Somewhat true

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True

Totally true

Please share any recommendation(s) you have to further improve the working relation between the different officials teams: More inter-team communication on top of the all-hands meetings Inter-committee projects before/during the session could help us to connect more - now it's more a you do your thing and I do mine, whilst not intersecting in relation to the outcome we produce. We were quite friendly with each other and hung out, but stuck to our teams as well. Also, the hands-on we did the first night (I wasn't at others) was really nice in terms of transparence between teams; perhaps have more of those and more constructively, with specific questions and rating it on a scale from 1-5. I liked the "all-hands" meetings, but they sometimes felt a little like "bash-the-organisers" meetings, as there were quite a lot of complaints about organisational issues, of which I think other officials either did not have the knowledge, or right to complain about. a better understanding of everyones work would do wonders for some of the officials who have not been in other roles. The allhands need to stay! That was really nice. - Seating arrangements at officials dinners (of which there should be more) - cross-team buddy groups?

Please write one sentence that best describes your EYP experience: This session truly contributed so much in terms of my knowledge, skills, confidence, and social connections like no other. Rotterdam 2018 was just like a kapsalon - intense, eye-opening and oh so wholesome. I did not think I could gain so much wonderful experiences in a mere week and a half, both professionally and emotionally. I have learned two meaningful wisdoms from this platform - firstly, a lesson learned at a session should be translated into your lives, and secondly - it seems scary to open yourself to someone just for the duration of a few days, but please do so, as someone might take your hand in theirs and promise - this is for life, as such, great friendships are formed! My superficial intense 'being in love with' EYP changed into a more mature and stable variant of love. "The EYP allows young people to challenge themselves profesionaly and socially, fostering growth many people only experience at a much later phase in life"

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During the session I felt that my physical and mental wellness was considered with care by my team leader and other teams 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 During the I felt the amount I felt that the I felt that the I felt that the I felt free to fail session I felt that of sleep that I got quality of sleep quality/amount amount of my physical and was sufficient for was sufficient for of food was downtime was mental wellness my wellbeing my wellbein beneficial for my beneficial for my was considered wellbein wellbein with care by my team leader and other teams Not true at all

Not true

Somewhat true

True

Totally true

Please elaborate your answer on the previous question: I feel as if within the organising team especially, there was a great care for each others well-being and health, but this wasn't necessarily encouraged through the session leadership and/or other participants. Some nights I got around 4 hours of sleep due to either late nights and/or early morning transfers. It quite affected my mood and productivity, as I felt not rested at all, especially if you pull a long day after. I know however that the HOs tried to keep this in mind, but still is seemingly an inevitable part of an EYP session. I thoroughly enjoyed the food and managed to take some time everyday to reflect and relax. We were given enough opportunity to sleep, although I might not have taken all those opportunities... I did experience quite a lot of stress and sometimes it could be a bit much. As an organiser, I felt it was hard to take downtime, as there was always something to do. Even if there was not, I still felt I had to do something. Maybe it would help to actually schedule downtime in shifts, so someone can "clock off" so to say, and actually not have to worry about anything and just watch some netflix. Yannick and Constanza were great with pushing us to take some time off, take a nap etcetera, and I felt they really listened if I expressed worry or stress. My team leaders were very concerned with my wellness, the other team leaders did also ask me about my wellness at some point during the session. Due to my tasks and events having their peak moments very close to each other, I had multiple very busy days in a row. The answers to the above question do not so much only reflect on the organising structure but perhaps more so on my own decisions. Put somewhat frankly: staying up late and drinking a fair few beers is not very beneficial for the length and quality of your sleep. On the other hand: despite the focus on participant well-being, in practice 48

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organisers especially those with bigger tasks - were to work hard and long. This also had to do with the long transfer time to the officials hostel from most venues. In reality, free time at EYP sessions has to be seperated between: - relaxing with other officials, discussing and evaluating the day - Sleeping - being awake, but being alone - outside obligations (e.g. uni) From my perspective, this session did not necessarily provide all organisers with enough time to sufficiently balance those three things in their free time.

Media

How did you cover the costs for your participation in the session? 8% 17%

My pocket money

42%

Parents My own salary Other

33%

Please rate the following statements 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 The trainings I felt confident to The trainings The slack facilitated prepared me tackle my delivered by the my workâ&#x20AC;Ś adequately to fulfill responsibilities (as editors were of high my tasks at the EYP member of the media quality session. team). Not true at all

Not true

Somewhat true

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True

Totally true

The training helped me to improve 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

y ab ili ty to fa ci lit at e gr ou Ab p ili w or ty to k w or k un de r p Co re m ss m ur un e ic at io n an d in te ra ct io n M y ab ili ty to d el iv er M â&#x20AC;Ś y te ch ni ca l s ki lls (e .g. â&#x20AC;Ś

Not true at all

Not true

Somewhat true

True

Totally true

Please rate the quality of the following logistical aspects of the session: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Overall organisation

Accommodation Very bad

Bad

Catering Fine

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Event venues Good

Very good

Transfers

Please rate the quality of the approach used during the following programme elements

Very bad

Bad

Fine

Pa ne l d Al eb l h at an e ds m ee En tin ga g ge m en t F ai r

s' in pu t

Ex pe rt

CW Eu ro vi lla ge Eu ro co nc er t GA p re p

12 10 8 6 4 2 0

Good

Very good

I am satisfied with the way social media was handled by the Media team 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Session FB page Not true at all

EYP Network IG Not true

EYP NL IG

Somewhat true

True

Media.eyp.nl Totally true

Within your team, what worked particularly well? Overall, I really liked the work of the Media Team. The collaboration between the team members was particularly good The size of the team was something very new to me, but the execution was really good. The different skill-sets were used and people both worked on their own projects and could work togehter. I really enyojed sharing my experiences from future sessions and hear others talk about the skills they could already gain. The team worked very well together and the team spirit was good. Communication within the team was on point, from the CMO we had all became acquainted and more comfortable with each other which was great to see. The team was definitely close knit and I believe we all co-operated quite well on projects in my experience anyways. The ability to interact with locals and explore the city and its culture 51 European Youth Parliament

was a brilliant addition. Exploring, filming, and conducting interviews in the streets of Rotterdam really brought some of us much closer in my opinion. The 1 on 1 meetings with the editorial team every so often and the morning brief really improved our communication. Team management was a big plus for me during the session, and I was particularly surprised by the engagement on the side of the editorial team in helping MTMs and providing feedback.

Within your team, what did not work well or was challenging? Please share recommendation(s) you have on how to improve the work of the media team First of all, I had a feeling that the Editors were so strongly stuck to their vision that they could forget about the real situation easily. Thus, I am not sure whether the delegates' expectations were met, which I personally consider as the most important part of the media team's work. I do appreciate the fact that Editors didn't want us to be too overwhelmed with work, but because I think they didn't know exactly how to achieve it, it turned out to be more stressful than it could be. Disallowing Media Team Members to work after 10pm is not the best solution for me. Time management became an issue at certain periods for the team, we would get too stuck on certain details and not realise how much time was being wasted and not realised productively. Some more self awareness throughout the team would have been great. The editors did have this great idea of mapping our entire day by the half hour on a handy timetable so we wouldn't waste it but that was deviated from sometimes and things would take longer than expected if the timetable was used at all. I think if this scheduling aspect was drilled down a bit more and if the team tried to be more aware and overestimate expected project times then this would improve

Please rate the following statements 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 The cooperation with the The cooperation between Overall, I was satisfied with EYP Office was effective the different officials teams the work of the organisers was effective team Not true at all

Not true

Somewhat true

True

Very true

Which aspects of the work of the organisersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; team were particularly successful? I very much lovdd almost all of the session venues, except tue nightclub used furing gabber party and eurovillage. I also think their communication to other teams was very effective as I always knew what was the agenda for the day 52

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Whenever I asked any orga about anything I got the clear information. If not, I was sent to another, right organizers which answered all my questions easily. I couldn't see any huge mistakes, I could see that the Orga team was wellbonded. I consider every evening program (except for the Eurovillage) as successful. They were always positive and helpful. I felt good whenever I talked to them, they were like the rays of sunshine. Also I am pleasantly surprised about the amount of friendships that formed between organisers and other officials. Because often in the sessions organisers are left out but this was not the case in Rotterdam at all, they were always present!

Please share any recommendation(s) you have to further improve the work of the organisersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; team: My only criticism would be that the transfers from the hostel at certain times weren't the best organised and there could be an improvement on communication in that respect but other than that it was a great job well done! think the "all hands" meetings were a good step towards fostering communication and making clear to everybody when what is going to happen, but summarizing those meetings within a document and distributing it including a more detailed schedule of the next days would have been superb. The issue with the venues was probably to get something good for our size of group and I still appreciate the venue whilst admiting I expected maybe a bit more, concerning the hostel or the Committee Work venue, because the latter was a bit spacious and a bit difficult to keep an overview of our big group. Lost and found- One of the lowest point of the session for me was that no one helped me when I lost my macbook charger. I announced it 3 times in the lost and found channel including the place I might have left it. I never got a replyeven a negative one. Which made me assume it was lost. But I had the opportunity to stop by the delegates hostel at the last day and my charger was out in the open in the lost and found shelf, which would take so little time to check by an organiser who stayed at the hostel. As a media team member it is crucial to use my computer and it had been a challenge. Venues- We had so many projects we needed to conduct with the delegates and really needed a silent place for that. But there was none in the committee work venue unfortunately. And we had to share the room with organisers which is really fun in general but I saw the negative impact it had on the effectiveness of my work.

Which aspects of the work of the chairsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; team were particularly successful? From what i saw, the resolutions were at a very high level. From my time in the committee room, I saw some topnotch facilitating of the delegates with them really coming out of their shells throughout the session. Innovative and thematic teambuilding games and activities were another aspect I witnessed. I can't speak for the team as a whole but the chair i was assigned to was beyond fantastic and from what I heard from other MTMs and delegates the entire chair's team was a real success Academic Prep and Reso typing I haven't been involved too much with them but judging by the resolutions they did a great work. There is always a bit of time conflict for us as the Media Team with the work the Chairs want to conduct, but a certain respect towards our work would make us feel more appreciated for various projects and not just being an supplement to a session and not really of necessity. 53 European Youth Parliament

Please share any recommendation(s) you have to further improve the work of the chairsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; team, also with regards to them offering support to the media team: In regards to supporting media team, I don't have any recommendation's for improvement. My chair was a brilliant communicator and person in general. They provided support and taught me a lot about chairing as well as EYP in general Definitely trying to be more inclusive and not a separate team I think their work is just very stressy and certain dedicated ours of free time would help them. We are beging to talk a lot about personal welfare in our Organisation atm. We should also excecute this. Their support would mainly be in understanding our work and communicating their needs with us.

The CJO Working Groups... 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 ...enhanced cross-team cooperation before and during the session. Not true at all

...positively contributed to ...strengthened my ability to the overall team spirit actively contribute to the session Not true

Somewhat true

True

Very true

Please share any recommendation(s) you have to further improve the working relation between the different officials teams: I absolutely loved the idea of the all-hands meeting and I believe that it should be an idea that is certainly carried out in future sessions. Cross-team co-operation was a brilliant concept to interlink the officials' team and the whole mentality of viewing the various teams as one is definitely the way to go in my mind Just become friends. That's the only thing that I can recommend you. Working together on a workship basis is not appealing. I think interaction is always helpfull, but forcing it leads to unwanted consequences. As there is a power imbalance between the teams only through the change in attitudes the teams can start operating on eye-level. This shouldn't sound like an accusation to the chairs as I also will think about my behaviour whenever I might chair in the future. The best connection will always be within the team you are working closely with. 54

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I have always seen this as a problem in big sessions. We don't get enough time or are not encouraged to spend time and chill all together. Parties are not places to bond with people especially you already have a group of people you feel more comfortable with around you. Chill time with some kind of rotations with in teams or interteam oneon-ones might have worked better.

Please write one sentence that best describes your EYP experience: EYP is an absolutely amazing experience which taught me the perspective of approaching and questioning something from its underlying purpose instead of just its output. This allowed me to open up and to communicate from the inside out opposed to the outside in. That will stay with me forever A eye-opening experience in every possible aspect. EYP is a hub to meet and befriend like-minded people, and share your experience with the people from different background and nationalities. EYP is what you make out of it. It was a conference where I got to learn a lot about my work ethics.

During the session I felt that my physical and mental wellness was considered with care by my team leader and other teams 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Not true at all

Not true

Somewhat true

True

Very true

Please elaborate your answer on the previous question During the last 1,5 year I've attended many EYP sessions as Media Team Member, and because now I have my final year of high school and final exams I have to stop doing sessions. Rotterdam was my last session before the break and I am really glad that it was a session of such a huge scale because it only showed my progress during that time. The session had a large emphasis on the importance of sleep and well being, there was always a network of mental support available which was quite nice. The sleep-in day was very much appreciated although in the long run I feel that the sleep-in paired with the no screens night ended up causing more stress then it solved as it ended up with 55 European Youth Parliament

me personally anyway being behind in my work which in turn led me to struggle with certain deadlines. The concept was great though although I don't believe it should have been a mandatory event. It was nothing bad about the team leaders. I just had a lot of different things to handle. At EYP you want to do your best, but it is just difficult to not be overwhelmed by what might await you after skipping uni for a week and the knowledge of having to recap all of this. I did not at any point during the session feel as if I was physically or mentally unwell, nor that this was caused by my team leader. Furthermore, the editors showed an active interest in the wellbeing of the team and trying to help us balance our workflow and not letting us overwork ourselves.

Chairs Please, keep in mind that all diagrams and percentages are results of only 7 respondents.

How did you cover the costs for your participation in the session?

14% 14%

My own salary

43%

Parents Pocket money Other

29%

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Please rate the following training you have received during the session: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Unacceptable

Bad

So and so

Good

Co ns GA en t t Bu ra in dd in y g Gr ou p ti m e

CW Re so ty pi ng

Ch oi Ch ce oi M ce od m ul od e: ul h e: av co in m g m an un im ic pa at Ch ct in g oi S ce Ch ta m tis oi od tic ce m ul s e od : T Ch u im oi le : E ce e m m U a od na ul ge e: m re en tr t os pe ct iv es

Awesome

n/a

Please rate the following statements 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 The trainings prepared me adequately to fulfill my tasks at the EYP session Not true at all

I felt confident to The facilitation of the The slack facilitated facilitate the pre-session training my work Committee Work was of high quality

Not true

Somewhat true

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True

Totally true

The training helped me to improve 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 My ability to Ability to work under Communication and My ability to deliver facilitate group work pressure interaction workshop/training sessions Not true at all

Not true

Somewhat true

True

Totally true

Please share any recommendation(s) to further improve the training

I felt that the modules were mostly EYP oriented, meaning that the topics addressed were related to the basic knowledge all Chairs need to have in order to chair a committee (notably the module in which the Chairs shared CW methods or were asked to compose a firo circle according to TB stages). I would suggest to plan IS modules in such a way that the Chairs can be able to acquire knowledge coming from external sources (ex. experimental methods for group work used in companies, new theories on group psychology) such as the module on communicating statistics, which is useful in everyday life rather than strictly in EYP. I believe Chairs at IS should be given new type of knowledge that they can than spread throughout the network thanks to their own trainings. I think this was missing from my experience, even if overall the trainings were of high quality and thoroughly planned in detail! I think the GA module was a bit too long and the module on EU was too short. Would rather have more time on EU module and have GA module during one of the evenings before the GA Perhaps the trainings should focus more on the difference between ISs and other sessions than on specific content relative to the session phases. Most of the information given during a training for, say, Committee Work, I already knew, but I felt underprepared to deal with a group of 16, for instance. It is a lot harder to bond and work with a larger group, and I believe the trainings did not emphasise that enough, or at least provided us with specific tools to deal with that. More time and, therefore, a possibility to attend multiple choice modules (I understand that it was not really possible in Rotterdam but perhaps some modules could have been done online beforehand?) Perhaps a more in-depth focus on each of the topics from different perspectives. I think that it was nicely done in buddy groups during the CMO weekend when everyone could gather others' opinions on the topic overview. Similarly, I think it would be nice to spare more time focusing on topics at the pre-session training.

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Please rate the quality of the following logistical aspects of the session 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Overall organisation

Accommodation Very bad

Bad

Catering Fine

Event venues Good

Transfers

Very good

Please rate the quality of the approach used during the following programme elements 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Very bad

Bad

Fine

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Good

Very good

Pa ne l d eb at e

s' in pu t Ex pe rt

Eu ro co nc

er t

ge Eu ro vi lla

How helpful did you find the following new programme elements 6 5 4 3 2 1

Very unhelpful

Unhelpful

En ga ge m en t F ai r Al l H an ds m ee tin g

Pa ne l D eb at e

m en dm en t

s p ro ce du

re Co m m i tt ee Pe E rs xc on ha al ng D ev el op m en t p la ns

Somewhat helpful

Helpful

Very helpful

What did you particularly enjoy about the academic concept of the session (if applicable)? I loved the level of commitment for delegate engagement, it is always something very useful and fruitful to have delegates learn about each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. I definitely will try to apply this concept in future sessions. I believe the topics themselves were well suited for debate in General Assembly, and they were fully taken advantage of by delegates. I believe certain limitations in the Committee Work venue made events like the Committee Exchange less effective. There was not enough time to produce well-developed Topic Overviews, and it was frankly a little hypocritical from the Office to pressure chairs to produce content for CMO weekend when it had taken almost three weeks to finalise the topics. I loved the freedom that chairs had when it came to experts. Although it was a lot of extra work getting experts on board, I think it was very valuable and interesting both for the chairs and the delegates who seemed to enjoy having them at the session. I also liked that we tried to implement different elements of the programme that tackled the topics creatively. However, they definitely needed a lot more input from the officials. It often felt like the planning wasn't approached seriously enough; people didn't have time to really get involved. Therefore, some of these things (for example, the committee exchange) were executed on spot. Although delegates seemed interested, they definitely weren't prepared enough and couldn't contribute fully. I also particularly liked that the chairs could give feedback on the proposed topics at the very beginning. Even though it wasn't a lot, it was nice to learn more and contribute in a more tangible way to the whole process! Another thing was delegate allocation. The idea of doing that according to the relevance of the topic seemed very nice in the beginning, yet I think it could have been executed better. It felt like most of the delegates got very random allocations. However, I do understand that it is not possible to do that for everyone.

Which (committee) topics did you feel were underrepresented and should be emphasised more in future sessions (if applicable)? 60

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It seems to me that during a few past ISs there haven't been any topics of LGBT rights, perhaps I'm wrong, but I think we need to discuss these issues during ISs. I am aware that they have been overdone, but given the current circumstances there should be a higher emphasis on climate change, particularly regarding the overconsumption of certain products that could be substituted. What sort of seemed missing for me were more relevant topics? Not sure how to explain what I mean by this exactly, but basically topics that are broadly discussed in the media and would be of interest to more delegates. The rise of populism, elections (and the upcoming elections of the EP), human rights violations, sanctions. Some of it was there, yet in general, they seemed less topical than at other EYP events or phrased in a way that they don't tackle the issue in particular.

During the session, I felt supported by 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 President

Board Not at all

Buddy group Chairs' team No

So and so

Yes

HOs

Editors

Absolutely

Please rate the following statements 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 The resolution The cooperation typing process was with the EYP Office well organised was effective Not true at all

Not true

Somewhat true

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The cooperation between the different officials teams was effective True

Overall, I was satisfied with the work of the organisersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; team Very true

Within your team, what worked particularly well? Support and emotional well-being, we were always looking out after each other. The open and comfortable atmosphere within the team. I think that our team did a good job academically and we were definitely enjoying the free time which was more than during other sessions and was great as we could have more rest than usual I think the Chair-to-Chair interface was very effective, given that we were all pretty experienced it helped to have conversations of equals to discuss common problems. It was extremely competent academically and knowledgeable on all aspects of EYP. That allowed less experienced members of the team to have the possibility to ask a lot of valuable input from the whole team. Moreover, I think the chairs' team also often helped other teams to improve their work, too, by providing clear and relevant feedback. It was a nice support group for everyone at all times.

Within your team, what did not work well or was challenging? Please share recommendation(s) you have on how to improve the work of the chairs’ team Management of complaints: sometimes it was overwhelming to listen to the bad things that happened during the day again, also after they were already discussed at the officials’ briefing. Maybe structuring buddy groups in a different way, in order to put an extra highlight on the positive aspects of the day would make things more enjoyable for the whole buddy group. The conflicting views of members of the team often slowed down the trainings. It would have also been nice to have some more meetings within the team as I feel sometimes the team lost its cohesion. The engagement groups. Chairs signed up for different groups, yet we did not do our best to manage those external projects. I feel like there could have been a more complete effort to communicate certain issues in advance, so that chairs could prepare and adapt with time. I believe that there were certain issues regarding venues that the Board could have taken a look at before they occurred, if anything to warn the rest of the team. The group dynamics, in the beginning, was rather challenging. It felt like the chairs' team was not inclusive towards other officials and formed smaller groups internally. In the future. I would really recommend doing more teambuilding activities right at the start. Introducing random skype calls was a nice addition that helped to solve the problem but that could've also been done more. It was also challenging at times to work with such a big group of people where everyone was actively contributing to the process. I think that's the main reason why the discussions were long and modules also took a lot of time. Perhaps it could have been moderated better?

Which aspects of the work of the organisers’ team were particularly successful? Delivering of materials, the food was amazing, their approach was always positive and were always present through slack and in person when needed.

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The transfers and food were very good. The accommodation within the hostel was also great! The team were very helpful and always were around to lend a helping hand. The attitude of organising team and their professionalism made us appreciate them and their team. In general, I felt like everything was under control and well handled The food in general was of high quality, and I am very happy to have been well fed through such a long event. It really makes a difference as bodies and minds get tired. On the other hand, the length of the transfers was an enormous setback, and I personally felt lacking energy at times due to that. While it was sorted by paying out of our own pockets, I do not think this is the right recipe in the future. Moreover, the Committee Work venue was clearly not fit for purpose, and honestly its central location does not matter if not all committees get actual rooms. I believe this fact affected my ability to do my job; I particularly found unacceptable the fact that this was not communicated beforehand, if anything to adapt my plans. Finally, I did not appreciate the accommodation venue at all; a hostel of those characteristics is fine for 3 to 5 days, but 10 days in such a confined space generally has an adverse effect on the session. The attitude towards everyone was always inclusive and I think the orga team very nicely contributed to the overall spirit of the session. I also think the fact that the Dutch orgas were speaking English basically at all times was extremely nice! I also think that the venues were great! Sometimes they were not fit for the needs of such a big group of people (e.g. Zadkine or Toffler) but overall they were lovely. Perhaps in the future, the problem with long transfers could be solved somehow but I liked that the officials were given freedom of transferring themselves everywhere and not always walking those long distances. At the same time, it was nice to have venues all around the city - I really felt like I got to see and experience Rotterdam! I also think that the system of having head organisers and deputies for certain elements of the session was overall successful. I liked that all of the officials were briefed during the CMO about different roles so we always knew whom to approach specifically form the organisers' team. However, it often seemed like the responsible people were doing an extremely good job but as the requirements were huge, they lacked help from others. At least that's how it looked from the perspective of other officials. So in the future, I think it would be useful to either assign more people to these specific elements of the session or encourage other organisers who are less busy during a certain time to actively help each other. Also, this seemed to be solved towards the end of the session when everyone felt less stressed.

How did the media team contribute to your experience of/at the session? The media team was very helpful with the promotion of the event through Instagram in particular, however my media team member had very few pictures or footage of our committee, as he was almost never there, fact which disappointed the delegates. I got on really well with my MTM and had a good relationship with her but other than that the MT did not provide much for my experience at the session. I often felt as though there were limited opportunities for us to bond with them as they had lots of work to do in the evenings. My Media Team Member was of a great help and it was great working with her side by side. 63 European Youth Parliament

I was incredibly happy with my Media Team Member and the effect she had on my delegates. In an event when I sometimes felt left alone and forgotten, she was there to support me and my team. I believe the transmission of the media output was not effective, particularly to participants; having to figure out what Instagram page to go to for specific content is nothing but a deterrant for people to see and share content, in my opinion. While the content I saw was generally good, I felt it was not well communicated. I really enjoyed the output they produced, that was fantastic and definitely well thought through. The output was also balanced and I saw a nice mixture of different creative projects: videos, radio show, posters, postcards, local engagement and much more! I also enjoyed the concept of the media team having an open space and working all over the place, I think that this team was very present for all the participants to engage in their projects in different ways. Moreover, they also engaged with the delegates and I've heard very positive feedback from them about it, too! Engagement fair was one of the main examples of that but also generally being present in the committee room and participating in committee activities was wonderful! I also liked the constructive approach that the editors and some media team members had for the facebook group. Unfortunately, it was partially a negative experience, yet I think that their contribution to take initiative, manage the group and take appropriate action was very much needed and appreciated.

Please share any recommendation(s) you have to further improve the working relation between the different officials teams: I think having more of a optional evening programme for all officials to hang out. I felt that there was never really any structured activities in the evening which were conducive to creating a good bond amongst the teams. I think something that the idea of all-hands meeting was great, I really don't know what else one can do to foster cooperation without crossing the line Communication across lines. As I mentioned earlier, knowing that I would not have a room for Committee Work would have been a lot more bearable had I know before I set foot into the building. It is very important that the right information reaches the right person, and we did not do a good enough job as a team. It is definitely a challenge to create an event with such a huge officials' team where everyone is engaged in interteam activities. But I think that Rotterdam was rather successful with this. I think a lot of that was driven by the head organisers who immensely helped to create an inclusive environment. I see that being further improved by having more joint projects. Engagement fair was one of them but it was mainly the work of the media team. Creating a facebook group that is supervised by officials from different teams was also planned but due to time concerns, it again happened to be the media team who managed it with a bit of help from others. I think that such projects required more supervision from the leadership.

Please write one sentence that best describes your EYP experience: My EYP experience helped me broaden my views on the future of the EU and taught me how to have an impact thanks to small but meaningful actions. EYP for me is about sharing experiences, thoughts and ideas with young citizens from across Europe. 64

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EYP is a community of people who build bridges and destroy walls between nations, stereotypes and prejudices. EYP is a place where young people can learn from each other in a structured and meaningful way. No matter how experienced or knowledgeable you are, there is always space for improvement. EYP provides its participants with a learning environment where constructive feedback is always welcomed and appreciated. It is an organisation that focuses on personal development through social and academic elements, giving young people extremely valuable skills and shaping them into active, aware and responsible citizens.

During the session I felt that my physical and mental wellness was considered with care by my team leader and other teams 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Not true at all

Not true

Somewhat true

True

Very true

Please elaborate your answer on the previous question At one stage I had quite a bad panic attack and my team leaders were there to help and support me in any way that they could. They really cared about my mental and physical well being at all times. I felt like my location and general situation during Committee Work did not help with this, but I cannot erase a sense of loneliness from my mind during that period, and while I am not sure who or what to blame I think it is fair to express that feeling in this survey. Yes, yes, yes! The focus on participant welfare was noticeable. My team leader was always there for support, as well as other officials. Everyone genuinely seemed to care about each other and having modules on participant welfare and consent definitely helped everyone to be more aware of the situations we often have in EYP. Moreover, evenings were not packed with work (only because I wanted to plan didn't mean that I had to stay up and do that), all hands meetings were short and concise, we were not restricted in any way to take a break when that was needed.

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