Yearly Report

Dear alumni of EYP the Netherlands,

Hereby you receive the Yearly Report of the Board of the European Youth Parliament the Netherlands (Stichting Europees Jeugd Parlement Nederland) for 2012-2013. In this document we sum up the things we have worked on during the year. The report is structured according to different fields in which we have been active. If you have any questions, please get in touch with us through board@eyp.nl.

Background For 2012-2013, the board was composed as follows: Zahra Runderkamp – President Barteld Nanninga – Treasurer Boaz Manger – Secretary Charif van Zetten – External Representative Laurens Kraima – Alumni Coordinator All board members worked together with one or more committees, composed of alumni of EYP the Netherlands. This year, there was the website-, schools-, workshop-, alumni- and academic committee.

More about the committees can be found underneath.

Next to that, for the International Session in Amsterdam, Mark Brakel (head-organiser) and Rosa Douw (deputy head-organiser) sat on the board as representatives for the 71st International Session in Amsterdam. Mark and Rosa worked on behalf of the board on all matters relating the IS. More about this session follows in the report.

Activities 5th Alumni Weekend The 5th Alumni Weekend took place from the 2-4 March 2012 in Otterloo. The weekend was organised by Luca Wartna, Charif van Zetten, Tim Keegstra, Julie van der Post, Dirk Hofland and Louise van Benschop, under supervision of Zahra Runderkamp as Alumni Coordinator. Its purpose was to make sure the new alumni from the 12th National Selection Conference got familiar with each other and all the other alumni of EYP The Netherlands. There were Teambuilding games and fun activities such as paintball, as well as the annual alumni meeting in which the new board was presented. With almost 80 participants this weekend was a great success!

6th Alumni Weekend The 6th Alumni Weekend took place from 12-14 October 2012 in Noorden. The weekend was organised by alumni coordinator Laurens Kraima. The purpose of this weekend was to facilitate trainings for our alumni, and with our Preliminary Rounds coming up it was mostly focused on chairs training.

Topics for the training were, amongst others, guiding Teambuilding and Committee Work, chairing General Assembly, as well as which effects body language has. The trainers’ team was lead by Jamie Brown and consisted of Pinar Akkor, Jan Bubienczyk and Boaz Manger. The weekend had over 40 participants that were divided over different experience groups in order to cater the trainings to their different needs.

Yearly Report 2012-2013 – EYP the Netherlands – info@eyp.nl

Other activities In the year 2012-2013 there were several events where all the alumni of EYP NL could get together to socialise. There was a gathering at the Tara cafe in Amsterdam, followed up by a takeover of the Melkweg with over 30 alumni. Also there was a beach barbeque organised by Fahad Fahad and Khalid El Ghoul at the beach of Scheveningen. Due to the International Session there were less activities planned this year than usual, though because of this session there was the unique opportunity for alumni to drop by at one of the evenings of the International Session that was organised by Stan van Wingerden on behalf of the National Organising Committee.

Also there are still two more events coming up. Firstly, the 7th Alumni Weekend in Austerlitz from the 8–10 March 2013, organised by Nastassia Winge, Eliane Zwart, Fahad Fahad and Khalid El Ghoul.

Secondly, the 15 year anniversary of EYP NL which will be organised by Storm Gibbons, Jasper Meijer and Steffan Oberman during the early summer of 2013.

Information booklet of the 7th Alumni Weekend: http://issuu.com/eypthenetherlands/docs/7th_alumni_weekend_information_booklet__2310

Sessions Amsterdam 2012 The 71st International Session of the European Youth Parliament took place in Amsterdam from 2 November – 11 November 2012. It gathered over 300 participants and gave them an unforgettable experience. Internationally the session was seen as one of the best organised so far. In 2 years of preparation the organisers secured funds through various sources, most importantly funds and foundations (V-fonds, NEN, Gravin van Bylandt stichting, Youth in Action), corporate sponsors (ABN AMRO, ING, AkzoNobel, Utz, APG, Philips) and government funding (Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, Municipality of Amsterdam, Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

The first part of the session took place in Centerparcs ‘de Eemhof’, this is where the delegates arrived and were Teambuilding took place. The Opening Ceremony on Monday morning was in the Ridderzaal in Den Haag, starting the official part of the session. In this very important hall the emphasis was once more on the academic standards that we wanted for this session. Before the session started delegates already had to write position papers and factsheets to ensure that they were all well prepared academically. The rest of the session took place in Amsterdam, delegates and officials stayed at StayOkay Zeeburg. For the week in Amsterdam we secured various excellent venues, for example: Euroconcert in the Royal Institute of the Tropics (KIT), General Assembly in the Conservatory of Amsterdam and a Gala Dinner at the Rijksmuseum. The parties in the evening programmes of the session also were a great addition to the session and every party organised by a different organiser ensured that every party had it’s own special and unique aspects.

All in all the 71st International Session of the European Youth Parliament was an excellent EYP event that EYP NL can be very proud of. It can be marked as a milestone in the development of the organisation over the last few years, one can only hope we will continue on this path. The upcoming International Forum in November 2013 surely is a sign that we will!

Yearly Report 2012-2013 – EYP the Netherlands – info@eyp.nl

Resolution booklet: http://issuu.com/eypthenetherlands/docs/amsterdam_2012_-_resolution_booklet_final

Preliminary Rounds In 2012-2013, three Preliminary Rounds took place in Zeist, Delft and Amsterdam. This season 20122013, 29 schools in total participated in the Preliminary Rounds. 13 schools made it to the 13th National Selection Conference.

The selection report can be found here: http://issuu.com/eypthenetherlands/docs/head-organisers_of_preliminary_rounds_and_national.

The Preliminary Round in Zeist, head-organised by Karim Ben Hamda and Yves Haverkamp, presided by Jan Bubienczyk (Finland) took place at the Christelijk Lyceum Zeist. Due to other activities taking place the same weekend, there were only schools present on Sunday. Saturday then became dedicated to chairs’ training and the participants that were still left for the Saturday, were transferred to other Preliminary Rounds. The Preliminary Round took place on 1 and 2 December 2012 and gathered 6 school delegations.

The Preliminary Round in Delft, head-organised by Christien van der Harst and Dinah Meyer, presided by Niall Murphy (Ireland) took place at the Stanislas College. This session gathered 8 school delegations and took place on 15 and 16 December 2012.

The Preliminary Rounds in Amsterdam, head-organised by Dirk Hofland and Henok Ghebrenigus, presided by Luca Olumets (Estonia), took place at the Berlage Lyceum. This Preliminary Round was an outstanding event in terms of its participants: 15 schools participated over the weekend, making it the busiest Preliminary Round in the history of EYP the Netherlands.

In general, there was a growth in the amount of schools participating in the Preliminary Rounds with respect to years before, though we noted with regret that the timing of some of the Preliminary Rounds was more beneficial for the schedule of schools than the others and this explains why some of the Preliminary Rounds were busier than others.

Also this way, we want to once again thank all head-organisers of the Preliminary Rounds for their outstanding work!

Yearly Report 2012-2013 – EYP the Netherlands – info@eyp.nl

13th National Selection Conference The 13th National Selection Conference took place from 8-10 February in Amsterdam. Teambuilding started at A.V.V. Swift, followed by Committee Work at the St. Ignatius Gymnasium and General Assembly at the Royal Institute for the Tropics.

Head-organised by Florentine Oberman and Julie van der Post, presided by Victoria B. Wilkinson (Norway), this was an outstanding session for its pleasant and welcoming atmosphere as well as the different teams all doing extraordinary work. Herewith, we want to once again thank the headorganisers, chairpersons, journalists and organisers for their dedication to the project!

Resolution booklet: http://issuu.com/eypthenetherlands/docs/resolution_booklet_nsc_amsterdam2013 Preparation guide: http://issuu.com/eypthenetherlands/docs/preparation_guide_nsc_2013 Press release: http://issuu.com/eypthenetherlands/docs/persbericht_amsterdam2013 Session booklet: http://issuu.com/eypthenetherlands/docs/session_booklet_amsterdam_nsc2013-1-1 Selection report: http://issuu.com/eypthenetherlands/docs/selection_report_13th_nsc_of_eyp_nl

Committees The list of members of all committees can be found as an appendix to this Yearly Report.

The Website committee which existed of Mattho Mandersloot and Tom Hofland, was given the task to develop and especially keep up to date our website www.eyp.nl. Tom Hofland later on took up the role of Website Manager and is up to today responsible for the website. Tom has done an excellent job, and this way, we want to thank him for his efforts.

The workshop committee had the task of visiting old and new schools as to prepare them for their participation in the Preliminary Rounds. Especially Tim, Linda, Khalid, Willem, Bas and Jara are to be thanked for their efforts and enthusiasm for the project!

The schools-committee Also this year, communication with old and new schools was a difficult matter. Again, EYP NL wanted to grow in terms of participation, though realizing that attracting new schools is a difficult job to do.

This year, two main events were organised for the ‘scholenwervingscommissie’, where members of the committee called schools of a certain province. Especially Samuel Nelemans and Lucia van der Meulen are to be thanked for their efforts!

The Academic Committee was once more established to draft the academic materials for the EYP NL season of 2012/2013. Led by Willem Koelewijn the Academic Committee has produced a number of academic products. Firstly, they brainstormed and drafted the Topics of the committees for the Preliminary Rounds 2012/2013.

Furthermore, every member has written a clear topic overview that together created the Preparation Booklet that was used by the school delegations to prepare their topics and the debate for the others.

Yearly Report 2012-2013 – EYP the Netherlands – info@eyp.nl

Finally, the Resolution Booklet that contains the resolutions for each committee topic was also produced by the members of the Academic Committee.

Their efforts made it possible for the school delegations to understand their topics and to have a number of interesting highly academic debates. Thanks to their hard work and commitment the Preliminary Rounds were yet again a series of very successful events and the Board would like to thank the entire committee for their great effort!

International Affairs Delegations to foreign sessions This year, we sent out Dutch delegations of the 12th National Selection Conference to the 69th International Session in Istanbul (spring) and the 71st International Session in Amsterdam (fall).

Moreover, 9 Dutch delegates attended the 70th International Session in Tallinn (summer).

Delegates from the 12th National Selection Conference attended 8 different forums in total. These sessions were the following: the Danube Youth Forum (Serbia), International Youth Forum Istanbul (Turkey), International Forum Menden (Germany), International Forum of EYP Poland (Krakow), International Forum of EYP Spain (Iberian Forum), International Forum of EYP Czech Republic (Budweis), International Forum of EYP Austria (Tulln), International Forum Nurnberg (Germany).

International Participation Also in 2011-2012, many of our Dutch alumni took up positions as officials at international EYP sessions.

Buddy NC system Following a proposal from EYP Switzerland, EYP Serbia and EYP the Netherlands, new or still to be established National Committees (NC) are given the chance to work with already established NCs. From 2012 onwards, EYP the Netherlands has been and will remain the “buddy NC” of EYP Denmark. We wish them the best of luck in the upcoming year and hope they soon will be a recognized NC!

National Affairs Media In 2012-2013, EYP NL tried to reach out to other organisations and the public attention as well. For the International Session in Amsterdam, there was cooperation with other youth NGOs, as well as a couple of media partners were active in the promotion of the session and its results. Furthermore, we continued promoting the European Youth Polls. The Facebook and Twitter account were regularly updated. Moreover, the EYP NL Alumni Facebook group was started, where alumni can get in touch with each other and keep up to date about our activities.

Sponsorships and Partners Also this year, we were very grateful for the support we received from Windesheim Honours College and UTZ Certified. Their support enabled us to carry out multiple sessions, weekends and other

Yearly Report 2012-2013 – EYP the Netherlands – info@eyp.nl

activities.

Teachers’ evaluation After the Preliminary Rounds, we asked all teachers that participated to fill out a short questionnaire.

All three Preliminary Rounds were represented. In general, they graded the session with an 8 out of 10.

Some of their words: “The pre-session workshop was nice and informative and we very much appreciated the enthusiastic EYPers!”

“It was well organised, the food was good and the board of the session did great work” “My students learned a lot that day. They found it very exciting, but most of them found their place and let loose more throughout the day” “There is a difference in participating for the first time or not. Now, we know better what is expected of us for next year” “EYP keeps inspiring my students!”

Patrons In 2012, EYP NL set up their committee of patrons. This committee is composed of: • Dr. B. Bot – Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael • Prof. Dr. L.M. Bouter – Rector Magnificus Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam • Drs. M. Dijkgraaf – Director Academic-cultural centre SPUI25 • Ambassador drs. P. de Gooijer – Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the European Union • Drs. Ing. P.F. Hartman – President-director of KLM • Mr. J. Hommen – CEO ING Group • Drs. D. Sluimers – President board of directors APG Group • Mr. E. van de Laan – Mayor of Amsterdam • Prof. dr. M. van der Wende – Dean Amsterdam University College • Dr. G. Zalm – CEO ABN Amro Group Holding A full list can also be found on our website: http://www.eyp.nl/about-2/patrons/. We are happy to receive their support and trust in the organisation!

Thank you!

The year 2012-2012 also marks the end of the involvement of some of our alumni. We are very grateful for their support, contribution, and dedication to EYP NL. Our thanks go to Marjolein Pichel, Ruben Wagenaar, Maite Karssenberg and David Bokhorst who ended their involvement in EYP the Netherlands. Moreover, a big thank you goes out to the National Organising Committee of the 71st International Session in Amsterdam, and especially Mark, Rosa as well as the whole core team for their efforts in creating such a successful project!

Yearly Report 2012-2013 – EYP the Netherlands – info@eyp.nl

Appendix 1: Committees of EYP the Netherlands ‘12-‘13 “Scholenwervingscommittee” / schools-committee Anneke van der Linde Christien van der Harst Dinah Meyer Henok Ghebrenigus Dirk Hofland Florentine Oberman

Julie van der Post Karim Ben Hamda Koen Verdenius Linda Barry Lucia van der Meulen Milan Happé

Olivier van Minnen Samuel Nelemans Tim Keegstra Yves Haverkamp

Jasper Meijer Khalid El Ghoul Kim Peters Mattho Mandersloot

Nastassia Winge Steffan Oberman Storm Gibbons

Chair: Boaz Manger (Secretary).

Alumni committee Caroline Opperman Eliane Zwart Fahad Fahad Jara Verkleij

Chair: Laurens Kraima (Alumni Coordinator).

Workshop committee Caroline Opperman Loes Broekgaarden Lucia van der Meulen Jara Verkleij

Khalid el Ghoul Kim Peters Linda Barry Mattho Mandersloot

Tirza Dam Tim Keegstra Willem Koelewijn

Chair: Zahra Runderkamp (President).

Website committee Mattho Mandersloot Tom Hofland Chair: Boaz Manger (Secretary).

Academic committee Bas van Leeuwen Bernet Meijer Heleen van de Coevering

Leon Rinkel Misha Goudsmit Tim Keegstra

Titus Verster Willem Koelewijn

Chair: Charif van Zetten (External Representative).

Yearly Report 2012-2013 – EYP the Netherlands – info@eyp.nl