Spring NWMs 2015
Results Booklets
NWM Hamburg
Results Booklet
NWM Hamburg Results Booklet
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NWM HAMBURG RESULTS BOOKLET
Published March 2015
NWM Hamburg Results Booklet
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C ONTENT Introduction Session I:
What is AEGEE?
Session II:
AEGEE’s history
Session III:
Training & Learning Strategies
Session IV:
Democracy
Session V:
ACT & EQAC
Session VI:
30th Anniversary
Session VII:
Best Practices
Session VIII:
Fundraising
Session IX:
Agora Simulation
Session X:
Open Space
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NWM H AMBURG – B ACK TO THE FUTURE Written by Maria Arends NWM Hamburg was a fun, interesting, and diverse Network Meeting. There were 25 enthusiastic participants from mostly northern and German locals, but also some from elsewhere. The programme focused both on members who have been in AEGEE for quite some time, as on members who just joined AEGEE. We had some members from the AEGEE Contact in Manchester and the AEGEE Contact in Aberdeen present, and it was a great opportunity for them to get in touch with AEGEE. Even though it was only a weekend, people got very close to each other and the local organisers did a great job too. If you have any questions or remarks, you can always contact me at netcom-maria@aegee.org
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S ESSIONS 1. W H AT
IS
AEGEE ?
By Maria Arends First, the general presentation of AEGEE was presented to the participants, and after that the participants drew their own vision of AEGEE’s structure in small groups. Each group consisted of participants with different levels of AEGEE experience, which made it interesting and challenging for everyone. After they presented their own creative ideas to the group, we briefly showed them the Prezi about AEGEE’s structure, so they have a little bit of an idea of how AEGEE works.
2. AEGEE ’ S
H ISTOR Y
By Paul Smits A long timeline was created and different signs with projects of AEGEE, important dates in European integration, and other kinds of milestones were handed out to the participants. They had to choose where they would put each sign on the timeline and then some information about the happening was given. Furthermore, the participants could add their own birthdays and the founding dates/years or their antennae on it.
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3. T R AINING
AND L EAR NING STR ATEGI ES
By Paul Smits During this session the learning strategies in AEGEE where discussed and the proposals about organising LTCs and their content. Most participants agreed that improvement of LTCs was necessary and they had the opportunity to ask questions and enter in a discussion about the topic, so they could better understand the reasons for these proposals.
4. D EMOCR AC Y By Bryn French, Connor Russell & Maria Arends The participants were invited to write down a statement about democracy, and later on discuss it in the group. This part was carried out by Maria Arends on behalf of Democracy in Practice. In the second part of the workshop the upcoming elections and the democratic system in the United Kingdom was discussed, including an interesting discussion on what participants see as the root of Euroskepticism. Participants thought issues related with the economy, terrorism, and security as the main problem, whereas polls point at immigration and sovereignty issues.
5. ACT & EQAC By Marijn Scholte The participants first got a short presentation about the Action Agenda, and after that they had to develop their own event during a case study. Furthermore, they got to work according to the EQAC guidelines and the panel (Maria Arends & Paul Smits) assessed their events.
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6. 30 T H A NNIV ER S AR Y By Andrea Schmelz We started the session with a short quiz about the present antennae’s history. The main aim was to show participants what amazing things their locals have already achieved and encourage them in digging deeper into their history. Afterwards the participants received a role within smaller groups, that only they knew and had to describe to others. The others had to guess their role within AEGEE. Each single body, no matter if antenna or European body is important to AEGEE. AEGEE would not be what it is today without them. The session concluded with an overview on the 30th anniversary celebrations of this year and how locals can contribute to it. They were shown the different sources that exist within the organisation.
7. B ES T
PR ACTICES
By Maria Arends The participants presented their SOAR analyses and after that they had to think about their most important aspiration for their locals, and write it down on a sticky note. After that, they had to find like-minded people. In groups, they used the methodology of the six thinking hats to come up with a plan to achieve their aspirations.
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8. F UNDR AIS ING By Paul Smits
9. A GOR A S IMUL ATION By Andrea Schmelz, Maria Arends, Marijn Scholte & Paul Smits During the simulation we explained all the roles and rules there are during an Agora and we discussed the Working Groups proposal. It was both interesting and a lot of fun.
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10. O PEN S PACE Facilitated by Maria Arends & Paul Smits PR and HR The problem that was posed was not enough members and/or majority of members uninvolved in the work of the local. Many locals express their wish to work with a strong PR strategy to recruit and bind members.
Suggestions were made: couraged to bring a non-AEGEE friend PR responsibles of other locals l actions’ to promote the local geting students and university allows such things) e discounts
o PR resources: http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/resources/pr-materials/ o PR toolkit: http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/wpcontent/uploads/publications/toolkits/PR_Toolkit.pdf o Shortguide to AEGEE (to give to your members for approaching newbies too) http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/resources/short-guide-to-aegee/
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How to bind members: g of the semester. An activity intensive 1-2 month, for new and potential members to really get to know AEGEE. Use mentorship programmes etc.
recruiting in high-schools y might be an easy tartget and they sometimes have special introduction fairs.
http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/wp-content/uploads/publications/toolkits/HR_Cycle_Toolkit.pdf Another issue, related though, is the promotion of the Summer Universities. Summer Universities are a great means to attract members. Suggestions were made: they design and deliver posters
Fundraising If people don’t come to AEGEE parties. How can a local make some funds then? /trips
n activities apart from parties
Some locals shared that they charge their members extra when they apply for a summer university. This is up to the local. When considering this, think what you want to incentivise. Do you want to keep your membership fee low, to be more inclusive, or do you want people to be able to apply for a Summer University for free, if they paid their membership fee?
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Point of feedback was that there are too many things in AEGEE to know everything. Suggestions to kill irrelevant information are welcome.
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NWM Kastoria
Results Booklet
NWM Kastoria Results Booklet
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NWM KASTORIA RESULTS BOOKLET
Published July 2015
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C ONTENT NWM [City’s Name] – [NWM Name] .................................................................. 4 Sessions ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 1. [Session Name] ................................................................................................................................. 5
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NWM K ASTORIA – W E A RE T RAVELERS Written by Lia Tuska During this NWM, we tackled different problems locals are facing (Human Resourses, Recruitment, Fundraising. etc.). What is AEGEE, AEGEE History, Training and Learning Processes in AEGEE, Stereotypes, Democracy in Practice, Europtimism and much more topics were touched upon. There was a room for Open Space Session in order participants to cooperate and develop their own ideas, projects and events. There were 9 people attending the NWM, representing 5 different locals from all over Europe. This NWM was hosted by AEGEE-Kastoria, who did a great job taking care of the social program, logistics, lodging and food. This Result Booklet entails a summary of the majority of the sessions and the topics that were discussed. It provides results of brainstorm sessions and discussions as well, and hopefully it will inspire you to take action in your local! If you have any questions or remarks, you can always contact me at netcom-lia@aegee.org
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S ESSIONS 1. W H AT
IS
AEGEE
By Lia Tuska What is AEGEE for you? Watched the video and had short discussion. Presented AEGEE Identity presentation.
2. 30 Y EAR S A NNIV ER S AR Y / AEGEE H ISTOR Y By Antonis Triantafyllakis Presentation and discussion about History Toolkit.
3. S H AR ING
B ES T PR ACTICE S
By Lia Tuska Each participant said at least one advantage and one disadvantage of their local. The common advantages and disadvantages were sorted and the group discussed about them. For the advantages, how they can be used in favour of the locals and for the disadvantages, what solutions can be accomplished.
4. S TER EOTYP ES By Antonis Triantafyllakis Activity: Participants make a circle. Everyone gets an A4 paper. It should be fold into three. On the top part, you write your nationality. On the middle and last part, you separate to two columns of (+) and (-). On the middle part, you write positive and negative stereotypes about your nationality. Then, the paper goes around the circle until it gets back to you. Every participant present their own nationality’s stereotypes. In case there are more from the same nationality, they get into groups. Discussion: Participants discuss about the results of the activity. Fun Energizer: The facilitator asks what sound different animals make.
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5. HR/R ECR UITMENT By Lia Tuska What is HR? Interactive discussion. Outcome: Writen on whiteboard. Recruitment day Activity/Simulation: Some of the AEGEE people are observers. The rest need to organize a recruitment day of 10-15 minutes for the non-AEGEE people. In between the non-AEGEE people talk about HR in their organization. The goal of this activity was to learn how to plan a recruitment and have fun! Debriefing Questions: (To observers, organizers) What happened in the planning of the recruitment? (Participants) Did you get motivated to join AEGEE? Why? How did you feel during the recruitment? (Organizers, observers) How did the recruitment work for you? Do you think it was effective? (Everyone) What could we learn from this game? (Everyone) If you needed to plan an actual recruitment, what would you do differently, if anything?
6. K NOW
YOUR R IGH TS
By Lia Tuska Universal Declaration of Human Rights card game: Separate the participants in 3-4 groups. Have all the UDHR articles somewhere that everyone can see them Explain the game: Each group will be given 5 cards with articles of the UDHR. They should not see what is written on the cards. One member of each team has to choose one card and try to make the rest of the group members which is the article on the card but they cannot use words stated in the article, they can draw or mime. Maximum 5 minutes should be spent on the same card. Every time someone from the team guesses right, they get 1 point. The person that guesses right first is the one who draws the next card (if they haven’t already done so). Play the game. Points counting and compairing All the groups are connected to one and each group shows their drawings, they read one article that corresponds to one of their drawings and the other teams have to guess which drawing is about this article. The group that guesses right gets 1 point. Group with most points wins. Debriefing
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When they are done, they discuss how easy/difficult it was to guess the articles.
7. C OMMUNICATION C H ANNEL S By Ioana Duca Background information Communication issues in AEGEE: Mailinglists, announce-l, aegee-events-l, aegeenews-l (when to use what etc) Members Portal - what to find there, what kind of posts to make (for european bodies) Board announcements (not on announce-l, but on Members Portal, Netcoms responsibility) Who to contact for what? o Email related matters, mailing lists - Mail Team o Intranet-related matters - MyAEGEE Team o Joining AEGEE - local closest to their location or Netcom o For visiting CD house - form on Members Portal Forum Visual Identity Newsletter Communications strategy of AEGEE-Europe way too complex for a regular member to understand. Aim of this workshop is to give all the necessary knowledge about the means and ways of communication in AEGEE. Objectives: Participants know the difference between mailing-lists and know which mailing-lists to use for different occasions; Participants know where to find mailing-lists and how to (un)subscribe; Participants know what is Members Portal and where to find information; Participants know the basics of Visual Identity and how to follow it: Participants know how the communications work in AEGEE. Outline Ask participants to form a line without words according to the time they have been members in AEGEE. Ask participants to count to 5 and accordingly form groups (this will mix fresh and experienced members). You can explain that this session is about communications in AEGEE and it will be mainly learning by doing. Make sure that participants find a nice spot to work.
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Each group should have a laptop with internet connection, quiz questions, paper and a pen to write down answers. Give participants the quiz and 45 minutes to find thorough answers to the following questions: 1. Where to subscribe or unsubscribe from Announce-L? (https://lists.aegee.org/?SUBED1=ANNOUNCE-L&A=1) 2. What kind of member (regular member, board member, etc) should be subscribed to the following mailing-lists: a. ANNOUNCE-L - every member interested in what is happening in AEGEE b. BOARDINF-L - board members of locals c. AEGEENEWS-L - every member interested in what is happening in AEGEE d. AEGEE-EVENT-L - members who want information about events in AEGEE e. ISTANBUL-L - members of AEGEE-Istanbul f. HRWG-L - members of Human Rights Working Group g. NETWORK-COMMISSION-L - members of the Network Commission 3. You want to organise a Network Meeting with your local. Who do you contact? Respective Network Commissioner (http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/commissions/networkcommission/members-of-netcom/) 4. Your local has just elected a new board. Who do you inform about it? Where do you make the announcement? You fill in the form on Members Portal (http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/commissions/networkcommission/for-boards/new-board-submission/), inform your Netcommie, who will announce it on the Facebook page of Netcom. You can make a post on the Facebook page of your local and post it also on the webpage of your local. 5. Your local is organising a New Years event. Who do you need to inform? What are the communication channels you use to promote your event? Create a clear communications plan. Contact EQAC and fill in the form to get your event to the events calendar (http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/events/organise/event-assessmentsubmission/). Ways of promotion: Newsletter of AEGEE-Europe, aegee-events-l, Facebook event, via Netcommies. 6. What is Members Portal? Where to find it? Members Portal is a place where you can find all the information about AEGEE that is needed for a member to know. www.aegee.org/portal
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7. Where to find the standard presentations of AEGEE? Where to find the official recruitment video of AEGEE? http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/resources/aegees-presentation/ 8. Your local wants to print a roll-up/banner for promotion. What do you do? Go to Members Portal, Resources - PR materials. Find the roll-up/banner template, customise it to my local and send it to print. http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/resources/pr-materials/ 9. Where to find the Visual Identity manual and materials? http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/resources/pr-materials/ 10. Why do we need Visual Identity in our organisation? There are several reasons behind VI. As identity states in the name, it aims to have coherent visual presence which would identify the organisation, to brand it on the market. You can look on example of Coca Cola, it is very famous brand which is identified with red color and typical style of logo used in all occasions and this create such impact of the visual brand. By following same styles of elements or colors, it will be easy to identify that this is poster is from AEGEE. Such identification commonly happens unconsciously in our brain. Lastly another important reason is to provide some basic standards for logo usage, designs and prepare templates for locals which will be easy to adapt and use. 11. Name VI elements (6 in total). 1. Background Network 2. Map of Europe 3. Background pattern 4. The A letter 5. Support colour line 6. Logo 12. Where is and what is the size of the customisable area of the logo? Explain in words or draw or find other creative ways to express the answer. Check the VI manual page 4 (http://site.aegee.org/wpcontent/uploads/resources/AEGEE-VIM-v1.1_cbu-2013-06-11.pdf) 13. What are the allowed colours of the logo? Blue, white, black 14. Which are the basic colours of AEGEE-Europe’s visual identity? Red, green, purple, yellow, blue (according to the right colour code) 15. You want to customise your logo. How do you do it? Who do you contact? You define the element you want to add to the logo. You check the VI manual, what are the requirements for the element. You add the element to the logo using a relevant program (CorelDraw, Inkscape, Adobe
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Illustrator). After that you submit the logo via the form (https://podio.com/webforms/4869369/380743). PRC will contact with you either with good news or with a request for a re-design. If no-one in your local knows how to create the custom element, you can request PRC to help you. 16. You can’t log in with your intranet account. Who do you need to contact? You can contact myAEGEE team via myAEGEE@aegee.org or contact your board. 17. You have some really cool news for the AEGEE-Europe’s newsletter. Where can you submit it? Newsletter of AEGEE-Europe is sent out in every 2 weeks and you can submit news via http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/comitedirecteur/aegee-europes-newsletter/ 18. You are having a weekend holiday in Brussels and you want to visit the AEGEE house. How do you arrange it? You go to the Members Portal and look for the Visit Headoffice page and fill in the form (http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/comite-directeur/visitcd-house/) 19. What is the size of the Facebook profile picture and a cover photo? How do you make sure that your pictures fit? Size of the FB profile picture is 160x160 pixels, but it should be uploaded in 180x180. Facebook will scale it down. Size of the cover photo is 815x315 pixels. You can make the photos in the right size with different free photo editing programs. 20. What should be the name of the Facebook page or Twitter account of your local? Your antenna written in a way AEGEE-Local. AEGEE has to be in capital letters, there should be a dash in between and city name should be written only with the first capital letter. 21. You have a Facebook and a Twitter account but you don’t have time to manage both of them. How do you proceed to keep both of them up to date? Link them. For example every Fb post automatically goes to Twitter or other way around. 22. What should appear at your social networks profile picture? Logo of your antenna in the Visual Identity. 23. You want to make an event as your local. Do you: b. Create a person on Facebook for your local to make events; c. Use Facebook as a page and create an event.
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24. You are interested in the history of AEGEE. Where can you find the toolkit on history? On the Members Portal: http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/resources/members-manual/ 25. You have an interesting point of view on Spreading Europtimism. Where can you express it? In the Forum of AEGEE: www.aegee.org/forum 26. You want to make a post on Facebook. You: a. simply write some stuff, paste the link (if there is a link to it) and press enter; b. create a nice and simple text and add the link (if there is a link to it); c. create a nice and simple text, add a nice picture related to the topic and shorten the link (if there is a link to it). 27. Holidays are coming and you want to make your Facebook page more seasonal. What do you do? b. Add holiday elements on the logo (for example Christmas hat); c. Create a custom Facebook cover with the holiday elements, which you will change after the holidays are over; d. Don’t do anything. 28. A lot of your friends are having great discussions about the new objectives of the Action Agenda. Where do they discuss? In the forum ;) After all the groups have answers, it should be common discussion on the answers with the possibility to exactly show the lists in AEGEE, Members Portal, Forum etc. Keep a table of points to know which group won the title of “Communications Gurus” :P Also there should be space for other random questions popping up concerning communications. What is more, if participants have ideas how to improve communications in AEGEE, this should be noted down and brought back to the Headoffice.
8. ACT/EQAC C AS E S TUDY By Antonis Triantafyllakis and Lia Tuska Learning outcomes to be achieved in this session: 1. Participants get familiar with the ACT and understand how they can implement them. 2. Participants know (how to apply) the EQAC procedure. 3. Participants learn how to deal with stressful situations in event management.
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Structure of the Session: Action Agenda Presentation & familiarize participants with ACT (10 minutes) EQAC Presentation where participants learn about the EQAC process. (10 minutes) Case Study: Project Planning Exercise where participants are divided into groups and plan a project or event that contributes to the aim of the Strategic Plan. (45 minutes) Each Group presents the outcomes of their project/event planning to all participants. (presentations will last about 5 minutes per group) Debriefing (What did participants learn? Anything which could be improved in the EQAC procedure?) 1) Action Agenda Presentation There are two different versions of the ACT presentation. If your antennae already possess a sound understanding of the work of ACT, you may want to spend more time on the case study and thus choose the “shortest as possible presentation of Action Agenda and ACT”. If you find that your antennae need more background information on the work of ACT, please choose the “short presentation of Action Agenda and ACT” presentation; you may want to shorten the case study in this scenario, to spend more time on talking about ACT. Here you can find the... “Shortest as possible presentation of Action Agenda and ACT ” “Short presentation of Action Agenda and ACT” 2) Case Study Outline of Case Study: This case study idea is based on the “Toolkit Case Study” session which was held at NWM Aachen. Participants are divided into groups of around 5 people. The goal of each group is to plan an event which contributes to the Strategic Plan and then present their project ideas to a panel of judges, which consists of the remaining participants. The conditions under which this project or event is planned should be as realistic as possible. Instructions to participants: They are to conclude certain tasks within a given time period and then present their results to a panel of judges at the end of the session. Without further instructions, the people who are responsible for this session (e.g. NetCommie) leaves the room and does not answer any further questions from here on. The only time the session responsible enters the room again is to give the groups new tasks that are written on little papers. After the amount of time that is allocated to the task is over, the session responsible enters the room again to give the groups new tasks. This process continues until all tasks are completed by the groups. After each group is done planning their project or event, they are to present their plans for organizing the project/event in front of the other
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participants. Once all groups have presented their project or event idea, all participants vote on the group with the most thorough project/event plans. Here is an overview of the tasks: Create a virtual project/event, find a title and topic for your [project/event]. Also, which target group do you have? How does your [event/project] relate to the Strategic Plan? (5 minute) Create a preliminary schedule with the main activities of your [project/event]. This should include session descriptions, breaks and social program. Add at least one activity specifically related to your Focus Area (or objective). (5 minutes) Create a balanced budget containing the following points: Income (e.g. direct income, fundraising) and Expenses (e.g. food, lodging, workshop material, merchandising) (10 minutes) In 10 minutes you have to deliver a short presentation in front of the [name of session responsible] Foundation. This presentation should focus on how your {project/event} supports the Focus Area or objective you were given and what special activity you thought of. If your presentation is convincing, you may have the chance to gain financial support from the [name of session responsible] Foundation. The presentation itself can only last for a maximum duration of 2 minutes. Make a short presentation why your [project/event] supports [focus of Action Agenda/Strategic plan]. Prepare a presentation of 2 minutes of your [project/event] to be presented in front of a panel of judges. This presentation is to be delivered in the form of an elevator pitch. (5 minutes) Discussion: did the presentation convince you? How would you improve it? (10 minutes) 3) EQAC Presentation: (10 minutes) Here you can find the ... EQAC presentation Guidelines for EQAC presentation 4) Debriefing If you still have some time left at the end of the session, use it for gathering feedback from the participants. What do participants like about this session? What can be improved?
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9. O PEN S P ACE T ECH NOL OGY By Ioana Duca and Lia Tuska The topics that were discussed: What topics do you suggest to have in sessions of LTC, exchanges etc. More information about the projects that are currently running within AEGEE. What do I need to do to make a project official? Why this year most of the Summer Universities cost approximately 200â‚Ź?
10.
A GOR A F OL L OW - UP
By Lia Tuska Discussion about the proposals that were proposed at AgorAsturias.
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Results Booklet Spring NWM AEGEE-A Coruña 24th April – 26th April 2015
Index Index ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 2 1.
Preface ___________________________________________________________________________________ 3
2.
Sessions __________________________________________________________________________________ 4 a.
State of the Region (Olga Rivero) _____________________________________________________ 4
b.
Redefinition of Trainings and Learning processes in AEGEE (Paul Smits) ___________ 5
c.
Policy and Advocacy (Pablo Hernรกndez) _____________________________________________ 6
d.
Conflict resolution and how to give constructive feedback (Olga Rivero)___________ 7
e.
ACT & EQAC Session (Olga Rivero) ____________________________________________________ 8
g.
Communication Channels (Paul Smits) _____________________________________________ 10
h.
Open Space session (Olga Rivero) ___________________________________________________ 11
3.
Main conclusion about the event ____________________________________________________ 12
4.
Useful links to materials ______________________________________________________________ 13
1. Preface Spring Network Meeting (NWM) A Coruña ‘What if it was love?’ took place in the beautiful city of A Coruña during the weekend from the 24th to the 26th of April. With a participation of 34 AEGEE members, the event served as a place to discuss and share problems among members of different antennae as well as helping them have more insight about AEGEE along with other useful trainings and workshops.
With the representation of Paul Smits from the Comité Directeur (paul.smits@aegee.org) , Pablo Hernández as a Policy Officer (pablo.hernandez@aegee.org) and Olga Rivero as Network Commissioner, the sessions took place during two days in the Youth Hostel Don Bosco provided by AEGEE-A Coruña. The varied sessions and the will from participants to learn and share experiences contributed to the success of the event.
Besides the fruitful sessions, the participants and trainers enjoyed the city and social program thanks to the organizers. Also the lodging for the sessions and accommodation held an ideal atmosphere for those wanting to learn and teach. Thank you, AEGEE-A Coruña for your big effort and the amazing event you created for us!
In the following pages, you will be able to read about all the sessions and find useful information shared during the event.
For any further doubts, do not hesitate to contact La Tripulación team in tripulacionnetcom@gmail.com or Network Commissioner Olga Rivero in netcomolga@aegee.org.
Enjoy the reading! Best regards, Olga Rivero Menéndez
2. Sessions a. State of the Region (Olga Rivero)
The aim of this long-lived session is to target, based on a SWOT analysis filled in by each local, those topics that are being a problem or an obstacle for several antennae and have been solved by others before. It is basically a way of exchanging good practices between locals and debating different matters that can stop development. The debate was facilitated by Olga Rivero based on some very simple slides that showed the main topics that some of the locals present were tackling as problems but others considered as their strengths. Some of the issues discussed were relationship with Universities and with other institutions (such as city halls or other associations), lack of a physical place to work and meet with the members, lack of motivation within new recruited members, lack of commitment within boards, lack of knowledge transfer between boards, and visibility of AEGEE within society. There was a fluent debate during the whole hour and a half that this session lasted and the main result was that some of the topics raised were deeply discussed and, therefore, some solutions were found to put in practice. You can find the minutes of this session attached.
b. Redefinition of Trainings and Learning processes in AEGEE (Paul Smits)
Following the approval of the Strategy for Learning and Training and the changes introduced to the AEGEE Statutes in the last Spring Agora Asturias 2015, Paul Smits introduced this new concept.
The Strategy for Learning and Training includes three steps for internal education for AEGEE members with the aim to activate them, help them understand AEGEE better and prepare them for local board positions. This three steps are defined for Local Training Courses (LTC1 and LTC2) and Regional Training Courses (RTC).
After presented, this new strategy was discussed among participants and Paul gathered their thoughts and new ideas for making its implementation more efficient. Everybody seemed to feel comfortable with these changes and found them useful for the development of AEGEE.
c. Policy and Advocacy (Pablo Hernández)
As this session was parallel to the one of Conflict resolution and feedback, there weren’t too many assistants in it. Pablo was thinking in doing an interactive session about this two topics that are normally treated in a more theoretical way, but in the end it was more a distended discussion. Participants debated about what Policy inside AEGEE means and why it is important, and how we as an organization should take a stand on different topical issues, taking on account the different ways of thinking regarding the different cultures that are in Europe. So, in the end, the main result of this session was that participants understood what these two topics are about and why they are important for AEGEE, and came to the conclusion that certain issues have to be treated in a careful way in AEGEE (but we should always take a stand on them) because we don’t have a global way of thinking because of our origins.
d. Conflict resolution and how to give constructive feedback (Olga Rivero)
During this session, the participants were able to understand a bit more about conflict resolution and how to give feedback properly. These are two topics that are usually raised in a local antenna so it is useful to get to know about them, as they can also be beneficial in other daily situations that are not only related to AEGEE.
A small presentation was showed for both. For the Conflict Resolution session the main points of the topic were addressed: ‘What is the cause of a conflict?’, ‘Conflict evolution’ and ‘Strategies to conflict resolution’.
For the Feedback session many of the important things to know about it were discussed: ‘What is feedback?’, ‘Why is it useful?’, ‘Why is it not given properly?’, ‘Methods for constructive feedback’ and ‘Tips for giving and receiving feedback’.
There was some debate after to put in common the situations in which participants had used some of the methods and strategies explained without even knowing and how they faced this kind of situations when they had to. Some new approaches that hadn’t been presented came up as well, and the main result was that everyone seemed more aware of what they used to do right and wrong before this workshop related to these two topics.
e. ACT & EQAC Session (Olga Rivero)
During the ACT & EQAC session the participants had the opportunity to get to know more about the Action Agenda, Strategic Plan and Event Assessment. After a small game where the participants, in groups, had to answer some questions related to the previously mentioned topics, a presentation about those was held.
The presentation showed the Vision and Mission of AEGEE as well as the Means of our organization. The Action Agenda and Strategic Plan were explained, the process of drafting it, how antennae can contribute to its fulfilment, and an introduction to the new Action Agenda 2014-15. After that, a presentation about Event Assessment was showed to the participants, explaining to them what the process of assessment for official events in AEGEE is, what the benefits of quality events are and which steps they should follow to get an event assessed.
After the presentations, the participants were divided into groups where, given some instructions, they had to start planning an event that would contribute to the Action Agenda as well as would pass the quality control for events. Lastly, the groups presented in front of each other their results and questions and concerns were raised.
The aim of this session was to increase the knowledge among participants about these two Committees and what their work consists on and also about how easy can be for a local to contribute properly by organizing a good event following the main goals of AEGEE.
f.
Agora and EPM Follow up (Olga Rivero)
This session consisted on a brief summary about what happened in the two Statutory events held on 2015 before this NWM.
EPM Burgos was revised in terms of the thematic part, related to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the main conclusions gathered at the end of the event. Besides that, there was the drafting of the new Action Agenda for 2015-2016 year, going through each Focus Area and its new aims and objectives.
AgorAsturias was followed up making a distinction between the election results, revising all the new elected members for ComitĂŠ Directeur 2015-2016, Network Commission and Juridical Commission, and the voting results, related to whether the different proposals discussed in the prytannia were approved or rejected.
Some of the participants that were not present in any of these two events asked several questions about their follow up and others things that had taken place in both, showing their interest. However, it also became clear that this session is not so useful for those who have already attended to the events and should be developed in a different way.
g. Communication Channels (Paul Smits)
We have realized that AEGEE members don’t really know how to communicate and which channels they should use for each thing, so the aim of this session was to give all the necessary knowledge about the means and ways of communication in our organization. During an hour and a half, participants had the opportunity of “learning by doing”, as the session consisted on a game. Groups of three people were formed mixing new members and experienced ones. Each group had a laptop with Internet connection and a quiz was giving to them with several questions that covered communications in general (mailinglists, Forum, Members Portal, Facebook, Visual Identity…). They had almost an hour to fill it in, and after a discussion took place in order to answer the questions. The main result of this session was that participants ended up knowing how communications work in AEGEE: difference between mailing lists and which one to use in each occasion, how to subscribe and unsubscribe to them, what is the Members Portal and how to find information in it and basics of Visual Identity and how to follow it.
h. Open Space session (Olga Rivero)
Last session of this NWM was an Open Space one, based on the topics proposed by participants during the whole event, as they had a blank page in the workshop’s room to write down the things they wanted to discuss. As the group was kind of small (34 members, and not all of them were present during this session) and not so many topics were proposed, Olga decided not to create parallel groups and just debate in one single group. The topics proposed for this session were the increase of fees for Statutory events, organizing board members meetings, cooperation among locals, which communication channel should be used for raising discussions in the area, and visibility of AEGEE (that was one of the topics proposed for State of the region, but hadn’t been debated yet because lack of time). There were fruitful discussions about all the topics among participants. You can find the minutes of this session attached. (Some of the time saved for this session was also used to celebrate the board elections of La Federación, the structure created among Spanish locals for having access to national grants and fundraising. For further information about this, contact this new elected board.)
3. Main conclusion about the event Even though the number of participants was lower than in previous NWMs in this area (A Coruùa is not so easy so reach, as it is placed in one corner of Spain) and thus, less trainers were available to deliver sessions, the final outcome of the event was positive for trainers and also for participants, as the feedback form gathered at the end of the event and also the impact measurement survey shows. Maybe because of this decrease of assistance, participation at sessions was lower and sometimes it felt that only a few people were taking part in the discussions. What is worse is that some people skipped a lot of sessions, something that was debated at some point at the Open Space session as high lack of respect for trainers and the rest of participants. But even if this happened, good debates were carried through and a lot of new ideas and helping solutions for problems were proposed and found. Participants found that sessions such as State of the Region one had been really improved from previous NWMs, as know they consisted more on debating and were less theoretical: time was squeezed to the maximum. But other sessions, such as EPM and Agora Follow Up are still not so useful for the whole group and should be delivered in a different way. Social program proposed by AEGEE-A Coruùa was really good and appreciated by assistants, as the Youth Hostel was in the city center and made it easy to go around when there was some free time, or even going to the parties at night by just walking five minutes. To sum it up, it was a very nice event that showed there are some things that are being done in a very positive way but there’s still room for improvement. So we will keep on working to try to reach perfection!
4. Useful links to materials 1. State of the Region: Minutes Presentation 2. Redefinition of Training and Learning Processes in AEGEE: Presentation More information about this (such as LTC 1 and 2 content packages) 3. Conflict resolution and how to give constructive feedback: Presentation 4. ACT & EQAC session: Presentation More information about Action Agenda Committee and links to the current Action Agenda, Strategic Plan and the Action Agenda Guidelines 5. Agora and EPM Follow up: Presentation 6. Open Space Session: Minutes
C ONTENT
YereWonderful NWM ...................................................................................................................................... 2 Sessions ........................................................................................................................................................ 2 1.
Opening Ceremony .......................................................................................................................... 2
2.
History and AEGEE identity ............................................................................................................ 2
3.
Erasmus+ ......................................................................................................................................... 2
4.
Sharing best practices ....................................................................................................................... 3
5.
ACT&E.Q.A.C. ............................................................................................................................... 3
6.
Communication Channels................................................................................................................. 3
7.
AgorAsturias Follow up ................................................................................................................... 4
8.
Definition of training and learning processes in AEGEE ................................................................... 4
9.
Open Space ...................................................................................................................................... 4
10.
NWM-Evaluations ........................................................................................................................... 4
1|Page Network Meeting Results – Spring 2014
Y ERE W ONDERFUL NWM S ESSIONS 1. O PEN IN G C ER EM O N Y By Natalia Ivleva (Network Commission), Holger Schmitt (Comité Directeur) Opening ceremony started with explanations of what is Network meeting. Then me and Holger presented ourself. Then we had some name games to new each other better. Presented programme of the NWM and at the end asked participants to write down they hopes, wishes and expectations from this event. .
2. H IS TO R Y A N D AEGEE ID EN TI TY By Holger Schmitt (Comité Directeur) This session starts with game from Holger about where participants need to put some events of AEGEE-Europe history to the timetable from 1985 till 2015. Then Holger told us more about all those events and presented to us more detailed history of AEGEE-Europe and History toolkit. Also we discussed the most important events which shaped AEGEE’s identity and how these events affected what is AEGEE today.
3. E R A SMU S + By Karine Galstyan (AEGEE-Yerevan) First, Karine Galstyan, Erasmus+ responsible in the board of AEGEE-Yerevan, made a short presentation about Erasmus+ program and all the possibilities which members may have within that programm. After presentation every member named project which they wont to work on and which may be relevant to Erasmus+ programm. Then Karine divided all this projects with several topics such as Culture, Sports, Education etc. With the next step every participant chosen topic which they were interested to work with the team. We gave the time to create a work plan for every team how they will prepare everything for that projects and what they planning to apply for Erasmus+ grants for realizing those projects. Next morning every team presented step-by-step plan for the projects which they want to achieve with the help of Erasmus+ project..
2|Page Network Meeting Results – Autumn 2015
4. S HA R IN G B ES T PR A C TIC E S By Natalia Ivleva (Network Commission) After nice walk with participants in the city center of beautiful Tsakhkadzor we stopped in small square and started our session. First of all I divided participants in 4 groups and asked them to remind why did they joined AEGEE and why are they staying with AEGEE. Then we had short presentation and discussed things which were pointed out. Then participants started to think about they local. Every group named Strengths, Weaknesses,Opportunities and Needs which they feel the most important for the local. After that serious talks we played one round of 'Nindja' and moved back to the hotel where we continue our session. Together we found out several common point which were named by every group. Then groups picked topics which they want to work on and create a plan how to implement the goal. After 15 minutes discussion every group presented they plan and answered questions from other groups.
5. ACT &E.Q.A.C. By Natalia Ivleva (Network Commission) At this session we started with presentations of Action Agenda (AA) and Events Quality Assurance Committee (E.Q.A.C.). After the presentations we had discussion how to organize the successful event, which step we have to do for it, and how to implement the Aims of AA in our local events. Then participants have created the event step by step from idea to organization and tried to include objectives of AA and also they filled E.Q.A.C.-forms before and after event.
6. C O M M UN IC A TIO N C HA N N E LS By Holger Schmitt (ComitĂŠ Directeur) The session was started with the quiz where participants have to find out How and Where we may find information about AEGEE news, all latest updates, events, discussions etc. Then after checking the results and finding the winner Holger explained more clear about AEGEE mailing lists, Forum and members portal. Also we talked how to promote your event, how to lead the FB page of the local and possible ways to inform Network about news of the local via AEGEE-Europe newsletter.
3|Page Network Meeting Results – Spring 2014
7. A GO R A S TU R IA S F O LLO W U P By Natalia Ivleva (Network Commission), Holger Schmitt (Comité Directeur) We started with showing some pictures from AgorAsturias. then we had presentation 'What is Agora" because we had a lot of members who never been at Agora and we wanted to inform them what we are planning to talk about. After that presentation we presented some important results of last Agora and discussed why that was so important and why were we need those changes. At the end Holger shared with participants ideas which were discussed with the CD and asked us to point our opinion about those ideas.
8. D EFIN I TIO N O F TR A IN IN G A N D LEA R N IN G PR O C ESSES IN
AEGEE By Holger Schmitt (Comité Directeur) At the spring AgorAsturias were accepted new idea of Training and Learning process in AEGEE and accepted LTC as new Antenna Criteria. At this session we explained why do we need to train our members, presented packages for LTC content and discussed how it can be realized in every local.
9. O PEN S PA C E By Natalia Ivleva (Network Commission) At the Open space session we discussed some topics which was interested for participants and wasn't pointed in general program. The most important topics which were discussed are: - FR-Committee. How ordinary members of the locals may help to the FRResponsible person in the local board; - Mentorship system. That is the method to work with the new members when some experienced members became a mentor for group of 4 or 5 newbies, having a regular meetings and explaining everything about AEGEE; - Visa facilitation. AEGEE-Yerevan made a great work in cooperation with some Embassies and members shared they experience with everybody. Moreover we talked about possibilities to work on cooperation for making AEGEE more influential for youth.
10.
NWM-E V A LU A TIO N S
At the end we asked our participants to gave us feedback about this NWM and about knowledges which participants get at this days.
4|Page Network Meeting Results – Autumn 2015
NWM Brno – Fraise Your Spirits!
Results Booklet
NWM Brno Results Booklet
1|Page
NWM BRNO – FRAISE YOUR SPIRITS! RESULTS BOOKLET
Published August 2015
NWM Brno Results Booklet
2|Page
C ONTENT NWM Brno – FRaise Your Spirits! ....................................................................... 4 Sessions ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 1. Opening and expectations .............................................................................................................. 5 2. What’s AEGEE/ History ..................................................................................................................... 6 3. Sharing Best Practices ..................................................................................................................... 7 4. Erasmus+ grants............................................................................................................................... 8 5. PR & Communication ....................................................................................................................... 9 6. Fundraising – corporate relations ................................................................................................10 7. Fundraising - Negotiation..............................................................................................................11 8. Training and learning .....................................................................................................................12 9. ACT & EQAC .....................................................................................................................................13 10. Open Space ...................................................................................................................................14 11. Democracy ....................................................................................................................................15 12. Policy and Advocacy.....................................................................................................................16 13. Evaluation......................................................................................................................................17
NWM Brno Results Booklet
3|Page
NWM B RNO – FR AISE Y OUR S PIRITS ! Written by Tekla Hajdu, Network Commission
This Network Meeting took place from 30th April till the 3rd May 2015 in Brno, and gathered 23 parrticipats from various locals of AEGEE. The main topic of the Network Meeing was Fundraising, so three main sessions were dedicated to the topic (Eraasmus+ Grants, Corporate relations, Negotiation). Also, a wide range of other topics (PR, Policy and Advocacy, Democracy, History, Best Practices, Open Space, etc.) were also provided for participants to broaden their knowledge in getting to know AEGEE and lead their locals to success. During these 4 days, a lot of important discussions and progress took place throughout the sessions, and during the evenings participants could explore the nightlife of Brno and get to know each other better by doing some networking between local representatives or making new friendships. If you have any questions or remarks, you can always contact me at netcom-tekla@aegee.org
NWM Brno Results Booklet
4|Page
S ESSIONS 1. O PENING
AND EXP ECTATI ONS
By Tekla Hajdu, Network Commission and Petra VĂŠdlovĂĄ, AEGEE-Brno Duration: 30 minutes In this session, participants were officially greeted by the local organisers and the trainers with a small opening ceremony, and they could share their expectations about the upcoming Network Meeting.
NWM Brno Results Booklet
5|Page
2. W H AT ’ S AEGEE / H ISTOR Y By Antonija Parat, Comité Directeur Duration time: 60 minutes In the first part of the session, participants were introduced to AEGEE and the organisation’s milestone points. Also, the 30th year anniversary was highlighted and the recent events (Nights of the 7 antennae, the upcoming Main conference and other local events) were shown to the participants as well. In the second part of the session, participants were asked to identify AEGEE for themselves. Then smaller groups were made and the groups were asked to visualise their vision and view of the organisation.
NWM Brno Results Booklet
6|Page
3. S H AR ING B ES T P R ACTICES By Tekla Hajdu, Network Commission Duration: 150 minutes This session started with the individual SWOT analysis of the present locals (16 antennae) through the tWinder form. Based on their individual answers, the following general problems were identified: motivating members and HR, project management, recruitment and PR, and European possibilities. In the second part of the session, participants were divided into groups, and each group took turns in brainstorming and suggesting some solutions to the identified problems. In the end, each group presented the final conclusions about the suggestions, and some discussions also took place.
NWM Brno Results Booklet
7|Page
4. E R AS MUS +
GR ANTS
By David Inashvili, external trainer and Jana Védlová, AEGEE-Brno Duration time: 120 minutes In the first part of the session, participants were informed by the changes from Youth in Action funding to Erasmus+ grants. The trainers introduced Key Actions, putting emphasis on Key Action 1 (and some Key Action 2 possibilities for countries outside the EU), as mostly it’s the pool for Youth Mobility opportunities. Some methods and tips were also given on how to apply successfully for a grant, and common mistakes in applications were highlighted as well. In the second part of the session, participants were divided into 3 groups and had to present a project idea for funding. The ideas were discussed and evaluated by the trainers and the participants.
NWM Brno Results Booklet
8|Page
5. PR & C OMMUNICATION By Antonija Parat, ComitĂŠ Directeur and Tekla Hajdu, Network Commission Duration time: 120 minutes In the first part of the session, participants were given a short presentation about how to do successful PR and what are the best practices for AEGEE locals with a short budget. In the second part of the session, participants were divided into groups, and a small competition took place: the groups filled in the Communication Channels quiz, which was evaluated and discussed at the end of the session. The winner team got a small present as a reward.
NWM Brno Results Booklet
9|Page
6. F UNDR AIS ING –
COR POR ATE R EL ATIONS
By Luca Bergamini, AEGEE-Treviso Duration time: 90 minutes In this session, the concept of Fundraising and Negotiation was introduced to the participants with some practical knowledge about how to approach corporations for support. Also, a lot of emphasis was put into the preparation and the evaluation part of Fundraising. At the end, 6+1 principles were drawn for conclusion and to assist approaching companies in the future.
NWM Brno Results Booklet
10 | P a g e
7. F UNDR AIS ING - N EGOTIAT ION By Luca Bergamini, AEGEE-Treviso Duration time: 90 minutes In this session, participants were asked to do interactive tasks: first, they were divided in groups, and each group had to make 10 paper stars, but the necessary materials were distributed randomly amongst the groups, so they had to use their negotiation skills to finish the task. At the end, the concept of win-win, win-lose and lose-lose was introduced for them via examples from the task. For the second task, the groups were given a multinational company (Marvel, Mulino Bianco, Adecco, GoPro) and they had to approach them to ask for support for an event.
NWM Brno Results Booklet
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8. T R AINING
AND L EAR NING
By Antonija Parat, ComitÊ Directeur Duration time: 60 minutes In this session, the new training concept of AEGEE was introduced to the participants, as during AgorAsturias, some changes have been accepted: LTC1, LTC2, RTC, European Schools and Training for Trainers. Also, the newly added LTC criterion was explained to participants. During the session, a lot of discussions took place and participants’ opinions were asked often about the concept.
NWM Brno Results Booklet
12 | P a g e
9. ACT & EQAC By Tekla Hajdu, Network Commission Duration time: 90 minutes In the first half of the session, two European Bodies, ACT and EQAC were introduced to participants: what is the main task of these bodies, how they function, how do they support locals and how can locals get in touch with them. Also, the concept of the Action Agenda was explained. In the second half of the session, participants were divided into four groups (based on the 4 Focus Areas), and each group had to present an event idea that’s compatible with EQAC requirements and is contributing to the Strategic Plan and Action Agenda. Each idea was evaluated, and some extra questions were asked to all of the groups to check the level of the preparation to the task.
NWM Brno Results Booklet
13 | P a g e
10. O PEN S PACE By Tekla Hajdu, Network Commission Moderators: Jana Védlová, Petra Védlová, Luca Bergamini, Tessa Speelman Duration time: 90 minutes In this session, participants could choose topics that they’d like to discuss, and they were free to attend any of them. At the end, 4 topics were chosen: SU and Content events, Crowdfunding, LTC-s as Antenna Criterion and promotion in AEGEE. 4 moderators were appointed to coordinate the topics, and at the end, all the conclusions of each topic discussions were summarised by the moderators.
NWM Brno Results Booklet
14 | P a g e
11. D EMOCR AC Y By Tessa Speelman, AEGEE-Utrecht Duration time: 90 minutes In the first part of the session, the Democracy in Practice project was introduced to participants, and some of the upcoming project events were highlighted for them. In the second part of the session, participants were asked to write 2 statements about Democracy, and 2 people in the middle had to draw one and start discussing it, but only the 2 people in the middle could talk – if someone wanted to contribute to the discussion, they had to tap on one of the middle people’s shoulder to change places. In the end, the method and the general state of democracy were discussed by the participants.
NWM Brno Results Booklet
15 | P a g e
12. P OL ICY
AND
A DV OCAC Y
By Antonija Parat, ComitÊ Directeur Duration time: 90 minutes In this session, AEGEE’s Policy and Advocacy strategy was introduced to participants: how AEGEE is gathering the opinion of its members, in what platforms is AEGEE represented and how, specific advocacy areas, Structured dialogue, and the work of Policy and Liaison Officers. At the end, some advices were given on how to do Advocacy on local level. During the session, many discussions took place about how to improve visibility for Policy and Advocacy work in AEGEE.
NWM Brno Results Booklet
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i
13. E V AL UATION By Tekla Hajdu, Network Commission Duration time: 30 minutes In this session, participants, trainers and organisers have shared their thoughts about the event and gave feedback for sessions, organising, social programme and future improvements.
NWM Brno Results Booklet
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NWM Brno Results Booklet
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NWM Warszawa
Results Booklet
1|Page NWM Warszawa Results Booklet
NWM WARSZAWA RESULTS BOOKLET
Published August 2015
2|Page NWM Warszawa Results Booklet
C ONTENT NWM Warszawa – PANDACIPATION! ................................................................ 4 Sessions ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 1.
Boards’ meeting ................................................................................................... 6
2.
Strategy for learning and training in AEGEE ..................................................... 6
3.
Identity of AEGEE ................................................................................................. 6
4.
How to communicate effectively in teamwork. ............................................... 7
5.
How to plan your local’s activity and keep your members motivated? ........ 7
6.
Communication in AEGEE ................................................................................... 8
7.
Health 4 Youth ...................................................................................................... 8
8.
EQ ACT (Embrace Quality ACTion) ..................................................................... 8
9.
Personal Impact in Communication .................................................................. 8
10.
Improving collaboration and local management using Podio – groupware
and project management IT tool. ....................................................................................................... 9 11.
Greatest projects in AEGEE ................................................................................. 9
12.
Election Observation Project .............................................................................. 9
13.
History of your own local .................................................................................. 10
14.
HR Open Space................................................................................................... 10
15.
Thematic Open Space ....................................................................................... 11
3|Page NWM Warszawa Results Booklet
NWM W ARSZAWA – P ANDACIPATION ! Written by Marta Wnuk, Network Commissioner
The Network Meeting took place between 30th April and 3rd May in the city of Warsaw, located in the very heart of Europe. It gathered hundred participants from all over the Network. This big event was structured in three profiled paths, so that it both board members and newbies could attend it and find workshops designed according to the level of their AEGEE experience. Parallel sessions allowed to achieve this balance of needs and expectations of all. The NWM Warszawa was be the only Network Meeting that offered a Boards’ Meeting in the programme. It was a whole-day special session that consisted of a Presidents Meeting and sector work of PR, HR and FR Responsibles. It was a special space for discussing all the problems of the locals, exchanging best practises and looking for solutions together. The programme consisted of two open space sessions as well. One dedicated to HR and all it various aspects and second one was dedicated to topics submitted by the participants themselves. There were also many sessions dedicated to European dimension of AEGEE – like its identity, strategy for training and learning, communication channels and European projects. Apart from this intense sessions filled with content participants enjoyed AEGEE Inspire session and of course three parties. All in all, this NWM allowed its participants to get new knowledge and skills that they could use in work in their locals as well as speak up for the matters they find important. The NWM gave many 4|Page NWM Warszawa Results Booklet
members, as they claim, new kick of motivation, energy to act as well made them fill closer to the other locals.
5|Page NWM Warszawa Results Booklet
S ESSIONS 1. B O AR D S ’
ME E T IN G
consisted of: Presidents’ Meeting led by Marta, Network Commissioner PRs’ Meeting led by Aleksandra Domejko, subcommie HRs’ Meeting led by Anna Para, subcommie FRs’ Meeting led by Mateusz Dokurno, subcommie
The first part of the session gathered all the board members altogether. They have presented SWOT analysis of their locals and compared them with the ones prepared for autumn NWM and noticed differences in progress that was made. Based on that, people suggested topics they would like to during the next slots and indentified the most occurring common ones that were chosen for the discussion. Then meetings of presidents, PRs, HRs, FRs were held in parallel. After two slots that were dedicated for those sessions, all participants again came back altogether and shared results of their work and conclusions of their discussions.
2. S T R AT E G Y
F O R L E A R N I N G A N D T R A IN IN G IN
AEGEE
By Mayri Tiido, Comite Directeur – Projects and Communication Director. This autumn ‚Strategy on Learning and Training’ was introduced to AEGEE locals. Mayri has presented its main points and explained how locals can benefit from implementing the strategy. The session started with asking what are participants’ expectations for the session. After that Mayrii had a little role play on how people tend to explain AEGEE and opportunities for development for fresh members. Then she presented the learning and training strategy with answering to questions when they popped up. The presentation ended with the question if this strategy could be useful for locals they're representing. Presentation was followed by a questions and answers round until the end of the session.
3. I D E N T IT Y
OF
AEGEE 6|Page
NWM Warszawa Results Booklet
By Anna Sojat, president of AEGEE-Wrocław and junior trainer of The Academy. Ania has led a session mostly for newbies in order to familiarise them with vision and mission in AEGEE. She found an interesting and interactive way to present and explain this crucial aspects of the organisation. The session also contained discussion on what AEGEE is for the participants and a show play on what statement of principles means for them.
4. H O W
T O C O M MU N I C A T E E F F E C T I VE LY IN T E A MWO R K .
By Mateusz Muszalski - ex vice-President of AEGEE-Kraków and job shadower in Audit Commission. Mateusz conducted workshop for members that don’t have board experience yet. It focused on topic of personal communication, in a group in particular as is the most important sort of work in AEGEE. Mateusz explained why it’s worth to have a team and not to work alone and participants indentified pros and cons of a group work, discovered features of an effective communication found the most common mistakes. Mateusz also presented the best tools of a group work and how to use them effectively.
5. H O W
T O P L A N YO U R L O C A L ’ S AC T I VIT Y AN D KE E P YO U R
ME M BE R S MO T I VAT E D ?
By Elżbieta Krótka, former President of AEGEE-Kraków, Advisory Board of this local and Subcommissioner on LTC. Ela has led a training for board members that aimed at showing how to plan activity of locals in a strategic way that could benefit development of the antennae. She explained at the same time how to keep a high level of motivation of your members thanks for right planning. The session stared with highlighting special role of a board in a local and their influence on members and importance of right introduction of newbies into live of the local thought LTC. There was also comparison of activities of locals which were present on the session and showing that each has a different character. Ela explained as well that organisation of European events doesn’t have to be difficult. Whole workshop had a form of a discussion with members and coming to the conclusions together.
7|Page NWM Warszawa Results Booklet
6. C O M MU N I C A T I O N
IN
AEGEE
By Mayri Tiido, Comite Directeur – Projects and Communication Director The participants got to know better how to use different communications channels in AEGEE , how to find all the information they need and what Visual Identity is. They discovered all those different aspects by taking part in a quiz game.
7. H E A L T H 4 Y O U T H By Joanna Pankowska, Health 4 Youth Project Manager, president of AEGEE-Warszawa. Joanna’s aim was not to tell you what people should or shouldn’t do, but to encourage participants to reflect on health. There was a quiz game followed by discussion if there is a space for health topic within AEGEE and if yes where is it. Participants also brainstormed on ways in which AEGEE events could be more healthy.
8. EQ ACT (E M BR A C E Q U A L I T Y ACT IO N ) By Monika Duda, Vice-Speaker of Action Agenda Coordination Committee and Lisa Zeltinger, Events Quality Assurance Committee.
During this session participants had opportunity to discuss current concerns of AEGEE members connected with the Action Agenda and its fulfilment. They tried to define how to deal with them and learn how to take a quality action. Moreover the girls explained what ACT and EQAC do and how we can help. The session consisted of a group work that aimed at coming up with way of realising Action Agenda by organising activities. The participants also discussed current situation in Europe in connection to Focus Areas as well as problems they encounter organising events.
9. P E R SO N A L I MP A C T
IN
C O M MU N I C A T I O N
By Aleksandra Lada-Gola – external guest. The objective of this workshop is to introduce participants on how to improve their oral communication, in learning how to make effective presentations and how to give strong impact to their communication. It 8|Page NWM Warszawa Results Booklet
also showed how to facilitate their relationships with others and their listening capabilities. Participant had chance to be actively involved by sharing their thoughts and having little exercises in speaking.
10.
I MP R O VIN G
C O LL ABO R AT I O N A N D L O C A L
P O D I O – G R O U P WA R E M A N A G E M E N T IT T O O L .
MA N A G E ME N T U SIN G P R O JE C T
AND
By Dawid Cegła, Subcommissioner – IT Responsible, Advisory Board of AEGEE-Katowice. Podio is a cloud based IT project management and groupware software, which you can be used in your local for free in order to improve internal organisation in antennae. During the workshop participants indentified and discussed management and collaboration problems in AEGEE locals regarding group work, organisation of the events, knowledge transfer. Then Dawid expelined what Podio is, benefits from using it, basics of work in Podio and the most useful functionalities for AEGEE locals.
11.
G R E A T E ST
PROJECTS IN
AEGEE
By Gunnar Erth, Honorary Member of AEGEE-Europe and Golden Times Editor in Chief. AEGEE-Europe had many fantastic international projects over the years. Global Employee, Find Your Way, Europe & Euro and many more. Some were great because they were a huge success among the members and their fantastic content, others also managed to open up AEGEE to the outside world. Two of the oldest are still ongoing: the Summer Universities and European Day of Languages. In a workshop participants heard about some outstanding projects, what made them so successful and which lessons we can learn for the future.
12.
E LE C T IO N O B SE R V AT I O N P R O J E C T
By Julia Krebs, Laison Officer towards OSCE, member of Elections Observation Project. The workshop is presented by the Election Observation Project dealt with the question of „legitimate” democratic exclusion. Julia together examined background of democratic inclusion and discuss in different formats why it should be possible (or not) to make exceptions. Focusing on four groups 9|Page NWM Warszawa Results Booklet
of people in particular (convicts, mentally disabled, non-nationals, and minors of age), the workshop closed with a debate where different arguments are confronted in order for all of us to form a differentiated opinion on the legitimacy of exclusion.
13.
H IST O R Y
O F YO U R O W N L O C A L
By Gunnar Erth, Honorary Member of AEGEE-Europe and Golden Times Editor in Chief. Participants representing different antennae presented histories of their locals. The session was completed with history of locals from Central Europe presented by Gunnar and completed with fun and inspiring stories.
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HR O P E N S P A C E
Led by Aleksandra Domejko, Mayri Tiido, Anna Sojat, Dawid Cegła, Mateusz Dokurno, Anna Para, Monika Duda. Participants were divided in equal groups and they have discussed a set of following questions with the help of facilitator. Why have you joined AEGEE? What motivates you to be active? Are you afraid of taking responsibilities? Why/why not? What do you consider your biggest achievement in AEGEE? How did it changed you/ influenced you path in AEGEE? What are obstacles toward development of members in AEGEE? What kind of support to do expect to get as individual member? What is the role of individual member in a local/in AEGEE in general? How much responsibility do we feel for the association? Do you take ownership? What should be done in order to keep members active? Main factors that people mentioned in term of what motivates them to be active are: successful projects; spirit between members of the locals and positive, supportive relations; meeting with people from other countries; gaining job experience. They are afraid mainly to take up responsibilities due to lack of knowledge and experience or lack of self-confidence; fear of 10 | P a g e NWM Warszawa Results Booklet
failure; lack of time; other live obligations. Importance of knowledge transfer was also highlighted. Personal approach in work and serious take of responsibility are also vital.
15.
T H E MAT IC O P E N S P A C E
Participants had an opportunity to submit their own topics and lead discussion about them. Following topics were discussed: How to maintain AEGEE Spirit on high level between the members (led by Monika Duda, AEGEE-Wrocław) How to persuade financial sponsors to cooperate with organisation for longer (led by Mateusz Muszalski, AEGEE-Kraków) AEGEE burocracy vs reality (led by Alfio Bonaccorsi, AEGEECatania) Spreading Europtimism is leading somewhere? (led by Alfio Bonaccorsi, AEGEE-Catania) Feminism: Misconceptions About the Ideology (led by Anna Ziętkiewicz, AEGEE-Wrocław)
Overview of the programme:
11 | P a g e NWM Warszawa Results Booklet
12 | P a g e NWM Warszawa Results Booklet
Result Booklet
Network Meeting Osnabrßck Osnasutra – Rethink your position 28-31st of May 2015
Network Meeting Osnabrück – Rethink your position May 28-31st 2015
Introduction Dear readers of this result booklet, I am glad you made your way into opening this booklet. This Network Meeting is the result of a great and fruitful cooperation between local organizers, Network Commission, trainers and participants! In the following booklet, you will find a summary and results of our four-days meeting. This particular Network Meeting carried the motto of “Rethink your position” and focused in many sessions on opinion-building and political participation. A lot of great ideas were established and we hope now, that they will also be successfully implemented. If you are either a participant or somebody else simply interested in our doings, but you still have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me: netcom-andrea@aegee.org Happy reading! Andrea
General There are two additional things to this Network Meeting which should be mentioned in this result booklet. 1) The organizers took part in a test run for the AEGEE Footprint Project and tried to implement and test green guidelines while organizing beforehand and during the NWM. Furthermore they also supported the Network Commission by a follow-up on the organization and procedure of the Netcom-organizer cooperation. 2) The participants started the meeting 3 weeks before it actually took place by online preparation. Overall, they have received three e-mails with preparing videos, tasks and articles on the different sessions. Examples are articles about the Eastern Partnership Programme, videos on Public Speaking Skills or posting of pictures which can be connected to the Focus Area in our facebook participant group.
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Table of Contents 1. Sharing Best Practices: SWOT Groups 2. Parallel Slot I: AEGEE’s advocacy – having impact together 3. Parallel Slot II: What is AEGEE? 4. ACT & EQAC 5. Parallel Slot III: AGORA follow-up 6. Parallel Slot IV: Workshop: Europtimism 7. Parallel Slot V: Workshop: Eastern Partnership Project 8. Parallel Slot VI: European values and stereotypes 9. Open Space I 10.Definition of training and learning process in AEGEE 11.Parallel Slot VI: Workshop: How to advocate – a session on political participation 12.Parallel Slot VII: Training: Public Speaking 13.Netcom work: Feedback session 14.Panel Discussion: Rethink your position – European Identity between regionalism and the idea of the United States of Europe 15.Open Space II +III 16.Feedback
4 9 9 9 9 10 11 11 13 15 16 17 17
18 18 21
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Network Meeting Osnabrück – Rethink your position May 28-31st 2015
Friday, 29th of May 1. Sharing Best Practices: SWOT Groups In preparation to the Share Best Practices session, participants worked out a SWOT analysis outlining the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats their antenna faces. Some common issues shared among antennae are the handling of members throughout the entire HR Cycle, PR, and university support. All discussions group results are presented in the following. a) How to Motivate Members to go to European Events - between members of the antenna o Buddy-Programme for events and applications o Experienced members take care of new members, explain to new members - Activities within the antenna o Sessions every semester: info about what members can do in AEGEE-Europe o Simulations of AGORA: show that it’s easy! - Activities with other antennae o Exchange: organize also thematic workshops o Visit to Brussels/CD House o Organize a European event with your antenna b) Membership Fluctuation + HR Cycle - problem: o active members leave o members live far/ don’t show up o members don’t stay involved (after having been abroad) o new members don’t work ! finding board members ! saving an inactive local ! gap in HR Cycle -
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ideas on finding new board members: Cook4Members, pushing/motivating, nomination, training, preparation of potential board members, open Board meeting, motivation through rewards, points, awards, maybe postpone, pressure sometimes let go of old people; old people are a source of knowledge in case of Kiel: organise stuff, find Germans source of members: friends of friends, LTC, info event, facebook, support by Netcom
c) University Support - financial support o student parliament o international office 4
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o DAAD (German Academic Foreign Service) o Erasmus+ Rooms o University o Church o City o Chamber of commerce (Handelskammer) Office o Ask for support o Student parliament o Patrons o DAAD Erasmus and other arguments o Importance of local group o or: Social programme for normal students (discussions, cultural events) o tandem/mentoring programme for normal students o make university look European ask for: o extra credits for social participation o not work load, but social pressure
d) Internal Organisation Essentially this discussion took place on the board-member relationship. The board needs to make sure to have a good communication within the board, as well as a functioning structure. If this is secured, the most important is listening to the members. Board and members together should work with the help of regular meetings. This can happen either as working groups, or as official or social meetings. Board and members together should motivate members to help organizing and events and distribute the tasks among them. Distribution of information about current topics and events should be as well achieved together. In a nutshell, the board needs to understand and find its role towards the members. e) Recruitement - problems: o students have no time o other association as competition o new ones do not stay for long, antenna is getting older o few active members! - Status quo on recruitement and new ideas o Friends of members join o Erasmus tutors become AEGEE members o Erasmus returnees are contacted through International Office o SU info evenings o Posters (SU), info day, Fresher’s Fair o Angel Programme/Mom-Dad-Programme/Buddy Programme member is paired with a new member)
(one
old
5
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f) -
o Recruitment has to be present in the first weeks of the term and before SU applications o Lecture speeches (gendered and a video) o Weekly dinners, parties -> fun way to recruit; followed by members weekend or LTC o Word of mouth o Focus in promotion on SUs, Erasmus, exchanges o Use CV as promotion tool – depending on studies, ambiguous: do we want people who only go for CV? o Certificates (Int. Office, AEGEE) o Go beyond your studies: soft skills, workshops etc. as promotion tool o Do not recruit members for the sake of recruiting members -> new members want to know what purpose it has to join AEGEE and do not want to spread flyers to gain new members o Inspire with your own AEGEE story Step by Step conclusion: o Initial contact: presence in lectures, info days, weekly meetings, word of mough, focus PR, info evenings o Do not recruit for the sake of recruiting members: show AEGEE benefits o Make people active: Angel Programme, inspire with your own story PR on Campus Digital ads (TV) often for free Use internet & FB wisely Flyers + posters + blackboards AEGEE.de Dropbox for shared templates + articles Be present at uni (table, info sheets) Ask close antenna for help if needed (make an event out of it)
f.1) Competition with other student associations - A-Dresden: good example with ESN: cooperation where possible - BEST: not always in the same city present, target groups do not overlap too much + good cooperation possible - Shared training to learn from each other
2. Parallel Slot I: AEGEE’s advocacy – having impact together This particular session was aimed at providing more information about how advocacy in AEGEE in a European context works. To show how important it is for AEGEE-Europe to maintain contacts to different organizations, their purpose and their relevance for AEGEE was explained. Afterwards the participants discussed why advocacy is important for AEGEE and what tools are already provided within our organization. Find an overview and the results here: a) Structured dialogue on Youth -
Dialogue between youth and EU politicians European steering committee >> National Youth Council and NGOs get the task to ask youth about certain topics and their opinion >> e.g. through surveys >> and then go to conferences
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and meet politicians >> draft recommendations (from youth towards politicians), 1 conference per presidency 3 presidencies always for 18 month (now: political participation) Relevance for AEGEE: our opinion get heard in the EU, we´re the target group and AEGEE is the representation Input to European Union Problem: focus on youth policy, not really other topics Question: Definition of young people? (usually 30 years)
b) United Nations -
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Intergovernmental organization Target: maintain security, peace, human rights, … At the moment 193 member states AEGEE works with many bodies of UN e.g. UNEP, UNESCO,UND, UN AIDS, many more >> trying to make 7 liaison officers more focused >> had meetings, went to Geneve etc so it´s getting better Model United Nations in Krakow in 2013/ 2014 AEGEE´s chance: provide members with info, create projects with the bodies we work with
c) EUCIS-LLL (Life Long Learning) -
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Platform of cooperation and dialogue Funded by Erasmus+ Talk to companies about what they need, share best practices, certificates 36 organizations Civil society platform Represent citizens in case of non-formal education and other, informal learning (internships, workshops, how can it get validated, prove what we learned at AEGEE, external/ internal assessment) Provide AEGEE with information, but actually not enough services, no tools etc At the moment: GR-EAT project
d) European Movement International -
Different organizations come together and do conferences together etc., same aim Promote EU integration, united Europe, network of associations Could be partners for AEGEE, apart from conferences no other projects Lobbying in Brussels Gather many organizations together >> have bigger impact on decisions (European decisions) National European movements, other networks Aims: Stronger integration, some strive for federalism in Europe, Europe gain as a whole All kinds of topics, bottom up: network of networks, civil society = one more angle to represent our aims/ strive for participation
e) European Youth Forum -
Platform for EU youth organizations (100) Platform >> cooperation possible? Information pool, share best practices/ experience Network meetings
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National youth councils + international youth organizations Representing European youth Different topics and focus areas Board, secretary, employees etc 1 meeting in front of EU Parliament per year Many events, are often partners, open calls, assemblies 2 per year
f) National Youth Council -
Umbrella organization of youth associations, all over the world Make political statements, involvement different in countries Statements: education, energy politics, poverty, youth rights, more social Europe National governments say a lot >> but nothing will happen if the society doesn´t support it BUT national council makes decisions in Europe?! ALSO in some countries they have no impact (Spain) on national council and their decisions
g) Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe -
Providing input and opinion towards Council of Europe AEGEE is part of it 30 representatives from youth NGOs, 20 elected in European Youth Forum (we also have a vote) We can approach our representative We could work more on policy papers Meetings 6 times a year We need more connection with the locals, dialogue No real output for us/ AEGEE members Money of Council of Europe: 50% decided by them >> apply for money for projects e.g. democracy in practice (events, projects‌)
Why should we do advocacy? -
= act or process of advocating or supporting a cause or a proposal Advocate: someone who argues for or supports a cause or policy, works for cause or group, public support Funding money influence politics that affect us image, seriousness show our topics put our values into practice kind of lobbying
Advocacy in AEGEE Europe: -
Policy Handbook: http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/resources/members-manual/ Not only by AEGEE CD members or policy officers but all young people and AEGEE members To be used by all actors in policy and advocacy (external, internal) >> take this to hearings and meetings Teach members what AEGEE stands for; Find Position Papers here: http://www.aegee.org/about-aegee/positions/
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3. Parallel Slot II: What is AEGEE? This session was aimed at AEGEE newbies and was divided into two parts. First we discussed in pairs different paragraphs of the Statement of Principles (http://www.aegee.org/aboutaegee/statement-of-principles/) and concrete ways on implementing our principles in AEGEE. Different working groups and projects such as the Summer University were named. From this we built up the Identity pyramid and from there we drafted together the structure of AEGEE. Find more ideas on how to present AEGEE and information in the Identity and History Toolkits: http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/resources/members-manual/
4. ACT & EQAC This session was about familiarizing the participants with the Action Agenda and the Action Agenda Coordination Committee and put it hypothetically into practice via a case study. 1. Action Agenda Presentation & familiarized participants with ACT 2. EQAC Presentation where participants learnt about the EQAC process. 3. Case Study: Project Planning Exercise where participants were divided into groups and planned a project or event that contributes to the aim of the Strategic Plan. 4. Each Group presented the outcomes of their project/event planning to all
participants. 5. Debriefing In total we had 5 different groups which each chose a focus area that is targeted by their event. The ideas ranged from a training event which involves companies, to a case study in different countries involving local people on visa issues, a project called “Europe goes school”, where AEGEE would promote the European idea in schools to a “Fair for youth” on the topic of Youth Mobility and finally to an event about Europtimism. Each group put in a lot of thought and created an event programme, a budget and a fundraising speech which they had to present to the Dragon’s Foundation to raise money. You can find the current Action Agenda and Strategic Plan here and implementation guidelines here: http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/committees/action-agenda-coordinationcommittee/about/
5. Parallel Slot III: AGORA follow-up This session was divided into two parts. In the first part we organized a World Café on the proposals which are relevant for the local and discussed it in three small groups. Each group discussed each proposal and gave their written comment on it before handing it to the next group. After this Paul explained towards everybody the Working Group Reform. The second part of the session was about the Position Papers which have passed. Different thematic statements from these Position Papers were given. The participants move either to 9
one or the other side of the room according to their approval or disapproval. Each side was granted one comment on it. See the statements here: 1. University does not prepare for the job. 2. Internships are a good way to find employees. 3. Internships should be paid. 4. Unemployment can be solved by entrepreneurship. 5. Volunteer experience is a worthful experience. 6. AEGEE members should advocate for quality internships. 7. AEGEE members should step forward in the defense of youngster’s working rights. More information on accepted proposals can http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/agora/agora-booklets-minutes/
be
found
here:
Current Position Papers of AEGEE can be found here: http://www.aegee.org/aboutaegee/positions/
6. Parallel Slot IV: Workshop: Europtimism This session was held by one of our organizers from Osnabrück around the topic Europtimism and therefore represents a thematic session which fits well to our overall theme “Rethink your position”. The session ended with a role play exercise on current and past situations. Read in the following discussion points and input points about the topic. Magical Europe Video by Stan Change
What is Europe for you? -
Home, Different, Diversity, Common history, Big, Free, Civilized, Good social security, Shared values, Very good Education, Nature, Protection, Peace, Simple travelling, Democratic governance, Human rights, Christianity, More than EU, EU, Cooperation, multicultural, peace and war
Do you feel European? (quotes) -
People from other continents see ourselves more as “Europeans” than we do with ourselves, our identity is seen outside AEGEEans would mostly say ”European” (because they´re supposed to) Sometimes it depends and one feel sometimes more German, sometimes more European, it depends What does it mean to feel “German”? Kristina: “When it comes to beer I quite often feel very German” Temporal aspect, geographical aspect we shouldn´t see Europe as a “place” We have to distinguish between the values of the “EU” and European countries in general > “I wouldn´t totally agree with all countries” “If you have a German identity you automatically have a European identity”
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“Do we want or do we need to have a European identity (like Asia, USA…) >> or are we not able to be compared to Asia and USA?” “For me it´s difficult to say we have a cooperate identity like USA or China”
Video “what has Europe ever done for us?” European Movement When you hear Europe, do you immediately think of the EU? What are the borders of Europe for you? -
Sentimental >> Europe, political, institutional >> EU Human rights and democratic values are not realized in all European countries We can´t expand the EU to all countries that share the European idea! (even to Russia, Asia…) (it´s still a geographical thing too) For Svetlana (Russian) the EU is not Europe (she will never join) “EU is just about economics, not about values” Switzerland: “it´s just about money if they want to join or not”
7. Parallel Slot V: Workshop: Eastern Partnership Project In this session, the participants learnt a lot about the Eastern Partnership Project, a project of AEGEE-Europe. You can find information about the project here: http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/projects/eastern-partnership-project/about-easternpartnership-project/ After having discussed and understood the challenge behind the Eastern Partnership programme of the Europea Union, we discussed our own opinions and stakes in small groups. Main topics were the relationship between Ukraine and Russia as well as the crisis regions of Georgia and Moldova.
8. Parallel Slot VI: European values and stereotypes As this session was held in the evening it’s purpose was a fun session on European values and stereotypes which made the participants reflect on their own beliefs and behaviours. Every participant received a sheet with a list of potential European values. Firstly, you have to decide on your own 12 most important ones. Afterwards pairs of two people get together and limit their common values to nine different ones. This continues in a group of four people down to six values and together with everyone to find the final three ones. You can find the sheet here and play it with your antenna. Afterwards stereotypes were put in focus. Everybody received a job status and according to that the participants lined up in the order from most important to least important. More and more attributes were given to the participants and they had to constantly rearrange themselves to social status.
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European Values Values:
Own: 12
2 People: 9
4 People: 6
All: 3
Charity Rule of Law Social Justice Liberty Humanity Sense of Duty Environmental awareness Friendship Patriotism Security Helpfulness Dignity Tolerance Solidarity Truth Respect Religion Ambition Human Rights Family Honesty Honour Social Responsibility Openness Self-fulfillment Equality Prosperity Disciplin Democracy Reliability Adaptation Participation Obedience Wealth Individuality Secularism
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Saturday, 30th of May 9. Open Space I Open Space is a time slot which has been implemented in the former round of Network Meetings. Over the course of the entire Network Meetings, ideas which were not able to be fully discussed during the sessions or which have evolved as results from these sessions could be parked in our Open Space parking lot. Since there were 3 slots in this Network Meeting entirely dedicated to Open Space, plenty of time was given to go into detail. Discussions took place – among others - on the culture of our partner organisation BEST, What is BEST?, Post-SU events such as RENOVE or Stafeta for German-speaking locals, Mentorship project, Fundraising, Quality Management, (geographically) regional meetings and political participation in AEGEE. In this first slot, our guest from BEST presented his organisation to us. 1. Presentation of BEST Find an overview here: -
33 countries, 4.500 students in Europe, 96 local groups Services: complementary education, career support, educational involvement Services: depends on where you´re from if you have to pay Courses: 1-2 weeks, 100 Events, <40€ fee Ebec competition, 5000 students take part No national level, but regions, twice a year regional meetings, general assembly, 300 participants, main decisions LBGs=members of BEST, regional advisers = network commissioner, committees, international board, Financial support: funding by companies Grants, ambassadors Now: structure change 450 trainers Own intranet Many industry partners! International board just has a couple of meetings! (in local organizations) So they don´t live together like in AEGEE Also non-engineers can take part Have guidelines how courses should look like Summer courses are only for members General assembly: 8 days in total, 2 of them, 1 general assembly (up to 2 persons, extra participants) and 1 president´s meeting, general assembly: 300 participants
More information on BEST can be found on this website: http://www.best.eu.org/index.jsp 2.
Quality Management
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This Open Space was a discussion on general principles of Quality Management and Quality Management in AEGEE. Some of the most important points are: - set standards/goals and commit to them - include everyone and improve the little things - cost of failure - transition papers for development 3.
BEST way of inclusive participation fees
Following the presentation of BEST guest Anouar we discussed if it is possible to implement their way of inclusive fees. BEST categorizes its local groups according to countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s GDP of their respective countries. There are three different categories according to which participants coming from those either have to pay the full fee, two third of it or only a third of it. During the course of discussion we also developed ideas for better fundraising in AEGEE and alternatives to be more inclusive Here are our discussion points: - how to take distance into account? - Is pax fee really the reason that keeps our participants away? - People could randomly sign up for locals in poorer countries - Everybody in BEST is a student - AEGEE should focus and develop FR - BEST has very good FR and is not dependent on pax fee - AEGEE needs fee - No FR responsible in CD - Reimburse according to effort - No fees for delegates - Make Agora smaller - More local alumni associations, alumni could pay fees - Parallel event of Les Anciens during Agora -> higher fee that finances parts of Agora - Debate tournament - company gives case study (BEST example)-> good FR - See merchandise (not allowed at Agora) - online shop - More awareness for social responsibility fund -> do a fair at agora with stand fee or % of sales that can go to this fund - Make people do a report & presentation for reimbursement in locals - Reversed generation contract: pot you get money, you pay own income percentage back -> AEGEE-Europe like a bank?? 4. -
Sponsoring and FR support from: private persons: sell e.g. food to them university o international office o sharing with other associations o student parliament (AusfallsbĂźrgschaft in Germany e.g.) 14
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government: o Erasmus+ o DAAD o Exchange programmes (German-Polish Exchange programme) Companies: o Start in your area " 1. E-mail: use your visual identity of AEGEE, looks serious, start early enough " 2. Call them if no response " 3. Go there, show them flyer/booklet, have a business card o What can you offer them? o Use a contact you already have o Make the company visible (booklet, webpage) o What is the target group? o Mention that you are part of AEGEE-Europe o Try to find patrons o Send a “thank you”-E-mail afterwards
10.
Definition of training and learning process in AEGEE
At the previous Agora in Asturias a new HR Strategy was proposed and accepted. Together with a new antenna criterion it is now mandatory to conduct one Local Training Course per year. Find more information here: http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/resources/internaleducation/ In short the strategy was summed up as such: -
LTC1: AEGEE Identity, history and structure, local introduction and activities, event management skills Problem: not many new members at the same time LTC2: communication channels, bodies and things on European level RTC: knowledge transfer of board, with other locals, share best-practices 2 LTC1, 2 LTC2, … How: text based publications, online trainings, training events Now compulsory: 1 LTC per year
In this session we discussed challenges and implementation of the new strategy. Find some points of discussion here: -
Many felt lost at some point or not prepared when they became board member “It looks like you need 7 years of AEGEE experience to be a board member” Learning by doing (board member) Many short forms, in the beginning it´s hard to understand only in theory, after first event/ NWM it gets clearer Ask and forget Weakest point of AEGEE: internal education; we bring results without training, no guidance Status quo: insufficient number of trained people in the organization, no clear concept of training and learning process Aim: create system of learning and training
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Parallel Slot VI: Workshop: How to advocate â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a session on political participation
In this session we took the discussions on why advocacy is important to the level of how to do advocacy. We first analysed a case study on how not to advocate and from there established a starfish of the most important aspects of advocating. In the second part of this session we worked out specific ideas and strategies for two different case study â&#x20AC;&#x201C; one in a European context and one in a more regional context.
IDEA/CAUSE
REPRESENTATION - who do you represent? Are you a lonely fighter or part of an organisation? Make sure that you only represent officially, when this is the case!
INFORMATION & PROOF - collect information (how many numbers of Erasmus students, etc. or how many hours do you spend on voluntary work etc.) - write it down, create written docs
EXPERIENCES - Collect stories and opinions (talk to other Erasmus students etc.)
PERSISTENCE - be persistent and do not give up right away, if you believe in it KNOWLEDGE - educate yourself on the topic - gather knowledge on laws, policies, recent initiatives, similar initiatives, etc. - ask questions, do not just assume!
COMMUNICATION PLAN & TOOLS - make a step-by-step plan on how to go about this, but stay flexible - start with phone calls, letters, emails, then go to personal meetings
PROMOTION and EVENTS - do campaigns and promotion on your cause - create events, inform people about this, create public awareness
UNDERSTAND THE SYSTEM & RELATIONSHIPS & TARGET - be clear you understand the system and who you need or could contact first and win for your cause - start building up relationships to the right people
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CLARITY - be clear about your cause and your idea! COMMON GROUND - try to find common ground with the stakeholders you are talking to (money, reputation, etc.) - â&#x20AC;&#x153;speak the same language as they doâ&#x20AC;?
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ATTITUDE - be calm, logical and open-minded - treat people with respect and try to understand their points - listen - be flexible
NETWORK & COOPERATION - be part of a network and make sure you understand it - include other organisations, start cooperation if you can lobby for the same cause
Parallel Slot VII: Training: Public Speaking
In the Public Speaking Workshop, participants got to know important aspects of public speaking. We had our focus on the voice, eye contact and facial expressions as well as gestures. All of those devices can improve the quality of a speech, if used wisely. Voice: Speed, Volume, Intonation and Articulation Eye contact and Facial Expressions: Emotions, Building a Bridge to the Audience, Openness, Smiling Gestures: Support for the words, Emphasis, use according to Personality and Subject Find more useful tips here: www.toastmasters.org/Resources/Public-Speaking-Tips
13.
Netcom work: Feedback session
This was a short session about general work of the Network Commission. A Network Commissioner divides his or her work in two parts. One part targets his or her assigned locals and is about supporting each individual local group in its best possible way. Furthermore a Network Commissioner tries to create links and connections 17
between various locals and the locals and European Bodies. One big platform to do so is a Network Meeting. The second part of a Netcommie’s work targets the work within the Commission which should bring progress for the entire network. A Netcommie uses his or her experiences and combines it together with 10 other people to create toolkits, guidelines, ideas etc. Several projects such as the Twin Antenna projects and Mentorship project and its platform twinder were presented in this session. You can find more information here: http://www.zeus.aegee.org/portal/commissions/network-commission/
14. Panel Discussion: Rethink your position – European Identity between regionalism and the idea of the United States of Europe This panel discussion was part of the evening programme. We first were received by the mayor of Osnabrück in the historic halls of the Westphalian Peace Treaty. Afterwards we continued to a café where three panellists discussed under the lead of Sören Hage, the president of AEGEE-Osnabrück the question of European Identity. Panellists were among others Paul Smits, President of AEGEE-Europe and Stefan May, founder of former AEGEEDresden and former CD member.
Sunday, 31st of May 15.
Open Space II + III
This morning we had two slots of Open Space. In the first slot the following topics were discussed. 1. Should we remix the local distribution among Network Commissioners? Are we not secretly regionalising? In this Open Space we discussed the upcoming redistribution of locals. As the German locals were put together about two years/ Netcommies ago to foster better cooperation among them the participants and the Netcommie re-evaluated the current situation. We all agreed on currently having very good contacts among all German locals now and that we started good initiatives on useful German cooperation (such as a common PR-Share etc.). Furthermore, - locals mostly agree on having no problem to redistribute the locals to different Netcommies as long as the good contacts remain and as long as also other “netcom areas” change their outlook – otherwise it would be only Germans trying to get into a new “area” while the old ones stay as tight as always (see long-lasting areas of La Nave and Rainbow)
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locals would like to find a ventil for keeping the good cooperation: possibly a political cooperation – to be discussed in next slot – and a Post SU-event – was parallely discussed furthermore it was mentioned that the started “German” initiatives have to be maintained further
2. Post-SU event for German speaking locals like RENOVE or Stafeta This ideas has been established over the course of several skype meetings and Netcom trips as a consequence of recruitment troubles and was mainly initiated by AEGEE-Aachen. The goal of such an event is to activate the new SU-Outgoings by gathering new and old AEGEEans together in a weekend event. As during RENOVE, the programme should be loose and not as tight as in other training courses to transfer the feeling of an easy-going Summer University into wanting more of the serious side of AEGEE. Many locals were interested and AEGEE-Aachen would like to lead initiative on organising one. In the second slot, we discussed these topics. 1. Mentorship programme This discussion took mainly place around the case of AEGEE-Düsseldorf which had at this time troubles to keep stable. 2. Advocacy in university for voluntary work compensation Minutes of Status Quo: -
Compensation in Maastricht: 800€ for all, Delft: 200€ per month per board member Money for Voluntary work e.g. in Saxony, 20hours per week Usually only AStA members get paid Aachen: International certificate by International Office (you get that in the end with your degree) Tilburg: very good cooperation with uni!
Ideas and proposals: - Other ideas: credits for being on the board, get it valuated for regulary study time (1 semester longer, at least) - Bavaria: no student organizations, no rights, even harder!! - Recognize our work for “social credit points/ ECTS”? proposal in front of the senat! >> change Prüfungsordnung/ rules of each Uni - We can all start to fight at our university at the same time but definitely it concerns Uni and Uni law - We should first approach AStA (Student Council) and other student organizations - We need a working group for each local/ uni - Joanna: certificate is nice to have but more a souvenir, - Dominik: erasmus tutor certificate >> signed by DAAD
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Damien: it´s very specific but still we can work on the same topic in general certificates are nice but what really attracts students is a semester more in their regular study time it´s a big problem that work of student associations are not recognized at unis! neither for the semester more nor credit points Kristina suggest to approach Fachschaften (student faculty associations) and AStA (Student Councils) and other student associations to ask for help >> do advocacy together Many regulations are different in German states but still we can work on same aims Work with ministry of state In some states easier than in others Even if it´s different from state to state it puts kind of pressure on our aims and achievements >> so maybe other unis could profit from that Kristina will collect Aachen´s best practices Someone suggests to do a case study in NL, pros and cons, then go prepared into discussions and conversations In NL it´s not new, tradition in Dutch student life of being active besides uni Some unis/ Stupas do support AEGEE and student associations, others don´t
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16.
Feedback
Overall, the Network Meeting has passed very well. In the following two word clouds, we collected key words which dropped in the feedback session. a) Highlights
b) Lowlights
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N W M
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NWM Eindhoven Results Booklet
R e s u l t s
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NWM Eindhoven Results Booklet
NWM EINDHOVEN RESULTS BOOKLET
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NWM Eindhoven Results Booklet
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NWM Eindhoven Results Booklet
Published August 2015
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NWM Eindhoven Results Booklet
CONTENT NWM Eindhoven – City of Light(bulbs) Sessions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
AEGEE for newbies Definition of Learning Processes in AEGEE Sharing Best Practices Communications in AEGEE AEGEE’s 30th anniversary: personal history of locals present ACT & EQAC Future of Europe Open Space Presentations and Game Anniversary: History of Locals Present
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NWM Eindhoven Results Booklet
NWM EINDHOVEN â&#x20AC;&#x201C; CITY OF LIGHT(BULBS) Written by Boudewijn Steenhof, Network Commission This NWM was the last, but certainly not the least in the Spring round. After some troubles with the dates, enthousiastic Dutchmen, but also foreigners, came to Eindhoven by train, bus or plane. During the weekend, friendships were created, advice was given and inspiration was found. Thanks to all the participants for their input! If you have any questions or remarks, you can always contact me at netcomboudewijn@aegee.org
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SESSIONS 1. AEGEE FOR NEWBIES By Wietske Jousma (SubCom) & Svenja van der Tol (SubCom & ACT)
This Session was meant to introduce AEGEE to those who came to Eindhoven for their first AEGEE event. The basic structure of AEGEE was explained and opportunities for personal development in different thematic contexts were presented. For those who did not know much or anything about AEGEE and its possibilities, this session was very informative. Wietske and Svenja joined together to answer questions and explain details where asked. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hope that with this information, participants can now fully enjoy the world of AEGEE-Europe and all it has to offer.
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2. DEFINITION OF LEARNING PROCESSES IN AEGEE By Mayri Tiido (ComitĂŠ Directeur)
This session meant to explain the newest structures in AEGEE about LTCs and RTCs. Mayri explained this strategy patiently and used interactive methods to keep the attention of the participants. She stressed that organising a LTC or RTC does not just mean your participants will be drowned with knowledge, but those events can be fun as well. Events should be introduced and developed slowly, and Online Sessions could help implement this strategy. Not all local representatives were one hundred per cent convinced of the fact that the strategy would fit their localsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs and abilities, but Mayri stressed that there are a lot of different ways this strategy could be implemented.
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3. SHARING BEST PRACTICES By Boudewijn Steenhof (Network Commission)
One of my favourite sessions, this sharing best practices session was very successful. In this area this session is always very popular, and people are eager to exchange their ideas. The first part of the session had all local representatives create a SWOT-analysis of their own local. This proved easy for others who just attended another NWM, but more challenging for newer members. After all representatives presented their SWOTs briefly, the second part of the session began. The participants were divided in different thematic groups, for instance PR, FR, European bodies etc. Together, they came up with strategies or improvements for these themes in their respective locals. Differences between locals were very interesting to be observed, and representatives were inspired to improve their locals.
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4. AEGEEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S 30TH ANNIVERSARY: PERSONAL HISTORY OF LOCALS By Boudewijn Steenhof (Network Commission) and Mayri Tiido (CD)
Mayri presented the most interesting highlights of the 30 years of AEGEE in a very interactive and fun way, using an online quiz. Participants were engaged and interesting in finding the correct answers. This quiz can certainly be recommended for future NWMs! After participating in the quiz, participants had some time to find highlights of their own locals. This proved very hard in some cases, since information can be very hard to find. Luckily, older members were happy to help and the internet is a useful resource. The results of their findings were used in a following session.
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5. ACT & EQAC By Svenja van der Tol (ACT)
During this session, participants were asked to turn an objective in a focus area of the Strategic Plan of AEGEE Europe into an event. Then, they had to present to the “Money Foundation” (Boudewijn & Mayri) to maybe get an extra point. Eventually, participants had to choose the best of five projects, which received eternal glory as its reward. The five events were: -
“The prime minister was once a student too” “A little bit gay is okay” “Break down your boundaries” “Get over your borders” “Democracy in Europe”
It was very interesting to see the different events which incorporated many various ways to implement the SP in them. Participants were very creative.
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6. FUTURE OF EUROPE (DEBATE) By Mayri Tiido (CD) and Boudewijn Steenhof (NetCom)
During this session participants were assigned a country. They had to do research about three statements about the future of Europe: -
Gay marriage should be recognised everywhere in Europe Education should be centrally regulated and free Europe should be one country
Participants took it very seriously and tried to do research to their best abilities. Sometimes information was hard to find, so participants had to come up with what they thought their country would argue. The discussion itself wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t very spontaneous, but there were some interesting thoughts and ideas. This session can be recommended, provided that the concept will be further thought about. Also, there should be found ways to make the discussion more spontaneous.
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7. OPEN SPACE: TURN YOUR PASSION INTO AN AEGEE EVENT By Mayri Tiido (CD) and Boudewijn Steenhof (NetCom)
Beforehand, Mayri and Boudewijn thought about how to make the Open Space session more interesting. We came up with the idea to have participants come up with a passion or something they found interesting, and together with a focus group, come up with an activity/event related to this passion. The results were very interesting and ranged from an activity about water to a way to implement maths in the AEGEE network.
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8. GAME ABOUT PERSONAL HISTORY By Boudewijn Steenhof (NetCom)
The results of the personal history quests were simplified to three major events in the history of AEGEE Europe. The participants were then divided in an A and a B team, which had to place the events of all the locals on the right place on a timeline. Afterwards, representatives of the locals went through the events and checked whether they were placed correctly. Through this game, participants learned about their own locals.
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