Key to europe AEGEE‘s Annual Review 2011-2012
AEGEE Facts & Figures
AEGEE‘s External Relations
AEGEE‘s External Relations AEGEE’s External Relations AEGEE is meant to develop young people, give them an opportunity to express their opinion, and show that everybody is able to create change. AEGEE is as well meant to represent youth and student opinion on a daily basis, fighting for their rights and giving input to all the important processes in today’s world. The Comité Directeur coordinates the external representation of AEGEE and throughout the year attends various meetings, events and conferences, addressing stakeholders and making sure youth voice is heard. This year we have been challenged to stress the importance non-governmental organisations hold in creating European citizens and developing young people into future leaders. In times when future support for our work is under question, we have to put all our forces into reaching this goal. AEGEE is a member of different platforms of civil society. As members of the European Youth Forum (YFJ), AEGEE’s voice has been represented when talking about rights of volunteers or interns, with the biggest impact on the Youth Forum’s final position on the Rio+20 Conference. AEGEE had as well a delegation in Rio de Janeiro, representing student opinions on sustainable development and climate change. With the European Platform of Civil Society Organisations on Lifelong Learning (EUCIS-LLL) we have cooperated on recognition of non-formal and informal education, social innovation and youth unemployment. The beginning of 2012 has finalised the European Year of Volunteering 2011, and presented the final result: Policy Agenda for Volunteering in Europe “P.A.V.E.” – a recommendation for legislation of volunteering and recognition of rights of volunteers. Throughout 2011, AEGEE has worked on preparing this document together with other non-governmental organisations focused on volunteering. The European Commission has announced the European Year of Citizens 2013. The European Civic Forum (ECF) took over the coordination of this project, and AEGEE, as board member of the ECF took an important role in the preparation of the next European Year. This will be followed by a series of events in 2013. In June 2012, AEGEE has taken a seat at the European Movement International (EMI) conference in Tunis, and talked about the cooperation between civil society organisations and public authorities.
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Besides these platforms, AEGEE also has a strong cooperation with European Institutions. The European Economic and Social Committee (EECS) has organised a conference “The Economic Crisis, Education and the Labour Market”. AEGEE has taken a seat as a panelist debating on “Getting youth on board”. AEGEE was also invited by the Turkish Parliament to discuss the youth involvement in decision making processes where we have made a clear point: Youth participation is not a crime! European youth needs to be encouraged to speak up, as expressing your opinion is the only way to take part in decission making. Meeting the representatives of the Council of Europe at a conference in June 2012 gave us a chance to stress youth approach to human rights and education systems in 21st century. The future months will have an even stronger focus on recognition of civil society to ensure adequate support in the following years. Following the work of the European Union institutions, AEGEE will also give a strong opinion on new skills, the visa facilitation process, the democratic processes in the world and many other topics. This way we are making sure that the needs and opinions of AEGEEans are heard. Written by Marko Grdošić, Vice-President and External Relations Director until April 2012, President of AEGEE-Europe from May-August 2012 & member of AEGEE-Zagreb