Eyce annual report 2015

Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe aisbl

Activity and Development Report 2015 “YOU WERE CALLED TO JUSTICE” (Galatians 5:13)

ECUMENICAL YOUTH COUNCIL IN EUROPE Conseil Œcuménique de la Jeunesse en Europe aisbl Rue Brogniez 44, B - 1070 Bruxelles, BELGIUM Tel. +32 2 510 6171 Fax +32 2 510 6172 E-mail: general.secretary@eyce.org WWW: www.eyce.org

Ecumenical

Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe aisbl | Conseil Œcuménique de la Jeunesse en Europe aisbl Rue Brogniez 44 – 1070 Bruxelles – Belgium Phone: +32 2 5106171– E-Mail: general.secretary@eyce.org – Web: www.eyce.org Bank details: KBC Bank, Argence Marnix – BIC/Swift: KREDBEBB – IBAN: BE30 7340 0440 4011

Table of Contents

1. Introduction............................................................................................................................

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2. EYCE’s activities....................................................................................................................

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3. External Relations..................................................................................................................

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4. EYCE structural development...............................................................................................

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1. Introduction Since the sixties, as a Christian youth organisation, EYCE strives to represent young people in Europe as much as possible. In 2015, EYCE has continued to seek for unity and be engaged in the work for justice, peace and the integrity of creation. To make the voice of its members heard, the strategic approach approved in 2013 by the general meeting has been used as a tool and a guideline.

The year 2015 has been very exciting: two international events, an intensive campaign, representatives around Europe to share our values, many meetings and hundreds of hours of skype calls spent. Starting from young people for young people and made at an international level, every EYCE volunteer, every member and every participant can be proud of the work achieved. Of course, it was not always easy to find enough participants or to have enough financial resources but we manage it finally with brio.

2015 was as a year of transition. New faces appeared along the year who have made the work of the organisation refreshed with new ideas and methodologies. The new general secretary took his position in May. In September, the campaign coordination team had new members and finally in October, new members joined the Executive Committee. We don’t want to forget all the person who have contributed to the success of this year. We thanked Kristine, Benjamin, Peter, Anna, Eva, Fiona and Michael to have helped the organisation to achieve their goals.

2. EYCE’s activities EYCE Seminar “From Vision to Reality” 22nd-29th of March 2015 Bratislava, Slovakia The EYCE training course “From Vision to Reality” was held in Bratislava, Slovakia, from the 22nd to the 29th of March.

The training course was the opportunity for young people to share their experiences, insights and opinions, and to learn more on the topic of social inclusion. It aimed at raising awareness on various issues related to social inclusion, the role of ethnic and religious minorities in the society and learning the tools to promote social inclusion. The daily programme included sessions with non-formal learning methods, guest speakers, prayers and evening activities.

The following objectives were set for the event: ● to study and assess various concepts of inclusion in general and with a special focus on ethnic and religious minorities;

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● ● ● ● ●

to identify different actors from both ‘minority’ and ‘majority’ groups in society and identify their interests and attitudes; to study and assess concrete examples of inclusive societies being united yet maintaining pluralism; to explore the concept of social inclusion with Christian values on one hand in order to realize the broader background of values social inclusion is built on; to draw an easily conveyable vision of socially inclusive society and finding new forms of participation to this envisioned society; to suggest a strategy of promoting the vision on personal level as well as equipping participants with tools to do so.

Seventeen participants were selected, coming from thirteen countries. The seminar was prepared and implemented by a team of volunteers from EYCE’s network.

The main goal of this activity was to define the notion of social inclusion and study this topic from an ethnic and religious minority point of view. The event was deeply rooted in the EYCE's role to promote inclusion and equality. By giving participants the opportunity to learn from a historical background, to obtain a better understanding of the attitudes and roles of majority and minority groups and to engage in a theological approach of the theme, it was possible to develop the vision which will be used as a common ground for the next events. The Vision will be an essential tool for participants from this activity aiming at implementing it in their own local contexts, as well as participants from future events to get familiar with the concrete notions.

During the event, there was a historical background on the concept of inclusion as well as a debate with Member of the Slovak Parliament Mr. Peter Pollak, who gave participants an insight to the current situation in Slovakia. There was a presentation by Dr. Benjamin Simon from Germany about the theological approach to inclusion. Participants were also given the opportunity to obtain skill of implementation by participating in workshops, such as advocacy, successful campaigning, project planning and conflict management. One morning during the event was dedicated to field visits: a meeting with a representative of Nadacia Melana Simecku Foundation and he introduced participants to the work they do towards multiculturalism and Roma and minorities rights; secondly, a lecture by the Representatives of the Slovak Ministry of Culture, mainly the Director of Religious Affairs, about the registration process of Churches in Slovakia and its difficulties and struggles, especially towards small congregations.

During the seminar, there was also a day dedicated to local visits. They visited the organisation “Milan Šimečka Foundation”, where they got the opportunity to learn more about its work on inclusion, as well as the obstacles of the Slovaks in this slow process. It was also the chance to have another point of view on Mr. Pollak and his work with minorities.

Through these different meetings, the participants could have had the opportunities to discuss on the different religious minorities in Slovakia, and the complex problem of Churches' registration.

Participants left equipped with practical skills and were able to train themselves in advocacy, campaigning and conflict management, all important for the implementation of the Vision. This event also presented participants the chance for networking opportunities and creating contacts with people all over Europe, in hopes of having a wider impact in their future projects.

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EYCE Campaign to Overcome poverty “Break the Chains!”

Thematic focus 2015: faces of Poverty In 2014, EYCE launched a 3-year Campaign to Overcome poverty. It has reached the midpoint of its three year long run. The second year of the Campaign is dedicated to the different faces of poverty, in an effort to give a voice to those in need.

In order to give this voice, a set of activities was carried out.

Awareness raising and promotion materials In 2015, three magazines "See. Act. Change" were put online, in February, July and December. The magazine proposes personal experiences, projects running in countries or area focused on the main topic of the campaign – poverty, or stories about people affected by poverty. The main focus of the two last issues of the magazine was “Faces of poverty”. In this issue we wanted to highlight the effects poverty has on real people and show concrete cases. Every situation is different, and individuals can be effected in different ways in a whole variety of contexts.

In our campaign, every month, we dedicate as well one day to our monthly event "Sharewich day". The concept is to share a sandwich a specific day each month. We motivate our members to make this action.

We also decided to renew most of the promotional material. A reflection was launched, and came to a successful decision to order bags with the same design as the year before; stickers in order to promote Sharewich day among our Member Organisations and more broadly; and customized notebooks. This promotional material is in line with EYCE principles, being composed of sustainable material.

Capacity Building in the framework of EYCE’s Campaign to Overcome Poverty “Break the Chains!”

15th-19th of March 2015 Prague, Czech Republic During the weekend of 15th – 17th May 2015, eleven people from different Member Organisations and youth organisations gathered in Prague, Czech Republic, for a Capacity Building event in the Framework of EYCE's Campaign to Overcome Poverty “Break the Chains!”. It was organised by EYCE with the help of three volunteers from Belgium, Czech Republic and Kosovo.

The main aim of this event was to empower the representatives from youth organisations and movements to start local initiatives addressing poverty. This event in Prague was primarily focused on

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the active campaign promoters. Since many of the participants are active in youth organisations and church communities the event has a much broader impact than only the people who were present in Prague. Coming back home they are not alone with their plans but find structures that help implementing and making even bigger changes.

The participants could have been able to share their stories through three workshops: “Successful campaigning”, which look at how to prepare a campaign and how viral videos contributed to better results; a workshop on non-formal education and how to run an event using its different methods; and team coordination, during which participants made a list of guidelines to achieve better work between a team's members.

One guest speaker joined to share his experience, Mgr. Jakub Marek, from Naděje, a Czech organisation dealing with homelessness. He gave the participants a lecture about the current situation of homeless people in Czech Republic.

After a quick evaluation, the group went to the city centre for a tour. The unexpected fact was the guide, who was actually a homeless man. This is the project of “Pragulic”, a Czech organisation that helps homeless people to share their experience by showing a different side of the city.

EYCE Training course “Faces of poverty: training course addressing poverty in the context of migration” 6th-13th of September 2015 Manchester, United Kingdom From 6th to 13th of September 2015, seventeen young people, from all around Europe and from different religious and educational backgrounds, gathered for the training course “Faces of Poverty: training course addressing poverty in the context of migration” which took place in Manchester, United Kingdom. It was organized by EYCE with the help of four volunteers and supported by the Council of Europe and Brot für die Welt.

The main objectives of this week were to explore the links between poverty, social exclusion and migration, as well as empowering young people with the knowledge and skills necessary to address the negative effects of poverty and exclusion.

During the week, participants were able to think about key terms such as migration, poverty and community, and through different presentations, board games, solidarity dinner and other non-formal methods of education, they learned first-hand how it can feel to be a migrant as well as how others might feel.

Two experts were invited to speak at the event. Mr. Nicolas Derobert is a Communications and Membership Officer at Eurodiaconia in Belgium, working in the fields of migration and EU free

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movement. He presented participants with a more in depth presentation about poverty and migration in Europe and how it affects everyone, based on current event. He also provided a small workshop on communication and media campaign.

The second guest speaker was Professor Juris Calitis from Latvia and he offered a theological approach to the topic of solidarity. Through his own experiences and different passages of the Bible, he showed the importance of a community and how solidarity is connected to the theology in the Bible as well as the unity in the church. Professor Calitis mentioned that solidarity is not a philosophical but political question.

Two local visits were offered to the participants. They met with Rachel Foakes from Rainbow Haven, an organisation that offers support and activities for asylum seekers, refugees and migrants. She showed us their locals and shared their projects as well as their struggles as an organization.

Secondly, they met with James Allan, who told them more about the asylum procedures in the UK. He provided them with the legal procedures as well as the system of support that asylum seekers get in the United Kingdom. In this way they could see what challenges asylum seekers and refugees face in UK. Participants were also given the choice of workshops to learn tools to implement in their own context projects relating to poverty and migration. These were: advocacy and the general rules behind it; practical assistance, or how to help migrants get information about their rights and organizations; counselling and how to help migrants in different levels; community mobilization and how to best use it to one’s advantage. Many ideas and projects were discussed and shared, and we wish the participants the best of luck in implementing them. Participants were then given the opportunity to create a ‘to-go toolbox’.

Local visits 11th-15th of November 2015 Athens, Greece From Thursday 11th of November to Sunday 15th, the Campaign Coordination Team (CCT) of EYCE's “Break the Chains” Campaign to Overcome poverty in Europe visited Athens, Greece, for the annual local visits of the campaign.

The visit was planned by Nikos Kosmidis, currently member of the Center of Ecumenical Missiological and Environmental Studies “Metropolitan Panteleimon Papageorgiou” (CEMES).

This local visit was full of surprised and meetings. Indeed, the first day was impacted by a general strike going on in Greece.

The CCT could join the demonstration, and had the the opportunities to meet former parliamentarians who founded the Popular Unity after being Siriza members, such as Panagiotis Lafazanis, the former Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy, and currently the LEA President; Zoe Konstantopoulou, the former Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, etc. We could talk with Nadia Valvani, who served as a deputy of Minister of Finance about the situation of poverty in Greece, which is getting worse for five years.

They also met people from different organisations which are dealing with poverty in Greece, for instance Dr. Vasileios Meichanetsidis, Department of Program Management and International Cooperation of the NGO “Mission”, Archdiocese of Athens, a representative of the humanitarian Orthodox Church organisation “Apostoli”; the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (I.A.O), represented by Dr. Kostas Mygdalis, I.A.O. Advisor and her secretariat Lili Vartanian; and Rev. Dimitris Boukis, the general

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secretary of the Synod of the Greek Evangelical Church, Rev. Georgios Adam, the pastor of the 2nd Greek Evangelical Church of Athens and two young people involved in the Church. The exchanges were very fruitful and interesting. They have been visited also a local of the latest organisation, where they welcome homeless people of the neighbourhood, to create interaction between them, have some spiritual time, where they can have a shower once a week and do a laundry.

This local visit was really fruitful. It was a great experience, allowing CCT to learn more about social and political problems in Greece. It makes them a lot thinking about the current political situation, making them believe that young Europeans need to work not only to fight poverty, but also contribute actively in the establishment of equitable policies on work, employment and immigration, in the light of respect for human values and towards equality of opportunity for all in development and social opportunities. It was a wealth of information and experience concerning not only the future of Greece, but the future of Europe, which should be deepen by tackling difficult questions, but also inspired by the bright example of so many people working with hopes and fighting to build a more united society.

Madrid, Spain 25th-27th of November 2015 The CCT has been warmly welcomed by ASP, the Protestant Social Action, responsible of distributing food and clothing to the poor people and whose living in the street in Madrid. They were able to participate to the distribution of food, and so see the needs of these people and ASP’s every day work to improve the care.

They had a talk with Pastor Esther Ruiz de Miguel who is responsible for organizing the work with the group of volunteers. Then they met Mr. Enrique del Árbol, president of Diaconia Spain. They also met a group of women who gathers every Thursday in ASP place, mostly young and unemployed mothers looking for different ways to train in order to develop an activity that allows them to obtain resources to survive month to month. To end this local visit, they met with young people of Madrid and Extremadura, with whom they could share about the themes of the campaign, and also hear the experiences of the young people, who are familiar to Sharewich day. They helped a lot for the rethink of the promotional material.

Regello, Italy 27th-29th of November 2015 The CCT of EYCE's “Break the Chains” Campaign to Overcome poverty in Europe visited Regello, Italy, for the annual local visits of the campaign, from Friday 27th to Sunday 29th of November.

We have been invited by FGEI (Federazione Giovanile Evangelica in Italia – Youth Evangelical Federation in Italy).

This weekend was dedicated to prepare FGEI Congress that will take place in April. A group of young people volunteering for FGEI from different places around Italy gathered for this occasion.

They worked on the Seven Seals in order to raise a question on our everyday life and faith and what could be FGEI’s part in it, a way to think about FGEI’s future. After,

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they had to think about their skills and how to transform them in asset for the society. Then, a letter was written to FGEI where they exposed their vision of its actions in the future. CCT could also organise a workshop on the Campaign, where they were able to talk about how they could erase poverty in Italy using their own skills, and how the young people from FGEI could do their Sharewich day.

The weekend ended on a service.

3. External Relations Annual General Meeting, Eurodiaconia 10th-12th of June 2015, Barcelona, Spain From the 10th-12th of June, the Annual General Meeting Eurodiaconia took place in Barcelona, Spain.

EYCE was represented by the EYCE member, Vendula Pavlikova. This meeting was a good opportunity for EYCE to network with people from different organizations that might serve as a valuable contribution to the campaign (“Break the Chains”). Mrs Pavlikova was able to participate to different sessions or events which could be useful for the campaign. In keeping with this idea, she participated in a study visit of Frater-Nadal which is a social service based in the Protestant Church of Rubi. They are currently collaborating with 36 volunteers and they aim to make a rapid and efficient assistance to alleviate the emergency and the adverse effects that the current crisis is creating in the community while providing the commodities a person may need for a daily life.

She was also able to take part in two workshops. The first was about “How to help immigrants and posttraumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) in the process of integration?”, and the second about “Field-trip to the wild side and Diakonia-Utopia, which presented two successful lobbying and public impact campaign concepts.

About possible future partnership between EYCE and Eurodiaconia, this latter wants to work also on youth level, therefore wants to find ways how to cooperate with EYCE on a higher level.

Meeting CEC and Youth organisations 29th September 2015, Brussels, Belgium CEC, EYCE and WSCF have decided to meet once a year to learn, share and understand from each other.

For 2015, WSCF found itself in a transition period. Many things were changing. The office was moving from Berlin to Italy. They informed us about their statutory meeting in October with the election of the new board and a thematic conference. Concerning CEC, they informed us that they were focusing on the topic of youth unemployment. CEC made suggestion to collaborate on that topic.

During the meeting, EYCE brought up the idea of an activity on the role of churches in the refugee crisis and the meaning of it for the European society as such. For that matter, Guy Liagre and Frank-Dieter invited us to the dialogue seminar that is organised by CEC, COMECE and the European Commission.

Finally the meeting ended up with the financial topic.

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For the WSCF: Natia Tsintsadze (the program director for interfaith Dialogue and cooperation) For CEC: Guy Liagre (general secretary), Erin Green (communication coordintator), Frank-Dieter Fischbach (Executive secretary) For EYCE: Lisa Schneider (chairperson), Christophe Luyten (general secretary)

CEC Meeting of the Thematic Reference Group on Human Rights 15 and 16 October in Brussels, Belgium It was the first meeting of the newly constituted Thematic Reference Group. The different members presented themselves and the background they are coming from. CEC's previous activities in the field of Human Rights were revised. We also discussed some Human Rights issues in Europe, for example the situation of churches in Ukraine or the constitutional amendments in Montenegro regarding the freedom of religion and belief. It was discussed whether and how the Conference of European Churches should react to this. Finally, the upcoming activities were planned.

General Assembly of AEJ 19th-22nd of November 2015, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany From 19th to 22nd of November, EYCE Executive Committee member Javier Hernanz Flórez, attended the General Assembly of Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Evangelischen Jugend in Deutschland (AEJ – Federation of Protestant Youth in Germany).

At the AEJ Assembly, Mr Hernanz Flórez presented the most relevant aspects of the last General Meeting of EYCE in Kirkkonummi, Finland, the new ExCo members, the main goals of EYCE for next years and the campaign activities for the year 2016.

Council of Members of Youth Forum Jeunesse 27th-28th of November 2015, Madrid, Spain From the 17th to the 28th of November, EYCE Executive Committee member Javier Hernanz Flórez and EYCE member Felix Beck, attended the Council of Members/ Extraordinary General Assembly of the Youth Forum Jeunesse (YFJ). This meeting was a good opportunity for EYCE to network with other youth organisations in Europe.

During this meeting, several thematic were tackled, for instance the practice and tools for recognition and validation of non-formal education», the situation of young refugees in Europe – a focus on Euromed Cooperation and SDGs, etc.

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Religions for Peace, Global Religious Youth Leaders’ Summit 26th-29th of November 2015, Paris, France

From the 26th to the 29th of November, the EYCE ExCo were delighted to have a representative attend the Religions for Peace (RfP) Global Religious Youth Leaders’ Summit in Paris prior to COP21, starting the 30th of November. The ExCo member Niall Colbert represented EYCE. All relating to the EYCE’s work and the aims of the EYCE’s projected campaign for 2016-2019 as discussed at our GM last month, the three main topics of discussion were (1.) Violent Religious Extremism (VRE), (2.) The Refugee Crisis and (3.) Climate Change.

Mr. Colbert heard many expert presentations on the Refugee Crisis and the importance of Welcoming the Other. This meeting was the opportunity to create important links and connections with organizations from all over the world and the Regional Inter-faith Youth Networks. EYCE is looking forward to working closer with them in the future, especially in the planning of its inter-faith events and its upcoming campaign.

Dialogue Seminar at the European Commission 2 December 2015, Brussels, Belgium The European Commission convened a Dialogue Seminar focused on looking beyond the immediate humanitarian crisis provoked by the recent influx of migrants and refugees on European soil. It was jointly organised by the European Commission - DG Justice and Consumers, the Conference of European Churches - CEC, the Churches' Commission for Migrants in Europe - CCME, and the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union COMECE. The organisations, represinting churches, gathered experts and Church leaders from across Europe to discuss models of integration, best practices, and the fundamental values that guide integration within the European Union.

Dialogue Seminar participants introduced a number of models for integration, often based on the deep experience of Churches in welcoming migrants and refugees to Europe. They also exchanged integration success stories, and shared ideas on how to cultivate a more positive public image of all migrants and refugees in Europe.

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All participants were concerned with the personal and human aspect of the current crisis, and stressed that it is not about statistics and economics, but about human dignity and common good. They also noted that the Churches in Europe are often the first and most important point of contact to migrants and refugees. Through welcoming Christian communities, newcomers find the support they need to begin adapting to their new society. Participants committed themselves to providing space for encounter between migrants and refugees and host societies, and a space for addressing fears of receiving communities.

Lisa Schneider gave some insights in the perspective of youth organisations and the challenges they face but also the successes they have. The breaks were used for networking and making contacts for the coming campaign on refugees, migration and integration.

4. EYCE structural development Executive Committee Meeting 6th-8th of February 2015, Brussels, Belgium From the 6th - 8th of February 2015, the Executive Committee (ExCo) of the Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe (EYCE) met for their first meeting in 2015 in Brussels, Belgium.

During the meeting, the ExCo has given the report of several works on going, such as office report, campaign report, etc. The agenda of the meeting included a lot of different subjects, such as membership issues, external representations, thematic workshops.

The ExCo worked on the outline for the upcoming General meeting in October 2015 and draw up the main topics which should be present. They also discussed about the recruitment process of the new General Secretary. The team cooperation was also rethought, in order to be more efficient and to reduce the amount of work among the ExCo members.

The ExCo also started the initial preparations for the activities in 2015/2016, particularly preparing fundraising plans and scheduling the events, strategically and thematically linking them together.

Executive Committee Meeting 9th-11th of July 2015, Paris, France From the 9th-11th of July, the Executive Committee (ExCo) of the Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe (EYCE) met for their second meeting in Paris, France.

The meeting was divided in three sessions: the Campaign of EYCE to Overcome Poverty “Break the Chains!�; the Mission and Vision; and the Finances and Office Reports and General Meeting.

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The first session started by an overview presentation on the work done in the Campaign, such as leaflets, Sharewich, Bulgaria event, etc. The opinion about CCT and the team dynamics were shared by the volunteer and the ExCo member in charge of the Campaign. In order to identify the problems and brainstorm possible solutions, ExCo proceeded to a SWOT analysis of the Campaign and the CCT. Then a brainstorming of possible ways to overcome the weaknesses and the threads was exposed, such as defining tasks for CCT, fixed Skype meeting, etc.; as well as decisions concerning the future steps for the Campaign and the CCT. The second session tackled the issue about Mission and Vision of EYCE. The group proceeded to have a world café with two questions, which are “What is the biggest need/problem/situation in the current World/European society/Ecumenical movement?” and “What is EYCE's target group? What its members need?”. Then, according to the answers, a SWOT analysis was built around seven topics: Ecumenism, Spirituality, Field of Activities, Format Thematic Work, Structures, ExCo and Member Oragnisations.

ExCo attempted to come up with a couple of different directions EYCE and its work could head to.

The third session was dedicated to Finances and Office Reports and General Meeting planning. The agenda of this latter was prepared, as well as a brief timetable.

This ExCo meeting was also the opportunity to meet with the French National Correspondent Adrien Chaboche, and Cédric Graser from YMCA France, who are motivated to be more active in EYCE.

40th EYCE General Meeting 21st– 25th of October 2015, Kirkkonummi, Finland The 40th General Meeting of the Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe took place from 21st-25th October 2015 in Kirkkonummi, Finland and brought together more than 30 young people as delegates, guests and stewards to the General Meeting.

The General Meeting was hosted by SENnj Youth (The Finnish Ecumenical Council’s Youth Committee). EYCE is deeply grateful for the support, care and endless energy invested in welcoming delegates and guests of EYCE’s 40th General Meeting.

EYCE was especially grateful to the stewards during the General Meeting – Antti Putila, Erno Heino, Sallamari Hyrkaes, Marjut Mulari and Manon Schilder.

During the 40th General Meeting Executive Committee elections took place and the following people have been elected to the EYCE Executive Committee – Lisa Schneider (United, Germany) as the Chairperson, Sini Tyvi (Lutheran, Finland) as the Vice-Chairperson, and Satu Koikkalainen (Lutheran, Finland) as the Treasurer, as well as Angelita Tomaselli (Waldesian, Italy), Javier Hernanz Florez (Presbyterian, Spain), Niall Colbert (Roman Catholic, Ireland) and Vendula Pavlikova (Hussite, Czech Republic). The delegates and the whole EYCE network warmly welcomed the newly elected ExCo members to the EYCE community and wished many blessings for the term they will serve for EYCE. EYCE also thanked the Executive Committee members, who did not continue their work with the council – Benjamin Minlek, Jakub Nieviadomski and Peter Demuth for their commitment to EYCE and all the work they have done during their term with EYCE! We wish all the best for their future and activities outside of EYCE!

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The internal auditor, Ottakar Schulz, also resigned, and Toppi Haarla will take his place. EYCE thanked him for his commitment to EYCE and all the work he has done! We wish all the best for his future and activities outside of EYCE! EYCE was happy to welcome some guests to its 40th General Meeting from the organisations in partnership with EYCE, who are Jean Rehbinder from SYNDESMOS and Aila Lauha from CEC. During the week of the General Meeting the thematic work of the past two years was evaluated and the upcoming work planned. Member organisations were able to present their report to other members, since they do not know each other well, as well as their work. Visions of EYCE were also discussed, to end up with different lines for EYCE: Support Member Organisations, Values and Christian Identity, Lobbying, Presentation of Inter-Dialogue.

Special attention was paid to revising the EYCE work programme for the upcoming two years, especially decided the new campaign, which will be focused on the topic of European Values and integration of refugees/migrants also under the aspect of “religion phobia”.

Campaign Coordination Team meeting 11th-13th of December 2015, Brussels, Belgium From 11th-13th of December, the Campaign Coordination Team (CCT) met for their annual meeting in Brussels, Belgium. Some changes occurred within CCT, as the ExCo member has changed, Vendula Pavlikova replacing Anna Mallender, and new members have been involved: Satu Koikkalainen, from Finland, Hilder Flores Vargas, from Costa Rica but currently living in Spain, and Manon Schilder, the new volunteer in the office, from France. Maxim Kvyatkovskiy and Lina Leonavičiūtė are still members.

During the meeting, the CCT has given the report of the team itself and its work of the past year. Some resolutions have been taken in order to keep the team motivation and its commitment within the Campaign. Then the communication strategy was exposed, and the CCT identified the different skills of each member.

CCT has planned also the actions of 2016, such as Sharewich day, Local visits, Online Magazine.

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Volunteer Programme January-December 2015, Brussels, Belgium EYCE’s Volunteer Programme aims at providing training for young people as youth leaders/workers involved in European/ national organisations. It also provides an opportunity for young people to work in an international organisation and get involved in intercultural learning.

In 2015, EYCE was privileged to host two long-term volunteers in its office in Brussels.

Mr. Michael Luis (France), EYCE’s volunteer for 2014-2015, finished his voluntary service in the beginning of September, contributing finalisation of the second year of EYCE's Campaign to Overcome Poverty “Break the Chains!” which had been the main focus on his voluntary service. The placement of Mr. Luis was arranged in cooperation with the YMCA in France.

In September 2015, Ms. Manon Schilder, another volunteer engaged through the cooperation with YMCA France, started her voluntary service, which will end in August 2016. The main focus of the voluntary work of Ms. Schilder has been the final year of the EYCE's Campaign to Overcome Poverty “Break the Chains!”. She has been coordinating the Campaign Coordination Team, researching the resources and developing the publicity materials relevant to the campaign, as well as organising meetings and events, such as local visits, in the framework of this campaign. Ms. Schilder also has taken part in several international meetings relevant to the work of the campaign, e.g. the training course in Manchester “Faces of poverty: training course addressing poverty in the context of migration”.

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