Let’s make Antenna Criteria more clear!

The current Network Commission (NetCom) team as well as the previous Network Director Jüri Kirpu have prepared a proposal for the upcoming Fall Agora Budapest 2012 about the antenna criteria. You can read the proposal itself here. The AEGEEan gives you an opportunity to better understand the idea behind the proposal and the planned changes. 

NetCom in their meeting in Katowice

“The proposal will aim at improving the quality of the Network as such, by including points which will reduce the work of the Network Commission and the person responsible for the Network within the Comité Directeur (usually the Network Director),” sums up Jüri.

The proposal itself stretches out on 3,5 pages, mainly being more precise about several criteria rather than changing them. For example, the current contact antenna (CA) criteria says that CA should have at least 10 members, while the proposal makes it more concrete – “Have at least 10 members who are not a member of another local upon the contact becoming a contact antenna. The members list has to be sent to the Comité Directeur (CD) for approval.” As NetCom Speaker Wieke van der Kroef says, it is beneficial for the locals as they will have more clear guidelines what is expected from them, why is it needed and how to fulfil each criteria.

Another change is a possibility to sign the Convention d’Adhesion (CdA) not during any statutory event, but just at Agorae. Jüri clarifies that only Agora represents the voice of AEGEE, therefore it is more fair to ask the new contacts to sign CdA there. The proposal also specifies that new contacts should send an application to join AEGEE, not a motivation letter as it is mentioned at the moment. Already now the NetCom has prepared a possible form which the interested people will be asked to fill in. The form has concrete questions which would be important to know for AEGEE to make a better decision. Wieke recalls that most of the possible contacts were asking what exactly should be included in the letter, therefore this is another step to make the process easier for them.

Wieke recalls that the idea got more concrete this summer during the NetCom meeting in Katowice. Since then the previous and the current NetCom team as well as Jüri  were working together on developing the proposal. Jüri’s previous experience in the CD helped to propose changes that, as he hope, will make with this proposal. “We have also looked at the structure of organisations such as Board of European Students of Technology (BEST) to see how they do it and if we can learn from their approach to making sure their new members realise what their work contains,” adds Wieke. Of course, the proposers are open to suggestions and possible changes in the proposal. The presented idea is based on their previous experience, but “more people can generate more ideas,” smiles Jüri.

NetCom in their meeting in Katowice

“I do hope that all people will take the time to carefully read the proposal so they understand our plans and to prepare possible amendments. This so we can discuss all ideas and end the prytanium with an even better proposal that makes sure all members understand AEGEE and their duties within the association,” Wieke invites.

Written by Anita Kalmane, AEGEE-Ogre