Proposals for Dummies 2: Improving the Network

The second roud of Proposals for Dummies deals with three proposals regarding the Network, aiming to make it more efficient and organised. If accepted, these proposals will be affecting not only the Network Commission, but also the AEGEE antennae. Firstly, we will deal with the proposal ‘Upgrading and Deleting locals’, secondly we deal with ‘Fixing a Date on which the NetCom should start his or her mandate after the Agora’, and last but not least, we deal with the proposal ‘Allowing contacts to exceptionally sign Convention d’Adhesion’. 

The first proposal, ‘Improve the dynamic of Upgrading and Deleting locals’, was proposed by Holger Schmitt on behalf of the Comité Directeur and Jorge Sanchez Hernandez on behalf of AEGEE-Dresden. They are proposing that the upgrade from Contact Antenna to Antenna or downgrade of an Antenna should be done in the passing time of two Agorae, not by a calendar year as it is written in the CIA now: “Upgrade can only take place at least a year after the contact has signed the CdA.” With this rule, a Contact Antenna or Antenna that has been created, for example at Autumn Agora Cagliari 2014, can not be upgraded at Autumn Agora Kyiv 2015 if the dates of Agora Kyiv are earlier than Agora Cagliari’s. The proposal therefore aims to make the process of upgrading less dependent on the exact dates of the Agora. At the same time, the locals which have been downgraded from the status of Antenna (in case of complete inactivity and abandoment) can be deleted at the first Agora after the decision was made, and not at the second, thereby helping to reach a better and complete AEGEE Network. If you wish to read more about this proposal and the comments of the members, you can click here.

The second proposal, ‘Fixed terms of the members of the Network Commission’, was submitted by Ana Potočnik and Mario Galea on behalf of the Network Commission (NetCom) of AEGEE-Europe. They are proposing to change the date a Network Commissioner starts his or her term, because right now he or she is supposed to start right after the election without having had a Knowledge Transfer. Therefore, the proposal suggests to have the mandate start on a set time after the Agora. In the time between the election and the start of the mandate, the newly Network Commissioner can receive Knowledge Transfer and have some extra time in order to get to know his or her locals (with the information provided by the outgoing NetCom without violating the non-disclosure agreement) and create an acivity plan. This way, the Network Commissioner will be better prepared, but also the locals will benefit with more support from their NetCom. For more details and reactions about this proposal, click here.

The last proposal, ‘Allowing contacts to exceptionally sign Convention d’Adhesion’, was proposed by Paul Smits, on behalf of the Comité Directeur and Boudewijn Steenhof, on behalf of Network Commission. They are proposing that there should be an exception for the to-be Contact Antennas from the rules of Motion on the Contacts and the decision established at the Agora Budapest 2012 (namely that the Contact should attend at least one Network Meeting and afterwards attend the next Agora where the members should expose their plans and should also be prepared to answer to the questions asked by the delegates). They believe that the Contact shouldn’t need to wait for an Agora in order to become an Antenna in cases in which they would have a strong benefit of the AEGEE name. Officially being part of AEGEE, the to-be Contact Antenna will grow faster and with more efficiency as the usage of the AEGEE-logo and calling oneself AEGEE is often very important for recognition in the specific city. This exception would also increase the quality of the AEGEE Network. For more information about this proposal, click here.

Written by Gabriela Cioată, AEGEE-București