It was a run for three, but, after the current Secretary General (SG) withdrew her candidature, only two will present themselves and both are currently in the Chair Team. Vice-Chairperson of the Agora/European Planning Meeting (EPM), Andrea Ugrinoska, is a Macedonian 22-year-old who believes AEGEE is a gift. We interviewed her to learn more about her programme.
The AEGEEan: Please introduce yourself.
Andrea: I am Andrea Ugrinoska, originally from AEGEE-Skopje, a sporty energetic person, full of enthusiasm and willing to make the world a better place for living.
What is the most relevant experience you have in AEGEE?
I would say my most relevant position is being the Vice-Chair Person in The Chair Team, responsible for facilitating our statutory events, as well as all the needed preparations before, such as participants selection and Agenda drafting, by mediating between all the relevant involved sides. Besides that, I’ve been President of AEGEE-Skopje, as well as Impact Measurement Manager of Y Vote 2014. All of the experiences have made me a competent candidate for the future Comité Directeur (CD).
You explain the general work of a Secretary General, but what is Secretary General for you?
For me, Secretary General is a very powerful position, which is many times misunderstood and underestimated by our network. Currently, I am working in the secretariat of the National Youth Council, where I have the perfect opportunity to feel the atmosphere of such an environment, namely what we in AEGEE are also aiming for. A Secretary General represents a link between the governing board and the executive body which implements the decisions which have been made. Currently, this executive body is Madalena Sousa, our employee, and she is a one-person-secretariat and is in charge of implementing the decisions of the Comité Directeur. The Secretary General has to coordinate, manage and observe the whole process, and facilitate the communication between these two organs. However, this is not only done by the SG, as we have a wide variety of Commissions and European bodies which ease the communication and implementation of decisions, as well as appointed people from the CD for a separate field. At the same time, due to our organisational arrangements, the Secretary General has to coordinate the office work, as part of the administrative tasks, of the whole Comité Directeur. Finally, the Secretary General should be here to support the President with the external representation and advocacy work of AEGEE, connecting this advocacy work to our member organisations. Now, when I explained it like this, it is pretty clear how much in need we are for highlighting the importance of the work of Madalena as well as getting more people in the secretariat, which would help us in coordinating all the paper work needed for such an implementation, and would leave bigger space for the Board of Directors to focus on the political role of decision making processes and thematic aspects. See, I am a bit passionate about the task of Secretary General, I really do appreciate it, and would put a lot of effort into it.
In your motivation you said that you have bigger plans for the association and your team. How do you think you can contribute?
I am a person who likes to think outside the box, and I believe in doing extraordinary things and leaving a unique mark on the organisation. That means, that I will do the needed work to keep the organisation running, but always invest my full energy into implementing new things and making changes which will take our organisation one step further. So far I have a couple of ideas, from the final implementation of a framework for a secretariat, to more thematic involvement on the field of civic education, following my background as a non-EU country and my wish for contribution to solutions for all the difficulties which these countries face, out of which the most important are the visa issues. I would continue with active cooperation with other organisations towards a bigger impact, as well as seriously following the track of discussion for change of our statutory events towards a higher usage of their potential. I feel like I am at the pick of my AEGEE career, having the perfect amount of knowledge, and that I am bold enough at this moments to look for opportunities where they are not so visible.
In your programme you mention “your great understanding of relevant external organisation” and you want to use it to cooperate more with other non-governmental organisations (NGOs). How would you do that?
Cooperation between organisations, firstly starts by networking with people. Getting to know different people, from different organisations, sharing experiences, exploring different ways of working as well as fostering a common ground for future cooperation are the basic steps which need to be done in order to reach a professional cooperation. With some of the organisation in Brussels, I have passed these steps, due to my high involvement in international events, as well as in national organisations. Why would I want to cooperate is a more important question, I believe. The reason I would also work on this point during my involvement, is because I believe that these cooperations are highly beneficial for AEGEE. We reach more people, have a bigger impact , learn to work together despite our differences, offer more learning opportunities for our members, develop more competent ideas. Should I continue?
Concerning the impact measurement, in your programme you want to educate our members to the importance of this tool. Do you think the network underestimates impact measurement (IM) or it is not that spread?
I don’t think that the Network is underestimating impact measurement and quality assessment, and one of the proofs for that is the high competition which is present during the Summer Universities evaluations, and the choice of the best one. I think that some people use this as a driving force throughout their AEGEE career, and I believe it’s amazing. Take this simple fact, and imagine that it comes thanks to IM. So no, our Network does not underestimate it, but just sometimes finds some difficulties for it’s implementation. As a psychology student, having to learn all the complex processes through out my studies, I perfectly understand why this is a problem. So what we need are toolkits which will ease the implementation process, and ways of putting this process in the Agenda of Trainings within AEGEE. It is true that it is still quite a new trend going around, but I believe that it can become a common practice for all of our activities very soon.
You mentioned visa issues several times. How would you increase visibility in all embassies? Would you cooperate with other bodies?
My idea for embassies is very simple and productive. Increasing the visibility of AEGEE in all of the embassies which require a visa. Send out monthly publications, constantly e-mailing them with our newsletter, sending invitations to ambassadors for our conferences and events. You may be wondering why? So that the next time they receive a request for a visa for travelling to an AEGEE event, they will know exactly what an AEGEE event is, but more importantly be introduced with our values, and therefore grant the visa easier.
You are currently the Vice-Chairperson of the Agora/EPM and your term supposedly will finish at Autumn Agora Kyïv. Why are you running while already holding another elective position?
It is true, that this is the downside of the whole situation. I spoke with some people in the network regarding this issue, and they were not happy about this fact and I perfectly understand them. But I do not feel like I am failing or quitting, and therefore would never have the intention of disappointing someone, as I am still truly in love with what I am doing at the moment in AEGEE. But now, I will say the same what I said when I was running for Chairperson. AEGEE is a student youth organisation, and if we take the “student” moment seriously, it means that we all have around four to five years to learn, progress, perform and give back what has been given to us. It’s exactly what I’ve been doing these almost four years. I took my time to observe the organisation fully, before I got completely involved. The misfortune of the two positions overlapping is indeed not the best, but it’s for the better. So not ending a term in AEGEE, in order to reach a level where I would be more productive and would have the chance to give even more , for me is not leaving a position, but rather exposing myself even more in order to give all there is. I try to see the good sides of it, which are a good knowledge transfer cycle and space for development.
What will happen if you are elected?
The main point is that the work of Comité Directeur would start in July, and even if it’s not a statutory event time in between, I am still cherishing my position, and will finally have a chance to implement all the things for which I didn’t find time due to two statutory events close to each other, that were mentioned in my programme. How I plan to do it by issuing an open call for a Vice-Chairperson position right away, and work together with this person for the next four months, implementing together my plans, and teaching this person all there is. That way, we will have an educated person, which preferably will candidate for her/his own involvement in the Chair team in the Autumn Agora, and ensure an even stronger knowledge transfer process to the team.
If you have to choose the best point of your programme what would it be?
My focus on bringing the perspective of the non-EU countries, providing them space and opportunities to develop strong thematic projects for the different regions, and bring those voices to Brussels.
What will be the first thing you will do if elected? And if you are not?
I am not sure if this is about literally the first thing I would do, but in case that is the question, if I get elected, then I will probably start crying a bit, and try to hide my tears at the same time. And then start jumping and hugging whoever comes my way! If I don’t get elected, I will try to be brave, and not show how touched and sad I actually am. Then I will pick myself up, and get on with my life.
Describe yourself and your programme in one sentence:
Me: Enthusiastic!
Programme: Limit-pushing!
One of our readers asked: You had a hard time coordinating the working group (WG) that answered positively to your open call for creating an alternative program for EPM Burgos. Given that this task only involved two WGs and the local organisers, yet it failed due to lack of communication, do you think you can handle the whole Network?
I see a couple of mistakes in this questions, to start with. So let me correct them before I give my answer. Hard Time? I don’t think I had a hard time, as when I applied to be a Chairperson, I know I was going to deal eventually with people which are not in the mood, or do not have the time to read explanatory e-mails thoroughly, and prefer to just interrupt the communication with already discussed questions. So if you ask me, I do not have a problem with re-writing e-mails, even 10 more times, when it’s needed to clear things out. This task only involved two Working Groups and Local Organisers? Again, maybe this is the image you had, and I am happy that it stayed that way, as I never wanted to show how much I am actually managing behind the scenes. But now I can clear it out, that there were more than 5 different sides, and around 10 people involved in the whole communication. All of them with different requests and wishes, and then me in the middle, mediating, trying to have everyone satisfied, climbing to the moon and back to do so… only because I always wish to do more than it’s usually done. And I enjoy doing it, I would never complain about it.
Now back to the question. In the end, it all turned out good. The EPM was fantastic, almost everyone was happy with their involvement, and we also had some alternative program too. I was willing again, on my own, to look for all the resources possible to make everyone’s wishes come true, and make the EPM an incredible experience for all the participants, with a huge variety of activities they could choose among to attend. However, not everyone is willing to put a lot of effort into things, and I understand this completely, which is why sometimes I had to back off, as I cannot do good, if I am the only one in the group that wants to passionately do it. If a little bump in the road, few misunderstood e-mails are the reason for people’s backing off, I think I can live with that, and learn when to stop pushing for more.
Finally, the alternative social programme is still something I strongly believe in, but depends very little on me at the moment. From this position, I can only initiate it, but you, the Network, are it’s driving force, as well as the Local Organisers, which are your backbone. I am still learning around it, exploring all the possibilities, and hopefully very soon my plans will become a reality. This Agora, Local Organisers wanted to undertake the social part of the Agora completely, so I was asked to stay out of it. I do not have a problem with it, as I just want to see it happening, regardless of who wishes to undertake it. So yes, now I am convinced even more, that I can handle the whole network. Hope I managed to answer your question.
Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia