EC REPORT 2015-2016

FYEG GENERAL ASSEMBLY16PRAGUE

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Executive Committee report 2015-2016 The Executive Committee (EC) was elected at the General Assembly in Tbilisi, Georgia from the 4th - 7th of June 2015. Although this challenge is not unknown to FYEG and has been mentioned by several previous EC members, lack of capacity and time remained a challenge. The capacity problem further aggravated this year due to two main factors: the departure of our Secretary General Shenna Sanchez in November 2015 and a chronic lack of availability due to high work and studies schedules. For the term 2015/16, the Executive Committee was almost entirely novel to their task. Marie carried valuable knowledge into the new EC, as it was her second mandate within the FYEG EC. However the board did not suffer from a lack of experience nor new and inspiring inputs, for fresh members, coming to this year of commitment full of ideas and motivation. The regional distribution of MOs, the work organisation within the EC and the office was a cause for renewed political activities and direction. A retreat, which took place halfway through the mandate, represented a new element, which is just one example of changed ways of working. “ How to say… I can see several elements here, correct me if I am wrong” - Teo EC members digesting a peppery menemen in Paris ahead of COP21 talks

“I mean, it’s not like I am super emotional about this“ Marie

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1) Presentation and distribution of tasks in the EC

Tornike enjoying the very very first meeting of FYEG EC The Executive Committee was constituted with 8 members (from left to right as seen in the portraits below), including two spokespersons, Laura Carlier from écolo j (Belgium), Teo Comet from ViNO (Finland), one treasurer, Tornike Kusiani from GYG (Georgia), and regular board members Cengiz Kulaç, Junge Grüne (Austria), Iryna (Ukraine), Morgan Henley, Mladi Zeleni (Czech Republic), Johannes Butscher Scottish Young Greens (SYG) and Marie Pochon, Jeunes Ecologistes (France). Most of us had not had the occasion to work and in some cases even talk to each other (!!!) before this very first meeting in Tbilisi, but we got this opportunity during the mandate, be reassured :)

The transfer with the retiring Executive Committee took place on the day after the closing of the General Assembly, where most tasks and information was communicated to the new EC, especially insisting on the most urgent tasks.

"the size of this Christmas tree is clearly antisemitic" - Cengiz A glimpse into the very passionate executive committee-transfer

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Indeed, some work had to be done urgently until the retreat, mainly the Ecosprinter training in cooperation with GEF, that would take place shortly afterwards in London, and the Migration training in Malta in the beginning of July. The retreat took place in the amazing frame of the Austrian Alps, in the cutest house on Earth which was owned by the family of Josh, a local activist from Austria. There, we had the opportunity to get to know each other, do team building exercises and grow into the team we are today, reflect on this year’s goals for FYEG, and distribute the tasks within the board members. During this retreat, roles and functions had to be attributed to each member of this new EC, as far as we could match each person’s interests and availabilities for the rest of the year. Time and dedication need were highly highlighted and during this 4 days-meeting, we drank wine, ate Austrian… (and Ukrainian!) specialties, and of course, worked a lot on how, as an EC, we could perform better and more sustainable objectives for the whole federation. Several elements were therefore brought up and tried all along the year: as the regional organisation and distribution, the EC responsible / office responsible . “I will do all that, but I need to FUG before” - Laura 2) Internal organisation It should be noted that it was not possible during the entire duration of the mandate to find a regular meeting time to hold online ECMs. This proved to be a huge problem to many but several factors, especially the difference in time zones and commitments such as fixed lecture and full time jobs made it difficult to find a regular time. We were fortunate that personal connections and commitments allowed frequent EC meetings and a mid-term retreat in Spa, Belgium. In person EC meetings were very useful, especially since there was no regular ECM meeting time, and allowed us to discuss in depth our strategies and approaches towards different topics. “So, I spoke to the Czechs …” - Morgan

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Communication and organisational tools were a constant topic of debate. Starting out with glip.com which proved to be good generally, but did not stand the test of time. Google hangouts, and Skype were also worthy contenders in the search of an efficient and lightweight communication tool, none of which really convinced. A simple google sheets task grid with tasks for each EC member was ultimately deemed to be the most efficient way to organise tasks which was updated with help from the office and which the whole EC could refer to.

“Don’t forget to feel the spreadshit” - Tornike

3) Challenges and limits

We went through the year and encountered many challenges on the way. As any board functioning over a voluntary basis with activists located in three different time zones, organisational, technological, logistical and other challenges occurred. Mistakes are the best way to learn and one can say that our biggest challenge this year was the lack of time and capacity to lead all the projects and activities we’d like to have been involved in. Although 8 executive committee members can seem quite a lot of people, taking decisions and lead a ratio of one event per month on average where many EC members could not commit as much time as they wished to which created some difficulty to ensure the functioning of FYEG in general. This led especially, and taking into account the lack of capacity, in parallel, of the office due to the departure of the Secretary General Shenna Sanchez, to overstress, and increased charge of work for the remaining EC members, causing distress and discomfort. Those situations should be avoided at all costs within a youth organisation fighting for youth empowerment. The highest priority should always remain the well-being of its own volunteers. We can draw some conclusions from this experience - however not in any case a new situation within the federation -, but also advices for the upcoming boards:

- It is essential that neither the treasurer, nor the spoke-persons do not take on too much responsibilities or projects coordination outside of their main mandate

- Executive Committee applicants and elected members should be aware and committed of the important charge of work that they are committing to by submitting their candidature. It is an amount of 10 to 20 hours of commitment per week that is being required, and any important

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change in this commitment possibility has influence on the workload of all colleagues and the quality of FYEG work in important ways.

- We realised that having both an EC responsible and an office responsible was a positive thing within the board, however these responsibilities should also be seen as time-consuming and the EC members responsible of such duties should take a less amount of tasks in parallel.

- Provisions might be proposed by the General Assembly in the direction of a bigger number of executive committee members or a completely overhauled structure of the EC and the office to take into account these provisions.

- Interpersonal skills will be developed during the mandate and willingness and positivity to work together and overcome conflicts but be at the heart of all EC members.

“This was a flipping amazing year!” - Johannes

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Personal EC reports Laura After almost 10 years of activism within the Young Greens, I thought nothing could surprise me anymore. I was wrong. From political struggles to administrative obligations, from the Green partners to the other party-political youth organisations, from Paris mobilisation to Twinning Cities, it has been an overloaded and tough yet unforgettable year. I learnt a lot from plenty of people I had the chance to meet on various occasions on the political battlefield, whether in the streets or in the coquettish meeting rooms of the European Parliament. I tried to play my part in the collective construction, and more than counting merits and failures of each of us individually, I think it’s worth it to look at the global picture and what we managed to achieve together. Of course, there were shortcomings, sometimes from our side, sometimes due to external circumstances, but that also means that there is potential and space for improvement. These improvements will necessarily have to be built on structural changes: we cannot allow FYEG to burn out roughly 5 highly motivated Young Greens every year. This is wrong from a human point of view, and it also harms our struggle for social and environmental Justice. Leaving these days, the things I mostly want to share with you is “keep on”, “be supportive to each other” and as we say in my écolo j regional group “change the world by partying!” Teo I think the past year has been more intense politically than any year I have experienced. Europe is changing extremely fast and it is often hard to be aware of what is going on lest to come up with the proper Green political action. But we have tried, and failed. And we have tried, and succeeded. Mostly the latter. I've had the the opportunity to work with an amazing group of people, from EC to office to Green partners to of course all the activists from our MOs that I had the privilege to meet and work with this year. Very little sleep. Many e-mails, meetings, trips, unforgettable experiences. There is not an ounce of regret that I decided to run for Spokesperson last year. I learned and grew as a person, and that keeps me vigilant and motivated. Thank you to everyone who made this year so special. It is a true privilege to fight on your side. Tornike Tornike made a photo of the year and Elen is Jealous about it, also had a car accident during ECM with Teo and Morgan, but every moment his thoughts were dedicated to the budget shits. This was really hard and transitioning year, without a doubt there were plenty things which I wanted to do but I hope hard work and dedication towards internal structure development will make the lives of next EC and office easier. We have established many financial policies and guidelines, raised capacity in financial management, have accomplished many bullets of FCC recommendations and achieved an overview of financial conditions of FYEG for years.

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Morgan Despite being very active in FYEG in the previous year, I could have not anticipated the demand that being a member of the EC would be. Being in the EC gave me exposure to very many interesting and exciting opportunities such as regular cooperation with the Green European Foundation and Journal, the European Youth Forum, the European Green Party’s campaigns, amongst others. My mandate consisted mostly of working on FYEG’s climate and TTIP campaigns, both of which were active intermittently in the year and in cooperation with the EGP and Green Group of the European Parliament (respectively). I also acted as Working Group Coordinator and responsible for the Ecosprinter, both of which were satisfying in that they put me in touch with members who were passionate about FYEG and exposure to various thematic debates on Greens topics, which are definitely the two things I love the most about FYEG. Johannes The past year has been hugely rewarding and successful. We can look back on outstanding achievements but also some pitfalls. Personally I take away a lot from the past year and see with sorrow so many of my dear friends and FYEG colleagues not seek another mandate. Most worryingly the negative impact being an EC member had on people’s health is worrying. Originally I started out as EC coordinator but during our retreat in Austria was told I had to move to Brussels in two weeks and start my new full time job with an NGO. This changed a lot for me personally and for what I could offer FYEG. Marie Hard to describe in ten lines a year of downs and ups, challenging but also rewarding times. I will not go through all the events, endless meetings, passionate discussions, late night, hangover-ed mornings and crazy adventures that we had all this year in the EC. It was very, for me, really a challenging year. I learned so much on a political but also on a personal level - about what we could do, what impact we could have, but also about what, personally, I was capable of. The state of current politics is frightening and can bring so easily to hopelessness and despair, but my year within this EC proved me once again that we can actually mobilise, be heard, be legitimate, and sometimes, be successful. And these are really these little organisational - or personal - successes that light up all the other moments of hard work and dedication that is required in such a team, in such a movement. I am grateful I had the opportunity to learn so much alongside my ‘colleagues’, and also alongside all the activists in the young greens movements that I had the opportunity to meet, work with, and do politics with this year. Cengiz I like the atmosphere of FYEG. I think we are a youth wing of a political party, which lives truly an international agenda. We may have differences but we have learned to unite in struggles. But we are more than a youth wing. For me FYEG and the activities I engaged with the past year have felt more like being part of movement. And I am proud of that.

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For me this year was breathtaking. My involvement in the Austrian Green Foundation and FYEG made politics for me a full time job. But I enjoyed it for this time. Some great moments: Observing the elections in Greece was a fascinating moment of progressive mobilization. I was happy to be able to host as ‘Austrian’ the first EC retreat and the Alps to have a great kick of, of this EC. One of the most emotionally affecting event for me was the #overthefortress mobilization to Idomeni and my visit of this refugee camp. Generally I was happy to contribute a lot of ideas and conceptualize them, develop narratives and let FYEG appear as a clear opposition of austerity and fighter for social rights.