Black sheep

Am sitting in the office, 5 minutes after midnight, really happy that I managed the deadline =) No I am not the last minute applier. I just had so much to do, that I prioritized this way. Campaigns in Active are so far not a huge success, the member organisations have other things to deal with, but still, if we have time and energy to come up with some campaigns and apply for them, we can slowly but surely create a campaign culture in this organisation. Of course not to be stuborn and just run a campaign for a campaign. No no – I am thinking the other way around. I am thinking – what have our organisations in common, what are they dealing with, what can be the thing that will just enrich their current activities and bring the spirit of sharing the same ideals and goals?

I was thinking and thinking, believing that some idea would strike me in the end and it did! Inspired by the campaigns of IOGT-NTO that are clearly and in a very interesting and attractive way showing connection between alcohol consumption and violation of Human Rights, I created a campaign called “Black sheep”  - based on the same idea, but of course adjusted to the European standards. I even created an introduction picture:

Black sheep

So let´s see how it will work out. I enjoyed =)

Looking back – being thankful!

Switzerland – Germany – Göteborg. Those are the places where I have been these weeks. Everything went so fast that I did not have time to reflect or “digest” all the experience and impressions. Now I am sitting at UNF Congress, following the discussions and having lots of time for thinking.

IOGT Switzerland was an experience.  Sleeping on a farm, in straw but being at the Congress in a nice fancy place. Nice combination. My Switzerland experience is actually full of combinations – young and old together, local and international focus, serious discussions and fun. I was happy to see this organisation a bit closer. To understand it a bit better.

Germany was a nice holiday. Very short. Lots of kilometers spent in a car. But still energizing. Doing something what I do not do so often – watching a graduation party. Walking a bit around Berlin and Munster. Realizing that I understand more German than I thought. And almost no responsibilities.

And now UNF Congress. More than 100 delegates gathered for 5 days to discuss and plan and devote their time (it´s summer holiday here) and energy into making the world better. Congress sessions start at 9.00 food breaks are pretty short, now it´s 20.00 and the debates are still going on. People here gather during breaks to read through the papers, discuss them, prepare for the comming sessions. I like this culture. It makes me happy to see it! So eventhough I have not really a lot to do , I really enjoy following the whole process. It will give me strength for the days when I will sit in the office and feel very alone in what I do. I will try to remember that I am not. 

 I am very thankful for being able to see this!

And it´s launched =)

Active´s campaign Content matters is launched. If I could I would contribute =)

But you can so become a co-author of a book! =)

Time to express yourself!

The Easter holiday is over and I have to admit that I really enjoyed free days, sun, sports and long walks with Dante. It energized me more than I could expect.

I am back to work now, really full of enthusiasm to “work” with our issues.  There are several great things going on and I would like to mention two of them.

Content matters

 One is going to be launched hopefully tomorrow. It´s our camapaign called Content matters and it´s about stories and views of young people. More details on the webpage and in the coming Transit very soon =) For now I can publish at least a logo of the campaign. You will get to see this logo pretty much so I hope you like it =)

Another thing I really like is an initiative of European Commission and European Youth Forum (YFJ) “Have your say”. Young people writing blogs about health. Whatever comes to your mind! Write. I like it. It´s something Active people should not miss. If we miss this, then I wonder why Active exists. And it´s more than blogs. You can read more about it here

I really like how many possiblities there are now for young people to have an impact, to influence, to express their opinion and create a certain discourse.  And I just really hope that the youth I work for can see it as well.

After three weeks

Three really crazy weeks have past…week = work work work, weekend = Juvente skolen in Norway ( also work), week = work, work, work (the days at work are getting longer and longer), weekend = UNF international committee meeting, week = work, work, work (the days at work are really long  and end between 20.00 and 23.00. And then finally Sarajevo, including two different meetings and one seminar.

Sarajevo is very special. I always feel “deeper” when being there. It makes me think. I think about humanity. About time. About history and past and the fine line between them. I think about conflicts and peace. And about lifestyle. About happiness. It was wonderful to meet a friend I have not seen since summer. It was great to see the Active board together and in action. I also managed to write an article and prepare my lecture. I hope both the article and the lecture will give something to others. But even if not, I really enjoyed preparing them =) I got to move the parts of my brain where my psychology knowledge is stored =)

It´s been some time since I was to an Active seminar. I am thankful I got to be there with the participants, to see them coming, to see them getting know each other, to see them discussing, to see them learning from each other and taking care of each other. I really enjoyed the atmosphere. I enjoyed the place eventhough the first encounter was very cold – the building was not heated up. The people made it warm and unforgettable. It was not easy to leave. I would like to be there till the end of the seminar, to see how the application I had once written have changed into a real event, with real activities and real people.

It was not easy to leave, but it was nice to come home. To get some sleep finally. To spent time with Dante and to do nothing for a change =)

www.activeeurope.org

…there we go. Our new webpage =)

Comments are of course welcome!!!

Your participation is invaluable

“You have completed the form. Thank you very much. Your participation is invaluable”

This message popped up when I submittet Active´s contribution to WHO public hearing on a global alcohol strategy. It was a great feeling. Great that Active board together with the office has devoted the time to that since a global strategy on alcohol issues is very very important for further development. And who else should contribute if not Active? So right now I am proud of us =)

The contribution will be available on WHO web page and on Active´s webpage of course.

There are different realities

..and I am so happy that the reality I spent most time in is connected to Active.

Our seminar Tolerance – harmony in differences held in Czech Republic has finished one week ago. I have not been there. I have not experienced the atmopshere there but I have seen at least a short video from the seminar and I am so proud. So proud of Active. Of people who care for others and for the world. It´s my pleasure to work for this organisation:

Active board calls

Active board

So there they go. The new Active board met this weekend and the thought of them working together makes me feel warm and nice.

Several new plans, campaigns, imporvements. More information about each will come as soon as we have answers from foundations.

But there are two working groups that gonna be estabilished in near future you already now can apply to be member of if you are interested: 

SUPPORT GROUP

The support group is a tool for the Active board in helping strengthening and enlarging member organisations, when\if needed.

 

-          This group should be an open group, including both representatives of the board and members from the national organisations.

-          This group shall be working web-based and if financially possible have meetings during the year.

-          The member of the groups should have a certain knowledge and experience in different fields of running and strengthening organisations.

-          The group should consist of persons with different background and be based on geographical and gender balance.

 

The support group’s tasks could be:

 

-          To maintain a continuous communication with all Active member organisations.

-          to investigate and monitor local situation in the member organisation’s countries

-          to investigate and monitor the needs/problems of MO’s

-          to point out the concrete problems of the MO’s

-          to produce guidelines/resources for solving these problems

-          to create a fund for the needs of the group and open for MO’s to apply for resources (knowledge, finances, human resources)

POLITICAL GROUP

Our political aim is to communicate our policies and values to external actors, to actively involve our MOs in political work and deepen good relations with existing partners

 

Therefore:

The group should consist of persons with different background and be based on geographical and gender balance.

       Shall work web-based and meet if financially possible

       encourage and train MOs to do lobby work on local and national level

       encourage MOs to become members of the NYC-s when possible

       gather information

       analyse and communicate information to members – reports from events, memos, backround papers, EU updates, etc.

       Encourage member organisastions to produce guidelines and resource materials for political work on national and local level

       Prepare and when needed lead policy discussions for and on Active events, such as congress and seminars

       Prepare new policy papers on topics relevant to Active – e.g. social inclusion, volunteering, health in general, gender etc.

       The next board should take the responsability for updating the existing Alcohol Policy program

 

l        Should organise a lobby seminar on advanced level

       Encourage MOs to do follow-up seminars on national levels

l        Should look into developing opinions in new policy areas

l        Encourage ACTIVE and its MOs to invite external guests to ACTIVE and MO’s events and meetings

l        Encourage ACTIVE to use external experts in our work

l        Write press releases to gain more acknowledgement and recognition on European level and when possible also on national level

Feel free to contact the office at office(at)activeeurope(dot)org if you want more information or if you wanna be part of one of the groups. The deadline is 25th of November 2008.

Active ACTIVE week

It´s friday. The Active board is coming soon and I am preparing for the meeting. And I am very satisfied with what has been done in Active and NORDGU recently.

We have received a grant for having a volunteer (the grant I have been worried the most about).

The seminar in Czech republic is under control and it starts next week. Very well done by Saska.

The next seminar in Sarajevo is already being planned and prepared so we will be on time with everything =) Very well done by Emina.

The office has been home for 5 girls from Faroe Islands and 2 volunteers from Denmark this week. NORDGU is having a small seminar for these guys. The topic is organisation and leadership.  Mari is doing really great! And I was back to “root” work for one morning when I had to jump in for one lecturer who could not come and talk about leadership. It was great to hold a little lecture, to draw conclusions, to make people think and learn by experiencing different situations. More such =) Anyone in a need of a lecture? =)

Juvente Germany will with support of UNF have a beer buying campaign =) I am so happy that the organisations in Active cooperate and exchange knowledge. The beer buying campaign is really great example. One organisation (in this case UNF) that is really good at smth (beer buying control) provides know how for other organisations (even some financial support was provided). And the knowledge is spread. From my own experience I know that the campaign was pretty easy to carry out and it had a great impact on the local organisations (the members feel that they do smth, they have some results they can use as arguments, the alcohol policy is not that abstract to them anymore). Really makes me happy when words are turned into deeds.

This week has made me very happy! And my work makes me very happy =)