On Sunday the 16th February, JEF Netherlands held its annual General Member Assembly (GMA) in Maastricht. This Assembly was combined with a Capacity training held the day before. Both events helped to evaluate and improve the work of our national section.
On Saturday, the 15th February 2020, the Capacity Training took place. This training was designed to improve the communication strategy of JEF-NL by bringing together members of different local sections to discuss and evaluate their current work, past events and future projects. The input and participation of fellow JEF-NL member and JEF Europe president, Leonie Martin, and JEF Europe Executive Board Member, Andreas Hostgaard greatly contributed to developing a new and professional perspective on communication strategies and general strategies. All in all, the event allowed bringing together JEFers from different parts of the Netherlands for an exchange of ideas and experiences, to get to know each other better and work on a common vision that will help to strengthen the voice as Young European Federalists.
The GMA took place the day after the Capacity Training, on Sunday, the 16th February 2020. In general, the programm covered the presentation of an Activity and Financial report as well as the presentations of working groups that had developed ideas for cross-sectional events, a political program and statute amendments. A highlight of the Activity and Financial Report was the doubling of members in 2019! Afterwards, amendments and motions were discussed and voted on. The two major motions adopted were for the new board to present a gender neutral version of the statutes at the next GMA and to work on establishing a regional section in Holland. With the GMA, JEF NL has published a new political program thanks to much active participation by our members Eventually, the board candidates were presented and the new national board was elected as follows: Isabelle Christine Büttner for President, Vivien Szameitat for Vice-President, Evelin Emmerich for Secretary-General, Hannah Peters for Treasurer, Jannis Schneider for Communication Officer and Martin Wasser for International Officer. The GMA closed after a Spotlight moment for the sections. The JEF NL board is looking forward to the upcoming year and to the implementation of the ideas that were developed this weekend at the capacity training and GMA.
This weekend has shown the potential of JEF Netherlands as well as the work that needs to be done to make use of it. The newly elected board wants to thank everyone who participated for making these meetings a fun and productive time.