Activity Report 11 - Citizens of Europe

Activity Report
May 2011 - September 2012 of the 9th Board
Table of Content
1. Board
2. Members
3. Office
4. Meetings & Participations
5. Improving the work of Citizens
6. Activities
7. Publications
8. Cooperation
Citizens of Europe
Kiefholzstraße 2
D-12435 Berlin
Germany
office@citizens-of-europe.eu

Summary
1. Board
Chairman: Burgdörfer, Frank Berlin
Vice-Chairman: Tobisch, Jürgen Berlin
Vice-Chairwomen: Jokela, Maaret Basel
Secretary General: Randig, Rasmus Tübingen
Treasurer: Kunow, Tobias Berlin
Additional Member: Backmund, Susanne Würzburg
Additional Member: Vredegoor, Nuna Berlin
2. Members
Citizens of Europe has currently 88 registered members.
3. Office
a) General
Present in the office as office administrator is Livia Pelyhes who took
the position in January 2012 succeeding Francesca La Vigna. As EVS
volunteers are present Carmen Kong-Zech, UK, started her EVS in
October 2011 and will finish in October 2012 and Maria Nehme,
Sweden, who arrived in July and will leave next year in June.
Kamala Hamilton-Brown, UK, who started her EVS on 1 st May 2011,
finished her EVS at the end of April. Laura Rosso who had started her
EVS on 1 st June 2010 and Tristan Guigé who had started his EVS on
15 th September 2010, both from France, regularly finished their
services on 31 st May 2011, respectively 14 th September 2011.
Aleksandar Ribac from Serbia had started his EVS on 7 th September
2011. The board decided to finish his EVS in the end of September
2011 before the regular date. The reasons for this decision had
emerged during his occupation at the office and did not allow
maintaining further collaboration with Mr Ribac.
b) Internships
From February until June 2011 Nina Vredegoor, social works student
from the Netherlands, did an internship at the office of Citizens of
Europe in order to write her Bachelor thesis named "Stadtaffen -
Young Volunteers in Big Cities in Europe".
Antti Kaurala, student of primary school teacher studies from Finland,
finished his internship at Citizens of Europe in May during which he
was supporting the office team and preparing the Landau Citizens'
Convention.
In May Elisa Kaurala, Finland, was an intern at the office.
From July until the end of August Daniela Basile, Italy, was working
on the contents of the new website.

4. Meetings and Participations
a) Scheduled Board meeting
Since June 2011 the Board of Citizens of Europe met regularly to
discuss and to decide on the issues concerning the association.
- Meeting of the Board, 19 th June 2011, Berlin
- Meeting of the Board, 28 th August 2011, Basel, Switzerland
- Meeting of the Board, 19 th September 2011, Berlin
- Meeting of the Board, 26 th February 2012, Berlin
- Meeting of the Board, 22 nd April 2012, Berlin
- Meeting of the Board, 23 rd June 2012, Berlin
b) Project and coordinating meetings
On 17 th June, 12 th August 2011 and 22 nd June 2012 a Barbecue for
members and friends of Citizens of Europe was held at the terrace of
our office in Berlin.
From 15 th to 22 nd October 2011 Franscesca La Vigna, who held at that
time the position of office administrator, participated the study-visit
“Discover the Caucasus – Volunteering in Georgia” in Georgia. There
she gathered on behalf of Citizens of Europe with 32 EVS coordinators
and youth workers from the EU, neighbouring countries and the
Caucasus.
c) Participation and visits
On 2 July, Frank Burgdörfer met Prof. Dr. Siegmar Schmidt (Uni
Landau), Jörg Saalbach (Europa Union) and Maria Müller-Andritzky for
an evaluation of v11 and the Convention, for the planning of the
follow up (documentation, presentation in Landau) and for the
discussion of potential future cooperation.
On 4 July, Frank Burgdörfer met Christopher Wratil ('Europe and me')
in order to discuss future cooperation. Together we drafted an
agreement regarding the joint use of our office and the new 'Europe
and me' volunteer of Citizens of Europe.
On 15 and 21 July and on 18 August, a group of people interested in
the new project "Beyond the Crisis" met in the office and developed a
concept and first plans.
On 22 July, Frank Burgdörfer met Jörn Bensch (Triagonale) in the
office in order to plan the Layout of the new website.
On 11 August, Tobias Sauer (Cafe Babel) visited the office for an
interview with Frank Burgdörfer, Kamala Hamilton-Brown and Tristan
Guigé on the work of Citizens of Europe.
On 17 August, Frank Burgdörfer gave an interview for the morning
magazine of "TV.Berlin". It was broadcasted on 24 August.
On 18 August, Frank Burgdörfer met Nicole Kaim (Initiative for
European Studies) for a discussion on future cooperation.
On 27 September Rasmus Randig met Éva Szentgyörgyvölgyi
(Hungarian Model of the United Nations Student Association) in Berlin
in order to inquire successfully the possibility of a participating of the
HMUNSA in “Beyond the Crisis”.

5. Improving the Work of Citizens
In a continuous effort to ameliorate Citizens’ working procedures and
facilitate access for members, partners and friends, the Board
initiated the following steps.
- The new website providing an essential tools of
communication for a transnational network was finalized and
launched in August 2012.
- The Citizens Yearbook has finally been finished and printed
and will soon be forwarded to our members. The yearbook is
funded by the Aktion Mensch foundation. Responsible for it
was Citizens member Anna John.
- From now a contract will be drafted between the person in
charge and Citizens of Europe for all projects submitted in the
name of Citizens of that where approved for getting grants as
a mean to define and clarify mutual expectations and the
sharing of the tasks. This procedure will be executed
according the Rules of Procedure for Projects as passed in the
General Assembly in Berlin on 10 April 2010: http://
wiki.citizens-of-europe.eu/images/7/78/RoP_Projects_2010.pdf.
- The board transferred its internal communication to a googlegroup
named “Citizens-Board”. It can be reached under
citizens-board@googlegroups.com.
6. Activities
a) MyEurope
MyEurope brings productions made by European filmmakers and
dealing with European issues to screen. During the Citizens
Convention in Landau the "Karl", MyEurope's audience award for the
best films 2010 in the My Europe categories "Living in Europe" and
"Politics and Policies" was handed over to director Paul Robinson for
his film "Fanatic" and animator Marcus Grysczok for the film
"Esterhazy".
The new edition took place between November 2011 and February
2012, with screenings all over Europe. The short films were shown at
locations across Europe – at cinemas, universities, youth
organisations and national cultural agencies. The aim was to bring
European films, dealing with European issues to a truly European
audience.
MyEurope presented two programmes: 1. “Living in Europe”: life
styles, living conditions and the environment of European citizens,
and 2. “Politics and Policies”: human rights, intercultural dialogue
and current problems of the political agenda. If films are not
explicitly about Europe – the European dimension comes out of the
comparison of stories, conflicts and topics.
During the European Week Citizens of Europe e.V. presented on
Friday, 11 May 2012, a special edition of its short film programme
MyEurope in the Southern German town Sindelfingen. Following the
“European year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations”
our four selected films showed examples of conflicts and solidarity
between different generations. Filmmaker Levon Minadian (“The
Piano”) was present for an interview.

) EVS
Besides its hosting activities described above, Citizens of Europe
remains an active sending organization as well.
In September 2011 Kay Mangelsdorf, Mareike Schröter and Timm
Krebs came back to Germany. They spent 1 year in Minsk (Belarus)
under the supervision of the coordinating NGO Fialta working with
disabled children and youngsters in a day centre.
Rasmus Randig has been the holder of a EVS placement in Ankara,
Turkey, from 1 st January to 30 th September with the NGO "System &
Generation" where he is disseminating information on European
opportunities for young people and to develop projects.
From December 2010 to December 2011 Julia Schmuck was actively
involved in the “Colouring their world!” project in Istanbul (Turkey),
run by Aile Eğitim Derneği (AED). From October 2010 to October 2011
Marianne Ziebula also worked at the Aile Eğitim Derneği (AED) in
Istanbul (Turkey). The project “Empowerment through education”
aims to support the organisation in projects with a high socio-cultural
relevance: the Bomonti house (an elderly home for people with no
Turkish residence permission), the Iraqi school (a centre for political
refugees) and the Maden school (a school for kids with learning
disabilities and handicaps).
Tilla Bensmann from Berlin participated in the project “Stand by me!”
in Thessaloniki, Greece. Her EVS lasted from February 2011 until
October 2011.
Since 1 st September 2011 Sarah Bauer is holding a EVS position in
Belgrade, Serbia. She is contributing to the project “Media for All” des
Media Education Centres in Belgrade until 31 st October 2012.
Since February 2012 Aaron Schaar, is doing a EVS in Plateliai,
Lithuania, until January 2013.
Since June 2011 Madlen Schmitz-Röckerat is holding a EVS position for
one year in Arrouquelas, Portugal.
Magdalena Stawiana is holding a EVS position in Yerevan, Armenia,
since July and will stay there until the end of February 2012.
c) ACTIVacting
In May the project period of Rui Montez's "ACTIVacting Creativity!"
began. This project is based on the idea that everybody is capable of
being creative; the task is to discover your own creativity, train it and
learn how to use it. We will support the group process and individual
development. The participants will be sleeping in 7 bed bedrooms,
sharing a house with a beautiful garden and taking care of house
duties, such as cooking, for example. Considering individual needs
we will share an intensive (and hopefully great) week as a group.
Different interactive methods will support participants firstly to “feel
and experience” and then to "reflect and build" on this experience.
Virginia Bertelli, Rui Montez and Sławomir Muzioł will run this
Training Course. The three trainers come from different backgrounds
and bring different – but complementary – approaches to creativity,
self-development and entrepreneurship.

d) I, CULTURE - contemporary craft workshop
“I, CULTURE” is an art project promoted by the Adam Mickiewicz
Institute and realised as part of “I, Culture” - the International
Cultural Programme of the Polish EU Presidency, which took place in
12 capital cities world wide. It aims to examine the role of crafts in
contemporary culture and to stimulate audience participation. The “I,
CULTURE” workshop tries to get participants into the role of creators
and at the same time to spark off reflection on how things are made.
In Berlin a group of 20 volunteers cooperated with the fashion
designer and artist Monika Jakubiak from 2 to the 5 August 2011.
e) How we shape our past
The project is a cooperation between Citizens of Europe, Foundation
for Democratic Youth (Hungary), Informal Education Initiatives
(Lithuania) and Vuste Envis (Czech Republic), coordinated by Lina
Jukonyte on behalf of Citizens of Europe. It wants to examine
different perceptions of history in countries that have a fascist,
respectively socialist past – or both. The projects consist of 4
seminars in Germany, Hungary, Lithuania and Czech Republic and 1
OpenForum in Germany.
From 2 nd to 5 th February 2012 the first seminar successfully took place
in Berlin followed by the one in Hungary from 15 th to 18 th March, from
17 th to 20 th May in Vilnius and 12 th to 15 th July in Prague. An
OpenForum from 31 st August until 3 rd September 2012 in Weimar will
be the final event.
f) Involve me, Europe!
On 25 th April 2011 a group of participants from across Europe took
part in a training program about “EU-Simulation games” in Bad
Urach. This training was organised by Citizens of Europe in
cooperation with Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Baden-
Württemberg and supported by the EU’s Youth in Action programme.
It addressed areas of EU youth policy, non-formal learning (e.g.
simulations) and participative methods in political youth education.
g) Beyond the Crisis
From 30 th September until October 3 rd 2011 a small team from
Citizens travelled to Athens, Greece, in order to gain inside views
from the public demonstrations in the Greek capital. Their
experiences were presented in a blog published on the Citizens
website and they are planned to be exploited within further projects.
h) Initative for European Studies (INES) – seminar
In January 2011, we were partner in a project by the Iniatiative for
European Studies (INES) on the financial aspects of the crisis to take
place in Landau.
i) EUROCOOP – Europe as a group!
From the 3 rd to the 9 th May 2011 a group of 25 participants coming
from Portugal, Spain, Romania, Czech Republic, Germany, France and
Lithuania took part in the “EUROCOOP – Europe as a group!” Youth
seminar (Action 4.3) organised by our partner Rota Jovem, within the
frame of the Youth in Action Programme. They gathered together in
Alentejo (Portugal) with the main aim to build up a European
cooperation platform to face daily life challenges, which affect Youth.

j) Neighbours Together
From 21 st to 27 May 4 participants from Germany participated in a
study visit with the topic of “Neighbouring” in Turkey within the
framework of the Youth Initiative “Neighbours Together - The Good
Thing of Living Side by Side” by the Turkish NGO “System &
Generation” where Citizens of Europe is a Partner in.
A report by our Office Administrator Francesca La Vigna who was one
of the participants can be found on our website: http://
panorama.citizens-of-europe.eu/?p=2625.
k) Kiez Europe
The EVS volunteers Laura Rosso and Tristan Guigé produced a half an
hour radio show with the name “Kiez Europe”. It was broadcasted by
the Berlin local radio station “Alex Radio” on 26 th July 2011. They
interviewed Ralph Williams and Ruth Michaelson about the
foundation and future of the magazine “A Tale of Three Cities” and
Liyndsey Cockwell, Director of Berlin Pop Choir.
7. Publications
John, Anna et al. (ed.): Citizens of Europe e.V.: Projects and Positions.
Yearbook 2010/2011. Berlin 2012.
8. Cooperation
a) Europe&Me
Citizens of Europe intensified its cooperation with the Charlemagne-
Prize winning online magazine „Europe&Me“. Citizens of Europe is
providing a EVS placement for the online magazine in its office in
Berlin. The volunteer is Carmen Kong, UK, who stays together with
the Citizens team since October 20122 until October 2012 mainly
works for the magazine.
b) Initiative for European Studies (INES)
Citizens of Europe collaborated for the first time at the Citizens-
Convention in Landau 2011 with the Initiative for European Studies
(INES) and afterwards made efforts to maintain a co-operation. In
January board member Maaret Jokela and EVS volunteer Kamala
Hamilton-Brown were participants in a seminar on the financial crisis
organised by INES. The 5 th board meeting will be parallel to that one
of INES in Berlin in order to allow to discuss possible future
collaborations.
Rasmus Randig,
Secretary General
rasmus.randig@citizens-od-europe.eu
Wolfenbüttel, 3 August 2012