Founding an AEGEE Local

Founding an AEGEE local

Do you live in a city without an AEGEE local? Right after gathering enough information on the Association and probably sharing your enthusiasm with others, the next step is to work up your courage and found an AEGEE local! Please find below some useful information about the procedure and the stages of establishing an AEGEE local group, and also about the rights and obligations you will have during this amazing journey.

All you need to remember is that even the biggest locals in AEGEE, counting hundreds of members, were only Contacts a few years ago! Their members were ready to face all the challenges you are up to at the moment… the start is never easy, but believe us, it is worth doing it!

Let’s begin, shall we?

Stages of development for an AEGEE local

To start an AEGEE local in your city you have to understand which stages you have to go through.

First of all, to start any activity as part of the AEGEE Network, a Contact must be accepted.

Even one enthusiastic person can establish a Contact, but working with others would definitely ease the situation, help spreading the word and attract more people. Running an AEGEE local definitely requires a good team!

To become a Contact you should:

1. Provide a support letter from the local University signed and stamped by an authorised university representative (dean or rector), stating that the University is willing to support a future AEGEE local in your city.
2. Fill in this application form explaining why you want to establish an AEGEE local in your city.

After sending these two scanned letters to the person in charge of Network Development in AEGEE (Beáta Matuszka, Network and Human Resources Director – beata.matuszka@aegee.org). In approximately 2 weeks time, you will receive an answer from AEGEE-Europe whether your documents have been accepted and a new Contact of AEGEE-Europe will be established in your city, or whether you have to provide any additional information or clarifications.

You have successfully established a Contact and now you can:

• attend all AEGEE events (events, Network Meetings, LTCs/RTCs etc.), except Summer Universities
• arrange presentations in universities to introduce more people to AEGEE
• organise local activities in your city
• attend statutory events of AEGEE (Agora, EBM) as a visitor

As Contact, you still cannot:

• use the official logo of AEGEE-Europe in any form of representation
• use the name of AEGEE-Europe – you have to name yourself “Contact of AEGEE-Europe in “Name of your city”
• vote at the Agora
• organise AEGEE events independently, without any cooperation with another AEGEE local
• attend a Summer University

After becoming a Contact you have maximum three Agorae (general assemblies) to prepare all necessary documents and go to the next stage – becoming a Contact Antenna -, otherwise the Contact will be deleted (you may find instructions on how to become a Contact Antenna in the Antenna Criteria section).

By following all these steps and becoming an official Contact Antenna, you are already a step closer to becoming a full member of the AEGEE family. Keep the motivation up, all the work is going to repay itself!