PARTNER NEWS
In each edition of EFILife, we dedicate some space to partner news, including personnel changes as well as relevant events that have taken place over the past month.
From AFS Switzerland comes the news that Sabine Siegrist will resign from her position as Partner Director in early June 2015 after almost 10 years of dedicated and very efficient work for AFS Switzerland. Thanks to Sabine and her team, AFS Switzerland has been able to maintain a high overall quality of all services. Sabine had the vision and the will to steer AFS Switzerland through not always calm waters to new shores; the organisation has benefitted from her ability to move the organisation forward and explore new avenues. She is also well respected in the international AFS world, where she has served in various committees, e.g. 6 years as elected Partner Director Representative to the BoT and the Management Council.
AFS Egypt informs that Germine Hosny takes over the position as Sending Coordinator next to her current responsibility for the YES programme. Mona Fadali, former Sending Coordinator will stay with the organisation as the new Organisational Development Coordinator. Both were thanked by the office for their great dedication, hard work and commitment over the past years.
On 28 March 2015 AFS Bosnia and Herzegovina held its sixth General Assembly in Sarajevo where a new Board has been elected. Mila Majstorovic, President of the Organization, presented the Annual report 2014, highlighting the growth of the AFS Programmes and the hosting of the 7th edition of EFIL’s annual Volunteer Summer Summit last summer in Sutjeska. The Assembly thanked and acknowledged Aljosa Preradovic, former Chair, and Branka Kolar-Mijatovic, former Board member, as well as Neira Milavica who stepped down from the Board last year when she accepted the Programme Manager position. Milan Kusmuk, who represented the organisation at the World Congress in Paris last November, was elected as the new Chair, with Andrej Rosic as Vice-Chair. Other Board members are: Edin Fazlovic, Kenan Hadzic and Sara Pandzic. The first Board meeting was held the next day in Sarajevo. It was attended by Inga Menke from EFIL . For more: see elsewhere in this edition of EFILife.
AFS Belgium Flanders weIcomes a new colleague to be appointed as school programme responsible as of 1 August. In the meantime Stijn Van den Bergh, currently holding this position will introduce his successor Matthias Van Hijfte to the different tasks. Stijn started working part-time for the IT department of AFS International and will continue on a part-time basis with AFS Belgium Flanders until 31 July.
André Oliveira, the Chair of AFS Portugal handed over his responsibilities to his successor Dúlio Santos. Dúlio has been a volunteer for 10 years and has been on the Board since 2012. Dulio was a member of EFIL’s TICLAB (Training & Intercultural Learning Advisory Body), and he has been very involved with training and ICL at European level as an active volunteer for EFIL. The new Board is composed of: Dúlio Santos, André Carvalho, Rita Ribeiro dos Santos, Beatriz Fonseca, Andre Oliveira, João Rino and Sílvia Fragoso.
AFS Austria too had recent Board elections. Doris Strauss was reconfirmed as Chair of the Board. The new Board of AFS Austria is composed of: Doris Strauss, Chair; Christoph Maitz, Vice-Chair; Wolfgang Nowatschek, Treasurer; Tina Engel-Unterberger; Manuela Schuetzl; Bernd Andersson; Gernot Winter; Florian Scholz
