The first meeting of the newly refreshed Training and Intercultural Learning Advisory Body (TICLAB) took place 15-17 May in Budapest, alongside the EFIL General Assembly (GA).
The TICLAB – an advisory group to the EFIL Secretariat helping to plan and evaluate training and intercultural learning activities – consists of experienced representatives of the AFS network chosen always for a 2-year mandate. In 2015-2016 the TICLAB has the following composition: Emilija Gagrcin (volunteer, AFS Germany/AFS Serbia), Omer Ongun (volunteer, AFS Turkey), Gabor Csikos (staff, AFS Hungary), Roberto Ferrero (staff, AFS Italy) and Melissa Liles (staff, AFS International). The EFIL Secretariat is represented in the TICLAB by Izabela Jurczik-Arnold and Inga Menke.
The topics on the TICLAB agenda include both strategic and operational issues. Hence in every in-person meeting the group evaluates past EFIL’s educational activities and the functioning of the European Pool of Trainers, gives input to the upcoming projects, discusses synergies and co-ordination with AFS Network-wide initiatives and comes up with ideas for new topics to tackle in future training. On a broader level, the TICLAB monitors the implementation of two key documents: the Strategy for Training and the Strategy for Intercultural Learning.
The meeting in Budapest was an opportunity for TICLAB members (for the first time since it was established) to also directly interact with leaders of EFIL’s Member Organisations. During the joint session with the General Assembly, the attendees discussed EFIL’s Strategy for Intercultural Learning: its success indicators, the practical implementation aspects and how they relate to the AFS work at national and local level. The synergy with the GA was very much appreciated and the input received will be used by the TICLAB for further monitoring of the Strategy.
One of the next big tasks on the TICLAB agenda will be the revision of EFIL’s Strategy for Training. The updated version of the paper will be concluded by the end of 2015. On this, and any other training and intercultural learning issues, the group welcomes input from AFS volunteers and staff from all over Europe.
The TICLAB members can be approached through the address: ticlab@afs.org.
For more izabela.jurczik-arnold@afs.org