In March 2019, the 12th edition of the annual EFIL Programme Directors meeting was hosted in Amersfoort, Netherlands, by our Member Organisation, Stichting AFS Nederland.
A group of 26 enthusiastic participants and facilitators spent three intense days of workshops, information sessions and discussions aiming at better understanding each other’s realities, sharing best practices and learning from each other, looking for common solutions and improving the overall AFS programmes quality.
The meeting agenda focused on the topic identified as relevant by the by the participants themselves prior to our meeting, including sessions on trimester programmes ECTP & PEACE, PALM, Programme Growth Framework, challenges in hosting operations. Like every year, ample time was set aside for the popular Partner-to-Partner meetings to allow for concrete bilateral discussions and the meeting concluded with an open space where participants could address topics of their choices such as school relations and staff wellbeing.
We were happy to have with us in Amersfoort Bert Vercamer from AFS International, while Jenny Larentsinusdottir from EFIL presented the new development regarding the PEACE programme. The participants appreciated the opportunity, during the last day of the meeting, to visit the office of AFS Netherlands, meet with the staff and receive a presentation about the organisation by Vlady . A special thank you goes to AFS Netherlands for supporting the organisation of the meeting and arranging a walking tour of the city of Amersfoort. Thanks a lot to all the participants for actively taking part in our meeting and for creating a most pleasant working atmosphere. Looking forward to next year’s Programme Directors meeting! For more information: valentina.milanese@afs.org