Here you can read the text without any of the images.
Replacing cultural barriers
• Making efforts that influence person to person experiences in the locations where our chapters thrive
• We are committed to improving and providing local assistance, adding value to communities that do better with our support
• We are a global network with a local voice.
2020 – the rearview mirror
A few words from the EEC President
Well, what can one say about 2020 and stay totally positive? The pandemic did manage to dampen quite a lot of what we had planned to achieve. We all missed getting together at the European conference. This will give us all the more reason to celebrate when/if we finally get to Skopje in 2021. Our Youth did manage to do quite a lot through Zoom and many chapters also remained as active as could be expected. As an amazing organization we have all kept good spirits and used this time productively. We have made some changes to our technology and we have transitioned some of the EEC roles through to our young members. We are not yet sure how the pandemic will be resolved but we shall face 2021 to the best of our abilities.
The all-Swiss meeting took place in September, and they were once again joined by Rolf Dahlberg from Sweden. The Youth chapters in Bulgaria, Kosovo, Romania and North Macedonia continued meeting, in COVID secure conditions to serve their communities. The Danish ladies focused on supporting a project they love in the Gambia and we have shared through our social media, projects from other parts of Africa led by PTPI chapters.
The student travel program had been supported by an external company until the latter half of 2020, when a new team were established inhouse at WHQ. This puts PTPI firmly in the lead of all travel programming allowing us a chance to offer options at a potentially better rate. The Regional Chairs have been meeting more regularly with WHQ to share thoughts and ideas for 2021 and beyond.
Despite the pandemic conditions, one thing that continued to be problematic, is to obtain feedback directly from the chapters. People that we want to encourage to join us members or when we seek funding, look for a sign-of-life. They want to see that we are active and we as chapters, take delight in hearing about what everyone is doing. This must be a big area for improvement during the year ahead.
Thank you all for your continued support and for being such amazing members of PTPI Europe.
Kaloyan Stoyanov
Regional President
Varna, Bulgaria
2020/21 – Structure
European Executive Committee (EEC)
Following our September 2020 AGM, this is how the EEC looks today.
European Executive Committee (EEC Youth)
Regional Chair/President – Kaloyan Stoyanov, Varna, Bulgaria
Secretary – Ana Maria Tihon, Roman, Romania
Vice Treasurer – Malina Palancianu, Roman, Romania
Youth Coordination Officer – Wiktor Malara, Katowice, Poland
Communications – Adian Nutu, Belgium/Romania
EEC Support
Treasurer – Thea Lauridsen; Toftlund, Denmark
Auditor – Hannelore Büchler; Berlin, Germany
Secretary – Rolf Dahlberg; Stockholm, Sweden
Technology – Chalks Corriette; Brussels, Belgium
Finance – Julie Mason; Brussels, Belgium
AGM – Summary
The AGM (annual general meeting) took place via zoom on Saturday 12 September 2020. This would have been our Council Meeting had the pandemic allowed our EU Conference to go ahead as planned.
Five countries participated, which did not provide us with quorum, which made it impossible to deal with anything that required a vote. These countries that did participate are; Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, North Macedonia and USA.
The minutes can be found in the Minutes folder in our Document Library.
Accounting 2020
All financial reports can also be found in our Document Library, in a folder called Accounting. Below is a one-page summary for information. The summary Receipts and Payments Account (below) shows a profit on the year of €1,397.84 and a balance in the bank on 31 December 2020 of €8,718.71.
Full report can be found at this link>
PTPI Europe – Receipts and Payments Account 2020
For the year ended 31 December 2020
RECEIPTS PAYMENTS
Funding income EU HQ expenses
Membership dues 530,00 World HQ dues -915,67
Commercial contributions 0,00 Office costs/supplies -360,00
Other contributions/donations 1.969,15 Operating insurance 0,00
Foundation/EU funding 868,70 Travel 0,00
Other income 0,00 Marketing/website -218,15
3.367,85 Hospitality 0,00
Internships -1.015,00
Other expenses (taxes/bank) -0,15
-2.508,97
Program and events income Program and event expenses
Program income 1.090,00 Program expenses -400,00
Project/Events income 0,00 Project/Events expenses 0,00
1.090,00 -400,00
Bank interest 0,00 Bank costs -151,04
Total Receipts 4.457,85 Total Payments -3.060,01
Total Receipts net of payments 1.397,84
Reconciliation to current bank balance:
Closing bank bal as at 31/12/2020 8.718,71
Opening bank bal as at 1/1/2020 7.320,87
Difference between opening 1.397,84
and closing bank balance
2020 – Chapter actions
To say that the year had been a challenging one would probably be an understatement. What we have done in this section, is to provide succinct. Information about what our intrepid chapters have been able to achieve, despite pandemic conditions.
What the chapters have done
Armenia
Yerevan Activities
We were happy to join the other youth of our Region through zoom, to participate in the Europe day project. We remain a community of passion and diligence wanting to do all that we can to promote Armenian culture. The pandemic did impact our ability to move around, but not our community spirit.
Albania
Gjirokastra Activities
One of our activities during this year was focused on the international day of peace. A reminder for us to focus on the people we interact with – bus driver, waiting staff, shop keeper. We shared a number of items on Social Media about cultural elements of Albania, such as our drinking of stone coffee. Zoom too played a large part of our year allowing us to stay connected with other chapters.
At large members
We have a very small number of members that fall into this category. They were former members of another European chapter and moved to a country where there is no chapter today. For example, the Netherlands, Ireland, Austria or France.
Bulgaria
Varna Activities
The Dolphins participated in a Europe day celebration project with other Youth in our Region through Zoom. Our annual festive projects were again a great success. We raise funds to help young people dealing with autism, for example. There is much to be done in our local community and we value our members and all that they do to ensure we do make a positive impact.
Plovdiv Activities
Like all the youth chapters in our Region, much of our confined time was spent doing what we could to support our local community. During the festive period we raised some funds for young Georgi who is fighting leukemia for the fourth time. We participated in a zoom mental health dialogue supported by some great speakers. Zoom also allowed us to host sessions like zero-waste opportunities, and conversations with the future.
Sofia Activities
The Doves Chapter started 2020 with a “Speed Dating” event (before Covid blew up). We also helped a newly opened restaurant spread its name. In September two of our members hosted a lecture about “Online Safety”. It was inspired by our staying at home and spending more time on the Internet. We wanted to inform or re-inform people about the dangers of the Web. We also made an online “Literary Workshop” – we announced a topic and throughout the day people would send us what they had written (whether the writings were poems, short stories, essays, etc.). It was a fun way to connect virtually and through creativity.
Belgium
Brussels Activities
Here in Belgium, we have taken our weekly coffee mornings and workshops online. This has allowed us to open participation to all countries in Europe and beyond. We continued to provide administrative support to the European Council activities. We have also provided WordPress web development support and fund development assistance to the Region of Africa.
Denmark
All Denmark Activities
Visiting Gambia – February 2020.
Thea Lauridsen: I am the project manager for an initiative that is educating women over 18 years old, who have never gone to school. Under the auspices we had arranged a trip to the Gambia, and among other things, visited two of our projects in Choya and Kubuneh.
Visiting South Africa – February/March 2020:
Anna Marie Bohsen: We made it! – got back to Denmark on 9 March, two days before our prime minister closed Denmark down and shut all borders. It was our fourth trip to the wonderful Western Cape in South Africa. We were a mixed group with PTPI members from Denmark and New Zealand.
Gunild Bogdahn: “The Danish Ladies” had an informal day trip to the Danish West coast in October. We discussed possibilities to get started when the pandemic is over. Where would we like to take groups? Will it be possible to invite members to and “All-Denmark-Meeting” (annual meeting) in April 2021. Our trips to Ireland and Japan were cancelled due to the pandemic.
Estonia
Tallinn Activities
Despite the pandemic, we had a busy year. Our chapter is mostly engaged in Erasmus funded and related projects. As an example, one of our online meetings in the frame of an Erasmus+ strategic partnership project, was for FinanciaLit4Women. The project aims to Improv financial literacy for NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) women through game-based learning. At each online meeting, the partners discuss project activities, outputs and management.
Italy
Milan Activities
Our Chapter in Milan were not so active this year. The pandemic made life very difficult for everyone. Here in Italy, it was particularly severe. Many of our members are of the older generation with underlying health issues, so we were in isolation. We stayed in contact with PTPI news through the What’s App group, the Village and email. We are very much looking forward to being more active in 2021, assuming the vaccination program is successful.
Kosovo
Klina Youth Chapter Activities
Due to the pandemic, this year our team decided to do something online for Halloween.
We developed a rewarding game where children of our community drew different things that they associated with Halloween. We published the results on our Facebook page. The four topmost liked drawings won rewards, made by the volunteers of our Chapter.
In December we distributed food to families in need. This was done by our members at the Youth Center Ardhmeria. Our group of young people were engaged and worked with great dedication supporting families needing some additional help.
Lithuania
Vilkaviskis Activities
Our youth chapter delivered service projects in their community. One project was to help
decorate a local children’s hospital. Like all the other EU chapters, most of our activities were impacted by the global pandemic. We have remained in good spirits and united with our PTPI family.
North Macedonia
Skopje Activities
Our chapter started 2020 intensively with preparations for the EU Conference. The youth team set up regular meetings and decided to make a promotional video that would attract more guests to the EU Conference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qndUO5wtBbk
A number of cultural locations, local food and traditions are included in the video as the PTPI members from Skopje take you on a tour of Skopje. Unfortunately, the PTPI 2020 EU Conference was postponed due to the pandemic.
Our chapter participated in the EU Day initiative coordinated by PTPI Europe with some of our members participating in the campaign. During the summer we hosted some small, open space, safe distance, with masks get togethers. The rest of the year went online.
Poland
Katowice Activities
One of our students took over the role of Youth Coordinator on the Regional Executive Committee (EEC). We participated with other young people in our Region, to produce short videos of hope for Europe day. Zoom has played a big part in allowing us to stay connected with each other during the dreaded pandemic. We are sad that we have not been able to venture out much more this year.
Romania
Roman Activities
Despite a complex year, we have managed to continue many of our volunteering activities. Our local beneficiaries were pleased that we could continue to support them. Over the festive holidays, we also managed to sell items like clothing, toys, books and food. The money raised from this activity, is used to support the Love and Hope center in Roman. We made an impact on the lives of 22 families through our efforts.
Serbia
Belgrade Activities
The EEC has not had much contact with this chapter for some time. We are making attempts to reconnect and bring them back into the family.
Switzerland
Interlaken Activities
In March we managed to squeeze in our AGM just four days before the first lockdown of 2020. We first enjoyed a tour of the Interlaken Castle (a former monastery) before the meeting. This was followed by a medieval dinner, which we enjoyed very much.
On 8 August we had our annual All-Swiss Chapter Meeting in Zurich. First, we had a tour through the Old Town followed by lunch in an outdoor restaurant close to the River Limmat. Our tour continued into the early afternoon. On 5 September, members of the Bern Chapter organized an E-Bike tour in the glorious hills of the Emmental. We had a wonderfully sunny day, and it was a real treat to be able to enjoy each other’s company. So much the better, as activities such as these became almost impossible.
Bern and Zurich Activities
Having fewer volunteers to lead two additional chapters, these have now merged with Team Interlaken to form an all-Swiss chapter grouping.
UK
UK Activities
In years past, we had two active chapters in the UK, one youth and one community. Whilst we remain in contact with our friends and former members, the chapters have closed due to a lack of volunteer leadership. We aim to re-establish a chapter again in the future.
This chapter report has included those chapters with visible social media pages, and those that submitted reports. If we have missed anyone, please let us know – mail@ptpi.eu. We do our very best to be as complete as we can through our reporting. You support in making improvements is very welcome.
2021 – Looking forward
Here is a summary of what we hope will be able to be done in 2021 within our Region.
• Review and action our Strategic plan
• Improve communication between chapters, EUHQ and WHQ
• Continuously improve our digital capability and quality
• Establish a range of talks and workshops to be delivered as Webinars
• Agree a lead for our Region to access institutional funding
• Host quarterly EEC zoom meetings
• Meet at the anticipated EU Conference, September in North Macedonia (at risk of cancellation due to ongoing C19 issues)
You can stay up to date with all that we do via our website, Shop and Village community.
If you have any questions, please do get in touch.
Version control: EUHQ 02.02.21 – v1.0
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