Bodies

9th of November 2005

Report from ENGSO Development Group (EDG) first meeting at ENGSO Forum
Madeira 28-29^th of October 2005

1.       Welcome and introduction

Short presentation of the objectives of the EDG and its members.

2.       Adopting of the agenda for the meeting

The EDG-members accepted the quite ambitious agenda for the meeting, some corrections timewise was made.

3.       Task of the EDG

General objectives for our work until the General Assembly in 2007

According to a decision taken by ENGSO-ExCom in August 2005 an ENGSO Development Group was established. The group had its first meeting during the ENGSO Forum in Madeira 28-29 October. The three main tasks of the group will be:

-          Evaluation of ENGSO’s role, aims, policies and strategies

-          Identifying a mission statement and important areas for ENGSO

-          Outlining a long-term strategic plan for ENGSO

Preliminary time-schedule for the process

-          August 2005 - ExCom takes decision to appoint a Development Group.

-          September 2005 - Members of the Development Group appointed.

-          28-29 October 2005 – First working group meeting for the Development Group. Information to participants at the ENGSO Forum at Madeira.

-          17-18 November 2005 – Second working group meeting for the Development Group in Amsterdam.

-          20-22 January 2006 – First preliminary report to ENGSO ExCom. ? Beginning of March 2006 – Reference-hearing (place yet to be confirmed, but probably in connection with some other European meeting or conference).

-          EDG-meetings during 2006 and 2007

-          April/May 2006 - Report to ENGSO General Assembly at Malta.

-          April/May 2007 – Final report to ENGSO General Assemby.

Members of the group

The members of the ENGSO Development Group are: Mr. Zdenko Kriz (Slovak republic); Mrs. Marije Dippel (the Netherlands); Mrs. Ilonda Luse (ENGSO Youth) and Mr. Toomas Tönise (Estonia). ENGSO General Secretary, Mr. Predrag Manojlovic (Serbia and Montenegro) will also be a member of the group as well as ENGSO ExCom President Mr. Bengt Sevelius (Sweden). The group will be chaired by two process-leaders, Mr. Stefan Bergh (head) and Mrs. Catarina Arfwidsson (vice).

Expectations from the members

      On the process… 

•          Plan in line with member expectations

•          Interaction internally and externally

•          Involvement from members, based on interest and urgency

•          Identify relevant information through evaluation

•          Concrete product!

•          “No sleeping at meetings”

On the outcome…

•          ENGSO position should be strengthened

•          Identify core business

•          Clear priorities

•          Analyse and strengthen member base

•          Develop ability to meet expectations/needs from member federations

•          Establish meeting places for sports development discussions

•          From plan to action!

4.       Working methods for the EDG

•          Open and transparent attitude:

                                                         - Internally (within the EDG)

                                                         - Externally (towards main target groups)

•          Information available for everybody

•          Interaction during the process

•          Progressive and offensive thinking!

5.       Reflections on ENGSO policy documents

Background material, i.e. policy documents, statutes, priority areas had been sent out to the group before the meeting. During this part of the meeting the members of the EDG were asked to make reflections on ENGSO today with the background material as a frame for the discussion. The EDG formed two groups and discussed the issue. Below are the reflections of the groups listed:

                                Group 1

§          ENGSO has a lot of different policy papers

§          ENGSO needs to make priorities in the strategy-papers

§          ENGSO should represent sport as a whole → all segments of sport

§          ENGSO has the competence for sport in its broadest sense

§          ENGSO is complimentary to other sport organisations ( i.e. EOC)

§          ENGSO has strong links to national organisations → with a # of nat. org.

§          ENGSO is the headquarter for NGOs

§          ENGSO is not strong enough (in EU)

§          ENGSO should have a balance between EU and non-EU issues

§          ENGSO stands for information, experience, examples and contacts

§          ENGSO is a catalyst for realizing ideas

§          ENGSO makes it possible to learn

§          ENGSO offers service to its members

§          ENGSO is a facilitator of services

§          ENGSO is a political organization

§          ENGSO is a frontrunner/catalyst when it concerns youth

§          ENGSO is not very well known

§          ENGSO does not produce a visible output that attracts others (financially)

§          Through ENGSO (but not always in ENGSOs name) different actors work with the same topic (i.e. leadership programme, Women in Sport)

§          ENGSO is a poor organization moneywise

        Group 2

§          Some existing important guidelines are missing in the background material (i.e. ENGSO Guidelines for children and youth) → the only document of NGOs on children and youth sports

§          ENGSO is a bridge between NGOs and GOs, but do not always succeed – sometimes ENGSO pretends to be a bridge

§          Problems to balance between EU-members and non EU-members needs and wants

§          ENGSO is a platform for exchanging experiences → relations between GOs and NGOs → new ideas, inspiration, projects → action plans and evaluation → arguments for national governments (the goodwill of sport) → discussions, reflections and decisions → learning

§          Catalyst between generations → representing the youngsters, giving them a European voice

This first discussion when EDG-members reflected on the different ENGSO-documents became a good introduction to the SWOT-analysis, which will follow in the next meeting.

6.       Planning: Report to ENGSO Forum participants

A Power-point presentation of the work of the EDG was put together. The report was presented to the ENGSO-participants by the process-leaders.

7.       Next meeting

Next meeting will take place in Amsterdam the 17-18^th of November. The main issues will be:

·          Report from the Madeira meeting

·          Confirming the future meeting plan

·          Composition of reference group

·          Dynamic and creative group processes

·          SWOT Analysis

8.       Closing of the meeting

After a short round of the table with some reflections of the EDGs first meeting, Stefan summarized the meeting as a very good start in a challenging and important project. Stefan and Catarina thanked the members of the group for their participation in the first step of the process.

Please get in touch with any of the process-leaders if you have questions or comments on this report. You reach us on the following addresses.

Stefan Bergh                                                                        Catarina Arfwidsson

+46-8-699 61 48                                                                 +46-8-699 62 44

cell +46-70-347 64 36                                                        cell +46-70-566 62 44

e-mail: stefan.bergh@rf.se                                               e-mail: catarina@sisuidrottsbocker.se