New structure pilot 2021-2022

EUDEC will try a new governance from June 2021 until Summer 2022. Strategic decisions will still be taken in General Meetings (like it was before). Non-strategic decisions will be taken in “circles”. Any EUDEC member can be part of a circle and be part of the non-strategic decisions process. To do so, they only have to join the “Basecamp Team” of the project.

Graph that summarize the new structure pilot:

 

 

Full description

Version 2021-03-20 (updated with amendments voted in GM on 2021-03-20)

Article 3:12 Official officers

3:12.10 Official officers represent EUDEC e.V. legally to state administration.

3:12.20 The Annual General Meeting elects 3 official officers (see Article 2:60, for Elections procedures): Chair, Vice-Chair and Treasurer. They are elected for a term of one year. An official officer cannot be an Auditor.

3:12.30 Only an individual who is 18 years old or older, and who is currently a full member of EUDEC (see 2:10.a25) may be elected as an official officer.

3:12.40 An official officer doesn’t have any more decision power than other members. There are 2 exceptions: as described in the Articles of Association, if the Oversight committee suggested to do so, official officers committee can temporarily deny membership applications (until a decision is taken in the next Annual General Meeting), or decide to expel a member from the Association, if the member’s conduct gravely comprises the Association’s interests.

3:12.50 An official officer can resign at any moment, but they stay in legal responsibility until a new official officer has been elected.

Article 3:14 Circles

3:14.10 A circle is a group of members who work together on a part of the association. Any member can join a circle by joining the circle’s Basecamp team.

3:14.20 There are 7 circles :

  • Finance
  • Community animation (membership management, internal communication, relations with chapters, involvement and participation of members, especially students, etc.)
  • Governance
  • Support to ground (practical support to the democratic education initiatives)
  • External communication and lobbying (website, external newsletter, social media, relations with other structures, etc.)
  • Research and theory generation
  • EUDEC meetings (conference, congress, GM, coordination assemblies, etc.)

3:14.30 These circles are obtained by breaking the aim of EUDEC down. Each circle has a purpose and accountabilities (see “Annexe : purpose and accountabilities of circles”). Only the Annual General Meeting can create, modify or remove a circle.

3:14.40 [Here comes the purpose and accountabilities of every circle – it’s in annexe in this document, so that it’s easier to read]

3:14.50 A decision, if it’s not strategic, can be directly taken in a circle thanks to an asynchronous vote (see below). Any member can evaluate if the decision is strategic or not. If any member says it’s strategic, then the vote process stops and the decision has to be taken in the Annual General Meeting.

3:14.55: A strategic decision is defined as one which has an impact on the whole organisation.

3:14.58: there is a Basecamp team called “Announcement of decisions of all circles”. Every circle decision has to be announced on this team. Any member can join this Basecamp team.

3:14.60 Any member can initiate an asynchronous vote in a circle :

  • They post a message on the message board of the circle Basecamp team
    • the title should begin with “Vote:”
    • the proposal should be clear and should be formulated so that it’s possible to take a position on it (for or against).
    • they must add the “closing date and time” (no sooner than 192 hours after posting the proposal – ie. 8 days)
  • Any member can ask questions, contribute to the debate and/or vote using comments or boosts. There are 3 possible vote options : “Unready”, “For” and “Against”. “Unready” means that the member would like to make a decision, but they cannot because they would like more debate and the delay is too short. If the vote is not closed, any member can change their vote at any moment. 
  • Any member can stop the whole process and postpone the proposal to the next Annual General Meeting. They just have to write: postpone to GM. If they want to, they can explain why they find this decision is strategic and should be postponed to GM.
  • The author of the proposal can change the proposal at any time, providing that:
    • they write a comment with all the details of the change and the current state of the vote (who voted, and what)
    • they invite the members who already voted to write if they agree with the change
    • the change can only be valid if more than 50% of these members say they agree with the change.
  • The author of the proposal closes the vote after the “closing date and time”. They count how many members voted, and how many votes each option got, and publish the final result:
    • if no option scored more than 50% of the total number of members who voted, then the proposal is rejected
    • otherwise, the option with the most votes wins. If it’s “Unready”, the author of the proposal can choose to extend the vote until a new “closing date and time” or close the vote (the proposal is then rejected). If it’s “For”, the proposal is accepted. If it’s “Against”, the proposal is rejected. 
    • in case of equality between “Unready” and another option, “Unready” wins.
    • in case of equality between “For” and “Against”, “Against” wins.

Article 3:16 Coordination assembly

3:16.10 Every active member is invited to talk about the problems they see in EUDEC and about the work that has been done. This assembly is not a place to make decisions. If a council member (see 3:18) cannot join the meeting, they have to give notice to the other council members.

3:16.20 If possible, a participant takes minutes of the coordination assembly and publishes them on the Basecamp team “EUDEC HQ”.

3:16.30 The paid coordinator (see 3:19) is responsible for organizing the coordination assemblies.

Article 3:17 Update of circles

3:17.10 The name, the purpose and the accountabilities of circles can be updated by a decision in the Basecamp team “EUDEC HQ”. The decision takes place exactly like a circle decision (see 3:14). In that case, “EUDEC HQ” is seen as the “circle containing all members”.

3:17.20 Like in other circles, any member can stop the whole process and postpone the proposal to the next Annual General Meeting (see 3:14:60).

Article 3:18 Council

3:18.10 The Council coordinates the actions of all the members in EUDEC.

3:18.20 The Annual General Meeting elects 7 council members (see Article 2:60, for Elections procedures). They are elected for a term of two years. Each council seat is connected to a specific circle, and is elected separately from the other seats.

3:18.30 A member can candidate for several council seats

3:18.40 After the elections vote, the chairperson selects the council seat with the least candidates (if ex aequo, they choose between the ex aequo), and proposes the seat to the candidate who had the most votes (for this council seat) and is not yet elected to another council seat (if ex aequo, they choose the candidate who was candidate for the least council seats, and if still ex aequo, they choose between the ex aequo). If they accept, the candidate is officially elected. If not, the next candidate is asked, etc. If no candidate accepts (or if there are no candidates at all), the council seat remains empty until the next elections. Then the same process repeats for the next council seat (within the remaining council seats, they select the one with the least candidates, excluding the candidates who are yet already elected to a council seat).

3:18.50 The accountabilities of each council member is:

  • to know everything that is happening in a specific circle
  • to take part in regular “coordination assemblies” (see 3:16)

3:18.60 A council member doesn’t have any more decision power than other members. On the other hand, if a circle has dysfunctions (mistakes, inactions, unresolved conflicts, etc.), they are not more responsible for it than any other member.

3:18.70 The Council members receive no remuneration for acting as such, except repayment of reasonable expenses incurred by them in the normal course of their duties, after the repayment has been accepted by the circle “Finance”.

Article 3:19 Paid coordinator

3:19.10 The Paid coordinator purpose is:

  • Maintaining high communication quality between members, especially between council members, and especially between active members who are not in the same circles (for this point, paid coordinator is responsible for the organisation of “coordination assemblies” : see 3:16).
  • Dealing with incoming posts (directly answer, or if not possible, forward it to the right person).
  • Keep sure every decision is recorded and can be easily found by all members
  • Organise mediation if there is a conflict within the community

3:19.20 The Paid coordinator is designated by the Council (see 3:18) for the time the Council is elected. They can be earlier dismissed by the Council with a 2 months notice.

 

Annexe: purpose and accountabilities of circles

Finance

  • purpose: Efficient management of money, in adequation with EUDEC values
  • accountabilities:
    • decides repayment of reasonable expenses
    • legally responsible for administration of bookkeeping EUDEC’s employment contracts
    • maintains the financial records of the Community and is in charge of managing the Community’s finances on a day-to-day basis
    • presents the records to the Auditors in full for auditing
    • ensures that EUDEC’s financial records are audited and a financial report is made available to Council This, including an annual financial statement of the year’s transactions is presented at the Annual General Meeting
    • ensures that an annual budget is prepared for GM approval in advance of the beginning of each financial year

Community animation

  • purpose: A Community that creates quality links amongst its members
  • accountabilities: 
    • coordinates the activities of the Regional Chapters
    • provides EUDEC’s members and organs with information
    • maintains contact with the Regional Responsibles
    • at every GM gives a report, as appropriate, of the state of the Chapters and any news they may have
    • manage memberships
    • manage internal communication
    • boost involvement and participation of members, especially students

Governance

  • purpose: Clear, efficient, democratic and inclusive decision process
  • accountabilities: 
    • ensures that all necessary books and records of the Community required by the Guidance Document, by the Articles of Association (Satzung) or by any applicable statute or law are regularly and properly kept.
    • responsible for maintaining the accuracy and the safe-keeping of the Guidance Document and the Articles of Association and advises the Community on these matters.

Support to ground (practical support to the democratic education initiatives)

  • purpose: Democratic education initiatives can grow and be durable
  • accountabilities: 

External communication and lobbying (website, external newsletter, social media, relations with other structures, etc.)

  • purpose: Fame and credibility of democratic education grows outside the community
  • accountabilities: 
    • represents EUDEC publicly and politically
    • receives enquiries from interested parties within and without the Community and replies to them or forwards them as appropriate

Research and theory generation

  • purpose: 
  • accountabilities: 

EUDEC meetings (conference, congress, GM, coordination assemblies, etc.)

  • purpose: Meetings are regularly organised to gather members and people interested in Democratic Education
  • accountabilities: 
    • ensures that the EUDEC Congress happens
    • prepares and organises General Assemblies and is responsible for the implementation of any other task necessary to legally govern the organisation.
    • approve the content of any event held by or in the name of EUDEC