eu can aid!’s constituent parts are the General Assembly, the Committee, the Bureau, the Projects Group and the Awareness-Raising Group.
General Assembly
The General Assembly is made up of all eu can aid! association members. It takes all the decisions that commit the association in the long term. The General Assembly is convened every year to elect Board and Committee members, adopt the President’s report and the audited accounts and approve the work of the Committee in the previous year. The reports of the meeting are published in the “Documentation” section of this website. Important decision, such as a change to the rules of procedure, can also be adopted at extraordinary meetings of the General Assembly.
Committee
The Board, or Committee, is made up of around 20 volunteers, elected by the General Assembly. The Committee meets once a month to take operational decisions. It accounts for its management of the previous year’s business to the General Assembly convened in an ordinary meeting.
Among other things, the Committee examines the proposals for support submitted by the Projects Group and decides whether to accept the proposal, the amount of funding to commit and the conditions, if any, to attach to the funding.
It also receives suggestions from the Awareness-Raising Group, which advises it on communication initiatives.
To ensure transparency, Committee meetings are open to all members who wish to attend, though as observers, with no right of vote.
Within the Committee, the Bureau, composed of the President, Treasurer and Secretary, prepares the meetings of the Committee and takes the necessary administrative decisions to enable the association to work.
Projects Group
The Projects Group meets once a week. It is open to all members who wish to volunteer to take part in evaluating the requests for funding received by the association secretariat.
If a project meets the eligibility criteria, one of the Group members studies it in depth, in particular checking the references of the applicants and perhaps contacting the other organisations co-funding the project. The analysis of a project provides a golden opportunity for developing a strong feeling of partnership with the group or association submitting the application – so much so that this relationship often becomes long-term.
If, after discussion, a project receives the go-ahead from the Projects Group, that project is put to the Committee with a recommendation that it be supported.
The Projects Group is tasked with following up on the project after eu can aid! financial support has been granted, thereby ensuring a long-term link between the community, the NGO that serves as an intermediary and eu can aid!.
Awareness-Raising Group
The Awareness-Raising Group supports the Committee in its efforts to increase awareness among the staff of the European Institutions of the inequalities in the world and of the issue of economic and social development.
The Awareness-Raising Group meets once or twice a month to organise conferences and awareness campaigns and also communication activities. These may be designed to attract new members or donations following calls for solidarity from colleagues for reconstruction projects after natural disasters (such as after the tsunami in South-East Asia, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, or the earthquake in Haiti).