Altogether there were three "sleeping MOs" in these countries: OPE in Portugal as well as BUNDjugend and NAJU im LBV in Germany.
My first step was to call and mail all of them to ask whether they were generally aware of being a member in YEE. Secondly I was interested whether anyone received/ read our mails still and whether they had specific reasons for their inactivity. Next to that I also inquired about their current project or activities. Since luckily all of them showed interest in YEE, I offered to visit each of the organisations personally.

The meetings themselves were as varied as they could be.

The visit of OPE took place in June 2010. Since OPE itself is the "Organization for the Promotion of Ecoclubs", I visited one of their Ecoclubs called Ecoclubinos in Vila Nova de Gaia close to Porto. Spending the whole weekend there, I participated in the final celebration of a national youth initiative organized by them where its results were presented in a photo gallery and a theatre play and organic food, grown during the project, was promoted. The second day I gave a presentation about YEE at the Annual Meeting of OPE. During my last day I got to know the beautiful city of Porto, as well as a really cosy organic café run by another YEE member organization: GAIA.
As a result YEE was happy to welcome OPE representatives Paulo, Felipe, Adriana and Joao at the Annual Meeting 2010 and 2011. Meanwhile OPE has participated in the project TC ‘Forest - Welcome Home', TC ‘I can lead! I can facilitate!' and even initiated the Youth Exchange 'Renewable Energy and Waste Management' which took place in Porto, Portugal, at the end of July 2011.

During my second meeting I got to know Gert Sanders, the director of BUNDjugend, in Berlin where I met him at their headquarters. Unfortunately we figured out quite fast that the organisation didn't currently have resources to keep up contact with and membership in YEE. Finally we agreed that BUNDjugend would make a request for cancellation of its membership at the Annual Meeting 2011 but also made a note that cooperation in a project is imaginable in the future even without membership whenever a member of BUNDjugend shows interest.

In November 2011 I got the chance to visit NAJU im LBV during their Annual Meeting which was held in a small town close to Munich, Germany. Those of you who have attended Annual Meetings in their own organisation or YEE know that an Annual Meeting is quite a tough event for its members already. But for me it definitely had the advantage to get to know many members at the same time and obtain a very deep insight into the organisation with all its strengths and weaknesses.

During the second evening I gave a workshop during which we explored the uniqueness of the organisation as well as the similarities that NAJU im LBV possibly shares with many other organisations (such as DJN, my organisation from Germany or YEE as a network). Based on that we talked about already existing co-operations (both nationally and internationally) between NAJU and other organisations - for NAJU im LBV had been really active on the international level at some point and was just recently involved in a cross-border cooperation with Ametyst from Czech Republic. Finally I asked participants to express their expectations regarding national and international cooperation. Moreover following the workshop there was sufficient space for informal exchange during a small celebration in the evening.

For me exploring the activities as well as structures of all these different organisations was very enriching, that is why I would like to conclude this article directing the above mentioned questions at you, the reader:
What makes your organisation unique?
What does your organisation have in common with other organisation?
Which (national and international) co-operations already exist between your and other organisations?
Which personal as well as professional expectations do you have regarding (national and international) co-operation?

These questions might serve you as a starting point and if you have answered them for yourself, you might want to discuss them with other members of your organisation. Because exchange with other organisations means getting to know many new people as well as getting to know better your own and other organisations!

Discover YEE's member organizations: online and in your country!
http://www.yeenet.eu/index.php/members/members-list

Visit the homepages/ blogs of the organizations mentioned in the article:
http://www.ecoclubes.org/ (OPE, Portuguese)
http://ecoclubinos.blogspot.com/ (Ecoclubinos, Portuguese)
http://www.gaia.org.pt/ (GAIA, Portuguese)
www.naju-bayern.de/ (NAJU im LBV, German)
www.naturbeobachtung.de (DJN, German and English)
http://www.ametyst21.cz/ (Ametyst, Czech)

If you have any question, feel free to contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!

Anne Kollien