May 2025

The National Coordinators arrived on Thursday to Berlin, where they kicked off the event surrounded by the history of the city. They had the chance to get acquainted with each other during a series of teambuilding activities followed by a tour of the East Side Gallery. They finished off the day by channelling their creative side and the learnings of the day in one final group activity – “If you had a section of the Gallery for yourselves, what would you paint?”

On Friday, the participants deep-dived into the 2025 Fellowship, the role of voluntary associations in strengthening democracy, and evaluation. The day closed with a discussion on the importance of social media in the work of youth associations and a lively team dinner in the Kreuzberg district.

Saturday allowed the Coordinators to present to their peers the challenges and achievements of their projects during the Country Updates. This was a day to share experiences, knowledge and insights, ending with an overview on civil society and the place volunteer networks take in it, team management and individual consultation time.

For the final day, the participants were the ones to dictate the topics of the discussion during a long Open Space. Questions were asked, ideas exchanged, and the network had the opportunity to support one another as an international team.

The Spring Coordinators Meeting 2025 concluded on a high note, after four days of cooperation and hard work, and the Coordinators said their goodbyes before going home for some much deserved rest!