Meeting minutes/Prague 13 dec 2007

prague

Minutes meeting 13 december Prague

Present: Camilla, Randy, Joao, Ivan, Roeland, Janneke, and Jan on skype.

Youth grant of the last two years

Some questions were raised about last year's grant:

- What happened with the money leftovers from 2005 and 2006?

- How much did WCN get?

Camilla already answered them partly by mail, and gave some further explanation. We have to use the money according to the rules. Randy mentions that it might be better to find other funding than from the Youth programme that fits more with what biketour actually is. Camilla has an excel sheet with all the financial information that she will send to Joao who will distribute it to anybody who is interested.

Youth grant for this year

WCN will not do the Youth grant this year. The application is already partly finished, so if we find an organisation in Portugal or Spain they could still apply. (but anyhow it would be too late to use the money for this year's biketour) We discussed some pros and cons of having eastern European or Caucasus countries as partners, but finally it will depend on the organisation who will do the application.

EVS position

If we would apply for EVS, the person could only start in May, which means two months before biketour starts. That would only help if it is a person who is already familiar with biketour. If we do that, it would make more sense to have the EVS person in Portugal or Spain, and an organisation there could apply. It depends on the organisation we will find.

Communication between biketour and WCN

We talked more about the Youth grant.

Camilla was surprised that these things are so unclear for biketour people, perhaps Roeland could have communicated more. Randy says that some of the plans as made in Moldova for the leftovers of 2005 did not happen because there was nobody to do it. Perhaps we also expected more money because part of the travel costs had to be refunded, because we did not have the right tickets from the right countries. Next time we should make sure we have the right tickets (right places and dates). The rest of the money went to 2006. Officially it is not possible to keep leftovers form a grant for another year. Jan mentions that a solution could be to transfer money to another country (e.g. to pay our webmaster in Vienna) and that money could be used for the next year.

Roeland mentions that the Youth programme is being changed, that it could be a problem for biketour. We could try to find money from other sources, concretely this will depend on the organisers of this year. We also agree that biketour actually does not need so much funding.

Future relation between WCN and biketour

Randy makes a statement about the meaning of biketour for WCN. Biketour is in line with WCNs mission, and in principle they want to support it. For 2007 WCN could offer to support outreach, the website, or possibly apply for an 2008 EVS volunteer. This person cannot be project coordinator and cannot handle finances, and it would be good if it would be somebody who is already familiar with biketour. WCN has limited capacity, but they are open to ideas from biketours side, what are their needs? Some ideas how WCN could help are being a contact point during the tour, or for storage of equipment. WCN also wants to provide materials to hand out.

Ivan mentions that it would be good if WCN would send somebody from the office to participate in biketour, this would be good for the connection. Randy agrees, and mentions on the other hand that biketour people could also be more involved in other WCN projects. The carfree exhibition could be a good project for biketour and WCN together.

How to go on in 2007?

We agree that biketour doesnt know yet. WCN is in principle open to help if we tell them our needs, but that will depend on the organisers.

Other possibilities for fundraising could be to have sponsors or donations from individuals. We mainly need that money for the international coordinator. At the moment Roeland cannot be international coordinator if there is no money.

Some last points

- Camilla will send the info on excel sheets.

- Jan asks Roeland to please communicate as much as possible with other people.

- Next biketour meeting will be in Portugal or Spain.