The Secretariat
Ruben Loodts, Secretary-General
Ruben started working as Secretary-General in the European Secretariat of JEF-Europe since September 2010. Before his start as SG, Ruben has been active on the local and national level of JEF, having established a flourishing local section in Leuven and contributed as International Officer to relaunching JEF-Belgium. He considers himself as truly European, and tries to contribute to the process of European integration by being a real JEFer.
As Secretary-General, Ruben would love to work on increasing the outreach of the organisation, since he is convinded that the limit of JEF lays much further than the current thirty thousand members JEF reaches out to. Many more youngsters are European federalists by heart, but just do not realise it, yet. JEF should get those youngsters on board.
Appolonia Benoist, Intern
Appolonia is a 23-year old French girl from Paris, currently in her last year of Master's degree in European Affairs at La Sorbonne. In early February 2012, she moved to Brussels to find the «ideal» internship to end with her studies. And her passion for European matters brought her directly to JEF-Europe!
She will join the Secretariat full-time until mid-September, mostly helping in communications, events organisation and project management. Appolonia is looking forward to contributing to our activities and to spending a rewarding time at the JEF-Europe Secretariat.
Sarah Johanna Dejaegher, Intern
Sarah is a 24-year-old Belgian that started volunteering for JEF as secretary of the Leuven section last year. During summer, she moved to Brussels to start a postgraduate in European Journalism and a part-time job at OBESSU. Within the framework of her studies, she will join the Secretariat part-time until the end of August and help in its various tasks.
Being a member of the Federal Committee and co-chair of the Visibility working group, she will foremost assist with the development of a communication stategy and strong visual identity for JEF-Europe. Sarah is looking forward to a fruitful, rewarding and inspiring experience in the JEF-Europe Secretariat!
Živa Cernec, Intern
Our new intern Živa is coming from Slovenia and will be implementing her Leonardo da Vinci placementat JEF Secretariat. She finished master studies in Russian, Croatian, Serbian and Macedonian languages and literature at University of Ljubljana. She joined JEF Secretariat team at the start of December and will stay until the end of April. She became interested in European issues after volunteering experiences abroad. Živa is especially interested in cooperation of Western Balkans countries and its integration into European Union. During her staying at JEF Secretariat she will assist in organization of the annual Belarus action as well as participate in other JEF activities. She is looking forward to contribute to JEF's goals and meeting other JEF members.
The Secretary-General’s responsibilities include:
- Organisational management: ensuring good working relations with the sections and guaranteeing the close coordination of JEF activities and statutory meetings.
- Project management: coordinating the preparation of events and projects (receiving applications, keeping track of participation fee payments, circulating documents, etc.).
- Communication management: internal mailings, the maintenance of databases (JEF INFO, press contacts, etc.), assisting the EB in updating the “Who is Who” list with detailed contact details of all key mandate holders and disbursing info on JEF’s online social networks in collaboration with EB and WG5 – FOA.
- Website management: the regular updating of the website.
- Financial management: supervising the accounting and bookkeeping process and assisting the Treasurer in guaranteeing the financial sustainability of the organisation, by keeping the budget in balance and by actively searching and applying for funding.
- Human resources management: the coordination of the Secretariat staff and organisation of the recruitment process together with the EB.
- External representation and advocacy/lobbying together with the EB.
JEF-Europe