WBAA Teams Meeting in Belgrade, Serbia March 2023

The WBAA Teams meeting successfully took place on the 18th of March 2023 in the beautiful city of Belgrade, Serbia. Over the same weekend, the WBAA Board meeting and WBAA General Assembly took place, bringing together more than 80 participants, including WBAA members, representatives from sister networks, policy advisors, external guests, and the service provider.

Exactly one year after the General Assembly in Prishtina, Kosovo*, WBAA members had the chance to meet again in person over the span of two days to discuss, network, brainstorm, plan future activities, and have fun! It started with an informal dinner for the participants of the Board meeting and Teams meeting on March 17th at the event's venue, Metropol Palace Hotel Belgrade.

On Saturday, March 18th, a warm welcome was given to all participants, followed by an introduction and overview of the agenda from two of the Board Liaisons, Milan Stojanovic and Rregjina Gokaj. During the first plenary session, all participants discussed the status of WBAA and WBAA Teams with a brief explanation of structures regarding tasks of team leaders, WBAA communities, collaboration with the board, meetings, and annual plans facilitated by Renata Petrevska Nechkoska. After a short coffee break, the team leaders of each of the four teams conducted the second plenary session focusing on the aims of the meeting. Individual teams joined roundtables introducing the team members, reporting on their activities of the last six months, and presenting the annual plan of the team. Team challenges along with upcoming steps and tasks were emphasized, and results were summarised on flipcharts.

Later in the afternoon, participants were divided into community sessions and team member sessions. The Heads of Teams Community, the Advocacy Community, and the Communications Community engaged in separate sessions to share insights and practical instructions on workflow and membership activation. A productive open round and sharing of content with all participants brought into light both achievements and challenges, where the most relevant outcomes were finally presented to the board.

Part of the social program was a networking dinner with external guests from the region, including the UN Youth Delegation, EU Delegation Belgrade, RYCO, TEMPUS Foundation, ESN Serbia, and former WBAA Board members. It offered an opportunity to intensify the exchange between all WBAA members and the invited guests.

A very productive, efficient, and pleasant weekend, as described by participants, to be remembered! Until the next WBAA event!

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

Klejda Harasani

edited by Service Provider

Tirana, Albania March 23 2023