ESN Netherlands

General information

The board of ESN Netherlands consists of 5 enthusiastic Dutch students, who spend a year trying to improve the national network and try and support the local sections in the best way possible. All 5 board members are part time, meaning that they spend an amount of 15 hours a week on their respective function, except for the National Representative who when going to an international event spends a bit more time on her function. ESN Netherlands has no official office, but for any questions and or remarks do not hestitate to contact us at info@esn-nl.org. 

Chamber of Commerce

ESN the Netherlands is registered at the Chamber of Commerce. Each year the new board members should make sure they register themselves officially at the Chamber of Commerce. This is important in order to change the names for the bank account of ESN the Netherlands and in order to receive the bursary. It is the responsibility of the old board to provide the forms for the chamber of commerce at the third NP, so all the forms can be signed by the old and new board immediately.

CFI bursary

Each board member of ESN the Netherlands receives on year of bursary. In order to get this bursary one should still be registered at a university and should be registered as a board member at the Chamber of Commerce. Be aware, one should apply for this bursary each year before November (but preferably as soon as the registration of the Chamber of Commerce is finished). This application is done by writing an official letter to the ‘CFI’. Normally this is the task of the president or the secretary. Further details can be found in the official files.

Council of Advice

ESN the Netherlands has also a Council of Advice (CoA) Currently the council of advice consists of 2 members. New members of the CoA should be approved by the NP. The CoA provides the national board with advice whenever necessary. The CoA and national board members meet 3 or 4 times a year. The first meeting is in the beginning of the year (June/July), in order to meet each other and to set some goals for the upcoming year. An extra meeting can be planned in September in order to discuss the policy plan before it is discussed during the first presidents meeting. In this way, comments can already be processed, so the discussion at the presidents meeting does not take too much time. Other meetings are after each NP.

National Platforms, Council of Local Representatives, and SIM

The national platforms are organized by local sections. However, it is the duty of the national board to stay in close contact with the organizing section. On Saturday and Sunday of the NP, the general assembly takes place. The president leads this meeting in case the president cannot make it the vice president will preside the meeting. The national board should provide the sections with an agenda at least one week in advance.

The CLR meetings mostly take place in Utrecht. Together with ESN Utrecht a suitable location will be booked. Again, the agenda for the CLR meeting should be sent at least one week in advance of the meeting.

Summer Introduction Meeting, this meeting will be held once a year in August before all sections have started their introduction period. During this meeting the national partners will introduce themselves to all local boards. The main purpose of this meeting is to distribute information to sections which is necessary before the start of their board year. 

Shared tasks

Although each national board should judge itself how much meeting are needed, it is very crucial to meet whenever necessary and on a regularly basis. Since the board members live in different cities, next to face-to-face meetings skype meetings can be used for official meetings.

• Face-to-face meetings: these can be wherever the national board wants. These meetings take place every 3 or 4 weeks. This depends upon the time of the year and the amount of workload. Location of the meetings depends on where the board members are located.
• Skype meetings: these can be held when not too much has to be discussed, but these meetings are very useful in order to keep each other up-to-date and discuss the most important issues.
• Keep each other up-to-date about the separate tasks one has performed or still has to do. This is very important. One can use the face-to-face and skype meetings to keep each other informed about what is going on. Moreover, e-mail is very useful to keep each other up to date.
• It is also a task of the board to visit each section during the semester. If a section has a constitutional drink, at least one of the board members should be present. If a section does not have a constitutional drink, at least one of the national board members should visit this section during the semester.