Today, Monday 9 December 2013, was a rather long day full of work. The ENUSP Empowerment Seminar started at 9.30 this morning.

I was invited to facilitate the first session: reviewing ENUSP strategy. However, shortly after I started introducing the strategic plan of ENUSP (2012-2015) and the results from the previous Empowerment Seminar in Zagreb, it was decided that Jayasree Kalathil (UK) would give her presentation first: Learning from countries with a strong user movement: National Survivor User Network (NSUN) from the UK.
NSUN (www.nsun.org.uk) has grown tremendously in only several years: from 2 projects in 2009 to 28 projects in 2013. Jayasree talked about NSUN being a network which is facilitating a platform for local/national groups. NSUN does not necessarily have a position on themes, but it can host various opinions. They do have some basic rules, such as the platform has to be in line with human rights and non-discrimination. NSUN is against coercion. NSUN is completely run by users/survivors, and has a paid staff, and the board members get reimbursed for their expenses. There are 3000 individual members and about 500 smaller groups are members as well. There can be specific attention for specific issues, such as minorities and racism, which can be discussed within the movement.
This sparked into an interesting discussion on various issues, such as on specialism/minority issues (often pushed by smaller organizations) versus mainstream organizations who often cannot be radical but stay in the middle, due to the extended amount of different opinions within a larger group, which then have to be merged into a single (meaningless) middle position. We also talked a bit on Community Treatment Orders and on mixed family organizations, which often tend to obey the mental health professionals. In the UK there is now a debate against face-down restraint, which has caused several deaths: users are crushed to death by the nurses. Jayasree also noted that a growing organization also carries a growing workload, for example on funding and reporting and communication and so on.

It was an interesting discussion. Unfortunately there was no time left to facilitate the review of ENUSP’s strategy. So then I did feel a bit like I had failed: I had not been able to coordinate this session (I wasn’t really in charge, I was without a microphone, and I let Jayasree do her part, which was very interesting). But I did feel like I failed, however, nobody seemed to carry any blame or hard feelings. We went on.

After the coffee break, we started with the second session: ENUSP strategy: agreement on key areas of action, facilitated by Jasna Russo. This was merely the start of a discussion which continued during the rest of the day. The first questions were about the functioning of the board, and how to fill in the gaps. We discussed the need to follow the statutes, and to make a policy by creating Bylaws. The original Strategic Plan of ENUSP was made in a time when there was some funding, but this funding wasn’t continued (the application wasn’t sent out), so now there is an organizational gap, which needs to be filled. The lack of resources and the gaps in the structure result in a kind of crisis of ENUSP. There is a big need to reconstruct ENUSP or it might come eventually to an end, which of course cannot happen.
The board will have a meeting today, and ENUSP will apply for funding again. There is a need to organize the next general assembly (GA) and to prepare the elections for the board members before the GA, to avoid that persons get carried away at the (inspiring) GA and apply for board positions that they cannot fulfil.
We also talked about EU funding and OSI, having local/national volunteers for tasks listed in the strategic plan, paid staff and unpaid board members and strategic composition, responsibilities, resignations and time outs, the overall risk of burn out, support options, co-opting consultants and task committees, position papers and possible partners.
After a fruitful discussion we decided that the main issues were:
1. the Board structure, membership, elections and the next General Assembly (GA).
2. Fundraising
3. Communication, such as the newsletter, website and internal/external communication.
In the afternoon, there will be 3 working groups dealing with these issues.

There were still some unclarities about the composition and structure of the ENUSP board, so during the lunch the Board members sat together and held a small meeting. After lunch we all came back into the plenary session, where we were given an overview of the ENUSP Board composition, the gaps and the structure (such as which member corresponds with which region). It now became clear which roles need to be filled.

We then broke apart into 3 Working groups: 1. on the Board structure, membership, elections and the next General Assembly (GA). 2. on Fundraising and 3. on Communication.
I joined the working group on fundraising. We first identified which actions are most urgent in need of funding: that would be the administration, secretariat (incl. staff) and supportive services. We are thinking of a virtual office in ‘the cloud’ (internet based, for which there may be even some free options like wordpress). We think there is a need to communicate experiences and good practices, which can be put in a book or E-book that can possibly be sold, with a discount for users. Also advisory services and providing our expertise needs resources, but can possible also generate some income. Another idea was to hold a congress for a broader audience combined with the GA of ENUSP. We think people might be interested in learning from the European movement (showcasing good practices, expertise and experiences).
We also discussed possible funding options, such as OSI, UN, EU and ESF, lotteries, commercial companies who do charity, online donations (Paypal and external fundraising websites), NGO’ s for charity and private donations, including the last will. The EU Grundtvig programme might be an option as well. We should dare to ask for resources at every place we consider appropriate. We can also ask the ENUSP members if they have any ideas for funding.
Gabriela Tanasan will be the main contact of the ENUSP fundraising group, and Stephanie Wooley and me will also be on the fundraising team.

After the coffee break, the working groups reported back to the full group in a plenary session. I will not repeat the summary of the Fundraising group.

The second group reported on Communications. They had identified short term goals and longer term goals. Topics were: internal board communications, communications to members, having contact persons for regions and tasks and publishing the minutes of the board meetings (transparency). Then about the newsletter: who is responsible (Lupe), start simple with 1 page, recruiting people (volunteers), mailing to members, and how to handle volunteers (policy document). Also there were some points about members and the contact information: how to deal with recruitment (application form is too extended) and to ask members to translate the ENUSP newsletter in their local language. It would be good if there were funding for the newsletter, and also the website needs serious attention in terms of updating information and adding materials.
I offered to take care of the ENUSP website, which is really in urgent need for updating.

Then the third group reported from their working session on the Board structure, membership, elections and the next GA. There might be an option to hold the next GA in Denmark in autumn 2014 or early 2015 (hosted by LAP). Then the GA should have an added value for LAP as well (possibly combined with a 1-day congress). LAP would not be able to fund travel expenses, only the daily accommodation of the conference and participants. A second option might be Poland, but at this stage that is plan B.
The group also discussed on decision making (if not the GA, then the board decides). Other points were the option to elect second deputies to secure continuity of the ENUSP board, having simpler rules (the statutes are complex: update or create Bylaws?). On the issue of membership: the website needs to be updated, the application form is too complicated: it could be deleted and renewed. Individual members can apply and ENUSP should have as many members as possible. There could be a committee dealing with the membership criteria, but all member organizations have to agree to the policy document upon application, so probably there is no need to set additional criteria: if organizations want to be part of ENUSP, they are welcome. It would also be good to publish an annual report on the website and via the membership-mail.

After the working groups were finished reporting, the ENUSP Board had another Board meeting, and the other participants had a free hour until 19.00 when dinner was served in the restaurant downstairs.
Everyone was tired after such a long day, but nevertheless, after dinner most people stayed downstairs and we had a very nice evening all together, sharing views, ideas and experiences. It is really nice to be surrounded by peers and having these nice interesting chats all day long. Being part of this network is empowering and inspiring on itself. ENUSP is a very special organization.


And now again it’s late in the night, - by now I have adjusted the time settings on my laptop, so I won’t mistake the time again (yesterday I was thinking it was 2 in the night while it was actually already 3 AM). By now I know for sure it’s almost 3 AM. I’m having a terrific hotel bed, and it’s a pity I don’t have much time to sleep in it. Tomorrow at 9.00 the first session starts again, and I definitely need to sleep. So goodnight!