National Events

National Assembly (NA) 

The National Assembly is a statutory meeting of ESN CZ, bringing together the National Board, representatives of all local sections, partners, and international guests. It takes place three times a year and serves as the main platform for sharing updates about ESN projects, presenting upcoming events, exchanging best practices, and hosting workshops led by both internal and external trainers.

Each National Assembly is organised by a different local section, giving volunteers the opportunity to develop their skills in event management and teamwork. Beyond the formal programme, a special social programme is traditionally organised, providing space for members to build connections across sections and enjoy the ESN spirit in an informal setting.

The National Assembly plays a crucial role in ensuring transparency, collaboration, and continuous development within the ESN CZ network.

Community Meetings

Community Meetings are gatherings organised by ESN CZ two times per year, bringing together volunteers from all local sections across the country. Over time, they have become the largest event organised by ESN CZ, reflecting the growing importance of knowledge sharing, collaboration, and community building within the network.

The main goal of Community Meetings is to provide space for exchanging experiences, best practices, and new ideas among members, especially those active in areas such as HR, Events, IT, Communication, and section leadership. The event features a variety of workshops, training sessions, and discussions tailored to the needs of different communities within ESN.

Community Meetings strengthen cooperation between sections, foster innovation, and help volunteers develop both personally and professionally, while creating a strong sense of unity within ESN CZ.

Local Boards Training

Local Board Training (LBT) is an event designed to support local board members in developing their leadership skills and strengthening their capacity to lead youth organisations. The training is intended not only for members of newly elected boards but also for those whose mandate is ending, providing them with the opportunity to reflect on knowledge transfer and skill-sharing. It also welcomes members considering joining a local board in the future.

Throughout the training, participants explore key topics such as team management, crisis management, strategic planning, and the creation of long-term visions. They gain a broader understanding of the ESN national and international community and improve their digital competences, essential for effective communication, collaboration, and information management within ESN. In addition to educational sessions, the event offers space for networking, sharing best practices, and strengthening connections among local sections.

Newbies Event 

Newbies Event is a training and team-building event organised twice a year by ESN CZ to welcome new members from all local sections across the Czech Republic. Its main purpose is to introduce newcomers to the structure of ESN and the wide range of opportunities available at the local, national, and international levels.

Throughout the event, participants attend interactive workshops, discussions, and activities focused on key aspects of ESN’s work. They have the chance to learn more about how the organisation functions, exchange ideas, and connect with experienced members and representatives from different levels of the network.

Newbies Event plays a crucial role in fostering motivation, collaboration, and a sense of belonging among new volunteers, helping them to feel confident and inspired to take an active role within the ESN community.

International and National Erasmus Games

International Erasmus Games (IEG) is an international project of ESN aimed at connecting young people from all around the world through the universal language of sport. Each year, one of the ESN countries hosts the international round, where the best teams of international students gather to compete, support each other, and build lasting friendships in a vibrant and welcoming atmosphere.

However, the journey to the international stage starts much earlier, at the local level. Sections across the country organise local tournaments to select their representatives for the national round. The national round then brings together the best teams from all over the country, where they compete for the chance to represent their new home country at the International Erasmus Games.

IEG promotes healthy lifestyles, intercultural dialogue, and the ESN spirit of unity through friendly competition and teamwork.

Causes

The Causes of ESN are the main fields in which the entire network works. They are a translation of our mission, vision, and values into the activities that sections organise every day, providing more opportunities for projects and collaboration in the network. They are complemented by our General Policies, which in turn are the policy translation of our Mission, Vision, and Values.

The Causes of ESN

Culture

In ESN, culture is connected to the events and project outputs on the local and national level. The events and outputs focus on the promotion of intangible, tangible and natural cultural heritage, creating spaces for intercultural dialogue and exploring the field of tourism.

ESN's main aim for this cause is to create space for cultural exchange between participants of different cultures and increase the consumption of the cultural and natural heritage of the host country.

ESN's main objectives for this cause are:

• Organise events that promote the tangible, intangible and natural heritage of the host country to the exchange students

• Organise events that invite exchange  students to promote the tangible, intangible and natural heritage of their country

• Facilitate the social and cultural integration of exchange students into the local community

• Organise events and activities that help foster intercultural dialogue between exchange students and the local community 

• Organise training activities and events focused on intercultural exchange, dialogue and competences for exchange students and volunteers

• Identify and take advantage of available public and private funding schemes in the cultural and tourism sector

• Identify and get in touch with potential stakeholders and partners in the cultural and tourism sector

Education & Youth

In the field of Education, ESN primarily focuses on the internationalisation of education - the process of bringing a global and intercultural dimension to education. As one of the biggest student organisations in Europe, ESN is aiming to represent the International Students by advocating, among other, for better and wider reach of exchange programs, better services for international students, better administration of related administrative procedures and better integration between local and international students, thus enriching both the experience of both local students and international ones, no matter their duration of stay. 

In the field of Youth, ESN is advancing the view that young people in general, and International Students in particular, deserve to be recognised by the authorities as an equal partner and decision-makers who needs to be included in the discussions concerning Youth. Issues of youth engagement, youth work and youth rights and opportunities are some of those related to our work in the Youth field. In addition, we promote and educate young people on the opportunities available in both fields.

ESN's main aim is to foster the Internationalisation of Education and promote quality mobility opportunities for young people from all backgrounds.

ESN's main objectives are:

• Representing the interests of international students and international youth towards various stakeholders

• Advocate for and work with various stakeholders to improve conditions for international mobility and education in general

• Ensure that a quality learning experience has been attained by the stakeholders involved in the mobility process

• Foster more experiential learning opportunities (non-formal, informal education) as complementary to formal learning settings

• Facilitate the integration and reintegration process of international students.

• Foster the active participation of young people and international students in the local community

• Raising awareness and knowledge of related issues of Education and Youth within the Network

• Identify stakeholders and potential partners in the Education and Youth sectors

Social Inclusion

There are two main directions ESN is working towards in the field of social inclusion: widening participation and social integration.

First, we aim to widen the participation of students with fewer opportunities, who are underrepresented in the Erasmus+ programme, through the promotion of mobility opportunities and advocating for more accessible and inclusive mobility programs and Higher Education, and we aim to provide the conditions and opportunities for students to actively participate in student life.

Secondly, we aim to increase the interaction between exchange students and local communities in order to instigate social engagement and intercultural dialogue to foster global and active citizenship and intercultural awareness.

Health & well-being

Nowadays, “Health and Well-being” is seen as a combination of physical, social, intellectual and emotional factors, in a holistic definition of well-being characterised by a global approach which can be perceived in four different aspects:

• Physical health is the functioning of the body, and it is quite easy to measure;

• Intellectual health is the ability to think clearly;

• Emotional health is the ability to recognise emotions such as fear, joy, grief, anger etc. and to express them appropriately. It also involves the ability to cope with stress, anxiety and depression;

• Social health is the ability to communicate with other people and form relationships.

ESN's main aim for this cause is to ensure a healthy lifestyle and healthy activities for our international students and volunteers.

ESN's main objectives for this cause are:

• Increase the number of NOs implementing the national rounds for the IEG;

• Give capacity to develop structured planning of sports activities and competitions;

• Ease the implementation of the Responsible Party on the national level;

• Ensure the mental and physical health of our volunteers is a concern during internal events; 

• Organise events and activities for international students in a safe and healthy environment;

• Raise awareness of health disorders and unhealthy habits during mobility;

• Implement internal and external campaigns promoting better mental health.

Environmental sustainability

International mobility has a costly impact on the environment due to frequent travel. ESN aims at reducing this impact by organising more sustainable activities and by raising awareness and actively advocating for more environmentally friendly travel options and living among international students. 

ESN generally strives for more sustainable events by reducing their environmental impact through, among others, minimising plastic usage or recycling waste before, during, and after the actual events. ESN volunteers organise activities which motivate participants to discover polluted public areas and educate them about a pollution-conscious mindset and how to share that knowledge with their peers.

ESN's main aim for this cause is to raise awareness about the repercussions of youth habits on the environment, encouraging the making of conscious choices through information provision and by setting an example. 

ESN's main objectives for this cause are:

• Promote eco-friendly practices and habits, encouraging recycling and the reuse of tools and materials;

• Set an example for the international students during all events and activities organised by the ESN sections;

• Organise sustainable events, working with eco-friendly suppliers;

• Present sustainable travelling alternatives when promoting events, mobility opportunities and touristic destinations;

• Get in touch with potential stakeholders and partners in the field of environmental sustainability.

Skills and employability

In ESN, we work on contributing to the field of skills and employability in a few ways. While volunteering in ESN, our volunteers work on a variety of topics across several fields and develop a diverse set of skills. Therefore, we train our volunteers in both hard and soft skills, equipping them with the necessary knowledge and competences to successfully fulfil tasks that their position entails, coordinate other volunteers and lead their local and national organisations. Upon providing training opportunities, we also provide space and opportunities to try their newly acquired knowledge and competences on practical examples, making sure that they stay with them for life. 

The cause is also reflected in the various events organised on the local and national level, emphasising the power and connection of volunteering to personal and professional development of young people, taking into account volunteering on exchange, as well as in one's own community. 

ESN's main aim for this cause is to ensure an inclusive and accessible competence development process for students and volunteers and to raise their employability in the job market.

ESN's main objectives for this cause are:

• Equip volunteers with the necessary knowledge and competences to lead their local and national organisations, as well as carry out the mission and vision of ESN

• Equip exchange students and volunteers with specific knowledge and competences in the fields ESN advocates for in order for them to become ambassadors

• Work towards the validation of the competences our volunteers acquire and develop while volunteering

• Work towards the validation of competences that exchange students acquire and develop during their exchange

• Work towards the formal recognition of the competences of young people to make them more recognisable on the job market

• Organise events and activities, fostering personal and professional development of youth

• Organise events and activities that raise the visibility of exchange students and volunteers towards potential employer