Photo from left to right: Maarten Van Zaelen, Jonathan Delmeire, Margot Bollaert and Maarten Van Sande
Loads of camp experience, fresh insights, and professional ability: that is what these four new board members of Roeland bring to the table. “Our main goal is to narrow the gap between the board and the camps”, they tell us enthusiastically.
Margot Bollaert, Maarten Van Sande, Jonathan Delmeire and Maarten Van Zaelen are the new kids on the block on Roeland’s board. They know the organisation top to bottom: as a participant, a volunteer, an activity leader, and/or member of the General Assembly. All four of them contributed actively for the last four years to create a policy note for the years to come. That experience turned out to be the trigger for them to accept a seat at the board.
A policy note is a strategic document that lays out the direction, the vision, and the goals for future years. It is a tool that provides guidance for Roeland when it comes to operational decisions, and the planning and evaluation of concrete actions. At Roeland, the drafting of such a document is a widely supported process, with valued input from activity leaders and volunteers.
The Board of Directors is the decision-making body of a non-profit organisation. It safeguards the strategic course and management, and it makes all the major decisions. At Roeland, the board also acts as a connecting element between the volunteers, the activity leaders, and the broad network on which the organisation relies.
The policy note as a stepping stone
“I found it great fun to be a part of the policy note task force”, Margot says. “It really gave me energy to cooperate with the development and follow-up of the action items. Fresh faces often bring a fresh perspective on matters at hand, and I look forward to sinking my teeth into it.”
“A group of ten worked for a year on this policy note”, Maarten adds. “We noticed that youth organisations have to deal with many challenges, like attracting new volunteers and participants, a more complex society, a bigger focus on mental well-being, different holiday periods in the Flanders and Wallonia regions, … .With combined experience and efforts, we hope to give better answers, and we want to narrow the gap between volunteers, participants, and the board.”
Professional experience as a trump card
Besides years of experience as a teacher at Roeland camps, these four new members also add valuable professional experience to the board. Their knowledge of didactics, marketing, organising skills and project management insight strengthens their contribution to the board.
“Roeland made me a better teacher”, Jonathan testifies. “We set the bar extremely high at our language camps, while the participants accumulate knowledge in a fun way. This unique approach really is Roeland’s forte. I want to use my professional history in didactics to help our future volunteers to keep watch over this high standard.”
“For example: my job keeps me occupied with client based transformations”, Maarten says. “Which means that I have to bear in mind the customer’s wishes throughout the entire process. Lots of companies have their departments working separately. It is a challenge to interconnect these departments, to create a coherent story. That is exactly the mindset I hope to cultivate within Roeland.”
Looking forward to the future
Previous years, Roeland gained a lot of experience when it comes to language acquisition for newcomers,” Margot says. “The positive feedback and accumulating interest from other regions encourage our non-profit to explore how we can expand our catalogue, for example with ready-to-go educational workshops. This could inspire other towns to set up local, language-boosting initiatives. It is extremely exciting to watch how this evolves.”
“We hope to be able to influence future generations of volunteers and participants with our skillset as a teacher and our useful professional experience. But above all, we share a big heart for Roeland”, Maarten concludes.
