On 5th April the Presidents of BPW Europe met in Brussels

The annual Presidents Meeting and General Assembly of BPW EC AISBL took place on the 5th April 2014. 32 Presidents and delegates from all over Europe participated in the meeting this year.

Many countries have been active with Equal Pay Day activities and reported about there events. Some of them joint Equal Pay this year for the first time like: Iceland, Ireland Poland and UK. BPW Germany brought one of their red flags and handed it over to BPW Ireland for next year.

In the afternoon breakout sessions for certain topics facilitated the exchange of good practices and ideas. This was the group for Young BPW.

A new Young BPW Representative and ECC member was elected for the next years: Maria Socratous from BPW Cyprus. We thanked Miette Dechelle for all her efforts and comittment for Young BPW in Europe in the last three years.

The board of BPW EC AISBL (from left to right)

Alexandra Preuss-Ribaric, Finance Director, Germany

Miette Dechelle, Young BPW Representative, Belgium

Sabine Schmelzer, Regional Coordinator Europe, Switzerland

Guiseppa Bombaci, Executive Secretary, Italy

Caroline Couvreur, Elected board member, Belgium

From 22. bis 24.2. 2013 the first European PEP Train-the-Trainer Certification took place in Munich under the direction of Johanna Marius and Conny R Montague.

 European Coordinator and PEP Trainer “from the outset”  Sabine Schmelzer  was also present and could support the group with many practical tips.

17 highly motivated participants from 7 countries (Austria, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan) acquainted themselves with the modules of the Personal Empowerment Program, a program which was already developed in the 1960 by American BPW member Virginia Allan Young for the personal and professional development of women and which has been continuously improved since. The PEP Program offers to women the possibility to systematically prepare for leadership roles in the professional, social or private field.

The focus in this train-the-trainer certification were the topics behavior and communication styles in addition to  presentation, negotiation and leadership skills, as well as the DISC model. It explains the four typical personality styles  and offers concrete support and suggestions for managers.

Despite the tough program with a lot of trainer input and interactive exercises there was enough time to network and an excellent exchange of experiences happened in this team of committed and professional women from all over the world.

With the completion this certification the participants can offer and hold their own PEP Trainings . It is particularly enjoyable that there are two concrete follow-up projects already: one in Germany and one in Estonia.

After this successful premiere the program will be offered again in Munich in 2014: from 21. to 23.February 2014. For further information please contact Johanna Marius (j.marius@bpw-germany.de) or Conny R Montague.(conny.montague@bpw-burghausen.de)