Committee positions in 2023-2024

CHAIRPERSON

The chair coordinates the Committee’s events and meetings. The chair writes both meeting invitations and agendas. Other important responsibilities that fall on the chairperson are managing the committee’s budget, writing the yearly action plan with the vice chairs and coordinating the committee’s activities in general. The chair of the Environmental Committee develops the committee together with the other members and supports them in their tasks. The chair is also responsible for the committee’s social image and its continuation in the future.

The chair should be able to attend most events of the Environmental Committee. The main responsibility of the committee falls in the hands of the chair, so the post is quite challenging and time consuming but also serves for experience and knowledge that few other posts can provide. Previous experience of the Environmental Committee and its activities is desired when applying for this post.

VICE CHAIRPERSONS

There are two vice chairs. Their tasks include preparing snacks for the committee’s meetings and functioning as secretaries during those. The vice chairs help the chair and work together with others to plan and execute the committee’s events. They also participate in coordinating communications and in representative work. If the chair cannot participate in a meeting, the vice chair will take their place. Meetings are held about once a month.

COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR AND COMMUNICATIONS TEAM

The communications team consists of one to four people. They are responsible for external communications and for sending out information to students about upcoming events via e-mail and social media. It is recommended that the communications team participates not only in the committee’s events, but also in most meetings. Meetings are held about once a month.

Communication duties are especially important during exceptional times, but whatever the situation may be, the position provides a unique opportunity to learn a lot about communication – one of the most central skills in working life in the future, too.

CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR

The campaign coordinator is in charge of planning and realizing various campaigns together with the other committee members. The coordinator is involved in the external communication for campaigns, but also the committee’s internal communication. They are in charge of organizing planning meetings and related communication. Previous campaigns organised by the Environmental Committee include Clean Vappu, Zero Waste September and the Climate Food Week.

BLOG COORDINATOR

The blog coordinators may be two if needed. They are responsible for creating the blog posts, the layout of the blog as well as the accuracy of the information on the website. Previous experience about online publishing is not needed – excitement for the position and good ideas count more! To be able to coordinate the blog, skills in Finnish (or English) are recommended. Interested? Here’s a link to the blog you could be responsible for: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/hyy-ymp/

EXCURSIONS COORDINATOR

The excursions coordinator organizes visits to organizations, ministries and corporations from one to two times per semester. They manage contacts to different destinations, take care of the practicalities and manage registration forms. Some arrangements, such as registration forms, can be managed together with the vice chairs and the communications team. The excursions coordinator also handles communications about excursions when needed.

COMMUNITY COORDINATOR

The community coordinator plans and arranges environmental themed casual training sessions for organizations working under HYY. The aim is to discuss together with the organizations’ environment coordinators about the environmental issues of the organizations in forms of games or nature trips. In the training sessions we’ve discussed topics such as organizing events, organization’s facilities, food services and environmental plans. The community coordinator can use the Environmental Committee’s training materials and Environmental Instructions for Organizations, but instead of lectures the aim is to interact with different organizations and inspire them towards environmentally friendly organization work.

EVENT COORDINATOR AND EVENT TEAM

The event coordinator and the event team are in charge of planning and organizing the Environmental Committee’s events. The Committee’s events are shallowly planned in the year plan, but new ideas and initiatives are more than welcome. All active members of the committee are part of organizing bigger events, but in the end the responsibility for executing events falls on the event team.

OTHER POSITIONS

It is also possible to establish other positions according to the needs of the Committee, for example coordinators for bigger projects planned for the year. You may also attend meetings and events of the Environmental Committee without having a position.