DrupalCon Prague 2022, held from 20-23 September 2022 in O2 Universum, Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic, brought forward a ‘gap’—that there were separate Drupal Associations for multiple member nations of the European Union or other European countries outside the EU and some countries had even more than one association, but they lacked a common platform. Now, people are volunteering to mend this. 

During the Birds of the same feather session on the sidelines of the conference, multiple boards from different countries came together to talk. The boards have much in common but face specific challenges due to their different national laws and context. 

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“At the meeting, the attendances expressed their wish to connect with each other regularly, share experiences, and explore ways to support each other with knowledge and other resources. There is a chance for us to support and help each other to sustain our associations,” 

Esmeralda Braad-Tijhoff, a Drupal developer at DICTU, the Dutch government agency for e-governance projects, says. 

Esmeralda is championing the first online meet-up for the Director Board Members of various Drupal Associations across EU member nations. 

“Not all associations use slack, nor are they present in the drupal slack channel for associations in Europe. I don’t have the contact information of all the associations within Europe. So apart from slack, I just googled a lot and sent invites through the contact forms of associations I could find, and I know some people have forwarded the invitation to contacts they have.” 

Esmeralda explained the ground reality over an email conversation with TheDropTimes. 

The first online meet-up is scheduled on February 13, 16:00-17:00 CET (Monday). This meeting aims at board members within Europe. 

Drupal’s communities in Europe face some challenging thresholds to organize themselves. For example, in the U.S., the Drupal community serves one market, benefitting from a common language and heritage. In Europe, Asia, Africa, and other areas, the communities have to deal with multiple languages, different legal settings, and cultural differences that complicate the organization of large events and the exchange of knowledge, funds, and other resources.

The new initiative aims to mend this. 

Drupalers attached to national boards in Europe may please send a message to Esmeralda Tijhoff or join the slack channel #europe-local-assoc to get the link to the meeting. Keep informed about the outcome of this meeting and upcoming meetings.