[EJB] EJB Team Questionnaire - Lourenço Vaz Pinto (POR)

EJB TEAM MEMBER CANDIDATE 2016 QUESTIONNAIRE

Contact me with with any questions or just random talk at:

Email: lourencovp@hotmail.com Facebook: Lourenço Vaz Pinto

#1 ‘’By 2030 CISV International wants to reach twice as many people as today“ This is the new vision of CISV International that was approved by the members. How should Junior Branch contribute to reach this vision and how could we measure the success?

In my opinion, if CISV is to reach or get close to this new ambitious goal we need to focus not only on size but also quality in CISV. Now where do we insert Junior Branch in this new vision? Well it's making what we do best, even better and more successful.

How? Well we already create great global citizens by giving them responsibilities at a young age and making them pass through impeccable content activities, but in my opinion Junior Branch needs to focus on the previous two aspects: Size --> recruiting/retaining & Quality --> activities/workshops/local work.

But how in a concrete way is that achievable? In my opinion the best tool we have are the incredible and growing workshops/meetings and conferences Junior Branch has, since they allow to not only recruit and retain but they can be the catalyst to bring actual change to CISV. Within the workshops/meetings we should focus on three aspects: 1. content activities; 2. space for ideas and projects to flow in order to let JBers create and grow; 3. Success stories so that when a project or practice works, other Junior Branches can take advantage of it;

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Nowadays we do influence CISV but if want an even bigger impact, I believe Junior Branch in many countries should be more integrated with their NA so they can help more, we need to understand that each chapter/NA has needs and if the Junior Branch helps achieve them then we will be supporting CISV just like any youth branch of an organization should.

So Junior Branch needs to be strong and energetic so it can be part of the solution locally in order to have an International impact.

It's all about working on Junior Branch while also working on CISV as well.

After all, right now, we are an organisation within an organisation.

Now in terms of how to measure this success, I think we have always had difficulties measuring Junior Branch and CISVs impact, but the easiest way I can think of would be if CISV truly reaches this new goal and Junior Branch grows proportionally and equivalently to CISV, then we could say we have succeeded, a possible tool would be the JB SET (Junior Branch Self Evaluation Tool) to see if we are growing and where do we need to work on and then comparing it with CISV International Data.

But in the end we are being successful if JBers are happy and having an impact.

#2 The EJB Team goals for the upcoming year are Involvement, Innovation, and Integration.

Choose one of these goals and speak about how you want to help develop it this year.

I choose integration for many reasons; Not only are we passing through a period where we have a Junior Branch Review that touches on that same topic (not to be discussed now) but integration is beneficial to both sides (CISV and Junior Branch), and currently I see a lot of Junior Branches struggling, whether due to a lack of participants or no support from their Board.

In my opinion if a Junior Branch is struggling it is because it lacks clear reachable and empowering objectives or lack of will.

If you have objectives you will try to reach them and you will fight for them, same with a local Junior Branch, it doesn't matter if its the Chapter/NA giving the objective, goal, or task or if its Junior Branch itself defining that, for as long as there is an objective, growth and improvement will happen (if fought for of course).

If fought for of course? Well what happens when no one wants to fight?

And that’s the thing, with good integration comes good communication between CISV and other Junior Branches, Neighbourhoods, Regions and Internationally. I mean I can't be the only one that gets incredibly pumped after a meeting/conference, or after a fun skype with someone that I haven't talked to for ages, or jealous of that cool thing the other country did that now I want to bring back home.

That's why integration is so important, lack of communication can be blamed for many issues and problems but with good integration we can hear each others needs and work on them thus making CISV and Junior Branch as an organisation stronger from within.

Specifically I would like to help local Junior Branches find their objectives within their chapters and NAs and also CISV in general, and help achieve them, this way making them feel more valued and more Integrated within their own NA. In my opinion: no solution is perfect for all, but there is one perfect solution for each.

#3 Why do you want to join the EJB Team?

For some reason I find myself thinking of my memories when I ran for NJR, at the time I saw this incredible organisation that helped me grow in so many ways, from responsibility to tolerance to making friendships with people I wouldn't had the possibility to meet, now I know my life is so much brighter because of them.

But that feeling has grown since that time, I no longer only enjoy what I receive but now I also enjoy giving back, for example I like to staff a camp more than to be a participant (my one camp as a

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participant and three camps as staff tell me that!). But that's only the tip, I truly enjoy to work not just for but on Junior Branch, especially in such interesting times with the Junior Branch review going on as well, I want to apply what I've learned so far and see the results.

For me it simply makes perfect sense, I just really want to create a positive effect on Junior Branch.

Small side thing, I have considered that this would be taking on a second role, however due to my decreased workload at university for the next couple of years, I think I can definitely handle this new role.

Thank you very much for reading!

Hugs from Mexico, Lou

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