[EJB] EJB Team Questionnaire - Philipp Dimitriadis (AUS)

EJB TEAM MEMBER CANDIDATE 2016 Q UESTIONNAIRE

Facebook: Philipp Dimitriadis Email: philipp.dimitriadis@cisv.at Phone: +436649483966

#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?

Thinking about the vision and especially the phrase “reaching people”, I come to the conclusion that it can mean different things to different people. For me it means having an actual impact on others’ lives, their habits and behaviours or their mindsets towards a more tolerant and peaceful world by doing what we as JBers do.

One way to accomplish that goal is by increasing the number of participants on CISV programmes to educate them and show them our values, but personally I think this is not what JB should focus on. With all the creativitiy and motivation we have, we should rather build strong local JB communities to have an actual impact on our society. This can be done by recruiting new JBers or retaining “old” ones.

The biggest contribution JB can make to reach our vision is by doing projects an mosaics in our communities. Through mosaics we share a lot of experiences and ideas and it is a great opportunity for both participants and facilitators to learn from each other.

How can we measure our success? Simply by counting numbers of active JBers who attend projects, meetings or other gatherings and by the number of people who are involved in mosaics.

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#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.

Looking at our three annual goals: Innovation, Integration and Involvement, I would love to work on involvement. We as Junior Branch are already pretty good at innovation. We develop new ideas, projects and different ways of doing things constantly. We are very good in challenging the status quo.

The bigger problem is to make our ideas and projects actually happen and to get JBers actively involved in them. Sometimes it feels like our own structure and miscommunication hinders JBers to step forward and ask for the help they would need, because they simply do not know who to contact. One of my main goals is to make things clearer and more approachable and also empower others to actually work on their projects and ideas and make them become real.

Sharing best practices, but also example of failures is a good start to help JBer with the challenges they have to face. Therefore we wouldn’t have to make mistakes all over again, but can be aware of them beforehand.

I do have some ideas already on possible solutions, but working with the EJB Team and all JBers who are interested as well would be a real pleasure for me.

Together we can surely find a solution, which is best for everyone and covers and all needs on this specific topic. Once we faced one of our biggest obstacles, keeping people involved in JB over a long period of time, it gets way easier to get JB more integrated in CISV and vice versa.

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

Within my 2 year term as a NJR I have learned plenty of things about JB, how it works internationally, how to deal with failures, how to keep going and motivate myself, how to overcome obstacles and a lot about myself.

The EJB Team has always been very helpful and supporting and was a big source of knowledge and inspiration during my term. Now I feel it is my turn to give something back to our JB community and be a part of this unique team.

I would describe myself as a very approachable person and I am absolutely honest, which can sometimes sound a bit harsh, but in my eyes honesty and transparency are two of the key attitudes of a successful EJB Team. Further on I consider myself as a very organized and structured person. Through my studies in business engineering and being NJR at the same time I am used to work with tight schedules and under time pressure.

Working in a team and coordinating a Neighborhood where you have to cooperate with different people on different issues is very similar to what I want to do in my professional life. So I am super excited about this opportunity.

To sum everything up: I fell in love with JB in the past 2 years and I want to keep being involved as much as possible and I am convinced that being part of this EJB Team is the right path for me to contribute to our community in the best way.

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