IJB INFOPACK
JUNE 2021
DEAR CISV WORLD, The world has turned upside in the past year and so much has changed. One thing that hasn’t is the perseverance of our organization. The innovation, creativity, and passion we’ve seen in Junior Branch this year on the local, national, regional, and international level has been so inspiring. As IJRs, we couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve seen. At the in-person Regional Meetings, the IJRs would usually give a presentation about what is happening in JB across the world. This year, we decided to ask JBers what they would like to share with all of you! We’re so happy to have submissions from all three regions and we are excited to show you what has been happening in our world. We know this is only a handful of projects and initiatives that have started this year and we’re so excited to see what comes next. Thank you to everyone who submitted, and enjoy! Santana and Lexi
REALITY SHOW
JB BRAZIL
JB Brazil applied, during the month of March, the first and only JB Reality Show in the world, presented exclusively on Instagram. We noticed that during our summer vacation our social media engagement had gone down, and we had recently defined that social media presence was going to be one of our two main focuses for the year. With that in mind our first project of the year was the BBJB. The name of the project is derived from Brazil’s biggest reality show, Big Brother Brasil (BBB), and the whole project started and developed simultaneously as this year’s edition of the official reality show - that way we took advantage of the national excitement for this year’s edition of the program. As an extra incentive for the JBers to participate and apply, the prize was 50BRL, 30BRL and 20BRL for the first, second and third place respectively, being that all that money had to be spent on delivery meals - something that has grown popular in Brazil. We did it all on JB Brazil’s Instagram account. We first sent out a Google Form for our JBers to apply if they wanted to participate on the program, and when we had the cast selected we started spreading it. The Program was divided by weeks, each week the partici-
pants had to participate in 3 tests that decided things such as, who was going to be safe for the week, who was going to the *big wall* (Brazil’s term for the participants which will be included in the voting for which of them is getting out of the program). These tests all happened asynchronously through the programs whatsapp group. The votings were all done through Google forms that were shared each day in our Instagrams stories by the daily edition (with a compilation of funny things the participants did in the group, in the tests, tests results etc.), hosted by the Junior NJR, Tomás, that we posted every single day. In the official reality show, BBB, viewers can subscribe to a national streaming service to have access to 24/7 content of the participants, we replicated by asking people that wanted extra content to enter our Instagram’s account close friends, where we posted screenshots of the programs whatsapp group and more detailed content about each tests. The project lasted a month, and it was organized by the NJRs and two JBers (members of the national board). It was extremely exhausting and it took a lot of planning, but the results were worth it, as you can see by our Instagrams account statistics.
INTERNATIONAL YEAR TWIN PROJECT
JB ITALY
The Italian NJRs planned the draft of the project and, with the help of the LJRs, contacted different JBs; then together with the NJRs of the participating JBs (Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Great Britain, Lebanon, Mexico Portugal, Slovenia and Spain) completed the guidelines together; now the group of NJRs is supervising the project, and the LJRs (or coordinators) of some chapters are running it in their JBs. 31 JB chapters are involved (14 groups/couples). The International Year Twin Project consists in an international collaboration between local JBs: the JB chapters from different NAs get paired and the team of LJRs (or coordinators) plans and facilitate a minimum of 2 activities for their JBers. The goal is (1) to create a network of acquaintances and friendships between JBs, and also of collaboration and support between LJRs and (2) to get to know the other country and its culture, by creating a dialogue to share and analyze differences and peculiarities; we think this is an opportunity to value diversity and embrace differences. The project lasts 3 months and will be ended by a common session planned my the NJRs; we started it in March so it’s still running, but the feedbacks for now are very positive: the LJRs are bonding and planning and we can’t wait to see how the JBers will like the actvities
OUR ACTIVITIES
JB LEBANON KINDNESS HUNT
We teamed up and walked around Beirut to spread small acts of kindness. These acts ranged from giving people compliments, doing energizers on the street, and cleaning up the beach.
MEDHOOD DIGITAL DAY
Medhood digital day was a set of sessions and activities created in collaboration with other neighborhoods within the region. It was aimed to bring us closer together as a neighborhood, and to let us bond and get to know each other on a more personal level.
BEACH CLEAN-UP
In collaboration with an LMO called Ahla Fawda, JBers gathered together to clean up a beach near Beirut. The team cleared the beach for the installment of some sustainable artistic sculptures.
CWAC
CWAC was a project created by Lebanon, Mexico, the Philippines, Brazil, Portugal, and Ecuador. It was the second edition to a previous activity titled COIN. It aimed to bring together CISVers around the world to connect with one another amidst this pandemic to bring back the CISV spirit. It spanned over the course of 3 weeks where CISVers were partnered up and had different challenges to accomplish.
PEACE ONE DAY
Peace One Day was a collaboration done with the Philippines during the entire week leading up to peace day. We had different personal challenges and created groups so that people with different or similar opinions could discuss topics that they were passionate about, and how they could strive towards a future with more peace.
INITIATIVES
TRIVIA TIME
Trivia Time is an annual trivia within the JB Cebu community, dating back to 2017. Each year, a different theme is used. All the proceeds from these events are donated to a chosen NGO. This year, JB Cebu hosted ‘Trivia Time 4: Human, Right?’ This event aimed to JB QUARANTINGS educate the youth on human rights in a fun and posi#JBQuarantings: Home Sweet Home is an IGTV mini tive way. We also put together a Carrd link with diffeseries that highlights the day-to-day lives of CISVers rent petitions to be signed during the event. and non-CISVers during the COVID-19 outbreak.
JB PHILIPPINES
HOW ALIKE AM I TO YOU
The open forum was JB Philippines’ primary course of action (learning through discourse) with regards to multiple socio-political issues that were happening in the country and around the world. The forum had 3 sessions where CISVers from all over the country had the chance to learn and freely discuss their personal insights supplemented by resources and speakers.
HUMANS OF JUNIOR BRANCH
Humans of Junior Branch is an online Instagram project that aims to share the stories and experience of different JBers around the world.
DEBRIEFING TIME
KWENTUHANG KARAPATAN
Kwentuhan Karapatan was the first NA project for 2021, that introduced the year’s content area through another learning through discourse session. The session’s speaker was a human rights lawyer that shed light on the basics of our rights.
Debriefing Time is a two-fold project that focuses on bringing CISV and our message of Peace Education to more people. With the use of technology being emphasized during this unprecedented time, Debriefing Time serves as an avenue for people to learn from one another and interact with each other. On one hand, it is a podcast that features different guests who talk about topics related to CISV and our hosts a series of online discussions called “DT Featuring You” where participants can talk about their thoughts and feelings on the planned topic.
SUWAT SUGBO
IT’S OK TO BE
Suwat Sugbo is an e-magazine created with the vision of providing a platform to educate and connect with our fellow Cebuanos. Every month, new articles are released covering a variety of topics.
#ItsOkayToBe is a mental health campaign that was started by JB Baguio in 2018 as a way to connect with other JBs to speak up about mental health. The main purpose/goal of the campaign was to remind the youth to be their true authentic selves and to celebrate how beautiful it is to be YOU in a world JBORN THIS WAY JBorn This Way is a project designed to raise aware- that forces you to conform to its standards. ness on gender diversity and to manifest the beauty of one. This project intends to create a safe space for IT’S OK TO BE those who are in need of one. This was done through Baligya, meaning to sell, was an online bazaar that three activities. First, a set of infographics were post- featured a bunch of local brands from Cebu and Baed covering different information, from statistics colod as a way of supporting one another during this about the LGBTQ+ community to learning how to be pandemic! Proceeds from the bazaar were donated to a better ally. Second, “Wall of Stories”, a padlet a beneficiary that provides scholarships and school where people from all over could share equipment for children. their stories or read others’. Third, a chosen story from the padlet would be featured on all our social media platforms.
PROJECT LEADERS
JB USA
Noticing volunteer burnout throughout our NA, we decided to reinvent one of our national committees. Previously, all of our positions had been year long terms; however, with most of our JB in high-school, we found this posed many commitment issues. After enumerating these problems that were leading to volunteer burnout, we developed the idea of national project leaders. Instead of a full-year term, Project Leaders (PL) have a 2-3 month term based on a specific project. Each week they have progress check-ins with the NJRs and the other PLs. They may apply in groups of up to 3 people. If chosen they will also be able to recruit other JBers to work on their committee. Successful Projects: COOKING CLUB Weekly cooking lessons and conversations about food security and sustainability. Held over Zoom for bonding across JB USA. CUB BOOK CLUB Bi-weekly book club and discussion with JBers from Canada, US, and Brazil held over Zoom. Books read so far: - Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Barren Lives by Graciliano Ramos - Captains of the Sands by Jorge Amado NATIONAL SERVICE PROJECT Continuing our JB USA initiative for all chapters to get involved in their community, this year with an emphasis on Covid-safe initiatives. CUB PENPALS Pen pal pairing across Canada, US, and Brazil to foster Neighborhood connections while international programs are on hold.
PROBLEMS IN THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY
JB VIENNA
In December we asked our whole chapter to go through their closet and sort out all the clothes that are too small or that they don’t wear anymore. We collected them and donated them to people in need as a little “Christmas act”. Because of this, we also planned our December JB-Act around this topic. Before the JB-Act we asked the JBers to read this booklet, which talks about different problems in the clothing industry: At the beginning of the JB-Act we asked them to think about clothing in general and how important clothing to them is and had a little talk about that. Then we asked them to fill out a Mentimeter. First, where the T-Shirt they are wearing was made, second, what problems they can think of in the clothing industry. Afterwards we talked about the outcome. After that we divided the JBers into groups of 3-4 about a certain problem and gave them a bit of material about that problem. We gave them 45 minutes to look through the material, talk about the problem and make a little visual for the others about the problem. Afterwards each group presented their problem and their findings. All in all it was a very successful JB-Act because first it was great working together with our chapter and also inviting them to this JB-Act. Second, we loved pairing the more theoretical JB-Act with the more practical Clothing collection. During the JB-Act the discussions were great and very interesting and made us all more conscious of the clothing that we buy. We loved how deep our JBers dived into their problems and the great visuals they produced. The JB-Act took longer than we anticipated, and you could easily separate it into to sessions because it is quite intense.
SMAP
EMEA JB TEAM As the black lives matter movement gained so much momentum in the summer of 2020, something happened inside the emea jb team too: we suddenly felt like we hadn’t used our reach and platform as well as we could have. We felt like there were more things we could do to be a part of the solution, rather than the problem. And that’s how SMAP was born. Since that, we have regularly hosted month-long projects on our instagram, where we share, discuss, and reflect on different topics. So far, we’ve had an introductory social justice month, a month on eurocentrism and one climate justice. During these projects, we share content and host discussion sessions. Anyone is invited and we try our best to make the project as accessible as possible. Stay tuned, as this is an ongoing project and we already have topics for the next months in mind and are working on them!
IJB UPDATES
IJR’s
NJR GET TOGETHER
One of the most exciting parts of being an NJRs has always been meeting fellow NJRs - to see that others are doing similar work and struggling with similar things, and to exchange ideas and work together. Since we haven’t been able to travel for the past year, this hasn’t been happening naturally. To tackle this issue, we have organized two NJR get-togethers since November to play some fun online games together and get to know each other in an informal way.
MOVIE/BOOK CLUBS
As an anti-racism initiative, IJB started a movie club in July 2020. Throughout July, participants watched an episode of Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us each week and got together during the weekend for a group discussion. As part of IJBC 2020, participants could get together to discuss several different books related to the topic of colonialism, including Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. We continued this initiative into the fall and had another series of book club discussions in November.
MEETING WITH GOVERNING BOARD
Throughout the year, we have been in touch regularly with our liaison in the Governing Board and we have had several meetings to keep each other up to date. Building a good relationship with the Governing Board has been important in a time when everything has been so uncertain. Growing the relationship between JB and CISV is so important, so good communication has been a priority for us!
REGULAR MEETINGS
To be able to work well together virtually, to communicate as effectively as possible and get to know each other a bit in the process, we have quite a lot of regular meetings throughout the month. The first weekend of each month is reserved for the Regional Teams and the IJB Team monthly meetings. During both of those, we make sure that we are updated on what everyone is up to, talk about things that might be unclear or give each other advice about issues that have come up in our work. And of course, there is always a designated time to get to know each other or play a fun game together in the beginning of our meetings! Additionally, we have weekly IJR Meetings where we discuss anything concerning our work as IJRs: initiatives we might want to start, logistics about IJBC or the IJB Team, issues and topics that we were approached with, etc.
IJBC 2021
IJBC 2021 is almost around here and we are getting started on planning!!This year, IJBC will take place online during the first two weekends of August (August 6-8 and 13-15). Aside from our usual facilitator team, this year we also have a separate tech team that takes care exclusively of the technical aspects, like setting up an online space for us, making sure it is easy to use and running smoothly and facilitators will plan and run some exciting new online content! IJBC 2021 being online is a chance for us to implement what we learned last year and to reach even more JBers and CISVers in new and exciting ways. We will be following up on topics that we talked about last year, touch upon some new ones and get to meet a bunch of new people from all over the CISV world!
WHAT TO EXPECT? IJB is in the process of planning an interregional social media and online content project on the topic of anti-discrimination. Get ready to participate in this starting in June! Governing Board and motion voting season is right around the corner as well, so you can expect some IJB townhalls to give us some input on this!! Keep an eye out for IJBC 2021 registration, we are currently putting together our team of facilitators and can’t wait for you to see what we have in store!
AWESOME
WORK!
Stay tuned for the next IJB Infopack!
@ijb.cisv IJB - International Junior Branch www.ijb.cisv.org ijr@cisv.org