NJBF and the IJR Candidates!

Word up everyone.

It's early on a Tuesday morning and I'm trying to have a productive day - this being the beginnings of it! How are you all? Good weekend? For those of you that didn't have the pleasure of being there, last weekend was NJBF! It was awesome! A small but perfectly formed group. For those of you that don't know, NJBF is the National Junior Branch Forum, a working weekend for those 16+ in GBJB. It happens twice a year, in Feb and September and is where we elect our officers for the year - the treasurer, secretary and the new NJR! (that happens in September at the AGM - Annual General Meeting) But this weekend was just for general GBJB development really. As a consequence, we have some really big plans for GBJB!

So here's a bit of a preview of what happened in the weekend, and the new calendar that will come in to effect..now!

Our 4 new goals that we're going to be working towards:

Improve national cooperation, through more national events and camps

One of the things that was highlighted over the weekend was that we could do with more communication between our own branches to make us stronger. It was decided that need more social events, which could be an informal gathering or something more structured. They would take place in other points of the year, not just around winter. One thought was having a national camp in the summer - an NYM if you like! This would take place over a week and would allow people who weren't able to go on a international camp a chance to do something in GB!

Certain tasks have been assigned to all these, but I'm not going to include them here, but get in touch if you're interested in any of them!

Ensure quality and thorough training, empowering people to take leadership responsibilities and incorporate educational principles of CISV.

We found many branches feel that the quality of JB meetings suffer from lack of focus, and lack of training by those that lead it. Ways of addressing this included: workshops for each chapter, starting with the educational circle and corresponding activities; an advanced training workshop, incorporated into S.M.I.L.E. or even a separate event; and the possiblity of standardised national educational themes, to give direction and focus.

Improve international cooperation, through increased contact, communication and participation in weekends.

Other JBs can be massively helpful for support and information so we should make better use of tools such as JB Community and JB Faces. We should aim to send more people to IJB events, and also begin to host more to gain more information about how JBs are run internationlly which may help strengthen us!

Build a clear, efficient and accessible system for the smooth running of GBJB.

For things to run efficiently and smoothly, people need to be aware of what they need to do/their role, what is actually going on, and how to use all simple channels of communication. Soo, from now on LJRs need to follow LJR-7, and train others to follow in their footsteps, the secretary needs to build a functional, full, perfect contact list, using lists taken from all branches in September, Leadership Training, 17/18+ and NJBF, and also train protégé, Strategic planning of following year: Minicamps, themes, jobs, identification and delegation of tasks should occur, MSN (LJR) Chats should have an agenda, and be productive.

We also had some nice working groups for the progression of GBJB!

They came in the form of:

Merchandise who are looking at: beanie hats, belts, shoe laces, folders, files, notebooks, passport holders, guitar strap, PILLOW CASES, sponge bag, scarf, stickers, pin badges, pyjamas. But we will continue in all possible areas to continue with Fairtrade products! There's now a lovely team of merchandise peeps for GBJB.

National Fundraiser - The Duck Race which will involve racing ducks down a river! Excellent. Watch this space. National Casino Night! Held in one city, annually!

Pantomime - this is a work in progress, but watch this spaaace!

The creation of a national songbook! Yes that's right - this will happen soon.

Online Branch - An online resource for other JBs, as main demographic will be experienced CISVers, age range around 18-25, that have moved but are still enthusiastic. Again a work in progress - but watch this space!

JB Calendar 2009-10 (and for future use)

June
20th National Council AGM
July
Happy summer times..
August
IJBC and AIM in Guatemala!
September
4th -6th NJBF AGM
19th NJB Day, in Manchester/North East (earlier, to coincide with International Peace Day)
October
3rd National Council
16th-18th S.M.I.L.E. [JB Training]
November
6th-8th Year 7/8 and possibly year 9/10 - yea that's right! Together but seperate..hmm!
27th-29th 16/17/18+? - possibilites are endless here!
December
5th National Council
January
29th-31st Year 9/10, failing November.
February
26th-28th NJBF - THIS IS DIFFERENT! Pay attention kids!
JB Neighbourhood Weekend - again, watch this space.
March
6th National Council
18+ Social event, first weekend of Easter break.
End - Leadership Training
April
EJBM Easter weekend
May
Exams and shizzle..
June
National Council AGM
July
Suummmer!
August
Mmm BBQs

So that was NJBF! Whoa - lots of reading there! Very exciting and productive though.

The other part of exciting news that has happened over the weekend is that the IJR (International Junior Representative) candidates have been announced! That's right, IJB (International Junior Branch) has spoken, and the four candidates that will be competing for the spot of the IJR in the summer are...

- Alex Neuman;
- Chris Settle;
- Juanma Oviedo and
- Rowan El Shimi

So have a check out of their JBPedia pages to find out who they are!

http://www.ijb.cisv.org/mwiki/index.php/Alex_Neuman
http://www.ijb.cisv.org/mwiki/index.php/Chris_Settle
http://www.ijb.cisv.org/mwiki/index.php/Juanma_Oviedo
http://www.ijb.cisv.org/mwiki/index.php/Rowan_El_Shimi

And that's all for now folks, I'll be back soon though - don't worry!

xx