Reflection #4: Zero revolution, one target group and three suggestions

The great thing about CISV is that the vision, goals and values of our organisation are shared between all thinking citizens of this world. However, even greater than this is the width of the organisation. Width in the sense that we have seven different programmes, that the organisation is open to all ages irrespective of background, that the level of volunteer hours committed can vary to suit each members opportunities and interest and that we make a difference in 200 cities globally. But, the greatest thing about CISV, and what makes us unique, is that the methods (our programmes, activities and projects) we use to strive for our vision are as concrete and real as they are easy to access, fun and personally rewarding.

I’ve been asked to write this article on the topic How can CISV increase its contribution towards a more peaceful society?. After many years in the core of a large CISV national association, hard at work during many international CISV meetings and in never ending discussion on the development of CISV with friends, my perspective right now is that too much focus in the management of CISV is put on the national associations. It is this perspective that I will develop here.

CISV does not need a revolution
As a candidate for a leadership position in CISV I was asked the question What is your long term vision for CISV?. And my answer was That we preserve our educational and volunteer core while continuously refining our programmes; that we develop CISV into an even more effective organisation in terms of training, administration, finance and communication, honour our history and tradition by keeping the organisation focused on the present challenges of the global society and clarify to CISVers and society the skills, knowledge and awareness that CISVers develop in CISV. This is the perspective I use in my CISV commitment and what gives me motivation to continue doing so from year to year.

As in the quote above and in the start of this article, from my perspective, we surely have the vision and the methods, the fantastic volunteers and a strong structure for continuing to be a great organisation. From my perspective, the increase in our contribution to society should be that we continue to do what we already do but by doing it even better by being more open and more effective.

The ideas that I play with in this article are far away from a revolution, they are fun and concrete ideas for further development. At the same time we should not shy away from trying new things since sometimes it’s part of development.

But let’s get concrete
So far I’ve written here that I think we have a great and unique organisation, that we don’t need a revolution but at the same time should not shy away from trying new thing and that we have too much of a focus on the level of national associations. So, what is my suggestion?

I give you … [drum-roll] …”Grassroot 2000”. By grassroot I here mean the local CISV chapters in 200 cities all over the world. ”Grassroot 2000” defines a narrow and prioritised target group in CISV, namely, the key organisational leaders in each of the 200 chapters. No chapters are the same and among other things they vary in the number of key organisational leaders, some might have five and others might have fifteen. But good enough for right now is that we estimate an average of ten key organisational leaders per local chapter.

This gives us a defined key target group of 2000 CISVers. These 2000 CISVers are what keeps our organisation going. This is the human resource base from where the strength of our organisation is built. The opportunities and challenges of these 2000 are what should be the concern of all CISVers active on a national or international level.

”Grassroot 2000” aims to define a prioritised target group, create a more open organisation, focus on organisational development, create an organisation that encourages personal development and an organisation where democracy is fun. So, how can we do this?

I’ll give you three more concrete suggestions
1) When a person shows interest in CISV, i.e. by clicking a ”I’m interested”-button on our webbpage, we should send him/her a letter and a small and easy to read broschure that welcomes him/her to CISV, that explains the vision, values, structures and methods of CISV and lists the opportunities that he/she will have in CISV. This will make interested persons feel warmly welcome, give them the fuller picture of CISV and encourage them not only to be a limited or passive members but to engage in the development of CISV and one’s self.

2) We should develop two new guides. Not guides like we know them in CISV today; with long difficult texts and no pictures or illustrations. Both new guides should have the 2000 as target group, be colorful, easy and fun to read, and contain checklists with concrete tips. The first guide could be called ”Organisation for Global Friendship” and contain content on how democracy, economy, diversity and equality, training, the programmes, hosting, sending, information, recruitment and structures could and should work in CISV. The second guide could be called ”Education for Global Friendship” and should focus on the educational content of CISV and the structures surrounding arranging or hosting a camp or a project and sending delegations and delegates. This guide should also identify CISVs global methods and standards for local training – including programme and organisational-leadership training.

3) We should rewrite the statues of CISV International so that we will only have Annual International Meeting (AIM) every second year. The year in between we should have a ”CISV Congress”. In the ”CISV Congress” the organisation should be represented by the 200 local chapters instead of the 60 national associations. The ”CISV Congress” aims to broaden the democratic practices of CISV and would develop the organisation further with a focus on the local level. Practically it could develop working groups, cooperations, sharing of best practice and strategic papers. If the Congress, through its working groups, develops strategic papers these could be voted upon at AIM the following year.

Food for thought
Thank you! …for using CISV as your platform for personal development and for reading my article. The content is not a critique of anyone or anything, it is food for thought trying to say that we are great, can be even greater, that things can be done in different ways and that democracy is fun.