Junior Branch is a community of young volunteers in CISV.

It offers opportunities for youth to develop attitudes, skills, and knowledge through educational initiatives that contribute to the mission and vision of our organization! All Junior Branches, international, regional, national, and local work towards specific goals. From contributing to CISV’s Educational approach to fostering an inclusive community of youth volunteers.

Each year, our Junior Branch is lead by two International Junior Representatives, an International Junior Branch Team that supports them directly and three Regional Delivery Teams (one for each region). 2019 has been full of amazing accomplishments in our regions!

#1 – The Junior Branch International Conference (IJBC) in Asia Pacific

Every year the International Junior Branch Conference takes place in a country selected through a voting window by our National Junior Representatives. Each of them cast their vote online, with their individual criteria; for the past eight years, IJBC has been hosted in our Europe, Middle-East and Africa Region or in the Americas. The last IJBC in the Asia Pacific took place in 2011 in Indonesia. This year however it was hosted by CISV Thailand! You can see the Junior Branch archive here to find out where other IJBCs have taken place.

#2 – All Junior Branches present at the Americas’ Regional Meeting

This year, we had all 13 countries represented at the Americas Junior Branch Meeting which was held in Colombia earlier this year. Sessions including Neighbourhood cooperation, evaluation, innovation, retention, and recruitment. A complete representation from our thirteen Americas’ Junior Branches allowed for a better opportunity to learn from each other and share best practices.

#3 – Helping Chapters Reach out to Like-Minded Organizations

Through online recruitment, the Asia Pacific Junior Branch Team collaborated with dedicated volunteers from their Region to create useful resources for their local Junior Branches. The work will be summarized in a handbook, which can be used both online or offline, full of tips and samples on how to reach out to Like-Minded Organisations (LMOs) for collaboration. This handbook will be distributed to Chapters in our region and published online in early 2020.

#4 A guide for sustainability in CISV

CISV Canada’s Junior Branch created a guide for sustainability in CISV. The guide explains the importance of sustainability in our organization and provides suggestions for activities and best practices for being sustainability. The guide was shared at the Americas Junior Branch Meeting, but you can find it here!

#5 Instagram is the new Facebook

The Europe, Middle-East and Africa Junior Branch continuously reinvent their communication strategy with dynamic plans, new additions, and exciting initiatives that aim to improve their social media presence and engagement with the region. The Team has started working more closely with the National Junior Representatives and other active members to empower them by sharing a piece of their CISV experiences in their Instagram account as well as started a discussion forum for the Programme Review where members from the EMEA Region can freely and openly discuss the proposed changes.

#6 VITAMIN C the new Neighbourhood

Through constant communications with National Junior Representatives, CISV India’s, CISV Myanmar’s, CISV Thailand’s, and CISV Vietnam’s Junior Branches came together to form a new Neighbourhood for the Asia-Pacific Region. The first Vietnam, India, Thailand And Myanmar’s Interesting Neighbourhood Conference (VITAMIN C) will be held in Bangkok, Thailand in 2020. Neighbourhoods are a great resource for Junior Branch as they are created to join Junior Branches that want to collaborate with each other through virtual work or workshops.

#7 Introducing Webinars

The Europe, Middle-East and Africa Junior Branch Team have started a new project on EJB Webinars. Each Webinar is focused on different things, aiming to inspire and educate members of their region on opportunities available to them.

#8 Training the Trainers (TTT) for APJB

CISV seeks to ensure that all of our training is delivered to a consistently high standard by trained, certified, and experienced trainers. The CISV TTT course is intended for any CISVer with a mandate for training. It is based on training methodologies and general CISV educational principles, and not programme-specific material. No matter who the target group is for your training practices, the TTT course will provide tools needed to enhance your planning, facilitation, and evaluation skills. After months of preparation with the Training and Quality Assurance Asia-Pacific Regional Delivery Team, CISV Philippines, and Trainers, Junior Branch ran a 4 days Train The Trainers (TTT) for Asia-Pacific Junior Branch in Manila. 15 participants were trained and received TTT certification. They are now ready to bring their skills and quality training back to their local Junior Branches.

#9 Suggestions for the Programme Review

Each year some of the four Neighbourhoods in the Americas run workshops or Neighbourhood Conferences to collaborate, grow, and learn in a more specific way. At the Central America & Mexico Workshop, the Americas’ Junior Branch Team facilitated a session on the Programme Review. As a result, a document with suggestions on how to involve Junior Branch in the review was sent to the Governing Board.

#10 Collaboration was key for new regional goals

Each year the Europe, Middle-East and Africa Junior Branch create what we know as the EJB Goals, which are meant to be completed throughout the year. This year these goals were created in collaboration with the National Junior Representatives. The result was amazing. The EJB Goals received great feedback and JBers were engaged and wanted to contribute to the creation of the goals. We have taken into consideration their ideas and can happily say that the goals are to guide us all, not just the EJB Team.