I’m 21 y.o.

WELCOME! My name is Cande Lucero

Dente

Contact me!mail:

candelaria.lucerod@gmail.com or

skype: candelucero

I’m studying SOCIAL

EDUCATION

MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE.

2012 IJR CandidateQuestionnaire

- WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE IJR?

So as I’m queuing in line to get on the bus, my phone buzzes and there it was: an IJR nomination. Part of me felt like pooping my pants, part of me felt like sharing it with the bus driver (true story!)… and as my knees were going weak, I sat down, stared out the window and listened to the other part of me - the part that gave me knots in the stomach and that made me feel warm and excited. More excited than I have ever felt about anything in a long time.

Not only is this an exciting opportunity because of Junior Branch’s high level of performance, but mainly because I am convinced that Junior Branch has a tremendous potential. To put it in very few words:

Being given the opportunity to run for IJR isn’t just scary and kind of flattering –  it’s mainly a chance to articulate my experience of 5 years within IJB, especially in this thrilling context of change that CISV is going through. I believe in this gut feeling and I am motivated to contribute to this process. In addition to that, I am studying to become a Social Educator and I am anxious to see how these two roles could meet and interact.

it would be an honor to help orchestrate this path of growth for the next two years.

You will realize that along my questionnaire I will talk a lot about going local. I grew as a JBer within a single chapter NA and the experience will always remain in me. I’ve seen, heard and felt what it is to be part of a developing Junior Branch (and I’m proud of it!). But also, having been involved in a regional leadership position (ARM Facilitator 2009-2010) I also opened my eyes to larger JBs’ realities and it allowed me to learn from them.

First, I still have two more years until I graduate and I take school very seriously, which implies that sometimes university work will be my priority. By taking a major responsibility in CISV I will have to learn how to balance both things. Secondly, I believe we need to be honest and clear in order to learn and improve from each other but I sometimes tend to be too straightforward. I am working on this so that my feedback is always nice and constructive. Thirdly, I tend to focus too much on the details and forget to see the big picture of things. Last but not least, I find it hard to be brief and concise in my e-mails and I generally tend to over-elaborate my points. (I am trying hard not to bore you too much!)

What would you bring to the role of IJR?

What would stop you from being a good IJR?

I also believe I could bring knowledge and experience from the field of my studies, which I think can introduce a renovated and different perspective to some topics in IJB such as the socio-educational approach to community engagement, citizen participation and project-based learning – themes I believe not only Junior Branch but CISV as a whole can benefit from.

In addition to that, my experience of 5 years in the IJB Committee gave me the opportunity to be part of a different challenge: find ways and tools to enhance local JBs’ performances. At this point you may be thinking: 5 years?! Wait, how did she not get bored? Well, to put it simple: all the new and fresh juniors I got to meet inspired me to stay and help materialize their projects. Plus, during those years, Junior Branch had to face many interesting transitions and I took it as a personal challenge to help facilitate them in the most creative way I could. Just to mention some examples, the leadership transition that ARM faced in 2008, the current and ongoing internal IJB Review, and the joint project with the International Summer Camp Committee.

I believe being a junior (and later NJR) in JB Buenos Aires and ARM Facilitator helped me understand different realities, while being in the IJB Committee I had the opportunity to encompass a set of knowledge and instruments to reach concrete results in the realities mentioned above.

The good thing is that I’m fully aware of the things I need to improve and I’m always open to criticism. I will work on them so that I can perform the best way possible. J

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Growing locally by going local. Juniors need to feel that what they are doing makes a difference and contributes to change. Community-based projects allow us to bring the ASKs home: they transform our knowledge into relevant lessons and actions. When we only reflect about abstract things, many people’s interest and motivation may gradually wear off. Community-based projects are a good strategy to inject value and meaning into the educational content we work with, helping our local JBs to grow and stay healthy. We need to shift from a vicious circle to a virtuous circle: getting smarter by getting better. And that requires practice.

For the past years we have successfully overcome fragmentation and found ways to collaborate between all levels of the organization. I believe it is now, more than ever, when all CISVers need to see this moment as an opportunity. As an opportunity to become a cohesive team working towards the same result: better ways to better succeed in our educational purpose.

What should change about Junior Branch, particularly following the Organizational Review?

I believe juniors should spend less time proving to their Board their relevance and importance, and dedicating more time on true cooperation. It takes the same energy to be positive than to have a negative attitude and, results have shown, being positive brings much more to the organization. Great examples of this point are the collaboration between IJB and the International Summer Camp Committee to promote chapter and JBs’ growth and the attendance of the APJB Team members to the Trustees’ meeting during APRW.

If you ask me how I think IJB is doing, I would say we’re currently pretty good at what we’re doing and we’re getting better each day. However, if we look at IJB with a magnifying glass, we will probably realize that, at a local level, our JBs are undergoing day-to-day struggles. And this needs to change.

New means to lead the way to improvement. With the current analysis of IJB, we’re really focusing on how the IJB Committee can become more relevant at a local level. To do this we are: a) taking into consideration juniors’ opinions through an online survey, b) studying how it worked in the past, c) coming up with new ways for the IJB Team to support local JBs’ issues. In the end, IJB is a conclusion of local JBs, without them IJB is nothing.

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One main role for Junior Branch should be involvement. If in the Organizational Review (OR) it is suggested that CISV International focuses more on the chapter level, I think Junior Branch is a big key element. JB is a platform where global citizen acquire the attitudes, develop the skills and gain the knowledge to impact at a local level.

With the changes proposed in the Organizational Review,

what is the role of Junior Branch in the

future of CISV?Moreover, we need to ensure that all working spaces at an international, regional and local level have specific spaces for juniors. Today and in the future, JBers need to be included at all levels of the organization as they can be fuel for ideas and innovation.

[Hot topic! Let’s discuss this further, I really want to know what you think.]

Why regions, and how can we use them better?

I believe regions don’t exist to emphasize differences but to appreciate similarities and create opportunities. And I am deeply convinced that the success (and purpose) of regionalization lies exactly in this simple position: the will to cooperate.

Back in 2007 when regional cooperation took a different shape (more trainings in more diverse locations and in more moments of the year) the approach was grouping JBs based on geographical proximity in order to reach more juniors through the implementation of JB Development Workshops (Nuclei of Development and Neighborhoods, anyone?) This generated significant increase in the number of trained and involved juniors as they had a near – and affordable – training opportunity they could attend. But regions are open to any Junior Branch who wants to join, so although the geographical aspect proved us to bring amazing results, grouping based on needs and purposes is also an essential and important way to look at regions. Once we fully understand this concept we will be able to take more advantage of them.

So, how we can use them better?

Remembering regional meetings are not a goal in itself but a space to further achieve the regional and JB goals.

Increase the offer of relevant training in strategic places and times of the year. If the OR’s recommendations could imply less face-to-face contact, we need to put a great deal of our energy

into JB Development WSs, regional meetings and Regional Training Forums (RTFs). However, many questions arise: What is the most cost-effective way of ensuring training for everyone? Which is the adequate option for each of us to receive/deliver

training? Which opportunity addresses each junior’s goals and needs in the best way? We should streamline and clarify this, to

ensure we make good decisions related to training.

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What do you want to have achieved by the time you finish in 2014?

The facts speak for themselves. Throughout the past years, IJB has increased the number of global initiatives it has engaged with. This has helped raise our profile within CISV and with other global organizations such as POD. However, I think it’s time we pull out our magnifying glasses: are we having the same kind of impact at a local scale? By 2014 I would like all of us to feel that active global citizenship is truly at the core of everything we do. And I would love to be a part of an International Junior Branch that devises strategies for this to become a reality.

Well, I am fully aware that the next IJR might be working in a totally different structure and environment than the one we have today. And the results of these winds of change will bring something unknown and scary. Scary but exciting: what CISV becomes is whatever we want it to become. Cool, huh? In this context, the things that I’d liked to see achieved by 2014 are more of a vision than concrete projects.

Juniors have a lot of experience, great leadership development tactics and the motivation. But we still need much more. As the OR says: “To add the energy and creativity of the JBs and integrate them into the work of Chapters would make the ‘heart’ of the organisation so much stronger”. We will only achieve this if we recognize that CISV as a whole is not the only one who needs JB, but that JB also needs the rest of the organization. And I believe this attitude will lead to a change of perception about juniors at all levels of CISV.

It takes two to tango. Or to cooperate.

Along these lines what are some of the things that I would like to have achieved?

Beyond one right answer.

While I was getting to know more about how APJB works, I realized that successful JB work can be done in very different ways. By 2014 I hope we are more internationally aware of local situations and value the differences as successful ways to be agents of change. I want to ensure IJB as a safe place for learning and testing different ideas and even be wrong and learn lessons out of it!

Differentiate your approach.

IJB’s growth depends on two things: training and implementation. As regards to training, I would like to ensure there’s a wide offer in the types of training and meetings than can cater to all juniors’ knowledge. While it’s always appealing to increase the number of trainings, I think that it’s important to offer more diversity in the type of sessions and activities, so as to address all kinds of learning and experiences. In line with this, by 2014 I would like to see an increase in the number of participation per year in JB Development workshops and, most importantly, and increase in the number of juniors attending Regional Training Forums (RTFs).

Data, our GPS.

Leaving written accounts of our actions is as important as developing them – it creates transparency towards our present and future juniors. By improving our knowledge management, we’re also preventing future members of CISV to reinvent the wheel when good stuff has already been created and proved! In two years, I want to ensure data has been collected and that it has helped IJB move in a path of growth.

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If you had to be one of the 7 CISV Programmes, which would you be and why?

A)

B)

I would be the International Summer Camp Committee.

ISU family didn’t fear change and that

realized when they were needing to move on and went for it. At times like this, there’s a lot we need to learn from them.

is something to admire. They

Recognizing one’s limitations is the first step for a healthy development. ISU members realized they weren’t 100% successful in one specific area and asked for help. I value that attitude and wish to learn it both at a personal and professional level.

the end.hope you enjoyed reading my ideas

and remember you can always e-mail me J