How to Start a New 4H Club

4H Namibia, Rundu, Kavango region

Where can a 4H club be started?

A 4H club can be started in any community where there are a group of boys and girls of age 6-25 years of age who wish to become members, an parents or adults who wish to assist in a leadership capacity.

Whom to contact if you wanted to start a new 4H club?

Contact the regional 4H Coordinator in the region in which you live. The coordinator will discuss the details of the 4H programme with you,

determine the extent of interest, local leadership potential, and community needs of the youth, and answer any questions you may have.

A meeting day would then be set when prospective members and their parents and other interested persons in the community would meet with the 4H coordinator. At this time the 4H coordinator would outline the programme, would display materials available and would learn what interests of the members would have in 4H, and learn from the adults present how much the community support a 4H club will receive.

What materials a new 4H club would require?

A club diaryProject booklets4H brochureAny other materials club needs

for activities

At the first meeting of a new 4H club, what decisions should be made?

Decide of the name for the club Decide on what programme the club will offer (learning, fun

activities) Elect the club officers as follows: Chairman, club leader Vice chair, vice leader Secretary Treasurer Club reporter Committees as required

Decide regular time and place fo rmeeting. General meetings are usually held once or twice a month

What projects are available for 4H clubs in Namibia

Namibia 4H has got projects available in the field of Gardening Home economics Environment & recycling Arts and crafts Tree planting & forestry Community projects

How many members are needed to register for each club? There is no minimum size for a project group, but a group of 3-5 is

recommended

What can 4H members expect from their club leaders? 4H members can expect their leader to set a good example

and a person they can be proud of. If the leader doesn’t have a know how, he or she should

either be able to find it or have someone else to teach to the club. The leader needs to know what he/she is teaching, but doesnt need to be expert in everything

A leader need to be patient, learning can sometimes be slow A leader should be fair to all members, and person who

knows how to control the group, she or he earns the respect from the group

A good 4H leader is

A leader who follows time A leader should allow members to make decisions and learn

from own mistakes, members should feel they can ask anything from the leader

A leader should tell what group is doing right, to give positive feedback, not only to correct when the group do things wrong

A leader should help the group to make the best better, not to compare to others but rather to tell how the group has improved

Leader should be distributing the work load evenly, for example if there are big events like beauty peagent or exhibitions, leader can make sure all do their share of the work

A leader is a happy person who will help the group to be motivated and help kids in achieving their goals

The agenda of the typical 4H club meeting

Every club meeting should have a variety. Nothing kills 4H spirit like having a business part of the meeting to take too long time. It is important to have a recreational and educational program to be included in every meeting,

A suggested timeline is as follows: Opening: 4H pledge, 4H song or a dance 5 min Business meeting (roll call, reports, minutes of previous club meeting,

special topics for decision making, if any) 15 min Program ( teaching of the project, guest speaker, demonstration, doing

something as a group, such as cooking, crafts, gardening) 30-45 min Recreation (sport, games, songs, dance..) 30 min (you can also start with a game session)

It is good for adults to have fun too. And by practicing it is easier to bring variety to club activities.

Activities at the 4H club levelDemonstrationPublic speakingPartiesDancesFundraising activitiesSportsCommunity service projectsSharing the progress of individual projectsTaking care of school garden or tree

nursery

How is the 4H club activities funded?

One important skill the club members can learn is fundraising

The club board makes a plan how the club will raise funds

The club can collect money from members to special acitivities or it can approach sponsors or it can have money making acitvities

The club can arrange a fundraising event, a parent event, public event such as a sport & family day

The club can use members skills such as choir, art & craft, organising a cookie sale or anything it can imagine possible.

THANK YOU AND REMEMBER :”WE LEARN BY DOING” AND ”4H IS FUN””IF YOU FAIL TO PLAN, YOU PLAN TO FAIL”