Rou/EGY, newly elected IJR and editor of IJB Thinks! for now just published the latest issue of the IJB publication. Great work. A few curiosities:
- Luca/ITA writes about IJB in the 80s, and if you read the things they apparently talked about (i.e. creating a CISV airline fueled with Swedish beer?!), I have to say, no wonder, nobody let the juniors have a say in the decision making process in those days. On the other hand, maybe IJB has professionalized itself today to such an extent, that crazy ideas (well, this one is rather silly) wouldn't even show up on the agenda.
- Louise/SWE talks about Obama's Nobel prize: This supports the theory that "Peace Education" is moving back into the center of attention, but also gives a hint, how CISV connects to the "real" world. I've experienced CISV trying to detach from anything that smelled even a tad political. So yes, great: CISVers finally have an opinion on things. Personally, I think we should go even a step further, and have an opinion on the war in Iraq, the upcoming Copenhagen summit, nuclear proliferation and so on. That's our theme! Why is it so little present in our publications, at our meetings. (Even if I really want to, I shall not elaborate on this, because this is meant to be a short post.)
- Hani/LEB elaborates the "Quality vs. Quantity" question, and comes to a different conclusion, than I did in that post. Even though he talks about JBs and I talk about CISV chapter and international, I do think he's making a point overall: You don't need a huge number of people to achieve something great. (Or better: Stop whining, just because you're a small group, and go out and do something instead!)
I had read your quality vs quantity article some time ago and agreed with all the points raised in that article.
And the difference in point of views between my points and yours is exactly the one you brought up: I was referring to JBs while you were talking about NAs/chapters.
And the difference between a JB and a chapter is that a JB can settle for working with who is here, while a chapter/NA would not work well with that.
And I think that favoring quality vs quantity is a must in the functioning of a JB and that the other way around is more of a draw back than a developing agent. JBs have to be active, they have to be formed of strong members, of a strong inclusive community that can work together and perform and do stuff constantly.
Yet when it comes to a chapter, the chapter can have trained good quality leaders and staff that aren't active, and would recall these people whenever they are hosting or want to host. But the JB cannot have "inactive quality". It doesn't work like that, and trying to get the inactive quality back is just too much of a hassle and too much of time wasted.
Amen to the last comment Nick! Each time a new edition comes out I spend 10 minutes looking for the right place.