There is something amazing in the CCIVS which is about gathering so much diversity: cultural, organisational, geographical,… in just one movement; with similar goals and vision, but so many different realities. The CCIVS is in over 90 countries (how many languages do we speak, how different are our lives, our conditions…) and however we consider to go in one direction, to search for common goals (peace, interculturality, sustainability,…) with common methodologies: workcamps, IVS.
And yet, what makes us amazing is also the source of some of our main weaknesses: our difficulty as a network, as CCIVS, to care, to monitor such diversity, such quantity of organisations within the movement.
The STEPS project was launched in order to start solving such fundamental challenge. If part of the mission of CCIVS is to empower its member organisations so that they achieve the goals of IVS; how is it possible that CCIVS is not able to know the needs of each of its members, to address the main challenges with support and training? The EC went around these questions for some years, and in the GA in Korea, 2014, made the decision to develop a Monitoring and Empowerment System for the network. And STEPS is the project to place the grounds for such system. With STEPS we are aiming to be in the 4 regions (Asia, Africa, America, Europe), developing a process of deep diagnosis with members, and at the same time implementing organisational development trainings which allow members to reflect and work on their own needs, challenges and potentials.
Up to now, we have had a STEP experience in Africa, with an international training in Ghana, hosted by Volu; and wonderful participants also from Astovot Togo, ADC Congo DR, UPA Uganda, VWAN Nigeria, who also hosted training processes in their countries. In Asia, a training in Cambodja, hosted by CYA, with participants from Ruchi India, VSA Thailand, SCI Hong Kong, IWO Korea. And in America, a training hosted by ACI Costa Rica, and participants from Siijuve Mexico, Chiriboga in Equador, BVBP in Perú, Subir al Sur in Argentina. The process, for those of us who are living it from within: participants, hosts, trainers, network representatives, is being so enriching! It opens up the detailed reality and histories of each organisation, the non-theoretical but very practical understanding of the needs and genuinity of IVS organisations in their countries; the belonging to local cultures, and at the same time the will and capacity to be working for a global dream.
A very important part of the training and research process we are implementing is also the fact that we are continuing with the Impact research of the last years (CLICK FOR MORE DETAILS), now focussing in the impact on communities. By interviewing community members who have been in contact with IVS projects we will end up the project with testimonies in 20 countries in 4 regions, which will contribute to the global research, and add up to the 40 professionals participating in international projects and more than 100 people trained in their own countries.
So as you see, we are doing STEPS forwards. Now in January it is time for the STEP experience in Europe: hosted by CID in FYROM, with also SCI-Hellas, Concordia and SJ France, SCI-Catalunya and Egyesek Hungarian participants. We better be ready for the challenge!
If you didn’t take the STEPS train with this first project, prepare your ticket now: we are already preparing a project to apply for a grant so that we can go on with the continuation of this empowerment process for the next years! The paths ahead are open: let’s STEP into them together!
Oriol Josa
STEP Regional Event – America
STEP is an ambitious two-year project coordinated by CCIVS and focusing on capacity training, need assessment and impact measurement. The project involves four IVS networks (SCI, Alliance, NVDA, ICYE), with regional trainings taking place in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. The trainers then travel to each of the participating countries in order to implement a specific training for local organisation and to implement local project visits together with the hosts for impact measurement.
The second STEP was the Latin America regional training, it was hosted by ACI Costa Rica in the month of July, and invited Oriol Josa and Gianni Orsini as the trainers and a reporter coming from CCIVS, Vicky Lovelock.
Two participants from each partner organisation – Subir al sur Argentina, SIIJUVE Mexico, ACI Costa Rica, BVBP Peru and Fundacion Chiriboga Ecuador joined the training. During four days there were 16 sessions focusing on three themes, introduction, diagnostics and organisational development (structure, what do we do? how do we work together? what projects do we do? financial sustainability). There were many very interesting discussions, which allowed for a greater understanding of the IVS sector in Latin America.
Following on from this enriching training, the participants returned to their countries and Oriol and Gianni continued to work directly with ACI providing a direct training for their team and visiting their local projects. Gianni then travelled to Ecuador and Mexico and Oriol to Argentina and Peru to repeat the same processes with the other project partners.
Almost in parallel a STEP as taking place in Asia, the next STEP to follow is in Europe at the end of January 2018 hosted by CID in FYROM! More news to follow soon!
Vicky Lovelock
CCIVS Director
STEP Regional Event – Asia
The training course in Cambodia for STEPS took place at the CYA youth centre between August 10th and 15th, gathering representatives from 5 organisations based in Cambodia, India, South Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong. The training course’s itinerary included an introduction to the Organizational Pentagon developed by CCIVS. Moreover, The participants had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the theoretical framework developed by the member organizations, with the intention of being able to analyse the impact of the international voluntary service movement on personal and professional development levels of those working with international youth exchanges, most notably the work camps. Furthermore, participants also had the chance understand and learn about what the organisations present had in mind in terms of projects.
As a part of a more broad global context, the training course in Asia provided a region-specific analysis which helped further identify the commonalities between stakeholders around the world. In combination with the individual interviews conducted upon the end of the training course, the steering team of the STEPS project is entering the phase of analysis of the data gathered and shaping the outcomes of the project. Those outcomes will be used to support the work and further development of the partner organizations involved in the project, as well provide the member organizations of 4 major IVS networks all over the world to implement their work in a way to assure higher learning outcomes, as well to overcome challenges they have been facing in their implementation. Results of the project are expected to be shared with the networks involved in the project and with the general public in the seminar which is to be hosted in June 2018 by Egysek in Hungary.
Dushan Milojevic
Alliance
More information about STEP can be found on the blogpage www.ccivs.org/steps
(photo credit: Gianni Orsini / CCIVS / Dushan Milojevic)
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