Follow the IMC on Twitter throughout AIM 2009

Please tune your twitters to the activities of the International Mosaic Committee (and the other attendees) during this year's AIM, happening next week in Guatemala!

Just search for the hashtag #AIM09

The following IMC members will all be tweetin' so be sure to follow us!
Per Olsson: thinkper
Alex Neuman: alexanderneuman
Chris Stokes: the_okapi
Sofia Mexia: sofiamexia

You can also follow the International Junior Branch here: ijbc09live

Please send us input, questions, challenges, doubts, love letters and/or haikus.

Here's to a wonderful AIM!

Interested in the International Mosaic Committee?

Stockholm – 1 July 2009
Per Olsson, IMC

The International Mosaic Committee is looking for motivated, committed and Mosaic-experienced people to work as trainees in the committee during the year 2009-2010. A trainee is a one-year opportunity to get to know the team and the work we do. This year we consider taking on as many as five new members of the team!

We offer a fun and inspiring year with one of the most productive teams in CISV International. We assure a challenging year with lots of potential in terms of leadership and organisational development. The position as trainee is a one-year position but depending on future committee plans there are good opportunities for a continuing position in the Mosaic team!

In this document we outline who we are and what we do as well as what we are looking for and what we want you to do in order to join our team. If you have any questions, my contact details are in the bottom of the document.

Best regards

/Per, Chair of the International Mosaic Committee!


The Mosaic Programme:

Mosaic is a project-based programme providing peace education, relevant to local communities worldwide. Each project is a separate experience that relates to a local need and interest and involves specific target groups. A Mosaic project empowers participants to take initiative in their community and creates a desire for active citizenship. The aim is to develop an intercultural competence of attitudes, knowledge and skills for an active citizenship in a multicultural society. Further, we create an authentic learning experience for participants and deliver a benefit to the wider community. Every year CISV hosts approximately 35 projects worldwide.

The International Mosaic Committee:

The International Mosaic Committee (IMC) draws its members from all across the world, from Canada to Colombia, from Austria to Australia, from Stockholm to San Jose. As well as being responsible for the strategic development of the programme we also provide support to all Mosaic projects taking place worldwide. We are a team of dedicated volunteers, convinced that peace education is most efficient when targeting the values of the local community.


Our challenges and long term goals:

* The first has to do with the stability of the programme; by 2012, every chapter should have a reliable contact person, the support should be perfect and our network of trainers and coordinators should do most of the support and are highly involved in the approval process. We aim at 50 projects a year with zero withdrawals and non-approved. For this we need a stronger focus on regional support and increased capacity to work with chapter contacts.

* The second has to do with training and education; by 2010 we have three regional trainings a year and our training strategy and our educational curriculum is totally inline with CISV as a whole. We have a network of trainers that are involved in evaluating and developing our materials and curriculum. We have also said that at least 70% of the projects involve participants from outside CISV and 75% of our projects are benefiting by working with other organisations. For this we need to work more on both input and output in training and education.

* The third challenge is regarding our profile. We have said that we want a magazine that is communicating the programme’s output. Mosaic output has a profile in communities and Project Coordinators should be recognised as professional educational managers. This will lead us to a situation where the Mosaic Programme Development is fully funded by external resources. For this we need to closely follow the developments in the organisation but also be in the forefront of new techniques and ideas. IMC have launched the Mosaic Storytelling project but we need more work here.

What we are looking for:

We think that you, who are interested in working with the International Mosaic Committee would identify yourself with all or most of the bullet points below;

* have experience in the Mosaic Programme, preferably as a project coordinator
* have an interest and experience in the field of formal or non-formal education
* have experience where you developed something from take-off to landing
* are a good communicator who is able to network and develop contacts
* are result-oriented
* live in any part of the world
* have basic knowledge of the English language
* are open minded
* are willing to commit at least ten hours per month to the committee

How to become an IMC trainee:

If you are interested in working with the International Mosaic Committee please send a personal e-mail to mosaic@cisv.org . This e-mail reaches only the Chair of the committee and if you do not want it to be shared with anyone else, please note this specifically.

* Your e-mail should reflect who you are and what you qualifications are. Please give examples that you consider being the evidence of these qualifications
* Please include your thoughts and motivation with CISV and the Mosaic programme
* Please state why are you interested in contributing at this level of the organization
* We want to know what challenges you professionally
* If joining the Mosaic Committee what area of our work would you like to work with?
* Any specific skills we could benefit from? (Web-programming, magazine editing, layout, design, training experience or specific educational background)

Send your personal e-mail to mosaic@cisv.org by August 1st at the latest.

Please do not include any photos. While geographical diversity can play a small role in the selection of committee members, the IMC does not favour candidates based on gender, age, sexuality or ethnicity.

Contact details:

Per Olsson

Chair, International Mosaic Committee

E-mail: mosaic@cisv.org

Tel: +46 739 635723

Skype: nomoreholycows

Web; www.facebook.com/thinkper

Follow me on www.twitter.com/thinkper

Mosaic Growth & Development Workshop in Asia Pacific

The International Mosaic Committee is extremely excited to announce:

The second ever regional CISV Mosaic workshop for Asia Pacific!

What? A four day workshop to find out more about Mosaic, how to make Mosaic work in your NA, how to train for Mosaic, and how to plan and run projects.
When? At the Asia Pacific Regional Workshop (APRW), April 4 - 9th 2009
Where? Just outside of Bangkok, Thailand
Who? People from all over the region who want to learn more about Mosaic, run Mosaic projects, and help spread the Mosaic program in their countries and in Asia Pacific through trainings and project support. The trainers for the workshop will be Chris (Australia) and Jali (Philippines)
How to register? Send your registration to APRW and mark "Mosaic Train the Trainer" as your preferred workshop.

Whats this all about?
In an fast changing world, the issues and challenges we face are simultaneously becoming both more global, and more local, in scale. We used to think about peace coming about when superpowers laid down their weapons - these days we know that we will never have true peace until we combat both universal challenges - climate change, poverty, resource scarcity - and those that directly affect our local societies directly - pollution of our local waterways, degradation of community, intolerance, marginalisation of indigenous people, and so on.

Mosaic is a programme designed to take the peace education principles of our beloved organisation, CISV, and apply them to our everyday lives - to our communities, to our cities, and to our local environment. It is an important and exciting step forward for CISV and one that is necessary to help plants the seeds of peace in very real and meaningful ways.

The Mosaic Regional Growth and Development Workshop (formally known as "Mosaic Train the Trainer Workshop") is absolutely important for us to help spread this relatively new programme throughout the various regions. Asia Pacific is a massively diverse and wonderful region, but engagement in Mosaic so far has been limited. It's time for Mosaic to take off in the region - and this is our one opportunity to make sure that happens!

We rely on our Mosaic Network of Trainers to help us spread Mosaic region-by-region. By coming to the workshop you will become qualified to join our Network and contribute to Mosaic's development as a program by training, supporting and running projects in your local chapters and National Associations.

We encourage every NA in Asia-Pacific to make sure they have at least one participant at this important workshop. Mosaic is a great way to assist in the development and expansion of CISV chapters, and we'd love to see it work across Asia Pacific - including in Thailand, China, New Zealand, South Korea, and Vietnam - as well as Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia, where is has already taken off...

To register please sign up for APRW (see infopack) and choose "Mosaic Train the Trainer" for your choice of parallel workshop.

Please email Chris ( chris.stokes@au.cisv.org ) if you have any questions at all about this workshop!
We hope to see heaps of you there!

Lots of CISV love
Chris (Australia) and Jali (Philippines)
International Mosaic Committee

Training Teams and Other Foursomes

For some of us, it's the dead of winter, for others it's way too hot, and especially it's too dry at the moment. We live (from left to right) in Canada, Austria, Australia and the Philippines. We are two boys and two girls (just like Abba, the children in the Chronicles of Narnia, or two thirds of the cast of Friends) and we all use gmail. A lot.

We make up the training team of the International Mosaic Committee. What that means is that we are charged with the important task of coordinating the training of Mosaic staff, project coordinators and trainers all around the world. Doesn't sound like a small task, does it? It's not. Mosaic strives to make sure that every Mosaic project undertaken has a project staff and project coordinator that have received training. This is important for the programme because it ensures a level of quality. The themes and approaches of Mosaic projects are massively different from one chapter to another. What does that mean? For example, one project in India explored water conservation in a classroom setting. Another project in Sweden engaged immigrant youth using the arts. Yet another project, this one in Canada, brought together youth from every single province in Canada and ran a unique peace-education camp. But even with so much variation in form and content, all of these projects share a common educational framework. It's a framework that pays attention to how people learn and how things we do in our communities can have a real, measurable impact. And the people who put these projects together, they all received training in this framework. It's not that hard. You could learn it.

The four of us don't do all that training ourselves. In fact, we don't do much of it at all. Instead, we train trainers. Mosaic trainers are individuals who have learned about the Mosaic programme inside-out and have developed a special set of Attitudes, Skills and Knowledge. Equipped with these special attitudes, skills and knowledge, Mosaic trainers are the best people anywhere to train people in the Mosaic framework and support projects at they are being planned and while they are happening.

A few times a year, in different parts of the world, we hold Mosaic Growth and Development Workshops (or MGDWs). This is where we, the training team, train keen individuals to become Mosaic trainers. After each MGDW we add our new group of trainers to our global Network of Trainers which is really the core of the Mosaic training system. Part of our job is to coordinate this global network of trainers. We draw on them to meet training needs in the parts of the world where they live. Montreal needs some training? No problem, we say, we've got a trainer in our network who lives right around the corner.

Sound like an interesting role?

Interested in becoming a Mosaic trainer? There are opportunities coming up. In April, there will be two MGDWs. One will take place in Thailand, the other in France. We are actively looking for enthusiastic individuals to participate. If you are keen about Mosaic, we would love, love to have you. Get in touch with the Mosaic committee to find out more. Don't delay.

x tt

certification

This week the International Mosaic Committee sent out certificates to the coordinators of all projects since 2006 that have been reported back to us. It is important that we make an effort to have the qualities and the competence of our volunteers valued by society in a larger extent. Certifications is one way of doing so.

Did you do a Mosaic project and did not recieve a certification? Then your projrct is not reported. Get in contact with our international office or mosaic (a) cisv. org!

//Per

200 km/h

At 8 am in the morning in Bogota, Colombia Enrico Quaroni signs into his msn. He has just woken up. It is Sunday morning and he is tired. At the same time, it is 11 am in the morning in Halifax, Canada. Alex Neuman is preparing to go to thanksgiving dinner with his family. He has some time left and also logs into his msn. Sofia Mexia living in Lisbon, Portugal. She is really at a weekend meeting with her job, but manage to capture a wireless network and log on to her msn. In Sweden, its 3 pm. I sit on a train between Gothenburg and Stockholm. 200 km/h. Internet. Msn. At the same time, 10pm in the Philippines where Jali is and it is midnight in Canberra, Australia, where Chris Stokes lives. They also log into their msn. The last thing they'll do before they go to bed. A further five people, in different places, in different time zones log on. It is time fo a committee meeting of CISV International Mosaic Committee. 

Context. I think that is why we engage. It gives you context - a sense of belonging. In my context, there is not time. During an hour's time, we discuss the development of Mosaic Projects in Asia and Europe, the network of trainers in North America and the financing of the upcoming training in France. The word going around. When you are meeting via msn can not do as in a normal meeting. Body language and eye contact is not there. Words like "he" or "she" can not be used, because it is not possible to know who "he" is referring. We apply silent agreements, only disagreements needs to be typed in. During my six years in the International Mosaic Committee, we have developed methods to coordinate ourselves and communicate with each other so that time does not matter. Regardless of when I send an e-mail, I get a reply within an hour. It is always someones' time to check e-mails. After a day I have twelve replies. 

Our vision is our most important tool. For we can not be motivated and have fun hanging with the gang. Because we don't meet. . So when you lose power and motivation you need to go back to the root. Why am I doing this? Why are we doing this? 

I like the idea of a world without borders. On Sunday when we were meeting over msn, it was not just time that disappeared. It was also the world's borders. There we were, committed to a more peaceful world. Early in the morning or late at night. Or at 200 km/hour. We are committed to our vision.  

The more people who may grow up with a context where borders do not exist, the closer to an open, fair and peaceful world we become. CISV creates context and we all continue to grow.

//Per

Where will we have projects next year?

CISV international have chapters in 200 communities worldwide. The following are to do Mosaic projects next year; 

Fredericton, Cairo, Madrid (x2), Firenze, JB Italy, Milano, Modena, Padova, Lisbon (x3), Philadelphia, Campinas, Sao Paulo, Abidjan, Agnibilekrou, Quito, Galicia, Madrid, Jakarta, Bologna, Jacksonville, Maine, Buenos Aires, Perth, Araraquara, Bel Horizonte, Victoria, Costa Rica, Savoie, Hordaland, Oslo & Akershus (x2), Sor-Trondelag, Bucharest, Malmö (x2), Helsingborg, Gothemborg, Mölndal, Columbus, Dallas - Ft Worth, San Francisco, Vienna, Rio de Janeiro, Vancouver, Victoria, Bogotà, Isere, Sheffield

Nuuk, Budapest, Tokai and Vilnius

We are looking forward to a new year.