Club Meeting Ideas

PHASE ZERO: PREPARATION

• Build your Leadership Team
  Do you have support in leading your Brigade? Wondering what other positions you can include in your Leadership team? Start building your leadership team and its capacity to effectively run a Chapter with these associated resources.

🔎For more information, check this article.

• Learn How to Host Effective Meetings
  Start planning your Chapter meetings by learning about effective meetings and facilitation! Learning how to plan for and execute chapter meetings will allow you to facilitate meetings that are effective and engaging.

• Pick Out Icebreakers to Use at Each Meeting
  Having an icebreaker at the beginning of each meeting can be a great engagement tool and allow volunteers to get to know each other more casually! Be sure to include an icebreaker even if your meeting is virtual. Here are some examples:
  • Line Up
    A quick game where volunteers have to form an orderly line without any discussion, or any verbal cues or help at all. The line is formed by predetermined criteria (like height, birthdays, or the colour of each person’s eyes, etc.). The tasks can get more complicated the more familiar the group is. 
    Improves: Team collaboration and non-verbal communication
  • Toilet Paper
    You will need one roll of toilet paper. Pass it around, and have everyone rip off how much they would use in a night in the woods. Everyone will feel awkward & will not really see the point at the beginning & possibly think you’ve lost it. When everyone has taken off their squares, have them count them. The amount they have is how many fun facts they should reveal about themselves in the circle or in pairs. 
    Improves: Group comfortability. 
  • Rock Paper Scissors Tournament
    This game is based on the traditional Rock Paper Scissors game but with a twist. The people who lost become fans and have to cheer for the players still in the game. The final is cheered on by a large crowd involving the entire group.
    Improves: Group energy/morale.

PHASE ONE: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

• Meeting 1 - Introduction to Sustainable Development
  Learn more about the history of international and sustainable development, and the realm in which Global Brigades operates.

 🔎You may check more information here

• Meeting 2 - United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
  Develop awareness about the United Nations and the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. Global Brigades aligns its programming with three of the SDGs; #3, #6, and #8. 

🔍 You can check more information here!

PHASE TWO: GLOBAL BRIGADES FOUNDATIONS

• Meeting 3 - Global Brigades History, Origins & the Holistic Model
  Our organization has evolved significantly since 2003 - learn more about the origins, our mission, vision, and values, and how we adapted our programming to establish the current model for sustainable development: the Holistic Model.
  • Global Brigades Foundations
  • Global Brigades Timeline
  • GB Mission, Vision, and Values

• Meeting 4 - The Empowered 1M and Monitoring & Evaluation
  At GB, we use the word “empowerment,” but what does that mean? Use this session to learn more about how empowerment leads to sustainable impact. Also, learn more about Empowered 1M, our commitment to empower 1 million rural communities to rise out of poverty.
  •  GB Blog: The Meaning of Empowerment

  • Defining Empowerment: Reexamining Community, Volunteer, and Staff Perspectives - Global Brigades Blog

• Meeting 5 - Monitoring & Evaluation
  In sustainable development, it is incredibly important to track, measure, and report impact so that an organization can improve and meet its goals. Learn more about our Monitoring and Evaluation team at Global Brigades and the tools they use to measure impact.

PHASE THREE: ETHICAL VOLUNTEERING

• Meeting 6 - Introduction to Ethical Volunteering
  Gain foundational knowledge of the historical context of volunteering abroad and the common critiques of international volunteers. Help us shape an ethical volunteer mindset worldwide by thinking critically about your role in large, but sustainable, organizational efforts through Global Brigades and beyond. 

 🔎You may check more information here

• Meeting 7 - Using Social Media to Empower
  Tell your GB Story using photos, captions, or in-person through an empowering lens for communities and community members. The GB 3C’s are here to guide your experience responsibly. 

  🔎You can check more information here

PHASE FOUR: CULTURAL PREPARATION

• Meeting 9 - History & Culture
  Begin to discover the history and culture of the Program Country that you are experiencing a GB Brigade or TeleBrigade alongside. This only scratches the surface of the immense history each programming country has to explore. Start the conversation with your volunteers about how your cultural and social backgrounds are similar and/or different. 

1. 📖 GB Webpage
   Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Belize
2. 🎥  History Overviews
   Ghana (6 mins), Greece (7 mins), Guatemala (7 mins), Honduras (8 mins), Panama (7 mins)
3. 🎥 Culture Overviews
   Ghana (6 mins), Greece (6 mins), Guatemala (8 mins), Honduras (7 mins), Panama (7 mins)

• Meeting 10 - Language Workshop
  Acknowledge the variety of phrases and languages that you may hear on Brigade or TeleBrigade. Explore common terms and their counterparts in your native language to continue expanding your worldview and critically think about the scope of your role. 

1. 🎥  Language Overviews
   Ghana (2 mins), Greece (Slides), Guatemala (2 mins), Honduras (3 mins), Panama (2 mins)
2. 📖 Practice Common Terms and Phrases
   Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama