GA 2009 Kit for Success

GA 2009 Planning

GA 2009 Required Tasks

Call for GA 2009 Agenda Items

(This page had been simplified and all information structured in proper new pages. Please find your way using "search" box on the left column. If you were more comfortable with old bloated version you can click on old version but remember: that version will not be updated)

GA Reservations

Here is some information about alternate hosting in Buenos Aires.

Note the same hostel has another place in Calafate, Patagonia. The same hostel organizes tours in Buenos Aires. It looks nice and affordable (from USD12 a day for room with 4 beds with private bathroom and breakfast.

If you are planing to travel in the country, Servas Argentina recommends Turismo Cabal http://www.turismocabal.tur.ar This company is part of Banco Credicoop and RCT cooperative group and we can recommend it 100%.

Regards,

Pablo Colangelo

Rates for Hotels in Buenos Aires

Tarifario Buenos Aires

Tarifario Portugues Buenos Aires

Tours Espanol

Tours English

Tours Portugues

How to Visit Buenos Aires

Working Group

Join A Working Group -- have fun

   * You can virtually join the General Assembly. Participate in a Subject Working Group|[1]] by contacting us. awg@servas.org
   * Servas International resource persons are helping with each "Subject Working Group" in which you may be interested. 

   * To brief yourself on the details of the Conference, please take a look at the following draft of the content of the eGA Conference Binder, the "Kit for Success". 

Kit for Success GA 2009

• This colourful chart is an actual working draft of each item in the Binder. The materials below have been printed in Buenos Aires and will made available for each registrant, in Mar del Plata.

• Spanish will be supplied on site for a few main items (PABLO CHUFENIi is translation coordinator).

• Most MATERIALS SHOWN are now correct final versions.
• A few OF THE ITEMS IN BLUE WILL CHANGE OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

Editor's Construction log

Servas Africa Reports Kit for Success <<<<<<<<<<< For editing purposes

Media:SERVAS_CONFLICT_RESOLUTION_COMMITTEE_REPORTMAY_2009.doc‎

South America

To Exco

Please, find below (and atached) my activity report as South America Area Coordinator for the period 2006-2009. Please, feel free to distribute internationaly and/or post it for general access.

Kind regards,

Roberto Borenstein Area Coordinator - South America (2004-2006 and 2006-2009) National Secretary - Servas Brazil (2005-2009)

South America Area Coordinator - Activity Report 2006-2009

This has been my second term as Area Coordinator for South America, having been elected in July/2006 (the first term was from Dec/2004 until July/2006). At the time of the election for SA Area Coordinator, my work proposal was to keep doing a transparent coordination work, where quality of the information and of the communication (at all layers) could always be valued. The main project proposals in 2006 were: - to keep editing the South American Newsletter, with Servas news from all South American National Groups. - to help re-establishing Servas in Bolivia - to help Servas Ecuador to grow and to strenghen itself, in order to be recognized as a plain National Group. - to keep supporting all South American national groups, helping to create an organized movement towards growth and strengthening of Servas in the area. - to keep supporting the growth and dynamization of Servas Youth activities in the area. Servas groups from all South America would be motivated to join the SYLE program. - to keep creating opportunities for volunteer work in the area - to keep motivating an increase in the level of exchange and colaboration between the national groups in South American with the other Servas national groups.

After 2 years and 10 months as Area Coordinator, these 7 items currently stand as follows:

a) To keep editing the South American Newsletter, with Servas news from all South American National Groups.

Pedro Puente (from Peru) kept editing the South American Newsletter until 2007. In total, Pedro Puente edited 4 issues, in Spanish, that were kindly translated into English by US Servas member Susan Ovington. Jaime Romero (from Colombia) replaced Pedro in 2007 as editor of the South American Newsletter, having issued 3 more newsletters (2 in 2008 and 1 in 2009), in Spanish. The South American Newsletter has been e-mailed to all South American hosts, as well as to all spanish speaking national groups in Central America and Europe. All issues are avaiable electronicaly. Additionally to this, some South American national groups have created blogs and are trying to improve their web pages. Servas Brazil is also issuing a national newsletter, in Portuguese.

b) To help re-establishing Servas in Bolivia

In 2006, Servas Bolivia had 2 members in its host list. In 2007, the number of hosts increased to 7. In 2008, the number of hosts increased to 20 (17 in Cochabamba, 1 in Tarija, 1 in La Paz and 1 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra). Servas Bolivia has currently 2 main contacts: Nils Peter, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Gustavo Molina, in Cochabamba. Gustavo Molina and 2 other Bolivian members attended the South American Area Meeting in Argentina, in Oct/2007. Unfortunately, Servas Bolivia did not send any delegate to the Latin American Area Meeting in Colombia, in April/2009. I believe a natural step for Servas Bolivia for the future should be to take actions in order to strenghten itself, improve its infrastructure, stablish goals and increase the number of members, specially outside Cochabamba.

c) To help Servas Ecuador to grow and to strenghen itself, in order to be recognized as a plain National Group. In 2005, Servas Ecuador had 27 host addresses in its host list. In 2006, the number of members increased to 31. In 2008, the number of hosts in the list were 51 (35 in Quito, 1 in Banos, 4 in Guayaquil, 6 in Cuenca, 2 in Esmeraldas, 2 in Loja and 1 in Vilcabamba. Pedro Puente (from Peru) has been helping by working as a developer of Servas Ecuador and editing its host list. A local staff (National Secretary, Deputy, and Peace Secretary) was formed, and Pedro Puente (from Peru) has been their trainer. Pedro Puente represented Servas Ecuador at the South American Area meeting in Argentina, in 2007. Unfortunalety, Servas Ecuador did not send any delegate to the Latin American Area Meeting in Colombia, in April/2009. I believe that the growth of Servas Ecuador will depend a lot on the ability and motivation of its members and local leadership to stablish some new goals and work towards achieving them.

d) To keep supporting all South American national groups, helping to create an organized movement towards growth and strengthening of Servas in the area. This has been done on a continuous basis. I have been always open to dialogue with all national South American national groups and exchange ideas with them regarding actions to be done and projects to be carried out. Servas Brazil has been the national group that has required more work from me. I have been looking for replacement as National Secretary, but no volunteers have showed up yet. Servas Brazil has some Regional Coordinators, but nobody has been open to work nationally in the coordination of Servas Brazil. Despite of that, there has been a lot of activity at Servas Brazil: regular monthly gatherings in Sao Paulo and in Rio de Janeiro, and some other members gatherings at the towns of Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Pindamonhangaba, Sao Joao del Rei and Recife. A national newsletter has been issued. The Peace Secretary is promoting a Photo competition, with Peace as the theme. The 12 best pictures will be used in a portable exhibition that will circulate nationally and internationally. Servas Argentina, the largest national Group in South America, keeps being very active, with regular meetings and gatherings in the country. Servas Colombia has also been growing, due to the great work of its cordination staff. Servas Peru also keeps their regular meetings in Lima. In the last years, they have been promoting a greater integration and more encounters between members from Lima and members that live in the countryside. Servas Paraguay has been also more active, with its new National Secretary and with the volunteer guidance and help of Pablo Colangelo (NS of Servas Argentina). 2 international meetings were organized in the Area: In 2007, Servas Argentina hosted in Eldorado the South American Area Meeting (that happened simultaneously with its National Meeting). The Area meeting (in Spanish) was designed in a way that it was open to all Servas members worldwide. Around 35 Servas members (from 8 countries) were present. Everyone was invited to participate in all discutions, despite of being delegates or just regular hosts and/or travelers. This meeting was documented through 3 documents: - a slide show - the minutes of the meeting (available in Spanish and in English) - several articles published in the South American newsletter The idea was expanded in 2009 by Colombia, that hosted the Latin American Area Meeting (that happened simultaneously with ots national Meeting). About 30 members (from 7 countries) were present. This meeting (also in Spanish) counted with the presence of Gary Sealey, president of Servas International. As I could not be present at this Meeting (due to commitments with my private work), the organization of the Latin American meeting was done by Jaime Romero (NS of Servas Colombia) and Pablo Colangelo (NS of Servas Argentina). The minutes of the Meeting are being finalized and should be available by June/2009. I have always worked towards building bridges of friendship between the South American national groups. I believe that the success of Servas in South America depends on the success of Servas in all South American National Groups. I also believe that all national groups are responsible for helping the national groups in need of support. The more structured national groups should be proactive in helping the less structured ones.

e) To keep supporting the growth and dynamization of Servas Youth activities in the area; to motivate all South American groups to join the SYLE program. Servas Argentina, Servas Brazil and Servas Uruguay have been actively participating at SYLE, by hosting and by sending young travelers abroad every year. Rosario (in Argentina), Sao Paulo (in Brazil) and Montevideo (in Uruguay) have been active towns in coordinating and hosting SYLE programs. In 2009 South America will host 4 SYLE programs, as Servas Brazil will be hosting 2: the town of Petrolina (in Brazil) is the 4th South American town to volunteer to coordinate and host a SYLE program. SYLE has proved to be a very positive program. Based on it, Servas Argentina and Servas Brazil decided to create a similar program, open to people above 30 years old to be able to participate as travelers as well. This program could be called as SLE. In 2008 Cintia Amor, former NS of Servas Argentina, participated of a SLE program in Sao Paulo (coordinated by me). In 2009, Cintia Amor will coordinate a SLE in Argentina for Brazilian member Alvany Santos (regional coordinator for the state of Pernambuco, Brazil). Servas Argentina and Servas Brazil are proposing SLE to be considered by Servas International as an official Servas program.

f) To keep creating opportunities for volunteer work in the area Anyone willing to contribute with volunteer work in South America has been welcome, specially doing jobs that can help expanding Servas activities in this continent. I want to specially thank four persons that have been helping me a lot in developing Servas in South America: Pedro Puente (from Peru), Pablo Colangelo (from Argentina), Jaime Romero (from Colombia) and Rita Dessauvage (from Belgium).

g) To keep motivating an increase in the level of exchange and colaboration between the national groups in South American with the other Servas national groups. Servas Belgium has been a wonderful partner for the South American countries. NS Rita Dessauvage is the person outside South America that better knows how the national groups have been operating in South America. Because of her experience, interest and proactive behaviour, she has been of great help. Servas Belgium keeps the dialogue open with us, they share with us their travelers reports and numbers. Numerous times she has helped in printing and shipping South American host lists and have sponcered some trips of key south american travelers to participate at international events. Rita Desauvage has always showed to be genuinely interested in the development of Servas in South America and has always worked towards it. I see Servas Belgium as a real partner for the South American countries. An example to be followed. I have also worked towards expanding the relationship between the South American groups with the Central American groups and with Spain and Portugal, in Europe. The South American newsletter has always been shared with them and they have always been invited to contribute in sending articles to be included in the newsletter. Servas Mexico was present at the Latin American Area Meeting in Colombia, in abril/2009. SYLE programs are also a tool to improve the level of exchanges between national groups. About a dozen SYLE programs have been organized in South America from 2006 until 2009. And about a dozen South American travelers have done the program (in South,Central and North America and in Europe). I hope that the SYLE program will keep growing in South America. SLE programs started being organized by Servas Brazil and by Servas Argentina, and I hope they will also be a tool to improve the level of exchanges between national groups, with more groups willing to participate in it, in the future.

I believe this report sumarizes the most relevant hapenings in South America from 2006 until 2009. Anyone that have questions or have any comments about it, please feel free to contact me through the e-mail address southamerica@servas.org

Roberto Borenstein Area Coordinator - South America (2004-2006 and 2006-2009) National Secretary - Servas Brazil (2005-2009)

Join A Working Group -- have fun

• You can virtually join the General Assembly. Participate in a Subject Working Group|[1]] by contacting us. awg@servas.org
• Servas International resource persons are helping with each "Subject Working Group" in which you may be interested.

• To brief yourself on the details of the Conference, please take a look at the following draft of the content of the eGA Conference Binder, the "Kit for Success".

Moved: Kit for success 2009

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

• see main page, item 13