One important position in JCI is the JCI Vice President. The duties of a JCI Vice President is to be an advisor and consultant to a group of National Organizations. These duties include observation of National Organization administration with recommendations for improvement and some public relations work with Local Organizations. Another important duty is to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of JCI, reviewing policies and procedures of the organization and interpreting them to National Organizations as required. In this capacity, Vice Presidents must look to the complete worldwide organization rather than the views of an Area or group of National Organizations.
JCI Mauritius had the honour and the privilege to welcome International Vice President (IVP) Rania Haddad assigned to Mauritius at the beginning of March, this year. Our National President, Ryad Subratty, has this year introduced a new concept of breakfast with local board members of every chapter of Mauritius. This is done so that the National President can be closer to the members and an exchange of ideas can be done in an informal way. The first breakfast with the local board members and the National President was scheduled for March and this coincided with the visit of IVP Rania Haddad. The JCI Curepipe board members were lucky to be selected by the National President for the March meeting. Since the IVP would also be present for the meeting, JCI Curepipe board members were looking forward to this once in a lifetime opportunity since they knew there was a lot to be learnt from her.
The breakfast was scheduled the day after she landed in Mauritius. All the JCI Curepipe board members were present. The meeting started with the National President introducing IVP Rania to the board members and he briefed us on the reasons why he thought this kind of meeting would help the organization. 2011 JCI Curepipe President, Arvind Neergheen, then presented the JCI Curepipe action plan for 2011 to IVP Rania. The different board members were then given the opportunity to say a few words about the responsibilities allocated to them for the year and how they were planning to implement them. After listening to everyone with great attention, IVP Rania mentioned that she was happy to notice that JCI Curepipe had a solid and well balanced action plan and that all was going on smoothly in the organization. She was quite impressed with some of the proposed JCI Curepipe projects for the year. She seized the opportunity to share her experience with us and gave several tips on how the JCI Curepipe members could improve the implementation of projects and also the administration of the organization.
The meeting ended with the National President expressing himself and reminding the board members what was expected of them for 2011. Before leaving, IVP Rania, National President Ryad and JCI Curepipe board members had a photo session. All the board members agreed that it was a very productive meeting and were all charmed by the IVP.
Prashant Lallah
2011 Immediate Past President JCI Curepipe