Twinning is definitely one of the best traditions that the JCI family has successfully adopted since its inception. I have had the chance to participate in few twinning weekends during my JCI career and also the privilege to organise one in JCI London last year. Back then, we had delegates attending from Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland. The weekend started on Friday night with dinner at Dishoom in Shoreditch; the highlight on Saturday was the comedy club session where guests enjoyed British humour first-hand! On Sunday, our twins were invited to join the peace conference organised by JCI London back in September.  

There are many benefits for twinning among which I would like to cite a continuous cooperation with fellow Jayces across within and across borders which is key to the survival of any local organisation. I am aware that JCI Cambridge, Southampton and London intend to organise a similar events this year. If any other chamber are looking to organise a twinning weekend this year, please let us so that we can support you and help you make the most of your experience. 

For chambers that would like to explore twinning agreements with chambers across Europe or beyond, please get in touch as we have been contacted by national organisations from the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Finland, Morocco and Norway; they have all expressed interest in findings JCI partners in the United Kingdom. I am personally in touch with the international directors of the above-mentioned chambers and happy to facilitate contact and cooperation accordingly. If anybody wants to find more about twinning agreements and the JCI twinning policy, please let me know, I shall forward the policy document to those interested; It contains the information that you need to start up your twinning journey. For those of you who are new to JCI, twinning can be defined as:

"A relationship instituted between two Junior Chamber chapters in different countries. The motivation to twin originates from the members in two chapters who wish to establish a mutual understanding and friendship. The objective is to exchange personal visits, ideas, projects and culture. With modern communication and transportation systems, distance is no longer an obstacle. For this reason, chapter twinning is easier now than ever before. Twinning usually starts with correspondence between two chapters. This form of international cooperation does not require regular visits, and the link lasts for as long as the two chapters wish. One simple exchange of information is all that the cooperation requires. These activities enable chapters to make contacts with foreign chapters which may eventually twin in the future."

For any queries related to international events, please get in touch as we would love to help :)

Abdulkader.aljandali@jciuk.org.uk