CLUBS START-UP GUIDE

MASTERPEACE CLUBS

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MasterPeace is a global innovative grassroots movement of artists, peace builders, journalists, cities, companies and other members from civil society who choose to actively build on peace and believe that peace is possible. MasterPeace will be the most heart-warming global peace project ever as a result of an intensive East-West cooperation. MasterPeace will develop several attractive peace-building projects, including a mesmerizing concert in Cairo on Peace Day 2014, where artists from all the world’s major conflict areas will perform to promote togetherness, international collaboration and the reduction of (armed) conflicts. The concert will be an exclusive reward for people who have actively supported peace-building activities prior to Peace Day 2014 because peace-building is a verb. MasterPeace was officially launched on Peace Day 2011.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE

The International Day of Peace (the 21st of September) seems to be the best kept secret of the United Nations. The vast majority of the world is not aware of this special day. A measurable goal of MasterPeace is to raise awareness for this yearly and potentially unifying day: It is an opportunity for people all over the world to volunteer in peace initiatives and inspire millions to work for a more peaceful world.

For this reason we started officially celebrating the International Day of Peace 2011 and will end our first three years of campaigning on this day in 2014.

MASTERPEACE SHARED VALUES

Common values have emerged from among the MasterPeacers in different countries. These values are what we believe in and are what we stand for. MasterPeacers believe in:

I. POSITIVITY:MasterPeacers work with positive energy. We believe

in positivity for solving conflicts. We believe that connectedness, dialogue, listening to others with attention and speaking from the heart will help to overcome conflicts.

II. CO-CREATION:The slogan “Creating peace. Together” means that

we aim to work openly, flexibly and without judgement. We create together by connecting volunteers, entrepreneurs, artists, groups, companies and NGOs using social media, 2.0 platform and professional networking.

III. OWNERSHIP:We all have ownership over peace and therefore over

MasterPeace. Peace is something we create together. MasterPeacers value ownership because they honour responsibility & autonomy. We believe that trust and professionalism empower autonomy.

IV. WALK YOUR TALK:MasterPeacers do as they say. A promise,

agreement or contract will always be held. That is what we stand for. And of course we don’t like to make mistakes, but if we do, we talk about it. We believe in being transparent, honest and accountable.

WHAT IS MASTERPEACE?MasterPeace Creating peace. Together.

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MasterPeace Pre-Launch Event On Dutch Liberation Day, MasterPeace logo was pre-launched at the 30th edition of Bevrijdingspop festival in Haarlem, Holland. 100,000 people were singing 'Brand New Day', while MasterPeace logos were revealed for the first time.

© Charline Goud

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MISSIONMasterPeace Clubs are the on-the-ground arms of

MasterPeace that implement our goals and initiatives. They reach the masses and empower more individuals to become actively involved in peace-building and limiting (armed) conflicts on a local level.

By using simple entrepreneurial techniques and creative ideas, MasterPeace Clubs will form an active, engaged, alert, positive and inter-cultural network of peace-minded and action oriented people.

ROLEMasterPeace Clubs shall bring together artists,

activists, social entrepreneurs, peace-builders, NGOs, government officials and business people to collaborate with MasterPeace in achieving the goal of global peace-building.

MasterPeace Clubs are encouraged to focus on implementing localized peace related projects in their community, or they can collaborate with other MasterPeace Clubs around the world in implanting a unified global peace initiative. You have the ultimate freedom to design your own program to support MasterPeace. It all starts with YOUR ideas and commitment in your country, region, city, school, university or community.

MASTERPEACE CLUBSYOUR ACTION – YOUR MASTERPEACE

MasterPeace First Peace Village in EgyptHundreds of people were actively participating in our first Peace Village in Egypt to celebrate the international day of Peace 2010. ‘Art of Living’ meditations were given to work on ‘inner peace’. Children were drawing peace paintings and banners. NGOs were presenting their peace-building work. The performance of “El Zabaleen” band, followed by the band “I am Egyptian” combined all kinds of musical influences of the country.

© Hany Helmy

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1. MASTERPEACE PEACE DAY CELEBRATIONPromoting the International Day of Peace is one of the

most important goals of MasterPeace. We want individuals from all over the world to start recognizing this day. We aim to reach an average global rate of 50% awareness by 2014.

The celebration will promote MasterPeace and its general goal: peace-building among the local communities. This goal will be achievable if each MasterPeace Club celebrates Peace Day within its community and attracts the attention of the local and international media.

Peace Day will mainly focus on all forms of art celebration (as music, dance, painting, graffiti, fashion, etc); yet new forms of social media, sport events, or dialogue initiatives are also welcomed. The celebration could be as simple as raising a peace  sign to show your passion for peace, or throwing a small “World Flag” march; where a group of individuals would be marching with each one carrying a different country flag representing their support for world peace cause. Peace Day celebration could also be a glamorous one, such as making a conference featuring key peace speakers and figures like Kofi Annan, conducting a huge festival, or organizing a big concert with famous celebrities performing. For more ideas: Check Peace Day Guide

2. SUPPORT MASTERPEACE 2.0 PLATFORMMasterPeace Platform is a global collaborative website

where agents of change promote their initiatives, volunteer with their skills, time, and expertise in achieving the ultimate goal of reaching a more peaceful world.

Through the platform, you are capable of presenting projects advocating for a cause, networking with other peace-builders for collaboration experience and knowledge exchange, recruiting volunteers for your initiatives as well as finding valuable resources.

PLATFORM HELPING FEATURES:

PROMOTING:• Each project participating in the MasterPeace Platform

has the opportunity to promote for its cause by uploading a video, blog, picture or/and music clip.

• Every week, Master Peace will highlight the most active participants on masterpeace.org in order to enhance their visibility, funding opportunities, and the number of recruited volunteers.

ATTRACTING VOLUNTEERS: • Three unique and different types of MasterPeacers are

connected and collaborating through the website: the project owners (travelers, social entrepreneurs, businesses, NGOs, and cities), the activists (volunteers, artists), and the donors/supporters.

• The uploaded projects have the opportunity to attract active volunteers participating on the platform to contribute to their initiative.

RANKING BENEFITS: One of the incentives provided to the Platform active

members is the MasterPeace ranking system; which reflects your contribution to the peace movement around the world. This ranking system will let you earn points while taking action and inspiring others, creating a more competitive yet engaging network. MasterPeace Clubs are encouraged to use the ranking system on the platform to evaluate the active members inside the Club itself.

The points earned on the system will help MasterPeace Central Office make decisions related to grants, fund opportunities, and different types of support to the Clubs. Most active Clubs will be rewarded. Earned points will be also redeemed with special prizes (meeting top artists, getting signed CDs, attending VIP lectures, getting discounts in mega stores, etc.) MasterPeacers with the highest scores will definitely win a ticket for 2014 MasterPeace Mega Concert in Egypt.

MASTERPEACE CLUB ACTIVITIESMasterPeace Clubs are not obliged to conduct all of the following suggested activities, however our only strong request is that you organize a yearly celebration of the International Day of Peace, on the 21st of September.

MasterPeace UgandaTeam photo in front of the Independance Monument, in the heart of Kampala Uganda.

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3. RECRUIT LOCAL ENTITIES TO JOIN ‘2014 FOR 2014’MasterPeace believes in the power of the crowd. We

believe that individuals are capable of changing the world positively; they have this unique power of sending a call to millions of other agents of change to take action and create awareness about peace. ‘2014 for 2014’ is a project based on this belief; as people are our most valuable resource we are planning to have at least one third of MasterPeace Global costs crowd funded from the masses of MasterPeacers.

‘2014 for 2014’ plan is very simple: Organize a music, art, dance event to raise awareness for peace-building and combine this with raising at least € 2014. The initiative ‘2014 for 2014’ wants to involve 5000 projects in peace processes. Each ‘2014 for 2014’ donation will be rewarded by receiving invitations for the 2014 MasterPeace Mega Concert to be held in Egypt.

DIDYOU KNOW? If a MasterPeace Club recruits entities for the ‘2014 for 2014’ action it will be allowed to retain 20% of the funded amounts, the proceeds will be distributed by the MasterPeace Foundation for organizational and promotional costs.

4. BECOME A STARTING POINT AND A HUB FOR ‘THE ALCHEMIST ALIVE'Paulo Coelho, the renowned novel author, has honored

MasterPeace to make his famous novel “The Alchemist” come alive. In every country of the world, MasterPeace will inspire individuals to become the ‘shepherd boy’, the main character of the novel, and start traveling towards the Egyptian Pyramids in the most eco-friendly and visible possible way.

The Alchemist Alive will enable MasterPeacers to create thousands of new intercultural and interfaith friendships, which is expected to bring positive experiences into all kinds of social media, as Facebook, Twitter, weblogs and documentaries to millions of other people.

Due to the involvement of sport clubs, travel websites, and college students we expect at least 10,000 journey takers, all of whom have earned their ticket to MasterPeace Mega Concert. Imagine the 10,000 peace agents traveling from all over the world to reach ONE DESTINATION, imagine the spirit they will have while perusing their dreams.

It will definitely be a journey to remember so JUST GO FOR IT! You may empower people in your community to start their own journeys, you may also host travelers passing by your country, let them participate in your peace initiatives and exhibit the inspiring stories of their ‘Pilgrimage for Peace’ to your community.

Start now planning interesting activities to host the Alchemists. With the help of MasterPeace Clubs the Alchemist trips could be a massive migration of agents of change throughout the globe to reach one destination, The Egyptian Pyramids.

5. STARTING YOUR OWN MASTERPEACE PROJECT (LOCALIZE IT!)

GENERAL GUIDELINES ARE: 1. Use the four MasterPeace

values (positivity, co-creation, ownership,walk your talk) 2. Focus on dialogue, connection, bringing together of ‘opponents’ within your country/region 3. Use arts, music and social media as much as possible. 4. Inspire and empower people.

As a MasterPeace Club, you are the “wind beneath the wings” of your community. Therefore, feel free to develop new, spontaneous peace-building initiatives based on the MasterPeace values. The Club’s projects, conferences, and other networking events will build a bridge between two groups or more. You will foster, nourish and encourage these collaborations and lead them to further growth.

LOCATION EMPOWERMENT: Building an effective grassroots movement is a gradual

process; MasterPeace needs to reach out to different individuals and communities in order to produce global growth and expansion of the MasterPeace initiatives.

MasterPeace Clubs will operate as independent entities known as “MasterPeace Club of XYZ” (i.e country, region or city), implementing local projects in your community. In order to reach the optimum outcome from all countries, the primary Club to open in a certain country has the privilege of being the National Coordinator and the official speaker in behalf of MasterPeace in this specific country. Please refer to appendix I for the National Coordinator’s responsibilities.

DIDYOUKNOW?By 2014 we aim to have 200 MasterPeace Clubs in at least 50 countries all over the world. Is your club, country or region one of them?

MasterPeace the PhilippinesPeace was promoted through innovation of international recipes, cake decorating, and featuring photos from the grassroots society.

MasterPeace the GambiaOn Peace Day 2011, MasterPeace Gambia captured the interest of the public by different Gambian musical entertainments and acrobatics.

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1ST STEP: JOIN MASTERPEACE.ORG

Each member of the Club will become a MasterPeacer and join the MasterPeace movement by creating a new profile on the platform. When registering, you will adopt the MasterPeace values by signing the Passion statement; where you believe that world peace is possible and starts with you!

2ND STEP: PREPARE YOUR CLUB’S ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND APPOINT LEADERSHIP POSITIONS

Clubs shall have a governing board composed of a President and Vice President. Other projects that you start will need an exclusive Project Manager. The MasterPeace way is to have as much horizontal structure as possible. The Central Office will provide you with sample suggested structures, but of course you can always create your own. Please refer to appendix II for the Club’s suggested structures.

3RD STEP: ORGANIZE THE LEGAL UMBRELLA FOR YOUR CLUB

Each Club is required to have a legal entity umbrella, such as a not-for-profit institute or NGO in order to be able to implement initiatives, accept/make donations, and sign contracts with partners. You can create a new NGO in your country in order to act as your legal umbrella, or depend on a previously launched organization that you are already in touch with. This will depend on your country’s laws and regulations. Having the legal umbrella will enable you to work with different stakeholders (sponsors, companies, funds, etc.) located in your country and abroad.

MasterPeace Colombia In the south-west of Colombia, MasterPeace in cooperation with IKV Pax Christi section Cauca held two celebrations of the international day of Peace. A spectacular mural with Peace messages was painted in a central park. A photographic exhibition was held while local Dance groups amused the audience.

How to Start a MasterPeace Club?JOIN & SIGN

4TH STEP: ORGANIZE YOUR FIRST PROJECT

Now that you gathered a team ready to roll, and acquired a legal umbrella; let’s get to the core of your first project. Start with a cause in touch with the community surrounding you; widen your horizon and get innovative. Think about the conflicts existing in your country, socially, economically, environmentally, or ethnically.

Your project will require creating a healthy collaboration and peaceful environment between the individuals, and communities involved, in order to ensure success and optimize the effect of conflict resolution in the peace-building initiative adopted. Please refer to appendix III for Steps to start as a social entrepreneur.

DIDYOUKNOW?MasterPeace is not accepting partnerships or donations from companies known for their involvement in unfriendly damaging environmental activities, production of weaponry, violations of human rights, money laundering, or any other obviously negative and destructive behaviors.

5TH STEP: PRODUCE ONE-YEAR PLAN

With the involvement of the Club’s members, you will develop a one year plan (maximum of 2 pages). The involvement of the entire Club motivates the members to exert their optimum in achieving their own ideas and ensure their success. The one year plan needs to address the following:

6TH & FINAL STEP: OBTAIN OFFICIAL LICENSE TO BECOME A MASTERPEACE CLUB

After the previous five steps, The Central Office will study the content of the Club’s plan and goals, especially the parts related to the adopted cause, core project and pre-set KPIs.

Each approved Club will receive a soft license to operate MasterPeace in its community/ school/ university/ city. Noting that the license will only be valid for your current area unless the initiator asks the Central Office to license an entire country and be a National Coordinator. Signing this contract ensures that your legal umbrella agrees with the MasterPeace Passion Statement, the MasterPeace Core Values, and other principal outlines, such as the Code of Conduct regarding sponsoring and donations.

• Year Goals by quarters • Key performance indicators

• Event drafted schedule• Fundraising strategy

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1. Does MasterPeace Central Office support the Clubs financially? 

Ideally NO. Clubs are solely responsible to fundraise for their projects and activities, however, in exceptional conditions MasterPeace provides a very limited fund to its Clubs. 

2. What can MasterPeace Central Office provide to the Clubs?

• Networks: MasterPeace Central Office is continuously establishing new contacts with businesses, artists, grants and NGOs. The network we are building will be able to introduce the Clubs to different types of partnerships that may arouse your interest in developing the MasterPeace initiative.

• Brand Name: MasterPeace is collaborating with the best experts in their fields to establish a brand popular for its uniqueness, entrepreneurship and positive message. The MasterPeace brand name will be one of the stimuli to encourage the participation of businesses, NGOs and artists in the Clubs.

• Learning opportunities: you will have a full access to “MasterPeace Library”, which is a virtual database where we store our knowledge of peace initiatives, peace-building programs and the MasterPeace educational program. This educational program will be tested and developed in the next few years. If you would like your Club/university to join the pilot phase, please contact the Central Office.

• International Conferences: MasterPeace organizes online and offline conferences, in order to exchange knowledge, experience, innovative ideas, etc.

• Joint Fund Opportunities: as part of MasterPeace foundation, Clubs may benefit from joint funds granted to the Central Office.

3. Why should you start a MasterPeace Club? MasterPeace is offering grassroots activists and social entrepreneurs the opportunity to be part of a global peace movement with a well-known brand. You will co-own the concept and affect the future of the movement by your involvement. You are co-creating a heart-warming movement by sharing knowledge and resources. Our strong network through different partners and our collaborative platform will add to your initiatives. And finally an earned ticket to 2014 concert is another incentive for you to join MasterPeace movement. MasterPeace goal is to make a difference towards a more peaceful world; joining MasterPeace is sharing with us the same vision and dream.

4. In how many countries is MasterPeace currently operating?

Official MasterPeace Clubs are currently operating in 11 countries & under foundation in 9 more. Please refer to the map.

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The National Coordinator is responsible for facilitating the communication and collaboration between different MasterPeace Clubs in a country.

S/he will seek opportunities for: • expanding MasterPeace message and activities and

ensuring its sustainability in a country.• serving as contact point for the MasterPeace Central

Office and MasterPeace Clubs in a specific country.

• ensuring that the 2011-2014 MasterPeace Clubs’ strategic plans are implemented in a country, and new strategies developed in line with MasterPeace overall goals.

• fundraising on behalf of all Clubs as a country; s/he will identify and develop in-country funding opportunities.

• Recording effectively the expenditures of all these funds and adhere to any reporting requirements set forth by funders.

• Evaluating the success of the MasterPeace initiative in a country as well as assisting with its development.

Appendix INATIONAL COORDINATOR’S RESPONSIBILITIES

Appendix IICLUB’S ORGANIZATION STRUCTURES

STRENGTHS:• Enables in-depth knowledge and skills within one function• Very fast task achievement during the start-up of any

project or entity• Is best for only one or few projects, and few number of

staff.

WEAKNESSES:• Slows response time with environmental changes or staff

changes• May cause decisions to pile on top, hierarchy overload

which requires having ONE decision maker

• Leads to poor horizontal coordination among departments• Results in less innovation• Involves restricted view of organizational goals• Very inefficient with a big number of staff or projects• Results in poor communication with external parties

1. Functional Based Organizational Structure

In other words, they will become the contact point for the MasterPeace Central Office in a specific country while ensuring the sustainability of the movement.

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STRENGTHS:• Suited to fast change in unstable environment, change of

staff, volunteers, direction of the project• Leads to a feeling of ownership and responsibility of a

certain project, because project responsibility and contact points are clear

• Involves high coordination across the project• Allows teams to adapt to differences in projects, regions,

partner organizations• Best in Club scale bigger than 5 staff working on several

projects• Decentralizes decision-making, which highlights the

horizontal structure

WEAKNESSES:• Eliminates the advantage of having a deeper knowledge of

each function, as one team member will have to multifunction

• Leads to weak coordination between the across projects

• El iminates in-depth competence and technical specialization

2. Project Based Organizational Structure

3. Matrix Based Organizational Structure

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STRENGTHS:• Achieves necessary coordination to utilize the advantages

of both functional and project based structures• Flexible sharing of human resources across the projects• Suited to complex decisions and frequent changes in the

projects and staff• Provides opportunity for both functional and in-depth skill

development• Best in medium-sized organizations with multiple projects

WEAKNESSES:• Means that participants need good interpersonal skills and

extensive training• Is time consuming; involves frequent meetings and conflict

resolution sessions

• Will not work unless participants understand it and adopt collegial rather than vertical-type relationships

• Requires great effort to maintain power balance

In conclusion, we recommend you to start with the functional structure in case the number of Club members is small, then switch to the project based structure when the number of members increases. In fact MasterPeace Central Office is currently working with the project based structure, therefore, in case the Clubs decide to adopt the same organizational structure it will unify the working methodology for MasterPeace.

✓Build Network: Start to build your own network of activists, businessmen, entrepreneurs, friends encouraging the initiative, or any kind of networks that you can reach.

✓ Involve NGOs that can endorse the MasterPeace program and initiative wholeheartedly. They might be able to provide you with office, start-up funds, or the legal umbrella. (Check: 3rd step to start a MasterPeace Club.)

✓ Involve high quality, action oriented, trustworthy partners who can invest their time and networks. This will allow you to share the risk and enlarge the possibility of the Club’s success.

✓Adopt Low-cost and not-for-profit philosophies throughout MasterPeace’s co-creation of projects. It is encouraged to recruit individuals, artists, firms, and institutes that are willing to donate their effort, time, skill, or money to the project implementation.

✓ Fresh, innovative and hip projects are encouraged to be adopted, as they portray the peace movement as an attractive cause to join and will help in achieving your project’s goals.

✓Eco friendly concept shall be highlighted through your projects. Initiatives must strive to be as green as possible throughout their organization and implementation.

✓Artistic approach shall be adopted throughout your initiatives. We believe that arts such as music, dance and drawing will connect individuals, develop healthy

relationships, and open hearts to accept global peace initiatives.

✓Start your search for fundraising; check the in town private donors, companies that can support you and bare minimum costs of the first year. (For more ideas: Check Fundraising Tips guide.)

✓Remember that many worldwide success stories started with a series of rejections: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, the founder of Facebook, and even J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter. Can you imagine that several publishers rejected her draft? Continue and use rejections to grow stronger and pursue success.

✓Create more visibility; Build your own Facebook fan page, twitter, or blog and start recruiting partners for the co-creation. The MasterPeace Central Office will provide you the initial materials (logos, templates, etc.) to proceed.

✓Prepare well for your fundraising from big corporate and institutes, and DON’T get de-motivated if rejected. Fundraising campaigns from multinationals takes time. Start with small rout up fundraising initiatives (Refer to Fundraising Tips guide.)

✓Be committed to your initiative, invest time, pursue healthy collaborations, create KPIs both ambitious and achievable, and maintain MasterPeace goals, values, and brands, you will certainly achieve the aimed profits.

Appendix IIISTEPS TO START AS A SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

In sum, everyone enjoys supporting a winning team, so exhibit your teams’ winning attitude and success, in order to create the ‘bandwagon effect’, you will need to create a band and a wagon, so do it!

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