What Servas Groups do
The vast majority of individual members of Servas belong to a Servas Group that is typically – with some exceptions – a national entity. They can also belong to a Servas Area which is an entity that is a collection of nations (see below).
There’s a big variety in the number of individual members in Servas Groups. Some have thousands of members and some have very few. The level of activity varies a lot between different groups too. Some groups annually arrange a large number of events and other activities, while others with less capacity in the form of active volunteers are content with administering the immediate needs of the individual members.
The persons who manage the Servas Groups all have in common that they take responsibility for a number of tasks, or aspire to assume the responsibilities as their membership grows.
The tasks can include:
- Recruiting and introducing new individual members. The recruitment is done through a virtual or person-to-person meeting between a Servas member and the person who applies for membership. The Servas member explains what Servas has to offer and what responsibilities are connected with membership.
- Responding to queries via email or other suitable communication channels and giving other services to the group’s individual members.
- Coordination of the group’s members in the global membership system on servas.org.
- Management of the finances of the Servas Group.
- Representation of Servas in the country or countries where the group is located.
- Each Servas Group distributes the newsletter SI News Bulletin (SINB) to all Servas members in their group.
- Many Servas Groups also produce a newsletter, and share it with other groups.
Establishing a Servas Group
The Servas International Development Committee (SI DC) will support the establishment of a Servas Group providing information and mentors. For contact please email development@servas.org.
Definitions of Servas Groups
1. Servas Group
The term Servas Group means an entity that may include one or more nations, that fulfils most of the requirements to be a Servas International Member Group, but fails in some critical aspect. This means they don’t have the right to vote at SI General Assemblies (SIGAs) and through SI Distant Vote (SI DV).
Servas International Member Groups that lose their Servas International membership and lose their right to vote, become a Servas Group.
2. Servas International Member Group (SI MG)
The term Servas International Member Group (SI MG) means an entity that may include one or more nations, and is entitled to vote at the Servas International General Assembly (SIGA) and through SI Distant Vote (SI DV).
Examples of Servas Groups that have their membership in more than one nation are Belgium/Luxembourg, Britain/Ireland.
A Servas Group that meets certain criteria stipulated in the Servas International Statutes (PDF) is granted status as a Servas International Member Group (SI MG). An SI MG should have a minimum number of Servas hosts, submit an annual report with certain frequency to Servas International, meet all financial obligations and maintain the membership register.
3. Servas Area
A Servas Area is an entity that comprises a collection of nations, that fail in some ways to meet the membership requirement and also do not have the ability to undertake membership management (self-governance) themselves. Servas Areas are managed by the SI Development Committee.