Starting Your Group: Thank you for joining US Campaign for Burma! Every action you take helps us tremendously in our struggle for a free and rights respecting Burma. We would like to offer the following advice for starting a chapter that we hope will be useful to both new and seasoned activists. Raising awareness about Burma may seem difficult at first, but remember that you have access to a vast network of support both domestically and abroad.

Read up on Burma as much as you can. Many people have joined our movement simply because they were able to learn about the human rights atrocities that are going on in Burma right now. Most importantly, however, those people were able to learn from other people who were passionate about human rights issues about Burma. The more you know about Burma, the more passionately you can convince others to join your cause.

Create a mission statement. It’s always helpful to describe what you want your group to be about before diving in. You can read USCB’s mission statement and objectives in order to help form your mission statement. Think about what you want to ultimately achieve in the long run.

Get your logistics down. For students this involves dealing with your school administration in establishing your group. If you don’t want a formalized school chapter, that is fine, but it’s still good to have logistics laid out. Creating a mission statement is a first step in explaining to your administration why your chapter is necessary on campus. For community groups you won’t have to deal with any administration to establish your group, but it is still key to figure out mission statement and logistics.

Logistics also includes the basic structure of your group. The usual route is the hierarchical positions of President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, etc. In our Sample Constitution, we have renamed President and Vice President as Coordinator and Co-Coordinator. Of course, you can choose how you want to structure your group. If your group is small at first, the hierarchical structure may seem like the easiest way. If your group is larger, with 30+ people, you may want to consider forming committees around different issues.

Build a core group. In many ways, identifying a base of people to support your chapter is more important than the structure of the chapter itself. A core base of support is meant to ensure that you’re not the one stuck with doing all the tasks of the chapter single-handedly. You may want to consider recruiting officers from other organizations, or you may want to convince a friend to join in. They don’t have to be totally knowledgeable about Burma. With your support and their full participation, they will learn.

Connect to students and groups. Remember that personal contact is key. People will see your drive and enthusiasm, get excited and will want to help out. Reach out to your fellow students through small events such as tabling, or approach people directly through one-on-one conversations. You can also speak to existing groups on campus, as well as make a short announcement about your group at the end of your classes.

Think about how you can best work with existing groups at your school. Would you be willing to affiliate yourselves with existing groups at your campus? Burma is an issue that connects all levels. It would be easy to work with Amnesty or STAND groups on campus, but also think about working with College Republicans or College Democrats, the environmental club on campus (the military regime is destroying Burma’s precious natural resources) or any other group.

Remember to follow up with potential members and leaders. You should make it your priority to contact them as soon as possible, either via phone or email, within the next one or two days. This will show them that you are in fact dedicated to Burma issues and that you have placed a certain amount of trust in their abilities.

Spread the Word: In addition to networking with students and groups, you should also work to publicize the creation of your chapter. Hang informational flyers around your campus. Submit announcements to your campus newspaper, TV station, and radio station. Tabling is always good, too; you can decorate your table with informational flyers, posters, and photographs. You can also run a short film about human rights in Burma on a laptop.

Logistics Part 2: Now is the time to figure out the other logistics of creating a chapter. Where will you hold your meetings? It is always a good idea to book the same room every week; remember to reserve your place early. Once you have recruited people for your chapter, it would be ideal to hold your first meeting as an informational meeting, simply to let members know more about Burma and what you actions they can take.

Planning and Discussion: Once you have established a core group and members, you should plan out your chapter’s motivations and goals. We suggest that you either have a group discussion, or discuss these topics individually with your members, in order to espouse dialogue in your group. You can ask members why they became interested in Burma and joining your chapter; the time they are willing to put into this; their personal goals and expectations of the group; and their views on more controversial issues such as tourism, sanctions, and humanitarian aid. You can also ask these questions in a survey and discuss the results once everyone has finished. This will help you greatly in figuring out your chapter’s goals for the year, planning events, and taking action on campaigns.

As you progress further into the year, it is a good idea to hold two kinds of meetings: a general meeting every month where all members can participate, and a planning meeting for officers to guide the agenda and rehash the original goals of the chapter.

You are now ready to run your chapter!