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Reflections from ROS With Joyce Calming (Rural Organizations and Services) In this issue I would like to talk briefly about two topics, Program Planning and Evaluation, It’s just about a year ago that program guide- .‘rnes were sent out from this office to .nch Women‘s Institute branch :nder the heading, Women - lnlimited Potential. If you have used my of these program ideas and mid them successful, why don’t nu take a minute to write to your lome and Country Editor and tell :r about it. What resources did you e; What did you learn? Many bran- ies are still hesitant to use some of 1e program ideas and further sug- rstions on how to develop a pro- :am could be shared in this maga- ne â€" a couple of paragraphs are all at is needed. How many branches plan to do a innal evaluation this year before in continue with program plans? nose who attended RSVP’s last year ll] recall that evaluation was one of Letter A messa the topics discussed at length. Fur- ther on in this issue you will find a sample evaluation questionnaire which could be used. called, “How Are Our Vital Signs?” This question- naire is based on the premise that an organization which is healthy and functioning well should be using eight different processes. These eight processes are: l. ASSESSING NEEDS â€" of your members and your community. 2. PLANNING â€" stating goals and objectives. 3. IMPLEMENTING â€" carrying out your plans. 4. EVALUATING â€" how did we do? . MANAGING RELATION- SHIPS â€" good communications, both within your organization and with the outside community. If you attended this year’s RSVP you will have heard more about this process. 6. MOTIVATING - are all your LII FWIO twm Your “twin” for this triennium is firtainly not an identical twin. We e so small â€" we have fewer branches id fewer members. But, we are oud to have the second largest pro- ncial membership in Canada. We e pleased to be a twin of the pro- -nce where our organization began. ‘ur gratitude for providing Institutes >r rural women will, I am sure, Show 1 the exchange of letters which has egun. To pair every W.I. member in rntario with a W.I. member in New runswick would be a great objecâ€" v'e. Every N.B. woman would have ‘ght or nine women to whom to trite. Wouldn‘t that be a great roject! Ontario and New Brunswick are nth celebrating a Bicentennial in 984. Both have made Discovery the bjective. The Women‘s Institutes ould add a new dimension by dis- .overing each other. In our letters let -5 share our provincial history of our Women’s Institutes. The first WI. in NB. was organiz- ed in I911 by Mrs. James Porter, An- dover. Because of W.I. accomplish- ments, in 1939 a plaque honoring Mrs. Porter was placed in the legislature in Fredericton. We now have 208 active branches with 3,070 members. Probably one of our most important projects has been the establishment of a Women’s Institute Home for seniors in Woodstock. Any woman over 65 may apply for a room in this home but W.l. members have preference. Every branch in the province helps to maintain this very real home for senior ladies. Our W.L Bicentennial project is to sponsOr a Quilting Competition. The judging will soon begin and all prize winning quilts will be on display in Fredericton from June 16 to July 15. You can look forward to a report on the success of that project. We assure you that every effort members involved in activities. or just a few? 7. PROVIDING RESOURCES â€" this includes things like minutes, records, job description, orienta- tion materials as well as financial resources. Your handbook is an excellent example. 8. DEVELOPING COMPETENCY â€" pr0viding opportunity for new officers to learn their duties and for new members to learn about the organization. In the scoring for the question- naire, these eight processes are refer- red to and correspond to the eight columns lettered a â€" h. Have I arousâ€" ed your curiosity enough to look for the questionnaire? 1 hope so, and that you will take some time now to complete it and, later, at your meeting, to compare notes and talk about it. It could be an eye-opener and I guarantee that it will generate some discussion. ge from will be made to find a twin for every woman who writes to us. I am already corresponding with Mrs. Templeman of Staffa. She has intro- duced her family and told me about the family farm and the community. I find myself already looking forward to meeting her either in New Bruns- wick or in Ontario. We thank Mrs. Hiepleh for her greeting to us which was published in our September Home and Country. 50 on behalf of our president, Mrs. Roberta Steeves, and every member of the N.B.W.I. we send greetings to your president, Mrs. Johnson and every one of the 25,682 members in Ontario. May we as twins, have a happy and very informative year as we exchange news and views in this Bicentennial year. Isabel A. Coburn Keswick Ridge W.I. PRO for N.B.W.I.