What is twinning all about?

Twinning in general

Friendship across borders

Twinning is an international co-operation between JCI chambers. It’sa way to make internationality accessible to every member of the chamber. The purpose of twinning is to create connections between chambers, to visit, to get acquainted with culture, to learn about the activities of others and to exchange project and event ideas. All of these contribute to positive change in line with the strategy as we better understand others, and on the other hand, we can develop ourselves and our chamber in a better direction through new doctrines and ideas. Joint projects and visits also provide an opportunity for friendships and valuable contacts. With current means of communication and travel, distance is no longer an obstacle, and Twinning is easier than ever.

Twin with a Finn helps the chambers find each other

The twinder of chamber life

Finding a friendship chamber has been made easy. Just fill out the form where you tell about yourself and the Twin with a Finn will take care of the rest. When we get in touch with a chamber that meets your wishes, we will be in touch by email.

• If you want to find a twinning chamber in Finland, fill in this form.
  Fill this form to get twinning chamber in Finland!

• If you are a Finnish chamber and want to find a twinning chamber in the world, then fill out this form.
  Fill this form to get twinning chamber for your Finnish chamber

After successfully submitting the form, you will receive an acknowledgment in your email and the Twin with a Finn team will be in touch with you over the next few days. There may not be a suitable chamber available for you right away, but we will keep your contact information for a longer period of time so that we can get the database up and running.

Twinning, multitwinning or some other
Building a friendship network in pairs or in bundles

Twinning activities can be bilateral normal twining or multi-chamber joint multitwinning. Often twinning meetings are organized alternately throughout the year and contact is also maintained between the actual meeting weekends. The aim of the twinning activity is to get acquainted with the activities, culture and get new ideas from another country. At its best, Twinning creates new business partners, collaborative projects and lifelong friends. There are multiple ways to collaborate with a your twinning partner, and not all of them require travel, although that is warmly recommended.

We got a match, how to proceed with your Twinning partner
Follow these steps to get your twinning started

1. Once you have received an email from the twin with a Finn team, you are encouraged to arrange a joint remote meeting with your potential twinning partner.This will allow you to get to know each other better and think how you could start building cooperation forward.
2. At the beginning of the twinning operation, it is convenient to agree on a pre-twinning time. This allows both chambers to assess each other’s compatibility before writing the actual contract. During the pre-twinning period, there is an opportunity to get to know each other and learn if your expectations are met. It might be start of a life long friendship or might learn that your chambers might not be the best matches. Both outcomes are fine.
3. After the first acquaintance, you can together decide to move forwards with twinning activities as partners or to withdraw from the process. During pre-twinning, it would be ideal to visit each other and exchange news and information on a regular basis to get the most out of the episode. Often, for example,VP INT or a separate Twinning Officer is the best way to take a Twinning project forward. At the beginning of the actual Twinning activity, it is possible to enter into a formal twinning agreement. However, this is by no means mandatory.

Twinning agreement

Formal voluntary friendship formalization

Once both chambers have decided to officially start twinning together, it is possible to create a official Twinning agreement. The agreement can be signed between the chambers at any desired event, but the official agreement can also be signed at the JCI European or World Assembly.

If you would like to enter into an agreement in the latter way, please contact you national international officer. He will help you contact the JCI headquarters and you can request a formal Twinning Agreement certificate. JCI headquarters organizes official ceremonies and they will guide you through the steps. It is worth making sure that the participants from the both chambers are present at the event. After the ceremony itself, it is good to hold an event between the chambers (coffees, prosecco, etc.) where the chambers can celebrate the contract and get to know each other better. But first you really have to find your twinning partner. Just click to the link at the end to complete the form.

Case example

Multitwinning that has lasted for over 10 years

Many wonder what Twinning is in practice. The JCI Tammerkoski from Tampere, Finland is a great example how twinning project has led into 10 years collaboration and real friendships.

For more information on twinning activities, see the JCI Headquarters Twinning Guide, which can be found here: (LINK)