Gorundu For Vice Delegate (once again)
Focused on the Job
Focused on the Job
Hi, some of you will probably be surprised to see me throw my hat in the ring for this election. So why am I running? To put it simply, I want to see a stronger focus on the important things. With our endorsement counts and WA membership running low due to the effect of the Frontiers update, the Vice Delegate’s focus should be on finding strategies to maximise those numbers as much as possible. Although we may never again reach those 1000+ endorsements of our glory days, we have some clear room for improvement, and I believe we can get there with a dedicated effort.
Now, I’m sure this will be a question on some of your minds, so I’ll begin by addressing my own baggage head-on. Those who remember will know that in my last elected position, as Delegate, my term ended very poorly, largely due to my inability to juggle my real-life priorities along with the duties of the Delegacy, as well as several foreign affairs messes that dealt a high level of stress to me. These circumstances led to my failure to act as an effective leader for the region as a whole and for my Cabinet in particular, and ultimately losing the trust that the people of this region had placed in me.
But I don’t think it’s fair to define me or my legacy based on that short period of just over a month. This time round, I’m running to return to a less stressful position and one where I have already served capably before. Neither the circumstances I’m facing in real life or the demands of the position I’m running for are similar to what I encountered as Delegate, and I hope that my history of serving this region in all sorts of government positions, including as Vice Delegate, will be enough for the voters to place their trust in me for this election.
With that out of the way, let’s get into what my plans are as Vice Delegate.
The Basics
The basic duties of the office are simple but of course necessary - so here’s a brief look at how I’ll be doing them
Endorsements - Right now I already have the most endorsements in the region outside of the Security Council, and that’s without me even having endorsed all nations in the region. In fact, I am currently not endorsing about 100 WA nations (nearly 10%) because if I did, I would have exceeded the endorsement counts of some Security Councilors. If I am elected, reaching second place in endorsements should be guaranteed and hopefully would be speedy as well.
Vice Delegate checks - I was efficient in conducting these checks last time I was Delegate and never let any checks get close to lapsing the 7-day limit. If I have any doubts about any applicants, I will err on the side of caution and discuss these doubts with the Security Council.
Updates and Reporting
In my previous term, I was largely successful in providing detailed weekly updates to the region. The reporting situation from the current Vice Delegate is less than ideal, with an average of two weeks between reports, including a whole one month gap with no reports. If elected, my intention is to return to delivering regular and timely weekly updates, including information on statistics, endorsement alert and telegrams/dispatches set out, declassification, Security Council proceedings, and more.
The Big Question: Growing our WA numbers
As I alluded to in the introduction, my core focus for this term would be on growing the region’s WA membership numbers and endorsement counts. There’s a few ways on how I think we could achieve that.
Endorsement event
Endorsement events used to be a semi-regular feature in TNP - essentially they were intensive short-term drives to get people to endorse more over a period of a week or two. One of these events even helped us reach number 1 in the world in terms of average WA endorsements. Given that we haven’t had one of these events in a couple of years, this will probably be a good time for such an event to make an impact. To make the most of it, we will need to cover all our bases, with custom telegrams, dispatches, ideally some graphics, and engagement on the Regional Message Board. With our endorsement-related tools not quite up to the level they were at before our original scripts stopped working, there might be some challenges with using and presenting statistics for the event, but I’m confident we can devise solutions that allow us to set numerical goals and keep track of the progress.
Improving engagement with the WADP
Thanks to efforts mostly from Kaschovia and Sil Dorsett in restoring the functions of our treasured WADP, we are once again publishing rewards for our endorsers and sending out card lottery prizes. That said, the work isn’t all done and dusted, and given that a lot of the program was non-functional for well over a year, there’s still work to be done in boosting awareness.
I will be aiming to identify achievable strategies to get the WADP to a better place and get more people engaging with them. There’s already been some recent discussion on how to best ensure new nations get introduced to the WA and endotarting, and one devastatingly simple thing to do is to just ping new WA nations on the RMB - a ping from the Vice Delegate might be the thing that catches someone’s attention. In a similar vein, another potential way to create more frequent engagement with the WADP is perhaps to recognise endotarters not just through the monthly awards, but on a more frequent basis through RMB posts or dispatch/telegram shoutouts to create a bit more hype and awareness about the program.
On the card lottery front, I believe we haven’t had a proper effort at promoting it since the heyday of the cards minigame several years ago, and at this point with it having been paused for almost two years, it might just no longer be on many people’s minds. I intend on giving the lottery a more prominent place in WADP resources and especially emphasise that it could help you get a coveted gold badge for deck value. While the allure of trading cards isn’t the same for everyone, it is one of the most tangible prizes we can give and a good attention-grabber if we promote it well.
More things you might be curious about
Relationship with the Delegate and Executive
This term had been unusual in that the Vice Delegate very much acted almost like a deputy to the Delegate, though this was later separately defined during the term as a Chief of Staff position. While the relationship between a Delegate and Vice Delegate will always depend on the specific individuals who occupy the positions, I won’t be expecting to play an outsized role in the executive government or taking on management of the Cabinet or the Executive Staff. That said, I very much look forward to a collaborative relationship with the Delegate as there will naturally be overlaps in our agendas, especially around engagement with new nations, so that makes the Ministry of Home Affairs an especially relevant body to cooperate with. I also hope to help out when I can, whether it’s lending advice, being a part of big projects, or just regular staff work.
More relevant to the role of the Vice Delegate as the chief security officer of the region, I have been part of the Foreign Affairs Committee since its inception a year ago, which gives me excellent insight into potential foreign threats the region might face, and if elected Vice Delegate, this will provide a valuable line of communication on security threats between the Executive and the Security Council.
Transparency and Declassification
An often under-the-radar issue, the Security Council’s declassification efforts are strong in some places but weaker in others. The release of classified forum threads is mostly up to date, while the legal obligation to similarly release Discord logs seems to have fallen to the wayside. As Vice Delegate, I intend to take the lead on this task and get the ball rolling on reviewing and redacting logs as necessary, working with the Security Council to get them ready for release. It’s not just about meeting the legal obligations - it’s also something that gives citizens more insight into what the Security Council does and how it monitors the region’s security, which will allow them to place more trust in the institution.
Conclusion
I’m running for Vice Delegate because I believe this is a time we need a strong focus on improving the region’s endorsement levels, and I have a plan to achieve that. My history shows that being Vice Delegate is a job I can do well, and it’s a job I would like to return to so I can make it even better.
As always, I anticipate your questions and will do my best to answer them.
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