Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.....If you wish to SEND a report...send to your ICA contact person OR...go to the members section on the ICAI website

Weekending: Saturday 2008 04 19

AUSTRALIA:

Location: Sydney

Facilitators Network had a great laughter session - useful for life and work including teaching ToP! We attended a good Conflict and Peace Conference, called Iraq Never Again, meeting and making friends of all ages and appreciating some very good speakers as well as the Japanese Peaceboat NGO and some of the crew of up to 1000 global travellers, mostly Japanese younger people, studying and connecting in hotspots of our current world - incl. great performances and many good contacts for our ICAI Conference.

We also attended and supported significant meetings for Reconciliation, as well as for Fair Trade, Sustainability and Democracy and for Amnesty International on Human Rights in China. we planned a four month series of events with a fine Muslim colleague and special Iman on Israel and Palestine and finally had conversations with a friend in charge of urban sustainability in Australia for the largest environmental NGO, the Australian Conservation Foundation.

we finally wrote up our detailed procedures and results of a Japan 2008 input session to pass on to many others. All this and actually much more that happened in our week had a lot to do with the nine topics and the purpose of the Japan gathering and related as well to the great 2020 Summit of 1000 bright people meeting in Parliament this weekend creating new ideas and policies for the nation, at the invitation of our new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a fantastic event with lasting implications and changes in direction and style to be expected. Hurrah! Enough work to be done for all of us, Hope alive!

Greetings to all,

Maria and Richard Maguire           unfolding@smartchat.net.au

BANGLADESH:

Location: Chandpur

Dhaka ICA organized a community meeting on 19 April in the ICA Ghoramara Human Development Project Site in Chandpur. Abdul Bari, Alamgir, Selina, Shahina Akther Tithi, Kamal and Aziz were in the community meeting to discuss about working gift projects - school, sewing machine and dressmaking, rickshaw and tubewell.

Delwar, Naimul and Tithi  finished purchase of Sidr children project items and confirmed 24 April for final distribution of packages for 118 children. We are supposed to give 100 children but the school heads informed us of 118 children and we reformulate package little bit.

Prof. Mahbub, Mehdi, Farhida and Tabassum started fieldwork in Chittagong Hill Tracts reserve Forest for the GFC Underlyng Causes project on 16 April and they are still in the field. With this  all three case studies for the national worklshop will be ended. The national workshop will be held at National Press Club VIP Lounge on 10 May 2008.

Aziz           admin@ica-bangladesh.org

CANADA:

Location: Toronto

ICA Canada's Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday, April 12th, at our home office in Toronto. 31 people were in attendance, including most of our board, ICA Associates staff, and some volunteers and friends. The day included presentations from Leah Taylor, who presented on the accomplishments of Youth as Facilitative Leaders in 2007, Liz Donnery, our new Executive Director, who reported on ICA Canada's many changes in 2007, Eowynne Feeney, who spoke about the many accomplishments of the Listen to the Drumming program in 2007, and Dr. Suzanne Jackson from the Centre for Health Promotion at the University of Toronto, who gave a presentation on the subtleties of evaluation.

ICA Canada prepared an Annual Report for the AGM which can be downloaded from our webpage. We are also in the process of updating our website and adding valuable new content. Please pop by and visit sometime www.icacan.ca httpwww.icacan.ca  and let us know what you think of the ongoing changes.

Liz Donnery           ldonnery@icacan.c

ICAI:

Location: Montréal

Three announcements from the Secretariat this week:

1. The inaugural event in the innovation in Human Development Speaker Series will take place 25 June 2008, at the De Seve Theatre at Concordia University, from 6-11p, with guest speaker Robert Calderisi, author of The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Isn’t working. The Speaker Series highlights persons and organizations that have put forward new ideas, practices or methods that deepen our shared understanding of how human development is realized, and serves as a forum for fostering open discussion and critical reflection on key issues. This first event in the speaker series will be combined with 2 other exciting events: a) a reception to formally inaugurate and celebrate the new Secretariat office in Montreal; and b) a Human Development Expo, which provides an opportunity for the participants in the Leadership in Human Development Training Program to share their human development work through information displays and discussion. Please try and join us on 25 June!

2. Jane Leeke joins the Secretariat staff as Development Officer, effective today. You can reach Jane at jleeke@ica-international.org. Jane brings to the Secretariat a wealth of experience in international development and strategy that will be a great asset in the implementation of our global fundraising plan. Please extend a warm ICA welcome.

3. Sarah Miller also transitions today to a fully voluntary, part-time position as Development and Communications Advisor, and will continue to work closely with Jane and the rest of the Secretariat team. Sarah will be based in New Haven, CT (USA), where she will also be working as an editor for Yale University Press. Jane will be taking over many of Sarah’s responsibilities over the coming weeks. You will still be able to reach Sarah at sarah@ica-international.org and are welcome to contact both Sarah and Jane in case you are wondering who to contact on a given issue.

We also enjoyed a happy and productive 3 days with Board members Nelson Stover, Robyn Hutchinson and Ruth Gilbert this past week. It’s a special opportunity when we ICA members are able to work together in person. This was no exception, as we appreciated the opportunity to share important questions, insights and updates.  

Katie Burke