PERU:
Location: Lima
The AVANZA PERU 3-week leadership training program in Azpitia closed out strong
with an excited group of 30 community leaders ready to return home and make
major changes in their communities. The staff turned to writing a major report
for the sponsoring company which will open the door for more of these
fully-sponsored programs in the future. In the closing days of the school Pedro
Aburto taped interviews with 10 participants and these are being professionally
edited into a DVD to orient future village participants to the program. This
will overcome the issue of getting people to make a 3-week commitment to a
program which they know little about.
Also this week the staff put the
finishing touches on a another large proposal with ICA-Japan for the recovery of
Chincha, and approval is expected by 15 May. Two other proposals are in
process, all of which promises to keep our staff extremely busy for the rest of
this year and beyond. We were also proud to welcome Marlene Casteneda to our
staff as our in-house accountant and business training specialist. She
represents the first additon to our permanent staff in over 15 years. There is
a real sense of movement in our lives again.
Staff admin@ica-peru.org
ZIMBABWE:
Location:
Four political parties contested in the Parliamentary elections on 29 March 2008. The major opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have won a majority according to the official result, an indicator of a change in the political climate.
During the parliamentary elections, there was also the Presidential election which had four aspiring candidates. The following were the results: MDC, the main opposition party with the majority in Parliament also won the Presidential vote with 47% of the vote followed by ZANU PF with 43% (ZANU PF is the current governing party) and the other two got 8% and 0.6% respectively. According to the Zimbabwe Constitution for one to win the Presidency they must garner 51% of the vote. And having four contestants, naturally, it is impossible to gain 50%. Therefore this has resulted in a second round of Presidentail elections to be contested by two parties namely MDC and ZANU PFon a date to be advised in due course.
The situation remains calm and our projects are going on very well.
Gerald Gomani icazim@africaonline.co.zw
ICAI:
Location: Montréal
With the international staff training program only 3 short weeks away, Sarah, Katie and Lambert have been busy with final planning and logistics. Thanks to our great core faculty and resource people, we have a terrific curriculum in place that is sure to inspire creativity and deep thinking among the participants (and staff too!) We’re very excited about this program, and are really beginning to look forward to the participants’ arrivals!
Michael, Lambert and Jane have been working to create a memorable June 25th office launch. The office launch will also double as the inaugural event in the Innovation in Human Development Speaker Series, featuring speaker Robert Calderisi (author of The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Isn’t Working), as well as being a wonderful venue for the ICA Human Development Gallery (an exposition of the work of many national ICAs, to be produced by participating representatives during the staff training program). This evening of celebration and ideas is being pulled together with the generous support of Montreal International.
Jane is settling in nicely to her role as Development Officer, busy learning about the past and present of ICA, and identifying funding opportunities for ICAI activities. An important job!
Lambert is soon leaving for Ghana to take care of unfinished business after his family’s relocation to Canada. We’re wishing him a safe and happy journey, and will continue to be in touch thanks to the wonders of web technology.
Katie
Burke katie@ica-international.org
