AUSTRALIA:
Location: Australia
Australia has just celebrated Australia Day. We are proud to have long term
Indigenous leader, civil rights and reconciliation campaigner, Prof. Mick
Dodson named as Australian of the Year.
Robyn Hutchinson rjhutchinson@optusnet.com.au
Location: Timor Leste
A team of us have continued work on the development of and a funding proposal
for the training program in Timor Leste we agreed on with Alex Gusmao when we
were in Brisbane together two weeks ago.
John Telford thetelfords@gmail.co
BANGLADESH:
Location: Dhaka
On 24 January ICA Chandpur team distributed school text books and learning
materials to 18 class one students and 22 class two students who are enrolled as
of now for 2009 academic year in the ICA Ghormara Human Development Project for
the Education for the underprivileged children in Chandpur.
On 23 January a
general council of ICA Bangladesh was held and decided on agenda - AGM, Budget
2009, Action Plan 2009, Membership, Staffing and Audits. Mr. Sikdar our new
Accounts staff was introduced to members who were present in the meeting.
In the
year 2009 ICA Bangladesh initiated volunteer and internship program considering
the need of facilitative leadership development and management of ICA work and
recognition towards credibility and trustworthy organization. On 23 January
one volunteer member made an agreement with ICA Bangladesh for professional
volunteer program participant.
Aziz admin@ica-bangladesh.org
PERU:
Location: AzpitiaChincha
The staff finished up another great training of Promoters for yet another group
of 30 leaders from Chincha and they returned to start up another group of 300
women on the path to having their own businesses. The last group created 90 new
businesses in their first three months, so this new group has a lot of great
expectations to do even better in their first months.
Now, with a two day
turn-around, the ICA-Peru team has started a 3-week AVANZA PERU community
leadership training program in Azpitia for a community in the high sierra of
Cajamarca. The people are mature and we listened last night to their
expectations for the program and were impressed with their strong desire to play
a significant role in the growth of their communities. The three week
residential program is extremely intensive and produces very visible
transformation in the participants. In this case, there will also be a four
month follow-up program in the field to build the confidence of these new
leaders and assure the implementation of five major programs in the
communities.
All together, AVANZA PERU is a unique application of a whole range
of ICA methods, from TOP pedagogy to practical agriculture and business
methods. We plan to do seven of these programs in 2009, mostly funded by
companies which have an interest in improving the quality of life in the
communities involved.
Staff kenh@ica-peru.org
UNITED STATES:
Location: Chicago
In the summer of 2008, the City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa experienced extensive
flooding when the Cedar River escaped its banks - ten square miles of the city
were impacted by the flood, affecting more than 18,000 residents and 5,000
homes. ICA-USA was asked to lead the facilitation process by which community
residents work with civic leaders to rebuild their neighborhoods.
On December
1-2, 2008, ICA-USA and ToP Trainers provided a TFM course for more than seventy
community leaders and residents. This training was done to prepare them to
conduct a comprehensive Neighborhood Planning Process at a planning meeting open
to the public. The second TFM training was held on January 5-6, 2009.The
Kick-Off was held on January 10, where those previously trained in ToP
Facilitation Methods facilitated the planning meeting with more than 300
residents in attendance.
The second phase of the planning meetings will be held
on January 31, where 500 residents are expected to attend. ICA-USA and the
trainers have not only planned the entire process, but have been, and will be,
on hand to provide technical support and coaching.
On May 13, the City Council
will receive recommendations from the Steering Committee. More than 40 ToP
Trainers will be involved in the process by the time of its completion.
Timothy
J. Duszynski, Ph.D., ICA-USA Director of National Programs, has been working
with city leaders and residents from the beginning. He says the citizens are
pleased to have a way to be involved, and ICA is viewed as a neutral partner in
the process, which is of critical importance. Also of importance was giving the
participants an opportunity to share their experiences and struggles, which set
the stage for an atmosphere of caring and trust.
Cheryl Zaleski czaleski@ica-usa.org
ICAI:
Location: Montréal
This week we selected and welcomed an excellent group of new interns who will support work in various areas over the next 3 months. The six new interns joined us for an orientation program at the office that, in addition to providing basic info on the internship position and expectations, included a focused conversation on footage from the World of Human Development DVD (for those who haven’t used the video for this purpose it is very useful – indeed it is striking to see how similar many of the problems facing communities still are today, over 25 years later!).
The new interns have a variety of roles, and many of them will be interacting directly with members. We would like to welcome them warmly to the secretariat team and thank them for their enthusiasm and commitment. They are:
Alexandra Chevalier, who will be involved in the production of the 2008 Annual Report;
Maria Tolentino who will support program development and fundraising for national ICAs;
Dana Ballard, who joins Maria in supporting national ICAs;
Eliza Urwin, who will take the lead in the coordination of the Global Leadership for Schools program;
Margaret Foster, who will undertake research examining policy implications of specific ICA HIV and AIDS projects; and,
Vanessa Salasky, who will support the Hearts Backpackers initiative which aims to raise awareness and funds for projects supporting the Millennium Development Goals.
The interns will begin immediately. We look forward to working closely with them in the coming months.
Staff info@ica-international.org
