PERU:
Location: Lima and Chincha
The major event of our week was the meeting of nearly 100 Promoters of the Women's Industry Project in Chincha where they displayed their wonderful products and made plans for three major marketing events between now and Christmas. These leaders represent a network of over 1,000 women who are now earning additonal income due to this Project which continues through the end of 2011.
Jesusa Aburto, Pedro Aburto and Alex Borjas did a powerful Implementation event in a very challenging community where we trained 23 leaders a few weeks ago. The participation which these new leaders attracted from the community was remarkable, and our ICA team was very impressed with the facilitation skills of the newly trained leaders, There will be similar events in this community over the next three months to put the new leaders solidly on their feet in front of their community so they can independently carry on the task of guiding their own development. This 4-month Implementation Program is now a permanent part of our community leadership package following the 3-week training program of AVANZA PERU in our Azpitia Training Center. Our documented results have been so outstanding that all of the program sponsors are now including it in their budgets.
Rocio del Aguila and Alex Borjas attended a major conference over the distribution of agricultural technology, and made many valuable contacts, while once again realizing the importance of including our practical workshops in our AVANZA PERU training programs. Through this event and several other contacts this week, new funding avenues were opened to us.
The marketing team completed another AVANZA PERU contract and initiated a national campaign to offer the DOUBLE YOUR RESULTS program to community development professionals around the country. This program is a major new step for our staff and is requiring a great deal of new curriculum work which is already well underway for the December 3-week program.
This week we also added two new members to our staff who will be formally announced next week as they start work.
Staff admin@ica-peru.org
TAIWAN:
Location: Tiapei
ToP is a good metaphor for our week. This past week has been a swirl of preparation while hosting the ToP Global Research and development program. It has been a time of welcoming old and new colleagues. People like Bill Staples from Canada, Kevin Balm from Australia via Bangkok, the Epps from Malaysia and Denver, Sunny Walker also from Denver, Mark Pixley from Shenzhen, China and a new person for most of us was David Buwalda from Singapore plus our team from here in Taipei.
The content of the meeting was posted seperately but here are perspectives on what we were working on:
- TAIWAN GLOBAL TOP DIALOGUE AFFIRMS CARING AND COMPASSIONATE SPIRIT AT CORE OF METHODS.
- CTOPF CERTIFICATION, GLOBAL TOP TRAINING NETWORK, TOP PUBLIC BRANDING, CAPACITY BUILDING IN ICA REVEALED AS KEY LEVERS TO ACCELERATE POSITIVE IMPACT ON WORLD.
- TAIWAN TOP DIALOGUE FINDS MANY PARALLELS ACROSS NATIONS, PUSHES CERTIFICATION AS A GLOBAL PRIORITY TO EMPHASISE ESSENCE OF ToP IS SPIRIT DEPTH NOT JUST METHODOLOGICAL PROWESS.
- CURRICULUM INTERCHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT TO EMPHASISE CRITICAL FACILITATIVE ROLES LEADER, FACILITATOR, YOUTH, PUBLIC PARTICIPATION TO NAME A FEW
- TAIWAN ToP DIALOGUE REALIZES ESSENCE OF ToP IS SPIRIT NOT METHOD AND PUSHES CERTIFICATION AS A WAY TOWARD EMPHASIZING DEVELOPING PROFOUND MASTER FACILITATORS AND TO BREAK AWAY FROM LIMITING PRACTICES OF RELATIONSHIP BASED GLOBAL COLLABORATION
Meanwhile we have been preparing for this weekend's IAF conference and 3 of our Taiwan colleagues received the IAF CPF certification. Another colleague conducted an Open Space with people from Mongolia. Tatwa and Shalik strived hard to come for the IAF to present with Evelyn on Social Artistry but finally were not able to make it. The session will go on but they will be missed.
Larry Philbrook larry@icatw.com
UNITED STATES:
Location: Chicago
On August 13, 94 young leaders graduated from ICA-USA’s Teen Facilitator Apprenticeship Program.
The youth facilitators, ranging in ages from 14 to 21, were part of a unique training and learning program at ICA-USA’s national headquarters in Chicago. Over the course of six weeks, participants spent two hours a day, five days a week, learning ToP® training methods. ICA colleague Sunny Walker relocated from Denver to Chicago for the summer to design the program curriculum. She was the guiding light for the program and led the daily courses and encouraged the teens to become comfortable and familiar with the methods.
For an additional two hours a day, these young leaders-in-training worked with members on a variety of eco-friendly projects, including greening ICA-USA’s parking lot and performing green assessments for tenants of ICA-USA’s Nonprofit Incubator Program. Activities included trips to recycling centers and community gardens.
The program culminated in a youth summit, planned and organized by the teen facilitators. They addressed the many issues young people across the country must face. The program included skits, green assessments and focused conversation on a variety of issues, including teen violence, media perception of youth and others.
The program grew out of ICA-USA colleague and staff concerns over the rise in violent crimes among Chicago’s youth. Colleagues, Board and staff wanted to create an initiative that kept young people off of the street while teaching them methods they could use to better the world around them.
Karen Sims ksims@ica-usa.org
