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 ICA International website

Week ending: Saturday 2009 12 19

GHANA:

Location: ACCRA-GHANA

As the year comes to a close, ICA-Ghana has made some strategic changes to its operations and management. In view of the changes, please take note of the following:

1. NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR ICA-GHANA
We are happy to inform you that the Board of ICA-Ghana has appointed a new Executive Director, Dr. Wisdom Mensah. Effective immediately, all correspondences should be addressed directly to him.

2. CHANGE OF EMAIL ADDRESS
With effect from Monday, 21st of December 2009, ICA-Ghana will no longer be using icagh@africaonline.com.gh as its official email address. ICA-Ghana will now use icagha@gmail.com as its official email address. All emails to ICA-Ghana should be sent to icagha@gmail.com.

Mrs. Aisha Armah  ICA-Ghana Board Chair         icagha@gmail.com

NEPAL:

Location: Far West Nepal

ICA Nepal organized a series of Social Artistry Leadership Development training sessions in far western Nepal. More than 100 people participated in the 5 day long training. The training was organized at five different locations in the Far West. ICA Nepal has committed to provide Social Artistry (SA) leadership training to 5000 people by 2012. In the last year, ICA trained about 500 people in different parts of the country. Mr. Atma Ram Upadhaya has been coordinating SA training in Nepal. Early next year, ICA Nepal will ask Janet Sanders from ICA Canada to work along with the Nepal team. ICA has asked the Jean Houston Foundation to support this effort of training 5000 people in Nepal. 

ICA Nepal also organized a capacity building workshop in the Bajhang, Bajura and Baitadi districts. One of the participants said that in his 50 years of life, he had never attended that kind of training. Thanks to ToP and other ICA approaches which have helped transforming rural communities of Nepal. 

ICA organized World Human Rights Day with lots of fanfare. Organized processions were organized in different parts of the country.

Sudan Paudel 
Treasurer ICA Nepal

 More photos

PERU:

Location: Lima

The office closed on Friday for the holidays, after a really fabulous celebration, with our 18 staff members together on a sunny summer day at the harbor of Callao, where all the big ships and fancy yachts come into Peru. It was a day of great images, great food and a sense of great satisfaction.  

2009 was a wonder-filled year of growth in service for ICA-Peru, closing out with excellent implementation trips to two different departments of the Sierra to wrap up our program year, and some year-end facility improvements in preparation for our upcoming three-week school in January 2010.

Meanwhile, 2010 program contracting has moved ahead well and promises to quickly fill the calendar for the first quarter of the year.  Three new exciting clients emerged this month:  Another Swiss funded NGO seeking assistance in maturing the leaders of their rural projects, the national cacao growers associations looking to deepen the leadership of their cooperatives, and the national coffee growers association which has 41,000 members in about 100 cooperatives.  We are especially excited about the coffee growers because they have an objective of raising rural women to equal leadership status in the communities and want us to do the leadership formation to start this movement in their cooperative.  

The interesting thing is that their objective is not economic but is rather social, for they understand that to sustain the growing of excellent coffee requires stable communities which can't be done without the leadership of the women.  

In addition to these new challenges for our staff, it looks like we will also be playing a key role in the formation of leadership for forest communities in 2010 as our association with the work being done with the REDD forest preservation projects here is advancing.

We wish all of our colleagues around the world wonderful holidays, and the very best for 2010.

Staff           admin@ica-peru.org

ICA International:

Location: Montreal

This week the Global Buzz is  released on December 21st -  the winter solstice and shortest day of the year for those in the Northern hemisphere and the summer solstice and longest day for those in the Southern hemisphere.  Happy Solstice to each of you!

The big news story again this past week was the ongoing climate change talks in Copenhagen, and the eventual failure of leaders to deliver a fair, ambitious and binding agreement. The failure in Copenhagen is a major disappointment, but in the words of notable author and activist Bill McKibben “we're all working hard--and working hard to remember that what happens today is not the final word, but one step in a long fight to save the climate. Don't get too high or too low from the headlines--know that we are a strong movement getting stronger.”

Lambert was in Copenhagen to witness the drama unfold and to try to speak on behalf of ICA colleagues and communities around the world.  Lambert remains in Copenhagen for a few extra days to attend meetings in preparation of the Major Groups Initiative to be held in Ghana in the new year. We expect him back in the office later in the week.

Staff worked to begin some of the usual end-of-year tasks, and to accomplish as much as possible before the inevitable slow down over the holiday season.  We published the December issue of the Network Exchange, with fascinating articles on projects in Kenya, Canada, Bangladesh and Cote D’Ivoire, as well as a moving tribute to Don Elliot. The newsletter can be viewed online at: http://ica-international.org/exchange/2009_12/

This week Flora worked hard to wrap up her activities and ensure that the Working Gifts program is running smoothly.  We now say goodbye to Flora, who has been with us full time since early August, and thank her for her enthusiasm and dedication. Based on the success of Flora’s internship with us, we have been asked by the program coordinator in the Netherlands to host additional students in the future.

Staff           info@ica-international.org