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 2010 05 22

AUSTRALIA:

Location: Sydney

On Saturday a team of about 15 gathered to participate in an exciting strategic planning session for LACLA, the Let the Africa Children Learn Project in Zambia. This project, founded by Dorothy and Godfrey Makasa, encourages people to collect their 5 and 10 cent coins to support educational projects in Zambia. This project works to empower communities in various aspects of sustainable living and to develop stronger partnerships between Zambia, Australia, and other actors in Africa. ICA colleagues, Lucy Hobgood-Brown, Dorothy Makasa, John Telford, and the Hutchinsons participated in the planning session.

Robyn Hutchinson           rjhutchinson@optusnet.com.au



The Let the Africa Children Learn Association (LACLA) supports the 
education of children in disadvantaged communities in Zambia while 
partnering with the communities for empowerment. Dorothy Makassa, of 
Zambia, founded the association 5 years ago. This weekend the 
association engaged in a Participatory Planning Workshop 
facilitated by the Hutchinsons and the Telfords on the question, "What does 
LACLA want to achieve in the next 3 years?"

The Purposeful Facilitation course has brought basic facilitation methods to a 
broad spectrum of participants including representatives from the Department of 
Environment and Climate Change, the Australian Taxation Office, local 
government, the director of a youth arts organisation, L'arche, the 
Australian Food & Grocery Council, a leader of the Sisters of St. 
Joseph, and several consultants.

ICA colleagues attended a panel on Climate Change in the Sydney Town Hall 
on the theme "Were We Conned" regarding policies on climate 
change. Panel members and the audience agreed that the current inaction 
of governments will likely lead to very destructive consequences 
for people around the world. Therefore, the building of strong 
community bonds and cooperation will be essential for human survival, 
no matter what policies are finally implemented.

Best wishes

Richard Maguire           unfolding@smartchat.net.au

BANGLADESH:

Location: Dhaka

The terrorism study team had a meeting for designing the fieldwork processes and data collection instrument. Aziz and Bin Kashem explored ways to use ToP strategies for the study. During their last Skype meeting Maria and Richard suggested trying to use ORID and the workshop method for the forum. 

The Hon'ble Minister for Foreign Affairs recommended the application for the Ghoramara School Building. The ICA team appreciates the local minister's concern for the community's education needs. 

Habib and Zaki purchased a desktop computer for ICA communications and documentation work. Aziz is working in the ICAI GA Conversations team and expects that the GA reps from all ICAs will offer their input for the GA 2010.

Zaki

JAPAN:

Location: Japan  Kenya  Haiti  Chile  India

Global Partnership Center

Shizuyo went to Isinya, Kenya, to announce the agriculture follow-up project, which began in April 2010 and will finish in March 2011. She facilitated workshops in each village to launch the project. The main purpose of the project is to develop ownership and management skills; other activities will include renovating a water pond, fixing fences for the agriculture demonstration farm, and sharing agricultural values. Our counterpart is the Ministry of Agriculture of Isinya.

As you know, the Massai people have a long tradition of an open pasture grazing system. The men take cows, goats, and sheep to graze, but have not historically been involved in agriculture. I wished to understand why they have not chosen to practice agriculture, and engaged in 13 workshops with the Massai to answer this question. The following is what I learned:

There is little information available to the Massai about the value of agriculture development and the possible income from agricultural work.
The Massai do not have experience working in groups to care for agricultural fields. The last three years have seen severe drought in the region, leaving no possibility for agriculture cultivation. They had been occupied with caring for the few animals that survived the drought. 

However, this year, their circumstances are substantially different. 

  1. There have been good rains since last November.
  2. Two thirds of their animals have died because of the droughts, and people feel that they need an additional income source other than animals.
  3. Women often believe that cows belong to men and that women would benefit from a different way to generate income. This could be agriculture!
  4. A beer company has started to buy raw ingredients from the area. They are buying sorghum from village agriculture people.
  5. The government started providing funding for groups, but not for individuals.

I believe that many Massai people will make a serious effort to engage in farming this year. However, it is challenging work, and to be successful will require people to be devoted to learning and working, and to make a long-term commitment.
Takako and Edwin are returning from a trying trip to Haiti.  We will describe their experiences next week.  

Masaru worked on the finances and reports for the second emergency aid trip to Chile, and Wayne worked with the Chilean core staff to establish a budget for the third trip. Maki did documentation for the Pune project and completed a proposal for a Bihar flood area recovery project. Naomi helped with all, and wrote additional proposals.

Staff           shizuyo@icajapan.org

PERU:

Location: Lima

The break-through for our staff this week was the expansion of our community leadership formation work into a three year project. We consulted with the leaders to ensure we will be able to sustain their energy toward achieving remarkable results in just three years. Initial tests of this expanded approach with several clients have produced enthusiastic responses, and we are suddenly experiencing a most welcome flood of new program requests. Once more we have been awakened to THINK BIGGER about what we can contribute to human development with the methods and spirit of the ICA approach.

Staff           admin@ica-peru.org

UNITED STATES:

Location: Chicago

Conference plans for July in Oklahoma 

ICA-USA is co-sponsoring a research conference with Oklahoma City University and its Oikos Honors Program from July 12-14, 2010. This year’s event will be followed by three similar annual conferences from 2011 to 2013. The purpose is to develop curriculum, both for use in the classroom and beyond, to prepare university students, and others, to respond to the moral responsibilities and spiritual implications of twenty-first century global challenges.

This has come about because of the university’s interest in 45 years of social engagement symbolized by the EI/OE/ICA Archives. This is an opportunity for ICA constituents (both old colleagues and new faces) to ensure that our institutional wisdom and experience is expanded upon and practically incorporated into new educational undertakings. There is a potential for ICA to be involved in virtual classroom courses, intern placement programs, and academic research based on the EI/OE/ICA Archives. 
This later point especially underscores the importance of the current work on the Archives taking place this month in Chicago.

May Archives Sojourners


During the month of May, ICA-USA is host to Sojourners who are working on the Global Archives Project. Each week has had a specific focus. Work shifted from the Global Community Forums and Town Meetings ’76 to the New Religious Mode, spirit papers and social process triangles. For weeks two and three our Sojourners were Rosemary Albright (Illinois), Bill Bigalow (Illinois), Pamela and Walter Blood (Kansas), Lisel Burns (New York), Pat and Doug Druckenmiller (Iowa), David Dunn (Colorado), Todor Efremov (an international fellow from Macedonia from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota), Rhoda and Paul Ertel (Kansas), Sally Fenton (Illinois), Muriel and Bob Griffin (Massachusetts), Doris and Charles Hahn (Indiana), Bob Hanson (Wisconsin), Maureen Jenkins (Netherlands), Betty Pesek (Illinois), Margaret and David Scott (Montana), Shirley and Wendell St. John (Indiana), Jan Sanders and Richard Sims (Ontario, Canada), Karen Snyder (Illinois), Edwin Walters and Dixie Morwen (Illinois), and Russel Wheelock (Missouri).   

The hard-working volunteer coordinators for the month are Pam Bergdall and Marge Philbrook. The 8th floor of the ICA-USA building at 4750 N. Sheridan Rd. has recently been renovated with new flooring, updated plumbing fixtures, fresh paint and stylish furniture. The Sojourners are staying in these refurbished accommodations and sharing meals with the Keystone Ecological Urban Center. The Keystone is a simple living community that is housed on the 7th floor.

Karen Sims           ksims@ica-usa.org

ICA International:

Location: Montreal

Last Monday, Renée had the opportunity to attend the ICA Canada Annual General Meeting (AGM), in Toronto. Renée met ICA Canada staff and members as well as friends of the network. She appreciated listening to them share their many stories and had a great experience. We were very excited to have the opportunity to attend the meeting and to learn more about current ICA Canada projects and initiatives.

Chelsea finalized the Tour to Transform Lives t-shirt design, which was developed in collaboration with a local artist. The t-shirts will be printed by a local printing company, and will help our team make a statement at the Tour de l’Île on June 6. Visit www.tourtotransform.org to check out the t-shirt design yourself!

Work on the Annual Report continues. With many staff and interns contributing to the process, we have been using Dropbox, a free software, to organize and share ideas. Dropbox is a technology that makes it easy to securely share files with other people, sync them across multiple computers, access them from anywhere, and keep them safe. It is particularly useful when collaborating on projects with people working from different locations. If you are interested in taking advantage of this technology, you can access it for free at www.dropbox.com

Staff           info@ica-international.org