ICA International

ICAI Board Report:

The ICAI Board at its August meeting reviewed the progress and status of several ICAI working groups which are now underway or getting established. The ToP global policy working group is now consulting with ICAI members and ToP facilitation & training providers worldwide on the draft global ToP policy paper that it had presented to the June General Assembly. A diverse and experienced team of ten ICA representatives have now accepted nominations to join the new ICAI Global Conference working group that was agreed at the June GA, in order to work with prospective host ICAs to present one or more strong proposals for hosting a 2016 global conference (or conferences) for vote at the December GA. Nominations are now invited to join the continuing members of the ICAI Board nominations and elections committee, and/or to stand for election to the Board itself next year, in preparation for an election at the December GA to four Board positions coming vacant from January - Vice President Africa, Vice President Asia Pacific, Vice President Americas and Treasurer. Staci Kentish, Seva Gandhi and I will continue as VP Communications, Secretary and President respectively.

Since the GA clarified criteria for ICAI Associate membership in June, the Board noted expressions of interest in August from prospective new members in Ghana, Korea, Russia and the Philippines. We plan to agree a simple new form and process in September for these and/or other nominations to be made formal in time for vote at the December GA.

No further formal requests had yet been received for ICAI financial support toward member initiatives for peer-to-peer support and collaboration, however there is interest from some ICAs wishing to attend the ICA European Interchange hosted by ICA Spain near Madrid in November. Around 20 representatives of ICAs in Latin America have been able to benefit already from ICAI financial support for online training in Spanish on online ToP facilitation using the Adobe Connect platform.

We are grateful to Aziz Rahman of ICA Bangladesh for travelling to New York this month to attend the 65th United Nations NGO Conference on behalf of ICAI, on the theme "2015 and beyond: our action agenda". Aziz was one of 4,000 registered to attend from over 900 NGOs in 100 countries. We are grateful also for the editorial team and contributors to the August edition of ICAI's Winds & Waves magazine "Back to the Future", which features a series of articles related to the work of ICA’s Global Archives Project (GAP).

The Board agreed to present certificates of appreciation from ICAI to the more than 20 international ToP facilitators and others who had contributed to the successful and high profile Ukraine PEACE Summit of ICA Ukraine in Kiev in July.

Martin Gilbraith           president@ica-international.org

BANGLADESH:

We had a very busy month working on various projects here including NGO renewal and audit submissions. We also submitted two proposals in August. The most interesting and exciting event was that Aziz joined the 65th UN DPI/NGO Conference in New York held on the 27th-29th of August. He had a very intensive but productive time at the UN Conference, which had a number of roundtables, workshops and town hall meetings based on four current discourses - poverty eradication, human rights, sustainability and climate change. He attended all 3 days that discussed the post 2015 development agenda. He was delighted to represent ICAI at the conference.

Staff           admin@ica-bangladesh.org

COTE D'IVOIRE:

La mission conduite par Wayne Ellsworth, qui a séjourné du 20 au 26 juillet 2014 nous a permis d’avoir des séances de travail avec plusieurs hautes autorités du pays dont deux membres du Gouvernement, en occurrence Monsieur le Ministre de l’Industrie et des Mines et le Ministre du Commerce, de l’Artisanat et de la promotion des PME. Nous avons aussi eu des rencontres de travail avec Messieurs le Directeur de Cabinet du Ministère de l’Education et de l’Enseignement Technique, le Directeur de Cabinet du Ministère de l’Agriculture, Le Directeur Adjoint du Port autonome d’Abidjan, Le Directeur du SERCEP, Le Directeur Général du CEPICI, Le Président de la Chambre Nationale des Agents d’Affaires de Côte d’Ivoire et le bureau exécutif, outillés pour accompagner tout investisseur étranger. Au niveau d’Agboville notre délégation a été reçue par Monsieur le Maire qui est la première autorité locale de la ville. Il nous a assuré de son soutien et de tout son conseil Municipal.

Au cours de ses différentes séances de travail Monsieur Wayne a expliqué la nouvelle méthode d’enseignement dispensée à Teko en Russie. Dans cette école les élèves sont eux-mêmes leurs propres enseignants. Celui qui est en classe supérieur s’occupe de ceux des classes inferieurs. Nous avons fait des visites dans les six villages de la région de l’Agneby (Agboville) sélectionnés pour la mise en œuvre du projet de réinsertion de 360 jeunes dans les domaines de la culture des légumes, de l’élevage des poulets de chair et de l’agroforesterie que ICA Japon en collaboration avec ICA Côte d’Ivoire veulent réaliser cette année.
La délégation a achevé son programme par un forum d’échange avec des hommes d’affaires Ivoirien le 26 juillet 2014 avant leur embarcation pour le retour au Japon.

Il a porté sur les opportunités de faire venir des investisseurs Japonais en Côte d’Ivoire et ce que les entrepreneurs Ivoiriens doivent savoir afin de pouvoir créer ou avoir des entreprises partenaires au Japon.

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Further to our report of last month regarding the visit of Mr. Wayne Ellsworth, Ms. Inagaki and Ms. Yamamoto to Côte d'Ivoire in July.

The mission led by Wayne Ellsworth, who stayed from July 20 to 26, 2014 allowed us to have working sessions with several senior government officials including two Cabinet members, in this case the Minister of Industry and Mines and the Minister of Trade, Crafts and SME promotion.

We also had working meetings with Members of the Director of Cabinet of the Ministry of Education and Technical Education, the Director of Cabinet of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Deputy Director of the Autonomous Port of Abidjan, the Director the SERCEP, the Director General of CEPICI, the President of the National Chamber of business men of the Ivory Coast and madame Dominique KOUADIO, Director of the DOK-Epress law Office that specializes in the legal affairs of companies. In Agboville our delegation was received by the Mayor, the senior authority in the city. He assured us of his support and of the Municipal Council.

During his working sessions Mr. Ellsworth explained the new method of teaching used by Teko in Russia. In this school the students themselves are their own teachers; everyone teaches as well as learns. We made visits to the six villages in the Agneby region, (Agboville), who were selected for the implementation of the rehabilitation project of 360 youths, which covers vegetable cultivation, livestock and broiler management and agroforestry. ICA Japan in collaboration with ICA Ivory Coast want to have this project in operation this year.

The delegation ended their visit conducting an exchange forum with Ivorian businessmen before their return to Japan. The forum focused on the opportunities of Japanese investors coming to Côte d'Ivoire and what entrepreneur Ivorians must know, in order to have partner companies in Japan.

GARA: (Global Archives Research Assembly)

Announcement

Please click this link to the Imaginal Education Collection website and subscribe (or copy and paste this link in your web browser): http://wedgeblade.net/wordpress/imaginaleducation/blog/

We will email you research event postcards and registration details via email featuring the new work of OliveAnn Slotta in Denver, Jeanette Stanfield in Toronto, Loren Waybright in Kathmandu, Jan Sanders in Kathmandu, Jim Addington in the Service Learning Program, Susan Wagner in the Machakos Game, Kaze Gadway's Imaginal Education talk #1, and others

One research question is: what does Imaginal Education have to offer mentors and coaches?

Steve Harrington (GARA)      stevehar11201@gmail.com

UNITED kINGDOM

We are happy to welcome Louise Lessells as our new marketing and sales manager. This appointment is a key step in implementing our new strategy which places training at the heart of our work and forms a platform around which our other programme activities can continue to operate.

As part of this transition Alan Heckman has now left the ICA staff, but continues as an Associate, joining a group of c. 30 trainers and facilitators who we can call upon to deliver our courses, and who will be able to take the lead on other aspects of our work.

In addition to our upcoming public and in-house courses (in the UK and Ireland) we also have consultancy/facilitation contracts working with international organisations in the UK, Palestine, South Africa and Somalia and an ongoing programme with partners in Europe on conflict transformation, including discussions with ICA Ukraine on how we can best support their peace building efforts.

Jonathan Dudding          jdudding@ica-uk.org.uk

UNITED STATES:

September ICA USA Sustainability Events

To help celebrate ICA Chicago’s sustainability work we are naming September Sustainability. A whole set of events are being held around the September 24th Solar Launch with notable public officials, touring our landmark mixed use building, meeting fellow Uptown and Chicago community members and seeing the installed 483 solar panels.

Also during September:

September 6: Climate Marchers Celebration Dinner: The Marchers are walking across the USA with the aim of inspiring action to resolve the climate crisis

September 12th: Screening of Movie: Fixing the Future: what are we going to do to reinvent the American economy

September 18th: Preparing for Climate Change - A live stream telecast of a panel discussion

September 19th: Communicating Sustainability in a Polarized Society: An Interactive Workshop.

September 24th: Uptown Share Fair and Solar launch at the ICA GreenRise Building.

Richard Alton          richard.alton@gmail.com