ICA International

BANGLADESH:

ICA Bangladesh Board members - Shah Alam, Aziz, Zaki and Abdul Bari discussed on different occasions during September the Phulki street children project, the Ghoramara village project, ToP faculty and training, the 2015 and Beyond of the UN DPI Conference, Europe gathering in Spain, and our financial status and fundraising strategies. Two members have expressed their intention to attend the Spain conference, they are yet to confirm. The ICA Bangladesh Board expressed their deep appreciation for the support offered, for office and staff, by Maria and Richard and ICA Australia, in the midst of a huge budget deficit. We are currently spending from own pocket and have a loan for the street children project and the Ghoramara village project. We have submitted proposals for those projects, but no luck yet.

The Dhaka team visited the Phulki street children project (SCP) on October 1 and 2 to distribute their stipend from the ICAB Zakat fund created by two members, Yahya Siddiq and Azizur Rahman. The kids were so happy to receive the payment before the festival. We began this on the eve of the last Eid in July. We also observed their physical training class with their teacher. Later we inspected the SCP Rickshaw with the driver and made a decision on the repair work that needed to be done. Later Aziz and our project partner - Surjodoy Sangsad, president - Mokter Hossain, had a meeting to acknowledge the support of Surjodoy Sangsad for running the underprivileged children's education and quality of life improvement project. We are very thankful that the President approved a sign for the ICA Phulki project to place at the entrance of the Club.

We are going to Chandpur for the Eid Celebration, from October 3rd, and the Chandpur team has planned to have several meetings in Chandpur with members, staff and community people. Our Hindu colleagues are celebrating Duran Punjab from October 2nd.

Happy Durga Puja and Eid Mubarak!

Staff           admin@ica-bangladesh.org

JAPAN:

Greetings to all ICA’s and friends around the world.

ICA Japan held its Annual meeting with outstanding success September 13th. Noticeable were Shizuyo Sato’s revamping our thrust to be more engaged with Japan, a presentation by Mr. Kitagaki for revitalizing failing communities (it is currently a focused theme of the national diet), and a delightful Indian dance by a Japanese lady.

We prepared to send Wayne to Bihar India to deliver leadership training for two villages, and to send Mr. Isawa to train in home garden hydroponics for farmers and women in the same two villages. Mr. Shinju Uyama is monitoring and documenting the project while living in India, and Mayumi Takeishi continues to prepare financial monitoring and reports for MOFA.

Proposals were submitted for partnering with ICA Cote d’Ivoire to work for youth vocational training (they have more than 200 youth in each small village with no income) in 6 villages around Agboville, Cote d’Ivoire, and another for partnering with ICA India to work with women’s advancement in 4 villages in a blind valley on the outskirts of Pune, India.

Maki Tsukamoto continued refining a proposal for various potential funders for Karen State in Myanmar where villages have been caught up in continued conflicts, and met with the World Bank for support.

Following Mr. Kitagaki’s and Shizuyo’s work on Caravan Community Revitalization, we are preparing to involve students in energizing communities and integrating communities attention towards a united vision and action plan. We may work with the various groups first, then have a grand plenary meeting and celebration and move forward with a united spirit with their action plans.

Two proposals were submitted by Motoko Imagi for continued support for Tohoku region where they are now forgotten peoples living away from their homes in too small temporary housing, hoping that the radiation will decrease in their lifetime so that they can re-unite with the land and friends. This may be impossible and we continue to support their vitality where they are.

We held at Shukutoku University a mini-course on ToP® Consensus Building and Action Planning.

We encouraged ICA’s to have regional conferences prior to our 2106 global Conference, and we are working with the Conference Nominating Committee to create guidelines for applying for the nominations for the next Global Conference on Human Development in 2016, to aid ICA’s to present to the General Assembly (GA) in December.

Please see our website at http://www.icajapan.org/ home-english/ for more.

Wayne Ellsworth          wayne@icajapan.org 

TAIWAN:

Events:
- Dialogue Course and PSP in Taipei including colleagues from Leadership Inc, China
- Reinventing Organization by Frederic Laloux study day with 18 present in Taipei. The next session on October 12th.
- Larry attended an IAF in Singapore which included sharing session with Noel Tan on Public (Civic) Engagement Facilitation, and Larry leading Imaginal Learning (1 day) with 11 and a session on Appreciative Leadership with 35.
- Truth About Life Continuing series on Leaning into how the whole world is going to live
- Facilitated Open Space event for group of NGOs on collaboration for the Care of Elders in Taiwan
- Open Space Learning Exchange gathering
- Work with Paris company moves into a new and longer term commitment for Larry.

Peer to Peer:
- Larry to Kiev for activities including: Maidan Open University 3 hour session on Community Development Approaches (About 50 people) with Anna Babych translating. Imaginal Learning Course with 19
- great conversation about application of image change in the Ukrainian context. Important dialogue with members of ICA Ukraine, as many opportunities are emerging determining the structure and style of ICA Ukraine.
- Preparation and facilitation of Asia Region dialogue session on the purpose and strategies of ICA, using Karen Newkirks frame of Community Development-Imaginal Learning-ToP methods
-Global Community.
- Growing New Sense of Leadership dialogue group continues their preparation and sharing work.
- Supported Winds and Waves dialogue
- Preparation and support of Asia Region dialogue on Global and or Regional Conferences 2016 with Robyn and Wayne leading and Martin and Evelyn supporting on Adobe Connect.

Challenge:
What is the form of ICA that will best support ToP and other program growth in greater China?
How do we as a global community discover our evolving purpose and determine the kind of integration we want/need?

Evelyn Philbrook            joyful52@gmail.com

UNITED kINGDOM

We ran a tailored Group Facilitation Methods course for the Participation Unit within the Department of Children and Youth Affairs of the Irish Government. This is the unit that is responsible for the national network of forums for young people in Ireland, for the National Executive of young people and for the Youth Parliament which meets every two years. They have already expressed interest in further training to disseminate ToP methods within their network.

We have been contracted by GIZ (the German Government's overseas development agency) to design a two-year programme to work with and develop "change agents" amongst the Palestinian refugee communities in Syria, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories and Jordan. Once designed, we will also have the opportunity to bid for the delivery of the programme. A real opportunity to bring together ICA thinking and methods with other approaches and content expertise to create a bespoke programme.

We are designing a new one-day GFM Refresher course for GFM graduates who want the chance to share experiences, learn, and practice the methods further. The first pilot of the course will be in November

Jonathan Dudding          jdudding@ica-uk.org.uk

UNITED STATES:

ICA USA celebrated the installation of 480 solar panels on September 24th that will decrease its energy use by 17%. The solar launch with notable public officials had tours of the landmark, mixed-use building. Over 200 Uptown residents and Chicago community members joined the celebration. Various community programs in Uptown as well as Chicago’s solar group discount program provided a chance to learn. Food trucks were enjoyed during the lunch hour.

The Old Town School of Folk Music started off the morning outside generating great energy! The day commenced with notes from GreenRise building manager Lesley Showers, an impassioned address by ICA Executive Director Terry Bergdall, and words of affirmation and congratulations from City of Chicago's Chief Sustainability Officer Karen Weigert, and Alderman James Cappleman. 

Over 30 organizations spanned various services, including health, social justice, intentional community, and more. 

Richard Alton          richard.alton@gmail.com

From Colleagues in Denver Colorado USA

Report: Greetings from Colorful Colorado - where the Aspen trees are wearing their glistening gold leaves for Autumn!

As part of the ToP Network in North America, Denver will host the 2015 gathering of ToP Colleagues next January 8-11. We welcome participation world-wide both face2face and virtual.

For now, mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details as the details get worked out. Hope to see you here early next year!

Sherwood Shankland   ToP Mentor Trainer, Denver, USA    
      sherwoodshankland@comcast.net