ICA International

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

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Global Buzz Report: July 2015

For most pictures Click to enlarge and for caption if any

ICAI Board Report:

The Board spent much of the June board meeting preparing for the upcoming General Assembly July 21st.

Three new organizations are applying for Associate Membership at this GA, Safe Neighbourhoods Foundation (SNF) in Uganda, ORP Institute in Korea and Esto Perpectua Development Initiative (EDPI) in Nigeria. We are excited to be recommending these applications for voting and look forward to them becoming official members of our network.

At the upcoming GA we will also be voting on the location of the 2016 ICAI Global Conference and on the draft being put forward by the ToP Global Policy working group.

Members will have a chance to get a first glance at the new ICAI website as well at the GA. We're hoping to spend the next several months working with ICAs to populate the website with current content and then hope to move towards a system whereby ICAs are able to update and add their own information as often as they'd like.

Finally, the GA will be a chance for voting members to approve the 2015 ICAI Business Plan that we completed at our face-to-face meeting in Tanzania. We're really pleased with the results of our meeting and the ambition of our new team. We're looking forward to playing an increasingly supportive role in peer-to-peer initiatives between ICA members

Please ask for details if you would like to attend the GA meeting(s) and you have not yet received them.

Staci Kentish           secretary@ica-international.org


ASIA PACIFIC REGIONAL MEETING in INDIA:

Dear colleagues,

Please find an invitation to the end of year Asia Pacific Regional Meeting in India.  We would love to have representation from each and every ICA in our Asia Pacific region, as this will be a great collaborative peer-to-peer working and learning opportunity.

Please forward this invitation to your colleagues – interested members of ICA or other networks. While the focus will be on Asia Pacific, colleagues from outside of the AP region will be most welcome.
 
Invitation and additional information here


We do hope folk will use the expression of interest link to register interest.

Best wishes,

Shizuyo Sato, VP Asia Pacific Region  shizuyo@icajapan.org


WINDS and WAVES Editorial Team:

 We invite your submission of articles for the next edition of our Winds and Waves Magazine: August 2015.
Do you have a story to tell?
Please see here

BANGLADESH:

June was a busy month for the ICAB ToP faculty team, for practical training.

On June 3rd members had a full day training session at the ICA office. On June 4th, the Urban Development Directorate (UDD) of the Ministry of Housing Works of the Government of Bangladesh, hosted a Training of Trainers (ToT) for PRA field facilitators. Aziz as a lead facilitator for the day was thrilled and introduced the Technology of Participation (ToP) to UDD planners, engineers, sociologists, team leaders, project directors, consultants, managers and PRA field facilitators, who are engaged in the “Preparation of Development Plan for Fourteen Upazilas” project; the participants were excited to see the power of ToP. Aziz encouraged the consulting firm of the UDD to hire 5 facilitators for their PRA and they did, and they used the workshop in the PRA session during June 9 - July 3. Aziz also introduced ToP to Dhaka University criminology faculty members, and training for ORID on the 24th and a Workshop on 30th June.        Click to enlarge pictures

Our associate member, Shakawat, raised 1000 taka for the Phulki kids following the March 21 meeting that focused on local fundraising. Another associate member, Roshni, is working, hoping like Shakawat to raise funding on a monthly basis while in the midst of ICA's funding crisis. Moksod visited the Phulki street children project (SCP) and discussed the distribution of funds with the SCP teacher for Zakat, before the Eid festival. He also checked with the SCP regarding the rickshaw issue while in the community.

Aurongajeb and Arif joined ICA as associate members in June.

At the March Board meeting, Advocate Shah Alam was appointed as treasurer, and funding for the AGM 2015, the training plan, and fundraising itself was discussed. ICA members continue to work through donations and loans for its current activities.

Aziz Rahman           aziz.uoft@gmail.com


COTE D'IVOIRE:

In June, Mr. Wayne Ellsworth, Co-director of ICA Japan, Mr. Yuji Isoda, expert in soil analysis, and Miss Kazuko Yamamoto, Agri-Marketing Director, visited us with regard to the rehabilitation project of, Youth at Risk, in the region of Agneby. During the visit, ICA-CI staff and beneficiaries, PRJR, were trained by Wayne, Mr. Isoda and Miss Yamamoto, in Community Development and soil analysis Techniques, for Commercial Marketing. At the end of the training session we received a mobile kit for soil testing that can be completed in 2 hours with the help of a computer.

The soil analysis training session brought together officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Inter professional Fund for Agricultural Research, and the Council, (FIRCA), of the National Agency for Rural Development, (ANADER), and a student from the Adzopé agricultural school.

During our working visit with Wayne, we discussed ways to organize the first subregional conference under the direction of ICA-CI, to be held from the 9th to the 11th of September 2015, in Agboville.

We would like to take this opportunity in the Global Buzz to invite
all ICAs from around the world to this West African conference.

Pictures showing soil sample testing workshop - click to enlarge


Kouame Konan           konaneug@gmail.com


JAPAN:

Activities in Cote d’Ivoire

The project activities got into full motion in June with materials distribution, monitoring by Wayne Ellsworth, and advanced soil care training by two Japanese experts, Yuji Isoda and Kazako Yamamoto. The villagers almost finished building the chicken houses, planted 2 hectors of Okura, and began staking the agroforestry land, to mark where the seedings will be planted.

The highlight of June was the 11 days of advanced agriculture training for the staff, villagers, and representatives of the regional agriculture ministry, people from the agriculture college, and the district office responsible for all the programs in the region. A man about to graduate from agriculture college said “Now I have to return to college and re-think to whole curriculum – this is so advanced, so scientifically based, and they have told us the precise reason for everything. I learned so much in only three days!”

Below is a photo of the training graduation (Eugene at the center), and of the district office where the training took place. In the photo is the district director, the Cote d’Ivoire staff, and two Japanese experts.           Click to enlarge pictures

  

Recent Fukushima Disaster Recovery Activities

Since 2013, ICA Japan has been working with residents in temporary housing sites at Minamisoma City, Fukushima prefecture.  Although many governmental recovery projects started, the speed is slow due to local issues, such as the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear radiation disaster.  This keeps the residents for 4 or 5 years in the cramped temporary housing, instead of the promised less than one year stay.

Our aim is to strengthen community ties while overcoming hard situations thorough horticultural activities.

Wayne Ellsworth
          wayne@icajapan.org


NEPAL:

July 2015, ICA Nepal's response to earthquake and its future plans
                                                                             Enlarge pictures for caption
Following the devastating earthquake, (24 April and 12 May 2015), ICA Nepal realizing its responsibility carried out a number of relief activities for emergency support and rehabilitation tasks. In the first month of the earthquake various relief programs were conducted at the community, individual and organizational level. Relief materials which included food items, clothes, tarpaulins and medicines were distributed by ICA Nepal with the collaboration of Rotary clubs. The relief materials were sent to various affected districts such as Dhading, Sindhupalchowk, Gorkha, Changunarayan, Nala, etc. Also, ICA Nepal supported various organizations working for People with Disabilities such as, Entire Power in Social Action. (EPSA), Disabled Service Center, (DSC), and National Integrated Blind and Disabled Association, (NIBDA), by providing relief materials.
  
Another major contribution of ICA Nepal was to build an Earth-bag home for one of the senior citizen groups of Changunarayan. This was a pilot project for ICA Nepal carried out by volunteers from India and the USA. An Earth-bag home is resistant to earthquake and other natural disasters and is made entirely from sacks with rubble inside. It has the durability of almost 80 years.

Upcoming Plans

ICA Nepal is now focusing on long term rehabilitation plans for the victims of the earthquake by rebuilding and reconstructing communities. The current major plan of ICA includes rebuilding sustainable villages in various earthquake affected districts. ICA Nepal proposes to rebuild not only houses but communities and their histories and identities by allowing the communities to re-occupy the space of these ruins and turning back them into useful space.

In response to the need of reconstruction and rehabilitation, ICA Nepal has selected three villages namely: Changu Narayan, (Bhaktapur District), Nala, (Kavre District), and Sukute, (Sindhupalchowk district). ICA Nepal aims to build 100 shelters in each of these districts, which will total 300 permanent shelters. Intensive planning is required and the effort is being carried out with the help of ICA international networks.

Also, we are planning to build permanent shelter for people with disabilities, (PWDs), along with the organization for the Disabled Service Center, (DSC). This is going on with ICA Australia and other prospective organizations. The situation in which people with disabilities are currently living, is far beyond miserable, and is in urgent need of support. Their home has been completely damaged. Some of them are currently living on a tomato farm, and some, in the compound of their home which can destruct in the case of a strong aftershock. Thus, ICA Nepal proposes to build the permanent shelter for this organization within this month.

Various training and facilitation programs were also conducted by ICA Nepal in different communities and schools, for psycho-social trauma relief and developing leadership as recovery activities. With the help of the Jean Houston Foundation, training on the Social Artistry leadership development program for Psycho- social trauma relief, was organized for various groups such as school and college teachers, wives of civil servants, and community people. We will continue with such training and planning, to implement the micro grants project through the Trim Tab method. We are aiming to implement more than 100 such projects.

In terms of Facilitation and training programs, Participatory Strategic planning and Leadership Development programs, (LDP), they are also another major focus of ICA Nepal. ICA Nepal proposes to provide LDP in various communities as the part of the rehabilitation activity. Thirty people will be trained as facilitative leaders and further they will be mobilized to implement 300 challenge projects. For challenge projects, priority will be given to single women, orphans, and the socially and economically marginalized groups. The challenge projects will be on various aspects of community development such as: improving health and sanitation in the area, re-establishing local health posts, improving the communication system in the health posts, and teachers and student support programs etc..

ICA Nepal is continuously exploring all possible ways to support the victims of the earthquake, and thus, is developing new ideas and proposals so that it can contribute more to the society.

Ishu Subba and Pritha Khanal           subbaishu@gmail.com


SPAIN:

Dear Colleagues,

In the name of ICA Spain we would like to make contact with the Global team to announce the launching of our first Crowdfunding campaign.

The campaign is aiming to create and unite a network of SUPER COMMUNITY ENTREPRENEURS, starting with 5 who come from CUBA, ARGENTINA, PERU, MEXICO and FINLAND. They have demonstrated their commitment by action in developing successful experiences and good practices in the social and solidarity economy.

Please give us your support and collaboration using the Spanish crowdfunding platform GOTEO in this link:
https://goteo.org/project/conferencia-internacional-ess/home# or share our campaign with your ICA Community and social networks …. we really would appreciate it.

If you have any questions or good ideas, please contact us!

Thank you,

The Spanish Team

ICA Spain           natalia.sanjuan@gmail.com


UNITED STATES:

The 2015 ICA East Africa Gathering was organized by ICA-USA and ICA-Tanzania. The conference was paid for by ICA-USA donor Ruth Reames, and a mini grant from ICAI. In 2011, ICA-USA staff had visited several East African ICAs and asked what the ICAs thought would be most helpful in building their capacity. Methods training for newer staff, and increased connections among ICAs were high on the list. Thus the idea for the conference was born. Although a gathering like this is not new in ICA’s longer term history, in more recent history the practice of gathering has been neglected due to limited capacity and time of ICAs to come together to share.

Some notable mentions from the gathering:

  •  There was an energizer before any new presenter, this kept the group alive and gave participants plenty new things to add to their energizer toolkit.

  •  End of the day and beginning of the day reflections were led by someone new each time.

  •  The use of open space to plan the trainings/workshop components of the conference allowed for both enough flexibility and enough structure

  •  During the Strategic Planning session for the region, it was helpful to have facilitators from outside the region, so that all local parties could participate

  •  There was a lot of requests to get clarity on what ‘ICA values’ are. The next page features a 4x4 created by Terry Bergdall that the conference had a conversation around. More specifically, the row of ‘What ICA thinks’ column of the document. The conversation was one that could have continued a long time and conference attendees wanted to schedule more time in the future to get clarity on ICA values.

  •  Among ICA staff in E. Africa, old and new, there is varying levels of understanding and historical context about the ICA overall, and about ICAI. More time and energy spent on getting everyone in our network up to speed on where we have been and how it landed us where we are is not only helpful, but provides a great platform to talk about where we as a network want to go next.

  •  Beyond historical data, there was a present lack of understanding among ICAs around where ICAI is now, what happened in 2010 to restructure it, and what that means for ICAs who were used to ICAI support in seeking out funding for ICAs. Communication structures need to be more transparent when such organizational shifts occur as to not leave members without adequate internet access / communication tools in the dark.

  •  A ‘ah-ha’ moment in the contradictions workshop of the strategic planning discussed for ICAs can be seen as competitors with one another, instead of collaborators, due to many different reasons, but the larger context of how the development field works, and because of lack of opportunities to work and build trust with one another. It was a great conversation, and led to a lot of clarity and understanding on why ICAs, or method-users in the same country often don’t collaborate, and laid the groundwork for how that might be able to change.

  •  The conference ended with a celebratory evening, including local dancers, and an exercise where everyone pulled a name of someone else and had to say something they had come to learn and enjoy about them in the past week
Richard Alton            richard.alton@gmail.com