Global Buzz 2016 08 01

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ICAI Board Report:

We are currently in the process of sourcing nominees for 2-3 ICAI Board openings beginning in 2017. A Board Nominations committee has been formed to help find, support and vet nominees before the GA election process. The committee includes Jeanette Stanfield (Canada), Robyn Hutchinson (Australia), Isabel dela Maza (Chile), Charles Wabwire (Uganda) and Dick Alton (USA) along with Staci and Martin from the Board. If you would like to nominate someone for the ICAI Board of Directors, please contact Martin, Staci or a Board Nominations committee member.

The Board would like to thank all those who nominated themselves or others to form a new joint working group to encourage and support collaboration between ICA & IAF locally & worldwide. We have invited Larry Philbrook of ICA Taiwan, Eduard Christiansen of ICA Chile and Jane Stallman of the US ToP Network to join IAF nominees Elizabeth McDonnell of the UK, Goldson Emem of Nigeria & Rosanna van Sacken of Canada on the team.

In other network news, we are now supporting colleagues in Poland & France to prepare applications for Associate membership for the October GA. We look forward to getting to know them and ideally welcome them to our membership later this year.

Staci Kentish staci.kentish@gmail.com

BANGLADESH:

Consultation with Stakeholder: The ICA Bangladesh team communicated and discussed among ICA staff, members and board members in Dhaka in the first week of July. Aziz has continuously facilitating such discussions. Aurangajeb and Shakawat have discussed with some potential stakeholders for funding projects. The team is working on its 2016-2017 action plan.

Community Projects: Chandpur team coordinated by Advocate Shah Alam visited the ICA Ghoaramara Community School site in the second week of July 2016, and discuss with Ghormara Shelter Project people in fininding a way to continue the underprivileged children’s education program. Our partner of the Phulki Street children’s education project in Dhaka City expressed a keen interest to be supporting the Chandpur School. The People’s Right has supported Phulki until April 2016. The Dhaka team is looking for partners to continue the Phulki project given the needs for street children’s education. After visiting the school located at Khilgaon in Dhaka city, in the third week of July, the team decided to recruit a new capable teacher to ensure efficient teaching. The team also decided to include the curriculum of ethical development and progressive thinking method besides the regular curriculum.

New Volunteers Recruitment and Training: The team has recruited volunteers in June and July. The facebook group members numbered over 300 members who have expressed to be interested in supporting ICA Bangladesh. The team also planned orientation and ORID training for the newcomers. Akhtaruzamman Chowdhury has expressed his consent to be in the guardian group of ICA Bangladesh. The team is meeting him soon to discuss collaborative partenrships.

Members Returned from Overseas: Two ICA Bangladesh members returned from their overseas study. A S M Saifullah (ex Vice president) on completion of his PhD in Malaysia, and Murangajeb Akhand on completion of MA in Labor Policies and Globalization from Germany.

Md. Aurongajeb Akond
Dhaka, Bangladesh

COTE D'IVOIRE:

Je vous envoie quelques nouvelles des activités de notre projet. Cette semaine précisément le vendredi 05 août 2016, nous nous préparons à recevoir 5700 poussins de chair et 1000 poussins pontes qui nous rendent vraiment heureux. Aussi le développement des différentes spéculations de légumes est vraiment satisfaisant. Les plants de palmier de l’année 1 et de l’année 2 ont une bonne évolution. Nous avons terminé l'installation du système d'énergie solaire pour l'éclairage des maisons de poulet. Le maïs qui est la culture associée à l’agroforesterie a été récolté et les épis sont maintenant entrain d'être séché par les bénéficiaires. Dans certains villages, les premières récoltes de gombo ont également été faites. Les premiers fruits des différentes variétés d'aubergines et les piments sont visibles maintenant. La construction de la compostière a commencé aujourd'hui 03 août 2016 par les travaux de maçonnerie qui prendront fin le vendredi. Le samedi nous achèverons entièrement cette activité par la pose de la couverture en tôle. Je vous envoie quelques photos.

I send you some news of our project activities. This week on Friday, August 5, 2016, we are preparing to receive 5,700 meat chicks and 1,000 egg chicks that make us truly happy. Also the development of different vegetables speculation is really satisfying. The palm plants in year 1 and year 2 have a good evolution. We completed the installation of a solar energy system for lighting the chicken houses. Corn that is the culture associated with agroforestry, was harvested and the ears are now about to be dried by the beneficiaries. In some villages, early cultures okra were also made. The first fruits of eggplant and peppers are visible now. The construction of the compost house started today August 3, 2016 by masonry work which will end on Friday. On Saturday we will complete this activity fully by the laying of the cover sheet. See pictures below.

NEPAL:

JAPAN:

PROPOSAL WRITING & PROJECT MONITORING For us in ICA Japan, we have written and submitted three proposals, - one for India on Climate Change Initiatives, - one for COTE d’IVOIRE for the third year for sustainability of the 11 village Youth Revitalisation Program, - and one for a second year for another community Centre and programs in Nepal, - and in August we begin working towards Climate Change with ICA OPAD. We carefully moulded the proposals and budgets to fit the needs and the Funder’s interests, and we held Skype chats, reviewed photo reports, and made visits to monitor and assist the current projects.

INTERN PROGRAM A second wonderful initiative is that we will have four full time interns from September to January 2017, to receive training, to mobilise resources, teach marketing and fund raising, assist our staff, and everything else that comes to mind! The Interns are: - a international studies lady from the Netherlands, - a business and marketing man also from the Netherlands, - a business student from Germany, - a lady student pursuing tourism and Advertising from from Italy (starting in November), - and already started is a part time student lady from Australia.

ASIA PACIFIC REGIONAL MONTHLY MEETING We join the meetings and are encouraging that we hold a Human Development Global Conference in 2018. This could be one global event with I of C in India, and could be every region having simultaneous meetings around the globe. At this point, we are in the pre-proposal stage, yet we have begun thinking about funding these transformational events, Also, a few other regions have similar plans and we are beginning to open up the global dialogue.

COTE d’IVOIRE PARTNERSHIP We have been in daily contact with Eugene while writing the Year 3 proposal. Hideki’s Monthly Progress reports suggest the project is going very well and the sustainable Compost House and Model Farms will be ready for the Expert from Japan coming on August 19th. Maki will also go to help, train, and monitor the 11 village projects.

NEPAL PARTNERSHIP ICA JAPAN secured Funding for the repair of the ChanguNarayan Learning Centre and several programs. The attached file reporting on one workshop gives a very good idea of what we mean by COPING WITH DISASTERS workshops with children.

Nepal staff wrote this excellent report to give you a feel for some of the diversity of achievements.

A report on
Workshop for Coping with disasters for
Children of Changunarayan

ICA Nepal Report on Workshop.PDF

Renovation of Community Learning Center for
Vulnerable People of Disaster at Changunarayan, Bhaktapur
Submitted to
Institute of Cultural Affairs Japan, Nepal
Koteshwor, Kathmandu

Report Changu Project ICA Japan ICA Nepal.PDF

UNITED STATES:

ICA-USA, historically a “hub” for ICA’s across the globe, has looked internally, focusing even more on the local level of community development. The Uptown-located ICA Greenrise building has and will continue to be an operative space for local Uptown programs and initiatives, building relationships with the ICA to focus on growing sustainability and awareness of the many environmental issues Chicago communities face.

Between June 8th and 10th, ICA hosted the Midwest site of the Integrated Network for Social Sustainability (INSS), a conference networking practitioners and academics in hopes of finding and sharing different approaches to social sustainability. The issues addressed ranged from hyperlocal developments to international ones. Attendees found themselves agreeing on some key themes, namely the need for cultures to accept a more “fluid” definition of sustainability, addressing the climate as well as the dominant narratives constructed by cultural and political norms. The comments, hopes, and goals of attendees were compiled via sticky notes on a large wall and organized.

ICA also hosted a member panel from Chicago Sustainability Leaders Network (CSLN), an organization hosted by Accelerate 77 and sponsored by ICA-USA. CSLN, launched in 2013, is a self-driven, bottom-up, participatory network of residents and volunteers actively working to connect people in the grassroots communities across the city with top-down policy makers in order to enforce and define sustainability initiatives. The network is now asking what role ICA could possibly play in in getting community input on recycling policies and how to better decrease recycling contamination. By the end of 2016, CSLN hopes to have a more thorough layout of the governance structure, which will include a more diverse and robust roster of partners and community representatives.

On July 16th, ICA-USA successfully hosted the first annual Garden Walk, engaging over 100 residents and displaying 24 local and semi-private gardens throughout the local areas. The attention drawn to the community’s numerous green spaces encouraged the communal, asset-sharing aspects of Uptown and its residents. CSLN offered their assistance during the event for participants to remain involved with Uptown’s numerous sustainability initiatives.

Aziz Rahman - ICA Bangladesh
For anyone wishing to contact Aziz, please use this email address:
aziz.uoft@gmail.com

You are invited to attend the
ICA Asia Pacific Regional Meeting
Please share this invitation to potential attendees in the Asia
Pacific region and beyond. Ask folks to respond by email to icapune@icaindiapn.org

See here: ICA Asia Pacific Regional Meeting. PDF