Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe..... If you wish to SEND a report... please send to: inform@ica-international.org

To view past issues of Global Buzz: Please see here
To view past issues of Network Exchange: Please see here
To view past issues of Winds & Waves magazine: Please see here

 ICA International here

Global Buzz Report: January 2022

Most pictures will enlarge if you click them. Some have captions


The new Winds and Waves magazine

We are delighted to invite you to share your stories
via medium.com/winds-and-waves which is the public platform
we have moved to now, to publish Winds & Waves.




GLOBAL CALENDAR of zoom events
- We would encourage all of us to keep an eye on the Global Archive new initiative – hosting global conversations – book reviews, topical discussions, etc.

I have been on several very fine conversations. https://icaglobalarchives.org/social-research-center-events/  The aim is to make this a GLOBAL CALENDAR with a range of time zone options.

Do consider your participation as well as hosting an on line session some time!

Global Schedule of events!
icaglobalschedule@gmail.com.

For January, click on this link: https://icaglobalarchives.org/social-research-center-events/.to see four types of events: studies, significant conversations, training and impactful global events.

Remember: YOU are invited to:
1.Offer a presentation you are interested in giving;
2.Recommend other people to present;
3.Participate in any of the events and encourage your friends to attend; and
4.Give feedback by emailing: icaglobalschedule@gmail.com.

The vision for the Global Calendar of events is to make this easily accessible/ globally friendly to all no matter where/what!

As you will be aware, ICAI – GA is in process of some re-structuring (with all ICAs represented) – a further opportunity for strengthening our global/regional communication and collaboration.

Karen, Alan, Sunny, Virginia and Robyn           rjhutchinson48@gmail.com

 

BENIN:

From ICA Benin for 2021
  • ICA Benin has received a grant from ICA –USA Climate Fund. This funding is used to support
  • 148 women from Assodè village to undertake income generating activities in order to stop wood charcoal making which contribute to environment destruction.
Due to COVID 19 situation, rural women are looking for new activities in order to become again active. In Assodè village, charcoal making is the main activity of women. This project will contribute to introduce many alternative income initiatives for them.

After preparatory activities such as contact with local government officers, leaders; meeting with staff and board members, a workshop with women groups leaders has been organized from 16 to 17 th. november in this village. During the two, they have discussed about how to implement this project in order to improve their living conditions and protect the environment.

Finally a committee of eight members has been formed for activities coordinating.



The coordinating committee of womens groups of Assodè

         COVID 19 initiatives

With the support from Water Sources of Swizerland, ICA Benin is providing support to more than 10 primary schools in Donga region of Benin. Among them, eight schools have already benefited from this programme : Gorobani ; Torsaou ; Kpandri ; Monè ; Assodè ; Alayomdè ; Badjoudè and Komdè.

The objective of this project is to contribute to COVID 19 protection efforts for children in primary schools



Primary School of Komdè in Donga Region

     
        Kassimou Issotina


COTE D'IVOIRE:

English translation below < click)
Cliquer pour agrandir les photos

Rapport de décembre

L’an 2021 est dans son dernier mois, il nous permet de marquer cette fin d’année par nos vœux de santé de prospérité et surtout de prier le tout puissant de nous accorder toutes les grâces dont nos cœurs souhaitent.
Pour ce dernier rapport de 2021, nos écrits vont porter sur trois domaines d’activité à savoir : l’environnement, l’agriculture et l’éducation.

Dans le cadre du projet de changement climatique, nous avons eu à visiter certains villages qui ont construit des foyers améliorés avec des modèles différents et même voir des fourneaux pour l’utilisation du charbon à bois.

Les femmes font preuve de beaucoup d’imagination et de créativités exceptionnelles dans ce projet car ayant la terre comme matériel à leur portée,  la construction du foyer amélioré est pratiquement sans coût financier donc très avantageux pour elles.

La terre pétrie, ce matériel facile à trouver dans tous les villages permet de construire différentes formes et modèles de foyers améliorés.

La quantité de bois de chauffage, l’émission de fumé et le temps de cuisson des aliments sont réduit vu les modèles de foyers qu’elles construisent. Aujourd’hui grâce à  la sensibilisation des femmes leaders formées, les femmes de chaque village veulent démontrer leur ingéniosité dans la construction des foyers améliorés.

Ce qui est remarquable dans ce projet, c’est que, chaque femme veut avoir le foyer plus beau et le plus économique possible, ainsi nous en avons des modèles avec deux à quatre foyers. Il faut noter que les femmes avec l’accroissement de la population et les plantations d’anacarde les terre cultivables et les jachères deviennent de plus en plus rare.  

Ce qui est remarquable dans ce projet, c’est que, chaque femme veut avoir le foyer le plus beau et le plus économique possible, ainsi nous en avons des modèles avec deux à quatre foyers. Il faut noter que les femmes avec l’accroissement de la population et les plantations d’anacarde les terre cultivables et les jachères deviennent de plus en plus rare. 

Le programme agropastoral initié depuis 2015 continue dans les villages, qui ont bénéficiés de ce projet. Les résultats en agroforesterie présenté dans ce rapport pour permettre de comprendre la pérennisation de ce projet est assurée grâce aux cultures de palmier à huile, orangers, goyaviers, tangelo et aux bois de grumes (Acajou et Niangon).    

Au niveau des plantations des palmiers à huile, qui sont à leur sixième année pour les premiers villages et cinquième année pour les seconds, elles sont entrées en production, ce qui permet aux villageois de commencer les récoltes et la commercialisation.

Les plantations étant encore jeunes les récoltes annuelles sont estimées à environ à une tonne de régimes de graines par villages. Les orangers et autres arbres fruitiers sont eux aussi en production.

Le centre préscolaire a organisé sa deuxième fête de Noël anticipée en faveur des élèves. Au cours de cette cérémonie festive les enfants ont démontré ce qu’ils ont appris avec les éducatrices à travers les différents jeux. Ils ont fait montre de leur savoir faire dans les jeux de remplissage de bouteilles, de chant et de poésie.

Les parents et le Conseiller représentant le Ministère de la femme, de la famille et de l’enfant ont été ont été émerveillé par le talent des enfants dans les concours de Taloua Klaman (Miss pour les filles) et de Gbanflin Klaman (le gentleman pour les garçons).

Monsieur le Conseiller du Ministère a mis à profit sa présence pour prodiguer des conseils aux parents et aux invités sur les bienfaits d’envoyer les enfants à l’école préscolaire. Il expliqué que cette période d’apprentissage permet aux touts petits de recevoir les bé abas de la lecture, de l’écriture, de communiquer en français et d’aimer l’école.

Il a exhorté les parents à inscrire leurs enfants dans les écoles préscolaires pour leur permettre d’avoir des connaissances et aussi se familiariser à l’école afin d’aider le gouvernement à atteindre son objectif de zéro enfant à la maison.

Pour terminer cette journée festive les enfants ont reçu des mains du père Noël des cadeaux comme récompense pour leur travail bien fait, ils ont ensuite partager un déjeuner  avant de se dire au revoir.  

Ica Côte d’Ivoire remerciement infiniment le Cabinet SOFEX MS et l’ONG EICF ses partenaires dans l’organisation de la Noël anticipée et aussi dans la prise en charge scolaire des élèves du Centre Préscolaire Sainte Sato. 

 





COTE D'IVOIRE:
Click pictures to enlarge

The year 2021 is in its last month, it allows us to mark this end of the year with our wishes for health and prosperity and above all to pray the Almighty to grant us all the graces our hearts desire.
For this latest report for 2021, our writings will focus on three areas of activity: the environment, agriculture and education.



As part of the climate change project, we got to visit some villages that have built improved stoves with different designs and even see stoves for using charcoal.  

The women show a lot of imagination and exceptional creativity in this project because having the land as material within their reach, the construction of the improved stove is practically without financial cost and therefore very advantageous for them.

Kneaded earth, this material easy to find in all villages allows you to build different shapes and models of improved stoves.

The amount of firewood, smoke emission and cooking time of food are reduced by the models of fireplaces they build. Today, thanks to the sensitization of trained women leaders, the women of each village want to demonstrate their ingenuity in building improved stoves.

What is remarkable about this project is that, every woman wants to have the most beautiful and economical fireplace possible, so we have models with two to four hearths. It should be noted that women with the increase in population and cashew plantations, cultivable land and fallow land are becoming increasingly rare.

The agro-pastoral program initiated in 2015 continues in the villages, which have benefited from this project. The results in agroforestry presented in this report to help understand the sustainability of this project is ensured through the cultivation of oil palm, orange trees, guava trees, tangelo and logwood (Mahogany and Niangon).

At the level of the oil palm plantations, which are in their sixth year for the first villages and fifth year for the second, they have come into production, which allows the villagers to start harvesting and marketing.

As the plantations are still young, the annual harvests are estimated at around one ton of seed bunches per village. Orange trees and other fruit trees are also in production.

The preschool center organized its second early Christmas party for the students. During this festive ceremony, the children demonstrated what they learned with the educators through the different games. They showed their know-how in the games of filling bottles, singing and poetry.

The parents and the Counselor representing the Ministry of Women, Family and Children were amazed by the talent of the children in the competitions of Taloua Klaman (Miss for girls) and Gbanflin Klaman (the gentleman for the boys).

The Ministerial Advisor took advantage of his presence to provide advice to parents and guests on the benefits of sending children to preschool. He explained that this period of learning allows toddlers to receive the basics of reading, writing, communicating in French and loving school.

He urged parents to enroll their children in preschools to enable them to gain knowledge and also familiarize themselves with school in order to help the government achieve its goal of zero children at home.


To end this festive day, the children received gifts from Santa Claus as a reward for their work well done, they then shared a lunch before saying goodbye.

Ica Côte d'Ivoire would like to thank the Cabinet SOFEX MS and the NGO EICF, its partners in the organization of the anticipated Christmas and also in the educational support of the students of the Sainte Sato Preschool Center.

 

Kouame Konan         konaneug@gmail.com


GHANA: Development Institute

Forests for a Just Future – Assessing the gender gap and
other challenges towards achieving inclusive governance

Natural resource governance in Ghana comes with a number of challenges mainly the non-inclusive nature of the decision-making processes. These challenges have become an obstacle in achieving inclusive governance at the local level. Aside from these, rural women to a large extent, feel it is solely the responsibility of the man to take up leadership roles and therefore prefer to just operate behind the scenes. Although this move brings about peace in the communities, how does that contribute to ensuring sustainable development?

It is against this backdrop that the The DI team set out to carry out a gender needs
assessment in community working groups within Partner organisation (FOE Ghana, Tropenbos Ghana and A Rocha Ghana) landscapes under the Green Livelihoods Alliance Programme. In all, the team visited 9 communities within the Juaboso-Bia and Atewa landscapes. Over a 7-day period, from August 6th to 13th, 2021, the team collected data in the form of focus group discussions and also used the opportunity to interview partner organisations on issues related to gender.

At the end of activities, the team discovered that first of all, even though communities are committed to conserving their natural resources, they need more logistics for effective forest monitoring. Secondly, CREMA as an inclusive governance approach needs to be fully institutionalised so that communities can have full access to manage their forest resources without interference from the government. Based on these findings, all GLA partners came to a consensus that even though inclusive governance is possible, more resources are needed to make it happen not forgetting that gender plays an important role in all these processes.

At the beginning, the team set out to carry out a gender needs assessment in the two landscapes and identify the gaps that existed to be able to address issues related to inclusive governance. At the end of the field visits, these objectives were achieved. The next step will be to come up with a gender action plan together with partners to address the issues identified.

Dzifa Kurnaga           dkumagah@thedevin.org


NEPAL:

ICA Nepal Annual Report 2021


Greetings from ICA Nepal!

ICA Nepal would like to extend our heartful wishes for the glorious New Year 2022. With the increasing rates of vaccinated individuals, we hope that our prayers and everyone's efforts will make this year the most joyous year for all of us. We hope you had a great time with your loved ones during these past festive events.

The year 2021 has been challenging and stressful for all. Despite all the challenges, ICA Nepal has been able to continue its work in holistic development through Human Capacity Building. This has been possible only due to the supports provided by the ICA family globally, our donors, supporters, and wellwishers. We are very grateful to each one of them.

Warm Regards,

Swikriti Parajuli

We are pleased to share the annual report of ICA Nepal 2021

ICA Nepal Annual Report 2021 PDF




Published by The Institute of Cultural Affairs International,
401 Richmond Street West, Toronto, ON. M5V 3A8 Canada
All rights reserved.

For more information or to unsubscribe, email:
inform@ica-international.org