AUSTRALIA:
Location: Sydney
20 colleagues from Malaysia, Adelaide, Sydney, Canada, USA, just
happened to all be in Sydney at the same time, and so gathered for lunch,
conversation, story-telling and laughter at the Hutchinsons. Included in the mob
were David and Sue White, David and Lin Zahrt, John and Elaine Telford, Nan
Chapman, Anne Thompson, Jo Nelson, Tom Schwarz, Ann Epps, John and Robyn
Hutchinson, Kiran Hutchinson, Richard and Maria Maguire, Ben and Yvonne Chapman,
Hugh Southon, and Annette Gruwal and Zuzanka. Most exciting was the fact that
former project staff from Ombulguri, Murrin Bridge, and Mowanjum were all
present. Much fun was had by all. Look out for some photos on the website! Robyn and Ann Epps
John Hutchinson rjhutchinson@optusnet.com.au
BANGLADESH:
Location: Chandpur
ICA Bangladesh members visited Ghoramara Asrayan Project Area on 5
January 2007 to inspect water and sanitation condition of the landless community
and also inaugurated a tubewell water use by the community women.
ICA Bangladesh
also submitted a proposal to the German Embassy on 31 December 2007 for the Water
and Sanitation Component under the integrated Community Development Project for
the Landless Community.
Aziz marahman1976@yahoo.com
CANADA:
Location: Toronto
The Listen to the Drumming Campaign is getting into full swing. A small
team of us visited with the Superior Sister of a religious order today and
shared about the work going on in Africa. She was extremely enthusiastic and is
looking to provide support to our campaign!
We also visited a doctor who works
in the AIDS field who gave us advice about a specific testing project happening
in Kenya- of which ICA Kenya is a partner. It was an exciting week!
Liz Donnery ldonnery@icacan.ca
Eowynne spoke with members of ICA Ghana and Judi Angel who has been
volunteering as a fundraising consultant there for the past several months. We
are in discussions on how to support Ghana in establishing a YFL programme.
Cara
met with a group from the City of Mississauga--a suburb outside of Toronto--to
discuss ICA Canada's involvement in their Youth Engagement Strategy.
The whole
Toronto team--Liz, David, Fred, Eowynne and Cara--had another fundraising
planning session led by Jim Patterson. We are developing action plans for both
our project and organizational funding needs.
YFL continues in Georgina this
weekend.
Cara Naiman cnaiman@icacan.ca
NEPAL:
ICA Nepal's activities in remote area of Nepal.
ICA Nepal in financial
support of Poverty Alleviation Fund, Nepal has been launching the project
entitled 'Poverty Alleviation through Community Mobilisation' in Jogbudha and
Shirsa Village Development Committees VDCs of Dadeldhura district situated in
Far Western Region of Nepal for the last year.
The venue was supposed to be
one of the hideouts of rebels during the ten years long war. Over all goal of the
project is to promote the socio economic phenomena of the poor for their
dignified life by building human capacity, mainstreaming the poor in current
extent of development, improving current livelihood situation of the poor and
building access of the poor to the infrastructure and service delivery in the
project VDCs.
Objectives of the project are improve levels of awareness, develop
saving habits, develop leadership capacity of community people and formation of
community organisations and find well being of people of programme VDCs.
The
local ethnics, so called lower caste people, poor, women and marginalised in the
site are target people of the programme. Out of the 464 people in 18 groups
organised so far by our project, 336 are so called lower caste, 86 ethnics and
42 others. All the 18 groups have received leadership development, book keeping
and social mobilisation training. Group members deposit each month NPR 10 into
their respective groups as the saving. They are now in the process of
formulating the rules regarding the credit mobilisation. In our active
coordination and facilitation, all the 18 groups have recently developed
proposals to submit them to donors for funding.
Padma Devi Kami, a so called
lower caste women of Himal Community Organisation, Shirsa VDC - 6, Rautekhan,
Katal says, before the project started, we were disorganised and weak. Because
of fear and lack of exposure we never believed in our stamina. Now, the project
has provided us the opportunity to know the capacity that was hidden for
years this is why we succeeded to develop a proposal in order to raise fund for
our CBO.
Training orientation on
Constituent Assembly in Himalayas
Nepalese people underwent 10 years' long war
that claimed 14,000 people in the country. Our infrastructures were blown up and
it debilitated the country's economy. Nepal is one of the undeveloped countries
and such country cannot bear the destruction.
As a solution of war, It has
been agreed between the conflicting parties that the constituent assembly can
sort out the differences. Nepalese people have never exercised about the
constituent assembly poll. ICA Nepal in partnership of Katholische Zentralstelle
fur Entwicklungshilfee.V. MISEREOR, Germany, has conducted training orientation on
constituent assembly in different parts of Doti, Dadeldhura and Batadi
districts. Although this programme was not included in our plan, we conducted
the activities allowing for the need of the community where we have been
carrying out community development and training facilitation. The major aim of
the training is to impart community people the required information about the
assembly poll.
We discussed about constituent assembly, constitution, its
importance, how it formulates constitution, its structure, what type of
constitution we have to develop, importance of our vote etc. For further
clarification, we distributed brochures and posters that we had already
developed on this occasion. We exchanged the views even to those who are unable
to read and write through the posters in door to door programme. This has given
the opportunity even to the Himalayan people to make it as the major theme while
discussing in their own community and two-way interaction with the canvasser.
People seemed excited in interaction with us about some practices of
formulating constitution in the world.
Hemant Pokhrel
PERU:
Location: 100 Valleys
More registrations this week for the 3-week Leadership Formation Program
AVANZA PERU and it looks like it will be full when it opens 21 January. This
Saturday is the fist VSIOIN seminar in Lima to introduce young people to the
ICA methods as we look to radically expand our staff in the coming months for
the 100 Valley project. The team is working hard now -- and ecstatic!
Ken Hamje kenh@ica-peru.org
TANZANIA:
Location: Monduli
ICA Tanzania hosted visitors from watershed Organization of India, the
purpose of the visit was to help ICA Tanzania in the preliminary identification
of the proper site for implememtation of the watershed project, These visitors
were accompanied by a volunteer from ICA Canada, Lynn Connell.
ICA tanzania Monduli
field staff -Charles, Barie and Elizabeth with a volunteer from Canada visited a
group of people living with HIV-AIDS, they visited the Dairy cow project with 3
Cows, they provided, and Lynn assisted the group by paying the salary for Cows
attendant, who was not payed for three months due to some financial problem of
the group
Charles Luoga cluoga@yahoo.co.uk
UNITED KINGDOM:
Our new Youth Participation Programme Coordinator, Amelia Lee, started
with us this week. She writes 'I am very pleased to be joining such a dynamic
organisation and am interested in finding out more about other Youth Programmes
across the globe. I would welcome emails or contact with any other Youth
practitioners in ICAI. Perhaps you could email me with a good piece of advice
or a handy tip related to your work'. amelia@ica-uk.org.uk
Jonathan secured several new facilitation
contracts, including an ongoing relationship with Sightsavers International and
submitted a concept paper to the EU for a grant for ICA Tanzania to continue the
programme in Monduli District.
Martin finalised the Annual Report and Accounts
before our AGM at the end of January and Julie came back in marketing mode for
the ToP courses.
Jonathan Dudding jdudding@ica-uk.org.uk
ICAI:
Location: Tokyo
I have had an excellent week of 2008 conference planning with the ICA
Japan team. For some photos from the week, see http://icai.smugmug.com Events. Full
report will follow shortly.
Sarah sarah.miller@earthlink.net
