......Title................................Short.............................Project Description

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Getting Ready for Wigan LINK with Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council . Every Local Authority in the country was tasked by the Department of Health with contracting an organisation to host, or administer and support, a new Local Involvement Network or LINK from April 1st 2008. These are to provide a new mechanism for public and patient involvement in health and social care services within the boundaries of the local authority, and to replace the pre-existing Public & Patient Involvement Forums which each dealt only with the health services of a particular NHS trust. Wigan Council was keen to consult with the various relevant stakeholders to establish how they would like the Wigan LINK to be tailored to local needs and aspirations, and what that would mean for the terms of reference for the contract with the host organisation; and in the process to build capacity for effective consultation and involvement in health and social care in the borough, and build commitment and enthusiasm to make the new structure work for Wigan.

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A new hospital board and senior management staff wanted to assure themselves and the community that big changes mandated in the hospital would not affect the same care and compassionate service that had been available in the past. The strategic plan was explicitly about a transformation from being a hospital into becoming a district health centre with added emphasis on prevention, wellness and public education. The stakeholders knew very well from experience how to run a hospital and wanted a strategic plan that would put them on the right course for long term future as a district health centre. They were open to whatever would emerge from the plan. The Situation and Factors at Play This small town hospital was undergoing two major changes at once. The first change was the shift of the hospital from being a Roman Catholic-run organization to becoming a public institution. This was happening because the Roman Catholic religious order that had opened the hospital and served the population over many decades was stepping back after having trained local professionals to take over the administration of the hospital and care of the patients. The second shift was from being a hospital which mainly helps sick and injured people, to becoming a regional health centre with a much larger mandate including wellness, education and even prevention. For many decades the population, which had great trust in the religious order, was able to leave hospital staffing and administration to people whom they knew to be guided by care and compassion. With the shift to becoming a public institution a new set of values, especially financial ones, were added to mix. Hospitals attract loyalty and commitment from the surrounding population because of the intensity of the experience that people have with them. Hospitals have to shift the services they offer as the community changes with age, with growth or decrease in population and from technological changes. Hospitals are generally slow to make changes because of the expensive infrastructure needed, the training and new staff, and the difficulty and expense of attracting staff. Canadian hospitals, due to the nature of their public funding, have even more hurdles because of additional layers of bureaucratic and occasionally political management. The Planning The strategic planning process included 31 people; 12 board members of the hospital, 11 management staff, and 8 people representing partnering organizations. The board members were a very good representation of the small rural area, so there was no need to hold public sessions beyond the thirty involved in strategic planning process itself. The management team had done some data gathering in advance and had given the board members briefing notes about current programs, services and government mandates, so that the whole group could launch straight into the participatory process. The planning process itself was held during a three day session including Friday night, all day Saturday and again on Sunday morning, and included an historical scan, a visioning session, contradictional analysis, a strategies workshop with phasing of strategies, and an action planning workshop. The draft of the documentation was sent to the client within three weeks. The staff took the results and did further implementation planning. Results and impact The plan was created eight years ago and there have been three different CEOs since that time. Fortunately the current Chief Executive Officer was present at the planning session (the new Chief Nursing Officer at that time) and was able to reflect on the results of the plan eight years later. According to him about 70% of the long range practical vision has been realized. A seamless care model for seniors was a large part of the vision and has been largely implemented with expanded community support services, with apartments for assisted living, and many supports for people living in their own homes. Future requirements for senior services is constantly monitored and projected. The transit s

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The director of a branch of a government department wanted a strategic plan created by his managers. The branch was mandated to roll out new information technology across the entire department and potentially several other government departments and the director wanted the managers to figure out how this would get done and to lead their respective front line staff in all aspects of the rollout. The Situation and Factors at Play In the late 1990s new technology and increased capacity of the internet were leading government departments to envision new e-services in which people could access government information directly rather than having to visit branches and make requests. Up until that time, most government departments purchased their own computers and bought their own programs, and were generally incompatible with each other. Some departments, however, had similar needs and were beginning to form clusters also know as departments with a matrix reporting structure. For instance social services has similar technology needs to education, and agriculture has similar technological needs as environment. Resources. This particular branch was within a large department that had similar technological needs as three other large departments. The plan created by this branch would have repercussions on all four departments. The Planning Event The director and his seven managers allotted two full days to create a strategic plan for the branch. The managers had already done considerable research on the needs of the branch, their department and the three other departments. The planning event included a trend analysis for the past several years, a session to envision their best case technological requirements, an analysis of the blockages they were experiencing in their work, the development of a set of strategies that would set the direction for all the staff, and a timeline of milestones for the next two years, along with key topics to be covered on agenda for the monthly meetings for the next year. They also created a framework of the complete set of stakeholders that would be affected by their plan. Results and Impact The branch director and managers were able to immediately report back to their Assistant Deputy Minister that they had a comprehensive plan of action that would create a set of deliverables that the other branches in the department could depend upon. The Assistant Deputy Minister shared this with the ADMs of the three other departments. One by one, the information technology branches of each of the other three departments requested a similar strategic planning retreat. Within four months all the information technology branches in that cluster of departments had their plans in place. The Chief Information Officer (Deputy Minister Level) of all four departments then requested a similar retreat for the 65 managers of all the departments at once to ensure that the plans all had synergy between them. Within three years the new technology, information architecture, information management, and knowledge management were in place, and the legacy data for the four departments had been consolidated. Help desks were up and running for government staff and for external users, and voice over internet protocol was being used to allow staff across the province to access the system, and create update new systems. Learnings The strategic plan that was created by the 65 managers across the four departments had efficiencies beyond the four separate plans created by each department. While many of the milestones and planned accomplishments of the smaller plans were also included in the larger plan, the larger plan was able to remove some redundancies and duplication of effort that would have occurred in the four smaller plans. Therefore, creating the larger plan together from the beginning would have reduced the need for the four smaller ones. On the other hand, the creation of the four smaller plans first, allowed all staff to condition themselves to the behavioural changes necessary for such a large proje

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The CEO of a major national bank wanted to involve his management staff across the country in innovative and creative thinking regarding the operations of the bank. Specifically he wanted to ensure that major board decisions had the benefits of the thinking of managers who were the direct link to front line operations. The Situation and Factors at play In the 1990s a Malaysian/Singapore bank hired a new CEO to run a cluster of eighteen branches in Malaysia. That CEO had experienced ToP earlier in a job with another organization and it had impressed him helping him to renew his interest and passion in his occupation as an economist. After becoming the CEO of this national bank, he brought in LENS International to facilitate a number of ToP planning sessions in order to involve a wide spectrum of people in developing strategies for the bank. The Planning Over a seven year period 12 participatory strategic planning sessions were facilitated both with branch managers and with different departments such as trade finance and new business marketing. The CEO opened each session to talk about why the participatory planning was important. A secretariat documented each session, and after reading through the documentation, the CEO gave a closing speech to affirm the participants' work, to let them know what he thought was exciting in their document, and to let them know what the Board was thinking in terms of bank strategies. The ToP work also involved training team leaders who assisted with the planning sessions. Results and Impact Interviews with the client were held over a period of years. The CEO indicated that whatever changes the bank was planning to undertake, it became much easier to make the changes because people had already come to the table to come up with ideas similar to those the board was contemplating. Over time the style of the main branch shifted from primarily a top down to a collaborative, participatory approach and culture. Learning One of the important values in this planning was that it had been blessed by the higher levels and therefore was taken quite seriously throughout the organization. Ann Epps, Malaysia, 2010

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The national board of a health profession made up of twelve people from several different provinces wanted to hold a two and a half day retreat to come up with a plan that would be cohesive across the country and that would allow a potential membership of many thousands of people to row in the same direction. They wanted to revisit the organizations mission because the external global problems and pressures on the members of the profession were never anticipated by the old mission. They were aware that the structure of the organization was not up to the task and that structural adjustments would be needed, even though they did have an administration company that handled membership dues and some communication. They were all aware of their small financial reserves. None of these people had any particular solutions in mind, but just knew that urgent decisions and actions were needed. The Situation and Factors at Play The profession needed to create an important plan for the next four years. The organization had a membership of 1,600 from a potential of 36,000 members, but it was an unincorporated association, under the umbrella of another organization. A series of problems on a global scale and of a life-threatening nature, was taking its toll on the general population and the media was quick to publicize anything that was linked to those problems. The profession had members who were on the front line dealing with some of the issues and therefore was under constant scrutiny by the media. Media seized on unflattering facts and shortfalls of any body that was related to the issues. The profession was being constantly negatively portrayed in media in spite of being on the front line trying to work in the midst of the chaos. In this actual case, the profession was under siege by events in society, professional credibility was shaken, and some among the membership were depressed. The board of directors had all been members for many years, and wanted to get the profession back in good stead in society. They wanted the membership to grow and the association to give quality service to all its members. The problems that were created by the global issue became a rallying point for the board and they decided to seize the moment and make sure that the profession moved ahead in spite of the difficulties and by the media. They decided to strategize deeply and signal that common action was needed by all members, not just a few leaders. The Planning The two and a half day ToP Participatory Strategic Planning session was preceded by five telephone interviews with separate board members. The event process included an historical scan, mission discussions, vision, contradictions and strategy workshops, organizational structure discussion, two year action planning and team assignments. After the event a first draft of documentation of the planning was sent to the board members within two weeks. Impact and Results The organization was registered as a corporation. A new board and committee structure was created that spread the workload and responsibility across the country and the membership. The administration of the organization was shifted from the third party management firm to a full time Administrator. Before the strategic plan, the annual budget was about $10,000. Five years later the organization handled about $500,000 in various project grants and initiatives. The new structure has enabled the organization to handle about twenty major projects over the years. A series of Annual Conferences with high attendance has increased membership, membership interaction and the public profile of the organization. The profession has extended its influence into several other partnering bodies and professional groups through joint task forces, joint research and subsequent collaboration. Executive Directors and high level experts from other professions regularly collaborate and work with the organization. It is now a credible voice for the profession and is sought for advice, for partnerships and to develop funding pr

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The 100 VALLEYS Project is designed to facilitate the self-development of all the communities of the valleys of Peru. Today we have hundreds of organizations working with the rural communities in the valleys of the Coast and Sierra creating an urgent necessity to integrate the resources of these many entities to secure greater results. There is a great opportunity now to create agreement between organizations in order to deliver superior services to the communities at no additional cost. The principal actions of the 100 VALLEYS Project are: Facilitate the collaboration of the agencies that are serving the rural communities in order to permit the self-development approach to development Initiate demonstration projects that highlight best practices of sustainable production Implement self-development Demonstration Communities in the Sierra Regions, followed by others in the climate zones of each valley Initiate Voluntary Leaders Associations in each climate zone to guide the process of self-development for the long term Promote long-term large scale development projects that are beyond the vision of the government The role of ICA-Peru as the coordinator of this Project is to: Facilitate the coordination of the collaborating agencies Guide the demonstrations to assure that they are replicable. Share effective methods to support self-development and avoid dependency Promote practices that assure a substantial participation of the local people in all of the communities of the valleys Monitor and document the coverage and consistency of the services delivered Constantly facilitate a new consensus when new challenges arise. location -

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Key Project goals: capacity improvement, for increasing fertility of irrigated lands and increasing the rural populations income in Fergana valley, through improvement of land and water management; and improvement of security and regulation of Kairakkum dam and pool for providing security and efficiency of water management on pool level. The main goals of PO EHIO Farhang va Tarakkiyout within the project framework: Carrying out informational campaign in targeted districts; Preliminary survey of existing practice of crops growing; Preparation, and selection of the number and types of demonstration plots in Kanibadam and B. Gafurov districts; Introducing new agricultural technologies for increasing yield on demo plots; Developing and conducting the training for farmers in two targeted districts of the Project; Creation of 2 informationsconsulting centres in the targeted districts, based on the 2 prescreated examples, to keep the Project Association of Water users, in the two targeted districts, up-to-date. The project is regularly monitored by the World Bank Mission, PMU and FVWRMP (Project Management Unit Fergana Valley Water Resources Management Project

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PO EHIO s Farhang va Tarakkiyot is the founder of Agricultural Association Agrodonish. The National Association of Agricultural Advisory Services AgroDonish is a non-profit, independent and non-political organization. The decision to establish the Association was made at the beginning of 2009 and that year it was officially registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Tajikistan. AgroDonish is a national network of advisory services that promotes innovative and high quality agro extension activities to increase farmers incomes in Tajikistan. It should be mentioned that AgroDonish is the only public organization (representative of civil society) in Tajikistan, being a member of the Governmental working group on, Establishment of effective information and advisory systems for farms and the creation of an operative information network for the timely informing of society on the agrarian reform implementation. The goal of this Group is to develop a sustainable National agricultural extension system in Tajikistan.

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Northwest Together We Can (NWTWC) invested on an engagement project where young people from five areas across Greater Manchester would assess community needs through peer research. ICA:UK trained and supported the groups of young people to undertake this research. Our aim was to work with the young people, helping them to identify an area of need to focus on and to select a medium of research which would encourage and engage their peers. There is a desire for change in Partington and a high number of young people who are willing to give up time to help improve Partington life. They often feel let down by authorities and need more support from the police in particular. They need community centres to stay open and offer a safe space at all times, and for more positive activities to be set up for and with young people. The research carried out in Oldham for the Breeze Hill High School and Count Hill High School Merger highlighted a fear and concern around racism, as the two schools represent very different communities (mostly white in one school and mostly Asian in another). The study in Brinnington focussed on alcohol use amongst under 18. Alco-pops and clear/white spirits were the most popular choice of alcohol. In Leigh the findings highlighted the desire for change in Leigh. There were a high number of young people who felt that there was a limited amount of options of places to go, and that more activities and places to go should be created in the community. In Leigh the findings highlighted the desire for change in Leigh. There were a high number of young people who felt that there was a limited amount of options of places to go, and that more activities and places to go should be created in the community. A desire for a community centre appears an important part of bringing the residents of Leigh together. Many people felt unsafe in Leigh with a perception of a low police presence in the area. Lots of young people were unhappy with the untidy and vandalized appearance of Leigh in some areas. They felt the local government should provide more reason to come to and stay in Leigh and be proud of the area. ICA:UK, registered charity no. 1090745 - company limited by guarantee no. 3970365, registered in England & Wales registered address: 41 Old Birley Street, Manchester M15 5RF - tel/fax: 0845 450 0305 or 0161 232 8444 In Ashton a research theme of racism and stereotypes was chosen. Although the findings were useful, during the process we discovered a need for anti-discriminatory practice training.

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Working in Canada with Ontario Hydro and Wahta Mohawks First Nation ICA was engaged to facilitate negotiations over grievances related to the construction and operation of a hydro electric generating station resulting in flooding in the Wahta Mohawks First Nation in Canada. The hydro company had also routed hydro transmission lines across Mohawk territory. This mirrored decades of history of land grievances and threatened to stop the hydro project. ICA Canada was engaged to work with representatives of Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation and the community leadership of Wahta Mohawks First Nation. Wayne Nelson facilitated a team of 12 people over three years affecting 400 First Nations members and the Corporate Management of Ontario Power Generation and Hydro One. The three year project involved designing, facilitating and documenting a process to reach a commonly agreed upon resolution of the grievances. The negotiation process resulted in a settlement that integrated the perspectives of the parties involved and was ratified by Hydro management and the community members. The project was seen as a joint problem solving process and was divided into the seven Phases of Conciliation. Phase 1 - Initiating the Dialogue - Facilitated the development of agreed upon terms of reference and operating protocols. Phase 2 - Clarifying the Situation - Facilitated the documentation of a complete, detailed history of the relevant events. Phase 3 - Expressing the Experience - Facilitated a common understanding of the motives for initiating the project and the feelings and experience of community residents. Phase 4 - Articulating the Substantial Issues - Facilitated articulation of the impact that the generating station has had on the community. Phase 5 - Generating Options - Facilitated the development of ways to address the impacts of the installation. Phase 6 - Creating Resolution - Facilitated final negotiations resulting in an agreed upon settlement. Phase 7 - Planning for Implementation s Facilitated the development of plans for ratification and the foundations of an ongoing relationship among the parties. Several Hydro employees formalized what they had learned through additional training. The entire project used elements of negotiation, conflict resolution, cross cultural communication, facilitation design, process facilitation, Documentation, and report writing. ToP methods were used through the project. Bill Staples, Canada

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George House Trust (GHT) is the HIV voluntary organisation for the North West of England. It supports people living with and affected by HIV, and campaigns for the best quality of life for all people with HIV. ICA:UK was approached in July 2007 to design and facilitate a staff Away Day later that month. w GHT had undergone substantial change in the last couple of years - including significant expansion of the staff team and its service delivery, turnover of some senior staff, and subsequent restructuring of management posts. Aneed had been felt for an externally facilitated process to allow staff to unpack and reflect together on this recent past, at what was felt to be a turning point before looking ahead by means of a fresh strategic planning process later in the year. Around a dozen of the full staff team of 14 were to attend - including one very new, a few new within the past few years, and others with a long history of service. As an organisation involved in hard campaigning on controversial issues in a sometimes highly politicised environment, the staff team comprised strong advocates and activists. AIMS. The day was designed and facilitated to provide a safe and supportive space to reflect together on the staff teams shared recent past, and how it had affected them as individuals and the organisation as a whole. The aims of the day were articulated as follows: to allow stresses, frustrations and challenges to be aired, balanced by successes and achievements as well; to draw a line under the past, and lay a firm foundation for forward strategic planning later in the year; to have some fun, and rebuild stronger bonds and a sense of team spirit. The documentation of the day included the aims and outline of the process, participants hopes & fears and ground rules, a full verbatim record of the Wall of Wonder and World Cafe__ sessions with photos of the sticky wall and decorated table cloths, and detailed feedback from participants evaluation forms. Participants feedback included: the timeline really enabled us to address many key issues for ourselves lots of issues bubbling beneath the surface got a good airing I feel a line has very, very clearly been drawn under some past events - I feel there will be more team cohesiveness and we will move on in strength I feel we have a better understanding of each other & better ways of working Impact Michelle Reid, GHT Chief Executive, wrote in November 2008 of the impact of the day: An effective team will always need to invest in time out in order to continue functioning well. The organisation had gone through significant change, and inevitably we needed to re-group and re-establish the frameworks that make the organisation such a formidable force to be reckoned with. ICA facilitated an excellent day which helped to enable us to go from strength to strength.

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The City of Detroit has two mottoes: Speramus Meliora, and, Resurget Cineribus, Latin for: We Hope For Better Things, and, It Shall Rise From the Ashes. A year after filing the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history, Detroit's communities are "rising from the ashes" from the bottom up, and Technology of Participation (ToP) is playing a role in promoting community ownership of renewal initiatives.
Earlier this year, the Skillman Foundation engaged Chicago ToP trainers, Dennis Jennings and Judy Weddle, to customize a ToP Facilitation Methods training for a group of partners and stakeholders working on a community renewal project in Southwest Detroit.
The group, Vista Partnership, seeks to address long-term disinvestment and economic decline in three neighborhoods spanning a 20-block area.  Recognizing residents as the key drivers of change in their own neighborhoods, the project is bringing them together and creating spaces where they can turn their hopes for their neighborhoods into reality.
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In 2003, 45 men and women in Nabuganyi Parish in Kayuga District were trained as peer educators and a community plan was created. Good cooperation was developed with the district health office, but very few services were available to the district and almost none outside the district town. Despite very little staff support, the 2005 project evaluation revealed continued enthusiasm and involvement of the 2003 participants. Concern was expressed that youth understand the full threat of HIV. Stigma was very high and youth often continued unhealthy sexual habits because to change behavior might mark them as being HIV positive. In 2008, a project to train youth leaders was funded by Rotary Club of Boulder, Colorado in cooperation with the Kyambogo Rotary in Kampala. Bob and Sandra True went to Kayunga District to assist in a five-day Youth Awareness and Mobilization Training. Thirty male and female out of school youth ages 18 – 25 from each of eight villages in Busana District participated, a total of 240 youth. The youth are primarily ages 18 – 25, and both men and women. During the lesson on VCT, more than 90% were tested and received their results immediately. As part of training, participants formed campaign teams to go door to door to urge people to be tested. This complemented the Ministry of Health initiative to promote voluntary door to door testing. In addition, a Living Well group was formed and began training. The program was not refunded by Boulder Rotary, although Kyambogo Rotary in Kampala was enthusiastic   Zambia The current work of OPAD on HIV focuses on the intersection of poverty and HIV infection in areas where prevalence rates are higher than the rest of the country: Central province, 17.5%,; Lusaka Province, 20.8%; and Southern Province 14.5%. Work has shifted from HIV/AIDS prevention awareness and care in 2003 in Mwanamainda area to VCT awareness because most Zambians are aware of HIV/AIDS and how to prevent it 
Strengthening community based structures and response groups in order to effectively meet the development needs of HIV/AIDS affected families and PLWHA
Increasing food diversity and security for :PLWHA and HIV/AIDS affected families 
Reducing socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS among women and their families through income earning initiatives