ICA community development initiatives use a variety of empowerment strategies and impact economic, political and cultural development.

id	Project	Short	Description	Country
11	Media Arts Coalition - USA	A staff and board retreat for a media arts coalition in Phoenix, USA	Back in November, I had a great experience working with a media arts coalition where I had previously done several planning retreats. There had been a change in the board and the previous managing director had moved to be executive director of one of the member organizations. The new managing director, had just come on. At the end of the retreat, she was cleaning up and I was pulling down flip charts and I asked her if she had a good time. She paused and gave a short answer, like yes, or something . . . In the morning I got an email in which she said, I was confused about how to do this job, but after the retreat, I am clear. Jim Wiegel, USA, 2008	USA
24	Innovation in Agriculture Conference	A large conference on Innovation in Agriculture carried out for the University of Guelph and the government of Ontario, Canada	This was a large coalition conference for the University of Guelph on the topic of Innovation in Agriculture with many stakeholders from Ontario and other parts of Canada, with special emphasis on bioengineering and biotechnology. The conference explored various types of agriculture innovation and what roles need to be taken by different sectors of society. Bill Staples, Canada 2001	Canada
27	Recyled Organics - Australia	The facilitaton resulted in a composting industry association which has been quite successful in furthering the industry in Australia.	The facilitaton resulted in a composting industry association which has been quite successful in furthering the industry. Richard Maguire, Australia from ToPSurvey	Australia
29	Rajasthan Mill Transformation - India	Banswara Textiles where ToP facilitation is underpinning the transformation at their mill in Rajasthan.	Banswara Textiles where ToP facilitation is underpinning the transformation at their mill in Rajasthan. From Yaroslav Prytula, Ukraine. From ToPSurvey	Ukraine
38	Occupational Endorsement Course - USA	Program partners at Northwest College, who wanted to collaborate on designing an occupational endorsement course in California, USA	Program partners at Northwest College, who wanted to collaborate on designing an occupational endorsement course. Dawn Salesky, USA from ToPSurvey	USA
135	Market Research Firm - Taiwan	A two year project in Taipei, Taiwan to merge two market research companies with strong corporate cultures, to help the senior management create a plan to complete the transition and forge a positive working environment.	COOPERATION A market research company merged recently from two organizations with strong corporate cultures. ICA was asked to help the senior management create a plan to complete the transition and forge a positive working environment. Over two years working first with the LENS process with the directors followed by executive retreats and departmental breakthrough sessions the organization has emerged as a cohesive unit. The leadership team has been able to move into a much more supportive relationship, ending the seemingly inevitable we-they situations which prevailed before, bringing results and relationship building into balance, helping eliminate wasted energy formerly dissipated in internal competition. The company made its bottom lines without a hitch during the transition of Managing Directors. Currently the organization is realigning departments and leadership in such a way as to build a more cooperative relationship between traditionally competing departments. ICA is in an ongoing mentoring and process design relationship with the M.D. and the departments. ICA Taiwan	Taiwan
136	High Tech Expansion - Taiwan	A high-tech, start-up company in Taipei, Taiwan, became increasingly open to each others ideas, were more willing to share their own thoughts and feelings without making demands or offering ultimatums. Currently the group is adapting the planning process to making R&D decisions.	PARTICIPATORY DECISION MAKING The brilliant President of a high-tech, start-up company had come to the point at which he could no longer effectively manage as he had previously. Very bright engineers had their own ideas and resented his seeming domination. The President was reluctant to trust the judgment to others, a situation aggravated by the need for confidentiality because some products have a short advantage before competitors copy. In the planning program, members of the management and scientific group became increasingly open to each others ideas, were more willing to share their own thoughts and feelings without making demands or offering ultimatums. Currently the group is adapting the planning process to making R&D decisions. ICA will continue with the leadership team, holding follow-up review exercises, teaching participation skills and mentoring individuals as needed for increased responsibility. The company, which has been doubling its revenue annually, has great product potential limited only by its human capacities. ICA Taiwan	Taiwan
141	Fast growing computer company - Taiwan	A fast-growing first rank computer company which was growing 100% per year in Asia asked CA to facilitate breakthrough programs with them and their distributors. The programs led to strategic alliances while preparing distributors for much greater growth and diversity of market penetration.Taipei, Taiwan	BREAKTHROUGH CREATIVITY PROGRAMS A fast-growing first rank computer company which was growing 100% per year in Asia asked CA to facilitate breakthrough programs with them and their distributors. Managing Directors and Marketing Chiefs for Asia/Pacific and important Distributors were able to pool their creativity in order to make major gains. The programs led to strategic alliances while preparing distributors for much greater growth and diversity of market penetration. They also paved the way for building more interactive systems, which helped relieve pressures between departments in a rapidly changing business situation. ICA Taiwan	Taiwan
157	Large Asian Bank - Impact study	Over a seven year period, 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. Singapore.	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	Malaysia
164	Physical Relocation or a shipping company - Chile	For the management of a shipping company in Valparaiso, Chile, an action plan was done with managers to plan the change. They figured out the tasks for the next year to move the head office, its operations and all its tracks inland from the coast	The management of a shipping company decided to move its total operations inland from the coast of Chile in 2008. This would have major implications for all the staf who might have to relocate, or be changed. It would also cause the shipping company to find an alternative way to get its clients products to the coast. An action plan was done with managers to plan the change. They figured out the tasks for the next year to move the head office, its operations and all its tracks inland from the coast. Isabel de la Maza	Chile
170	UN Food and Agricultural Organization training	FAO offers facilitation training in participatory and collaborative methods. The Technology of Participation (ToP)	The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger. To assist its staff in this effort and to increase its effectiveness in working with stakeholders worldwide, FAO offers facilitation training in participatory and collaborative methods. The Technology of Participation (ToP)	Italy
237	100 Valley Project - Peru	The 100 VALLEYS Project, Peru, 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	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 -	Peru
243	Financial capital and business skills - Monduli Tanzania	in Mondule, Tanzania some womens groups have been registered as SACCOS and one of them is targeting to become a village bank	The traditional way of accumulating wealth amongst the pastoralist community is through building up their herds of cattle. With the recent droughts, and a growing recognition for the need to diversify their income generating activities, this traditional form of saving is seen as inadequate. Members of the women groups whom ICA Tanzania is targeting have no access to credit facilities from financial institutions as they lack the necessary collateral to stake in commercial banks. At the moment some of the groups have been registered as SACCOS and one of them is targeting to become a village bank. - Tanzania	Tanzania
250	Demonstration Farms - Isinya, Kenya	a grassroots partnership programme in Isinya, Kenya focused on sustainable agriculture and food security is underway, with two water ponds used to irrigate two demonstration farms	At ICA Kenyas Isinya Programme Office in the Kajiado District, a grassroots partnership programme focused on sustainable agriculture and food security is underway. Highlights of recent accomplishments include: Two water ponds have been completed and will be used to irrigate two demonstration farms used for training local farmers in the area. - location -	Keyna
259	Agricultural Advisory System - Tajikistan	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. in Tajikistan	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.	Tajikistan
297	Group of people with learning difficulties. UK	Conference for community in north UK to bring together people with learning difficulties and not-for-profit organisations to improve services and opportunities for people with learning difficulties.	Connect in the North brings together people with learning difficulties and not-for-profit organisations to improve services and opportunities for people with learning difficulties. CITN Director Cathy Wintersgill has attended a number of ICA:UKs public Technology of Participation (ToP) facilitation training courses since 2003, and has used elements of the approach in her work within CITN and with client organisations as well. After attending our ToP Participatory Strategic Planning course in May, Cathy expressed an interest in contracting me to apply elements of this method to CITNs upcoming Big Meeting, an annual event for the organisation to listen to the views of people with learning difficulties and update its business plan. She had not before attempted to facilitate a full ToP Consensus Workshop1 with a group of people with learning difficulties, however, and was concerned that some of those attending the Big Meeting might find the clustering of ideas and naming of clusters difficult and boring, and so disengage. Although I did not have prior experience of facilitating groups of people with learning difficulties, my experience generally has been that the methodology is sufficiently robust but flexible to be applied successfully with virtually any group. So, to help to assess what sort of approach would be appropriate, I offered to do a little research to explore the experience of other facilitators who have facilitated such groups, using both ToP methods and other approaches. I emailed a brief query to four online facilitation discussion groups, and within 10 days had received 22 responses totalling 17 pages and a wealth of experience and insight (full document available on request). The four groups were ICA:UK, ToP Associates network, the global ICA ToP trainers network, the Group Facilitation discussion group of the International Association of Facilitators (iaf-world.org) and the UK Community Participation Network2. My request was for respondents to share any experience of facilitating groups with people with learning difficulties that might point to any potential issues, and to share any particular hints & tips for success. The six key insights that I was able to discern from the responses received follow here, each illustrated by a few extracts edited from the words of some of the respondents themselves: 1. 2. 3. 4. collaborate with members of the group (and others with experience of working with them) to design & facilitate a process that will work for them _ Jim Wiegel - ask some of the participants what will make it go well - I bet they know a lot about how they participate most effectively. Hildy Gottlieb3 - Im glad you mentioned this, Jim. We were recently working with a group for whom we were going to be doing a 3-day planning session - very intense. My contact in the group told me relatively early in the process that he has Attention Deficit Disorder and to please factor that into the facilitation plans. My response to him was that he and I would design the process together, that he should tell me what worked for him, what didnt. I told him that even during the actual facilitation, if I was losing him, to let me know and we would make it work, because his input was invaluable in getting the work done. The result was nothing I could codify and say, Heres the answer for when you are designing around someone with Attention Deficit Disorder . but I do know he had 3 of the best days of his life - the work was energizing he was participating and attentive. and truly it was 3 very inspired days. adapt/slow the pace _ Loretta Donovan - keep in mind that the attention span of a fully-abled adult is about 20 minutes. If you pace the various activities into 15 minute chunks and allow for frequent short breaks. it will help you as facilitator to know that your meeting is moving forward and help the participants to maintain their energy and attention. Marion Conway4 - The discussion may be more round about and sometimes seem off topic. Dont be too anxious to get to the point	UK
298	Strategy Away Day with the Cooperative Foundation in Manchester	Values and strategy generation for the Cooperative Foundation trustees in UK	The Co-operative Foundation is the grant- making body of the Co-operative Group. Following a recent merger and subsequent governance reviews, fund integration and member/employee elections, the Co-operative Foundation had decided it was time to develop a new focus and grant-making strategy. The Trustees had agreed to focus the Foundations grant-making strategy on: Supporting the positive contribution of children and young people in our local communities . This was in line with the member consultation that had taken place in autumn 2008, and the new community investment plan approved by the Co-operative Group Boards Values and Principles Committee. However, the Trustees were aware that this focus needed to be narrowed down even further to allow the Foundation to develop a series of objectives which would allow for a more measurable benefit for the funds available and also reduce the number of applications that were declined. ICA:UK was approached in January 2009 to design and facilitate a session during the Away Day in which Trustees and other invited participants could define, more specifically what was meant by positive contribution . Process The process drew heavily on the two foundational methods of ICAs Technology of Participation (ToP). After setting the context, an in depth opening Focused Conversation lasted over 30 minutes. This conversation encouraged participants to share projects involving children and young people that they had been involved in, were proud of, or would like to be involved in and to clarify the positive contributions that these projects had enabled the young people to make. The intent was to move away from specific projects to the more generic positive contributions. The key element of the process was the Consensus Workshop. When a number of positive contributions had been identified, the Focus Question for the workshop was introduced: What are the practical ways that children and young people can make a positive contribution to their local community? Participants were invited to spend individual time, jotting down the positive contributions they could think of. They were then asked to draw a line under these and write a least two more contributions that were innovative, different and/or creative. Participants were then allocated into named groups (to ensure a mixture of experience, time as a trustee etc. in each group). Group members shared their ideas and wrote a number of cards answering the Focus Question. This activity generated enthusiastic and thoughtful conversations as participants built on each others ideas. The facilitator then led the clustering of the cards, and naming of the clusters. Outputs & feedback During the closing conversation of the workshop, participants realised that, as a group, they had come up with 5 generic positive contributions and three ways in which these contributions could be made, including embracing new thinking . The Foundation Manager was then tasked to research how this information could be used to develop a series of objectives to define the Co- operative Foundations unique grant-making activity. She was to take the results of this research to the next meeting of the Foundation later in the year. Sarah Robinson, Foundation Manager wrote of the day: Thanks again for last week. Your contribution was absolutely crucial to the success of the day and we couldnt have done it without you. Ive already started working on the grant-making model based on the themes.	UK
366	Detroit Rising to the ToP	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 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, Detroits 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. location -	USA