Spreading ToP in Europe
With partnerships developing with Akademia Facylitacji in Warsaw and Initiatives of Change (IofC) in Switzerland, ICA:UK now has trainee ToP trainers in Poland and Switzerland. IofC have started to establish regular ToP courses in Geneva (helped by UK Associates Jonathan Dudding, Bhavesh Patel and Rob Lancaster) while Ghee Bowman will be travelling to Warsaw in May to run the first ToP courses there. ICA:UK Associate Martin Gilbraith is also running regular ToP training in Brussels.
As part of the same expansion Jonathan Dudding recently ran a Participatory Strategic Planning course in Amsterdam for the ICA Netherlands team, plus trainee trainers from Poland and Switzerland. Discussions will continue on how to create more opportunities for ToP trainers to develop their competencies in Europe.
Annual General Meeting
ICA:UK was pleased to see three new Trustees elected to our Board at our recent Annual General Meeting in Birmingham, attended by around 15 people (photo) – Savita Custead (who returns to the Board after a two-year gap), Lesley Adams and John Cornwell. John lives in Mombasa, Kenya so his presence on the Board will not only strengthen our international work, but will also challenge us to improve our virtual communications! We are excited by the possibilities these new Board members bring.
In our efforts both to contribute more to our mission and to be financially stable we need to draw more on our broad network of people who have been trained by us or who have come across us through other programmes or events. Following the departure of our marketing and sales person, Louise Lessells in December 2015, we must also continue to explore new possibilities and approaches. These were some of the key messages that came out of our AGM.
These items were first published in the ICA:UK Spring 2016 Update.