ICA Japan accelerates international partner co-operation

Interns Keep Coming!

Our ICA Japan interns continue to provide a great service, making brochures, doing our website, recruiting ToP courses, researching Japanese declining rural communities in need of revitalization, and more. Two have applied for four months, starting September 1, and three Japanese are considering coming during the summer break. Please look at our expanded English website.

Partner Cooperation Accelerate Cote d’Ivoire Activities

Shizuyo is in Cote d’Ivoire for two weeks doing the fifth advanced Technology of Participation® Leadership training with the primary village leaders, inspecting 11 villages, and inquired about the installation of Community Development Committees (CDC’s). The villagers have never been blessed with decision making authority, and so the CDC’s are waiting for another chance to learn more about CDC’s and sustainability. Shizuyo’s remaining task was to check the purchase of a delivery truck, and agree with the placement and role of a new Kiosk and Restaurant.

We will send Japan’s leading Chicken raising expert and Japan’s leading Agriculture Expert to ICA Cote d’Ivoire in June, to continue to advance the technologies. This is the third and last year of our partnership with Cote d’Ivoire, and sustainability and transition to village ownership is the underlying imperative this year.

Eight ToP® Courses In Japan

Bill Staples of ICA Associates Canada dropped by Japan and taught Meetings That Work and Facilitating Client Collaboration to an English speaking audience. We have six more open courses scheduled for the rest of the year, plus are busy teaching in house courses. We successfully completed a ToP® Group Facilitation Methods in house course, and are marketing many more.

Nepal is Making a Bright Future for Girls

Our ICA Nepal Project also completed the rehabilitation of the earthquake damaged Women’s Center and finished financial Audit. The project also established play centers, did youth psychological healing, and began the production and training of making low cost sanitary napkins. The task of selling these napkins is starting well, in spite of the strong barriers that prevent using sanitary napkins. In Nepal, most girls must stay out of school for a week every month. Now for the first time, these young women can be productive for the whole month and not have to be put in a isolated place for a week every month.

Our Climate Change Responses

Our staff are busy writing proposals for reversing Climate Change in western India (now they have only two days of rain in a year), and for restoring the disaster caused by floods in Peru. ICA Japan and Mitsui Chemical will hold two eye care camps serving around 1700 rural people in northwestern India. In Kenya, we have again proposed planting thousands of trees near schools.


This post was written for ICAI’s monthly bulletin the Global Buzz, June 2017.