A Global Strategy for Human Development: The Work of ICA Stuart Umpleby and Alisa Oyler The George...
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Transcript of A Global Strategy for Human Development: The Work of ICA Stuart Umpleby and Alisa Oyler The George...
A Global Strategy for Human Development: The Work of ICA
Stuart Umpleby and Alisa Oyler
The George Washington University
The Institute of Cultural Affairs
Outline
• The Fifties – origins and purposes
• The Sixties – methods and organization
• The Seventies – global activities
• The Eighties – documentation and reorganization
• The Nineties – autonomous regions
• Research – influences and impacts
Trends established in the fifties
• Technical advances in communication and transportation
• Global movement of people during WW II
• End of colonialism
• United Nations established
• In churches, a wave of writings, study and discussion
Illinois and Texas
• 1954 meeting of World Council of Churches in Evanston, IL
• An Ecumenical Institute similar to the one in Bossey, Switzerland
• At the University of Texas, research on faith and contemporary life
• In 1962 Joe Mathews and seven families moved to Evanston, IL
The Sixties
• Developing curricula for church renewal
• Relocation to the West Side of Chicago
• Door-to-door interviews and neighborhood meetings
• First summer research assembly in 1965
• Derek Bok on 15% and 85% as the moral issue of our time
A self-supporting financial structure
• A full-time volunteer, residential staff called the Order: Ecumenical
• A self-supporting family order committed to a mission of service in church renewal and later community development
• Some people had professional jobs, others were full-time volunteers
• Income was pooled
Levels of involvement
• Full-time staff, members of the Order: Ecumenical
• People who worked part-time on projects and/or gave money
• People in churches or communities who participated in events
ICA established
• Increasing work with secular organizations such as corporations
• The Institute of Cultural Affairs was established as a sister organization to the Ecumenical Institute in 1973
• The focus was always on mental images and culture – language, symbols, rituals, norms, patterns, mindsets, etc.
Growth due to community development projects
• In 1968 a staff of 100 people, all in Chicago• In 1974 a staff of 1400 (including 600 children) of
23 nationalities• In the 1970s 50 locations around the world• Coordinating centers in Bombay, Caracas, Hong
Kong, Chicago, Brussels, and Kuala Lumpur• Courses for teachers, social workers,
professionals, business people
Kinds of programs
• Town meetings – one day events• Human Development Projects -- a one
week initiating event with staff remaining for two years
• Human Development Training Schools – spreading knowledge of community development to surrounding villages
• Global Women’s Forum
Methods
• Social process triangle
• Focused conversation
• Consensus workshop
• Action planning
A focused conversation
• Objective – getting the facts, sensory information
• Reflective – feelings, emotions, memories, associations, images
• Interpretive – meaning, values, significance, implications
• Decisional – resolution, action, future direction, next steps
A consensus workshop
• Context – set the stage, state the purpose, describe the process
• Brainstorm – generate new ideas• Cluster – group the ideas, look for
relationships• Name – give each cluster a name• Resolve – confirm the decisions, discuss the
significance of the consensus, next steps
Action planning
• Context – review the background• Victory – imagine the day after completion• Current reality – strengths, weaknesses• Commitment – clear, compelling statement • Key actions – tasks and committees• Calendar – schedule for each group• Coordination – adjust the calendar• Affirm and celebrate – title, slogan, image
Why replication?
Chief Minister Chavan, Indian State of Maharastra, “One renewed village is but a curiosity. However, I have 60,000 villages.”
Number of communities affected
• Initially 24 Human Development Projects, one in each time zone
• From Maliwada to 232 villages in the State of Maharashtra
• From Kawangware, a ‘slum’ near Nairobi, to 1000 villages in Kenya
• 5400 Town Meetings in North America, one in each county
Other programs
• Global Women’s Forum – international-izing the women’s liberation movement
• Community Youth Forum – for disadvantaged young people
• Training, Inc. – for people who had high school diplomas but were unable to find jobs
Sharing approaches that work
• The International Exposition of Rural Development began in 1982
• Sponsored by several UN agencies• Selected the best projects from around the
world• 500 representatives met in New Delhi in
1984• A series of books on lessons learned
A new financial model for ICA
• People were working for corporations, in education, on women’s issues, with youth
• People from many different religions were involved
• Children were going to college, parents were retiring, health costs soared
• From groups of families to a conventional non-profit organization
• International decentralization
The nineties
• International Association of Facilitators founded in 1994
• ICA organizations in 34 countries• ICA international in Brussels• www.icaworld.org, www.ica-usa.org,
www.icacan.ca/institute, www.icajapan.org• From summer research assemblies to
international conferences every 4 years
Research
• ICA was influenced by many authors, both secular and religious
• They studied the literature on personal development, community development, and economic development
• Others were influenced by the work of ICA
Conclusions
• ICA has changed its name, organizational structure, methods, and sources of funding
• It has worked with churches, universities, corporations, NGOs, and government agencies
• It has created several well-tested methods for promoting human development