By Gerald Gomani
ICA Zimbabwe was founded in 2000 and since then has provided training in facilitation and community building in Zimbabwe. It envisions maintaining high standards of quality related to Technology of Participation (ToP) as a provider of services in training, facilitation and programs to groups involved in facilitation and organizational development in Zimbabwe and beyond in order to achieve client satisfaction and empowerment.
In 2002, in partnership with ICA USA, ICA Zimbabwe organized facilitation training for ICA South Africa to build capacity in ToP training for its staff. Ten members of ICA South Africa participated in this training program. Since then, ICA Zimbabwe has had a successful partnership and mentorship role with ICA South Africa. In 2004, ICA Zimbabwe hosted an International Training Program on ToP and ICA South Africa, UK, Zambia participated. Jonathan Dudding from UK, Alisa Oyler from USA, Jouwert Van Geene from Netherlands and Voice Vingo from Zambia were the lead trainers. ICA
Zambia has been mentoring ICA Zimbabwe and Voice Vingo from ICA Zambia (now OPAD) has been on the training faculty for ICA Zimbabwe since 2001.
Zimbabwe has been in the spotlight the past few years, mainly for negative reasons following the land reform program. As a consequence, economic sanctions have been imposed and development aid reduced. Poverty levels have risen dramatically. Agricultural production in the small-scale labor intensive farms (predominantly in communal lands) has declined sharply, as have the employment opportunities in the large-scale commercial farming sector. Due to increasing urban unemployment, as a consequence of the economic downturn, remittances to the rural areas have declined, aggravating the situation. Social safety nets are still present but of limited effect due to scarce public resources and limitations in outreach capabilities at local level (staff and transport). Food security has decreased dramatically. Inflation rate once stood at 231 million percent in 2007 and unemployment rate at more than 80%. Because of these events, ICA programs were affected negatively.
2008 saw an inclusive government coming into effect and the economic wave has turned positive. Inflation has now dropped to 3.7 % after Zimbabwe adopted the US dollar and the South African rand as its currency. Economic indicators have reported a significant growth
Gerald Gomani is Chief Executive of ICA Zimbabwe and ICAI Secretary |
of 7.1 % last year and projections for this year are around 9%. Against this background, ICA Zimbabwe aims to build capacity of individuals, group and communities to improve their quality of life. The challenge now is to find a balance between being activist and being silent on the one hand, and between working with the issues that matter and the issues that are politically correct on the other. This balance is found in what can be called critical engagement: that is, not to simply deliver services (however good these may be) and not to simply respond to whatever is demanded (however tempting this is towards becoming politically correct).Being responsive while maintaining its identity requires that ICA Zimbabwe engages critically with both itself and those whom it serves.
Next to all the material support, information and knowledge that Zimbabwe requires at this stage, there is an underlying phenomenon that requires at least as much attention. This is labeled as the ‘dependency syndrome’. It is manifested in the many ways that people seem to have stopped thinking for themselves and have engaged in copying ideas, opinions and worldviews. There is a need for increased dialogue, enhanced strategic thinking, higher self-esteem and self-confidence, among others. These capacities are clearly present in Zimbabwean society but appear to be covered by colonial legacies and contemporary political developments.
In the midst of this crisis, ICA Zimbabwe’s method of Technology of Participation continues to play a critical role in facilitating social innovation and building capacity. In 2007, all training programs in ToP were suspended due to the economic meltdown and the focus was on projects like HIV/AIDS training, women’s economic development and food security.
2011 is seeing the resuscitation of the ToP training arm in Zimbabwe. ICA Zimbabwe’s training team will re-launch the program on September 14, followed by a GFM public course on 15-16 September. The latter will be held in partnership with ICA Taiwan, ICA South Africa and OPAD Zambia. The facilitation team will include Lawrence and Evelyn Philbrook (Lead Trainers), Voice Vingo and Fisser Mupuka. The ultimate goal is to strengthen the training capacity of ICA employees. Larry will conduct an in-house training with 36 Associate Staff of ICA Zimbabwe. They will be the first group of staff to benefit from this training and more will receive this training in 2012.
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