Dear Colleagues,

We have had a great 2011 working as ICA around the world. Several ICAs have rejoined the network and we have made great steps in strengthening our virtual and collaborative connections as a peer to peer community.

One of the high points for me was to return to Africa after 25 years and work with a new ICA Kenya and ICA Zimbabwe on community development and ToP participatory facilitation in September.  It was great to share and learn with our African colleagues and see first-hand their work with communities and HIV Aids Self-Help Groups. 

In this magazine we have included stories from most ICAs describing how they are working collaboratively with communities, organizations and each other to develop and adapt programs that will be of service in their nation and across nations.

It is hard to believe it is time to celebrate our beginning 50 years ago. We started as a small organization working with a single community on the West side of Chicago, Illinois, USA, to become a band of organizations and individuals working in almost every nation in the world. 

Our organization is a bit unique in that ICAI is a member organization of national ICAs.  Each national organization commits itself to be aligned with our purpose “empowering through methods & values an authentic and sustainable transformation of individuals, communities and organizations.”

During this 50th year, we will be holding events around the world including our 8th Global Human Development Conference which will be held in Nepal and simultaneously in the virtual realm so that many more people can participate in the dialogue.  This issue of Winds and Waves includes articles on all 6 themes. I hope you can begin to interchange and share approaches that work in all of these areas.

We look forward to collaborating and sharing together throughout the rest of the year.

With Respect,

Larry Philbrook

President of ICAI
On behalf of the Global Leadership Team