Our Values

• A culture of participation by promoting and practising approaches that enable people to participate effectively in problem-solving, planning, decision-making and working together
• Shared responsibility by fostering individual and collective responsibility, trust and honesty to create a sense of belonging in pursuit of a more just world
• Constant learning by asking questions of ourselves and others to promote our ongoing development
• Wholeness by respecting the diversity and uniqueness of individuals and communities, encompassing mind, body and spirit
• Making a difference by making a contribution as part of our individual life journeys, and enabling others to do the same
• A global perspective by maintaining a global and historical perspective to provide a context for our actions at the local, national and international levels.

How we reflect our values

Our mission, our structure, our charitable objects and our activities all reflect our values.

How we defined our values

Our values reflect who we are and our history as an organisation.

The process of defining our values in 2001 was itself a reflection of those values. We articulated our values statement through a participatory process involving members throughout the UK and overseas.

We participated in an on-line conversation facilitated by colleagues of ICA Associates (Canada) and using the Focused Conversation method.

Then we drew on the responses to draft a statement of values at our annual Christmas gathering in December 2001, and the statement above was adopted by our Board on January 30th 2002.

Following are the questions that we answered through the on-line conversation, and summaries of our responses to each - basic information, experiences and implications.