Members of a Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) in Cote d’Ivoire. It was with VSLAs that participants in the ToP training started to use their new skills
Graduates of the ToP Training in Coted’Ivoire pictured with the lead trainer, Lan Levy of Fourmis du Changement (third from left). Eugene Kouame, Director of ICA Cote d’Ivoire, is first on the left

Thanks to the generosity of our Village Volunteers supporters we are able to offer another grant of £2,000 this year. Six summary proposals were submitted by partners before the deadline at the end of June. The ICA:UK International Working Group has now assessed them and invited one applicant to submit a full proposal, with a view to us providing funding in October/November. As usual, choosing between the applications was difficult as we felt most of them deserved funding!

In the last Update we reported on the ToP Training in Cote d’Ivoire, supported by Village Volunteers and Fourmis du Changement (ICA in France). While we wait for the full report on the training and its follow up, we are pleased to share that, thanks to their efforts, ICA Cote d’Ivoire has been given the opportunity to bid for the design and facilitation of an international conference to be held in Abidjan later this year. Whether they are successful with their bid or not, this is a big step forward for an organisation which, up until now, has not had either the confidence or capacity to sell facilitation services to others. We can see this as a direct impact of the training Village Volunteers supported.

African facilitators: We have continued to communicate with the facilitators who ICA:UK Associate Megan Evans supported on her online GFM training and a joint call is planned for later in July. This is another way we can help support the growth of facilitation and the use of ToP Methods in Africa.

Also separate from Village Volunteers, ICA Kenya approached ICA:UK for support for a Youth Empowerment Camp to be held in northern Kenya for 200 young people in early August, in partnership with the Mukogodo Girls Empowerment Programme . We are connecting them with the Tujiendeleze Youth Organisation and considering a small financial contribution.

ICA:UK continues to be active in ICA International, with Barbara Ridhiwani representing us on the ICAI Board, and others involved in various ICAI initiatives such as the Governance and Membership Review and the ToP Approaches Group

Reflection

The shifting nature of the international aid landscape and in particular the concepts of localisation and decolonisation continue to challenge UK charities working internationally. To clarify our position and learn more about our approach, read our latest blog post Village Volunteers- How we work.

Invitation

Please support us! You can read more and sign up as a regular donor or make a one-off donation at Village Volunteers or email Jonathan Dudding at jdudding40@gmail.com