This article was written for ICAI Winds and Waves, August 2013.

Welcome to the 6th issue of Winds and Waves, the online magazine of ICA International.

This issue on the theme of Edge Thinking in Human Development is packed with insightful and thought-provoking articles including stories of outrage and hope in the UK and the Arab world, of self-esteem and humility in Chile, of myth and metaphor in political science in Venezuela, of restorative practice in Australia, of Theatre of the Oppressed in Tajikistan and of higher education in public health online and worldwide – even of a comprehensive perspective from the international space station! Also included are news briefs from ICAs around the world, book reviews and much more. Woven through-out are the values of human development and the methods of facilitative leadership that are the hallmark of our global ICA network.

It is the role of ICA International to facilitate international peer-to-peer support and collaboration among ICAs and ICA colleagues, so I hope you will find something here to inspire or provoke you to reach out to colleagues you may or may not know, and to connect and perhaps to collaborate with them.

In our last issue in April we reported on the appointment of new ICAI Board members, and the development of a new 2013 business plan for ICAI. The ICAI Board took the opportunity of our July meeting, a little over half way through the year, to reflect on progress against that plan. I would like to share a little here on two key elements of our plan, as a couple of immediate opportunities for readers to get better connected and more involved in ICA globally.

The new network survey is intended primarily to enable ICAs and ICA colleagues around the world to know each other better, to facilitate peer to peer support and collaboration. It also includes questions designed to indicate how ICAs meet the ICAI membership criteria, to enable the ICAI Board and General Assembly to monitor that and take membership decisions, and questions on activity with UN agencies to enable ICAI to report on that to maintain ICAI’s consultative status with UN agencies.

We are grateful to the many ICA colleagues around the world that contributed to the survey design, and to the 19 ICA locations that have already completed and returned their responses – five from Africa, three from the Americas, seven from Asia and four from Europe. It is too early yet to draw any conclusions from the responses received to date, but we look forward to making all the data available to all members when all responses have been received. If your ICA hasn’t already responded, then please do so as soon as you can by completing the online questionnaire.

ICAI’s online regional gatherings are convened three times per year, for three regional time zone groups – Asia/Pacific, the Americas, and Europe/MENA/Africa. These gatherings are open to all ICA members, staff and volunteers worldwide, and people are welcome to attend another region’s gathering if they cannot attend their own.

The aims of the gatherings are to connect ICAs and ICA colleagues with each other, and help to build and strengthen relationships between them; to share information and facilitate peer-to-peer support and collaboration among ICAs and ICA colleagues; and to hold ICAI accountable to its members, and seek input and support to strengthen our global network and advance our global mission. The first gatherings of 2013 were held in March, and reported in the April issue. The recent August gatherings will be reported in the December issue of Winds and Waves. Everyone with an involvement or interest in ICA worldwide is welcome and encouraged to attend these on-line meetings.

Thank you again to the Winds and Waves global editorial team, and to all of our contributors, for so generously sharing their time, expertise, experience and ideas with us all in this issue!