Would you like to be a facilitator at the ICA International Global Conference in Japan?

Dear All FFWians,

FNS, on behalf of Jo Nelson, likes to extend an invitation to you to facilitate a very exciting global conference on world development.

ICA International's "7th Global Conference on Human Development" is scheduled for November 17-21, 2008, in Takayama, Japan.

The subtitles give a sense of the potential: "An agenda-setting conference exploring the future of human development" and "Unlocking the Potential to Create a New World Together".

Jo is on the conference design team, and it is looking for volunteer facilitators for the event. Jo will be one himself. He likes you to be one, too. This is a volunteer role, so you must register for the conference, and will not be paid, but the experience will be amazing (and also add to your resume).

Jo has been a facilitator at ICA global conferences in the past, and the experience of working with a global team on topics that make a difference in our lives and in the world is unforgettable.

There are 10 big focus questions leading to a topic, each of which will have a group who will spend 2 full days exploring it.

These 10 focus questions are:

1. Effective Governance and Protection of Human Rights
2. Persistence of Poverty
3. Environmental Degradation and Climate Change
4. Sustainable Agriculture and Livelihoods
5. Violent Conflict and Social Disintegration
6. Access to Healthcare and Preventing the Spread of Disease
7. Literacy and Education
8. Consumerism and Over-Consumption
9. Disconnectedness and Barriers to Engagement
10. Private Sector Collaboration

Gender inequity is recognized as a cross-cutting issue

exacerbating each of these 10 challenges.

Depending on the number of participants in each group, there may be a number of sub-topic groups. The team will be using a number of facilitation tools at various points during the conference, including World Cafe, ToP workshops and strategic thinking processes, and many others.

There is a full day of site visits to community projects in Japan. And the last day will include vibrant reports from each topic group. The main conference languages will be English and Japanese but there will be translation for many more. If you can communicate in more than one language, that will be an asset. There will be an orientation and facilitator training on November 16.

You can find out more about the conference and register at http://www.japan2008.org/. This link will lead you to the conference information site, a place to participate in pre-conference dialogue on the topics, and a big "register" button. Registration on-line was easy.

If you are thinking about going to the conference and would like to facilitate, please reply to Jo so he can keep you up to date on developments in the conference planning.

If you know someone else who is going or might go, please forward them this invitation. They need lots of facilitators!

On behalf of:

Jo Nelson, CPF, CTF <jnelson@ica-associates.ca>
Certified Professional Facilitator and ICA Certified ToP(TM) Facilitator
ICA Associates, Inc. 655 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON M4M 1G4
Ph. 1 416-691-2316, x230 Toll-free 1 877-691-1422 Fax 1 416-691-2491
Website http://ica-associates.ca
Cellphone 647 233 6910
Skype "jofacilitator"