The International Association for Community Development is a volunteer-led, Scottish-based organisation committed to building a global network of people and organisations working toward social & environmental justice through a community development approach. They have recently launched a new initiative called The Global Village project, which CHE graduate Tara O'Leary is working on.

It is often said that the world has become a global village. We are able to communicate with people at the other side of the world in an instant and many of us in Scotland have been lucky enough to see far-flung places & meet new cultures first hand. At international gatherings, conferences and events Community Development activists are often deeply moved and motivated by face to face meetings with international partners... Our experience tells us that there is a hunger for deeper learning and exchange between communities here and overseas.

To respond to this enthusiasm, IACD is developing ‘global village’ residencies in 2008/9, supporting communities in the UK or Ireland to host an international visitor or small team of visitors who might share dialogue and experiences, tackle practical problems, run workshops/training sessions, undertake community arts work or be part of the development efforts in that community.  

Some of these pairings will include additional practice and policy seminars at partner organisations and some will stand-alone.  The costs of the residency will be part-funded from Carnegie UK Trust funding, with the remainder levered by IACD and host village fundraising. We will focus initially in rural areas and will host an initial pilot with communities in Cornwall, Ireland and Scotland. 

In addition we see reciprocal relationships of  solidarity developing between the host and visitor communities.  This may involve the provision of investment seed funding which could be repaid over time or reinvested in another project in either village/community.

The work will draw on experiences of SEAD in the 1990’s and of other international development partners currently working in the UK, Ireland & internationally.

Finally, in terms of other work, IACD is co-organising a number of events that may be of interest to CHE members. First one is an Intercultural Dialogue conference with a range of Irish and international organizations in Dublin Castle, November 6/7th, second one is an event on alternatives to GDP in Spring 2009 and finally a large international participatory conference on community based economics in Brisbane in June 2009. The Call for Papers in Brisbane is just out so if you would like more information about the Global Village project or about our events please contact Tara O'Leary, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

www.iacdglobal.org