ICAI BOARD MEETS IN TANZANIA

In May, the mainly virtual board of ICA International had an invaluable opportunity to meet face-to-face, in conjunction with the East & Southern Africa ICA regional gathering.

Board Members traveled for up to 39 hours to be hosted in Tanzania, from Tokyo, Guatemala, Toronto, Chicago, London, Kiev and Lome. 
The last time the ICAI board was able to meet face to face was at the 2012 ICAI Global Conference on Human Development, when three of the current members were at the beginning of their terms.  At the beginning of 2015, five new members joined the Board, and it was decided that a face to face meeting was in order to facilitate the creation of a cohesive team, and get all board members on the same page. 
 
The specific aims for the meeting were: 

• Board members to get to know one another
• Build team spirit and commitment
• Deepen the collective understanding of ICA and ICAI history and current role
• Agree strategy and plans for how the board will work together 2015 -16

The board applied ICA's ToP Participatory Strategic Planning process and the four levels of ORID to structure the week, and members shared the role of facilitating the sessions. 

Day one was about sharing objective level data. Using the historical scan method, the board shared history of ICA and ICAI, and then reviewed the 'State of the World' of ICAI membership by continent, our global governance and finances, global ICA mission & values and the ICAI vision, and 'peer-to-peer' approach articulated by the ICAI General Assembly in 2010.
 
The following three days were focused on articulating the contradictions to that vision (reflective level) and developing strategic directions (interpretive level) and action steps and implementation plans (decisional level).  Members confirmed their roles on the board, and reviewed role descriptions as a prelude to implementation planning.  The meeting was successful in reaching all of its aims and energizing the board to work dutifully on fostering peer to peer spaces for member ICA's.