Following a four month member consultation on the Draft International CD Standards Guidance paper, the IACD Training and Professional Development working group that prepared the draft paper met today (4th April) to consider the responses received. We were very pleased to receive responses from members in Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Portugal, UK and the USA. Feedback was generally very supportive of this IACD initiative, although concerns were raised by members chiefly in Australia, that IACD’s definition of CD and the proposed Standards Guide sought to over ‘professionalise’ the field, and would exclude the critical role of unpaid community activists and volunteers. There were also a number of specific proposals raised from respondees as to details in the Standards Framework.
The IACD working group will be working on re-drafting the document in April and May, with the aim of sending the revised guidance document to members by early June and to launch the guide at the World Community Development Conference in Ireland.
