Study Visits and Practice Exchanges

For quick links to our most recent Practice Exchanges, see below:

For detailed information on our Practice Exchanges, please read on.


As part of our professional development programme offer for members, IACD organises study visits for members to interact with each other and learn from other communities’ experiences of organising, development and empowerment.  IACD Practice Exchanges are an opportunity to participate in an inspiring one or two weeks with up to 20 other community developers from around the world, together with local practitioners and activists and to visit community development projects in the local country. We started this programme in 2004 with our first study trip being to Cuba. Since then we have organised trips to visit projects in India (three times), Nepal, Indonesia, Ireland, Chile and Scotland.


IACD’s 2019 PRACTICE EXCHANGE WAS IN SCOTLAND.

Following the June World Community Development Conference, we organiszed a mini Practice Exchange field trip to the East Of Scotland 27-30 June.  Following the main conference, delegates will had the opportunity to take part in a themed learning journey to see community development in action in the east coast of Scotland. This enabled a deeper understanding of the context and practice of community development in rural and urban settings in Dundee and neighbouring areas.

For more information on the Scottish Practice Exchange, see here.  


IACD’S 2018 PRACTICE EXCHANGE WAS IN BALI, INDONESIA

We partnered with IACD, Five Pillar Foundation and Real Indonesia on the theme of Sustaining Indigenous Wisdom & Cultures.

Day 1 of the IACD Bali Practice Exchange and our group was welcomed to a local village near Ubud with a blessing from the local priest, a hands-on lesson in communal rice farming, a cooking class with a local family, and a group dance lesson. A great first day learning the importance of community development work with our friends at Real Indonesia Travel Five Pillar Foundation

For Day 2 of the IACD Bali Practice Exchange, we visited the residents of Bhakti Senang Hati, a community of disabled individuals to live together and empower one another. In Bali, being physically challenged is a sign of bad karma and physically challenged individuals are often hidden away and are discouraged from visiting temples and participating in community daily life. Bhakti Senang Hati was founded by a courageous physically challenged woman painter Ibu Putu, who wanted to create a community of disabled individuals. We learned that there are no ‘disabilities,’ only ‘different abilities’ and were privileged to witness and partake in a dance performance.

On Day 3 of the IACD Bali Practice Exchange, we visited the Green School, founded by John & Cynthia Hardy (check out John’s Ted Talk, “My green school dream”), a unique international school built completely out of bamboo (one structure is said to be the one of world’s largest freestanding bamboo buildings) and based on eco-friendly principles. It offers an innovative curriculum designed to develop the next generation of green leaders. We toured the facilities learning how this school inspires creativity and social innovation in young minds (with over 500 international students representing 30+ nations and children from the local community) for global environmental sustainability (such as using local vegetable oil for its fleet of buses). Real Indonesia Travel Five Pillar Foundation

Day 4 and 5 of the IACD Bali Practice Exchange found us at the PKP Women’s Center founded by Ibu Sari, who lost access to her daughter as a result of a bitter divorce. She and other women shared their heartbreaking stories with us and provided an overview of the Center with the intention of providing local women with community support and tools to be more confident and assertive, to better strategize to resolve domestic issues, and to improve the well-being of their lives as well as those of their families.
We also traveled to the Tirta Empul Holy Spring Temple and joined in a traditional purification ritual. The day concluded with a tour of the Basanta Agro Organic Farm learning about their sustainable coffee operation and to sample some Kopi Luwak coffee, part-digested coffee cherries eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet; after being defecated with other fecal matter, they are collected, cleaned, and roasted. It has been called one of the most expensive coffees in the world, with retail prices reaching US$700 per kilogram. #IACDBali

For Days 6 through 8 of the IACD Bali Practice Exchange we were introduced to the local leaders of the Kebun Mai Agro-Tourism Project to discuss ongoing challenges getting local communities to embrace sustainable agriculture. We then traveled out of Central Bali and into the Northwest Bali coast to learn about a community engagement effort focused on coral reef ecosystem restoration. Community leaders in Banyuwedang see first-hand the impacts of climate change and destructive fishing practices that have degraded most of the coral reefs off the coast. We learned about 15 different coral species that are planted on an artificial reef using a technology known as biorock. We snorkelled above the reef and a few lucky participants who were scuba certified joined the divers to provide hands-on help. We also learned about their community work in Mangrove replantation, agroforestry, and plastic waste management (Indonesia is the second largest contributor of marine plastic after China). Real Indonesia Travel Five Pillar Foundation #IACDBali

Our IACD Bali Practice Exchange ended this weekend with a drive back to the capital city of Denpasar and a farewell dinner on the beach with delicious local seafood and distribution of Certificates of Completion for all our wonderful participants. A big THANK YOU to Fiona with Real Indonesia Travel and Wira with Five Pillar Foundation for organizing this life-changing opportunity. The IACD is always looking for partners to help us host future Practice Exchanges so please do contact us if you have ideas.

    

THE WILD ATLANTIC WAY IRISH COMMUNITY WORK PRACTICE EXCHANGE TOOK PLACE IN  JUNE 2018

We are delighted to have organised the first of the 2018 Practice Exchanges, in association with our Irish partners. This took place immediately after the World Community Development Conference in Ireland this coming June.

The Practice Exchange involved engaging with a number of projects and initiatives along Ireland’s beautiful west coast and possibly off-shore islands, including rural, urban, family, Traveller, partnership and youth initiatives. Costs per head per day included coach travel to and around the west as well as back to Dublin (approx 600km round trip), bed and breakfast, evening meal will be approx €135- €150 per day. The Practice Exchange Exchange took place from Thursday evening June 28th returning to Dublin on Sunday July 1st (3 days). (Please note that the estimated costs above are for a very scenic region during the peak tourist season and may vary).

 

IACD PRACTICE EXCHANGE 2017 WAS IN SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA, CHILE 11-19 OCTOBER, 2017

“Andean – Amazonian knowledge and ancestral practices in agricultural systems: potential and challenges”


In 2017, we partnered with REDAR Perú and CONDESAN and the Pueblo Likanantay de San Pedro de Atacama de Chile to offer a Practice Exchange programme to South America.

An article about the 2017 trip will appear in the forthcoming Americas issue of Practice Insights magazine, to be published in February 2018.

The aim of the 2017 Practice Exchange was to:

  • Provide a space for Exchange, discussion and analysis about the Sumaq Kawsay or good living.
  • Analyse the problem of water depletion and management in the territory through the exchange of experiences as a critical element for the sustainable socio-economic development of countries.
  • Generate and promote synergies between the institutions that are committed to the research and development of the Andean region through shared activities.

What was the 2017 Practice Exchange About? 

Participants shared and exchanged experiences between community developers from Andean countries and internationally. The Practice Exchange was led by experts in the subject, with working groups to share experiences among participants that allowed them to recover their indigenous memory and to promote joint initiatives; together with plenaries to discuss the conclusions among the participants. This included Three Master Classes: Researchers and experts on the issues presented cases/studies regarding the main themes.


In 2016 we ran two Practice Exchange visits — One to India and one to Nepal.

The theme of these was around the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Sustainable Communities: integrating social, economic, environmental and cultural aspects of community-led development. The programme is a combination of field visits, seminars and facilitated reflection, where upwards of 20 community developers, practitioners and scholars from around the world visit projects and practitioners in situ.These trips are tremendous value for money. We try to keep costs down, but also we try to offer good residential accommodation where the group can spend time together after the field trips to reflect.