I consider it a great privilege to take on the position of acting President of the IACD. I’d like to acknowledge the hard work of our former President, Alex Ruhunda, who has decided to embark on a political career in his home country of Uganda. I thank Alex for his wonderful contribution to the IACD and I wish him all the very best for his future – I am sure that he will continue his deep commitment to community development and social justice into his new career.
I believe that the IACD is a unique and important organisation. We are small, but with a reach that is both deep and broad. We have an international agenda, and we are working hard to create many local connections. Our voluntary board members are committed people who believe in the value of community development in building just, creative and engaged communities around the world. We have a dynamic and hard working staff group based in Scotland, who are leading our work in many exciting areas such as rural development, asset building, asset based community development, and global learning and exchange programs. The next year will see us launch some of our current writing and case study work, and will see some new initiatives such as a study tour to India to learn from some of the world’s most innovative community development initiatives.
We have a growing membership from around the world who are the energy and drive behind the work of the IACD. We are a membership based organisation and we consider our members to be at the core of our work. We will be putting considerable energy over the next period into connecting with and connecting up our members. Our new website provides many possibilities for communication, but we are also interested in how we can promote other means for connection both locally and globally. We have some fabulous interns working on connecting with our members over the next few months – Michel and Esmeralda may already have been in contact with you!
The upcoming conference in New Orleans, organised by our sister organisation in North America, the Community Development Society, is shaping up to be a fabulous opportunity to explore “The Role of Community in Economic and Disaster Recovery”. I personally thank the team at CDS who are organising what promises to be an inspiring conference – and I encourage all our members to take a look at the conference website, consider coming along to the conference, or participating in the variety of ways in which we will be communicating from the conference.
The board meeting and AGM in New Orleans will see some changes on the IACD Board with a number of our executive board members stepping down from their positions and some of our longer serving board members retiring.
Being a member of an international board is a challenging opportunity! We have a number of vacancies in various regions around the world and will be looking to fill these vacancies with enthusiastic and energetic members over coming months.
There are so many ways that you can become involved in the IACD, from starting a local group, to engaging with the research and projects of the IACD, writing up case studies, letting others know about the community development work you are engaged in, or getting involved in the governance of the organisation. If you have a passion for community development, ideas and enthusiasm to share with your local community and with the international community, then please make contact with us – we welcome your participation!
Warm Regards,
Ingrid Burkett
IACD Acting President
Oceania Regional Director
