Paul joined the IACD Board in 2014 and for the past year has been the Policy Committee chair. Paul is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Montana State University-Bozeman in the United States and serves as the Extension Community Development Specialist in the Montana Local Government Center. His areas of expertise are: community development, local governance, public participation, deliberative democracy, policy analysis, qualitative research methods, tourism, leadership training and natural resource policy. He is proficient in Nepali and French.
This was his acceptance speech at conference.
First, let me say a sincere “thank you” to the Board and membership for the trust you have instilled in me to serve as the President of the IACD; I am truly humbled to be your servant leader.
Like many of you, I believe the IACD should serve as a driving force to raise awareness across the community development profession in the period ahead about the relevance of the Sustainable Development Goals in our work – to truly advance the notion that without community development there is no sustainable development. As such, we are attempting to make this a central issue at our upcoming conferences, Practice Exchanges, and through related outreach resources. I have three goals during my term as President:
- Increase communication so that more people know about the IACD; we should focus on improved marketing through social media and other opportunities to connect and network with people of all ages and cultural backgrounds. We count on our Board and our members to help us with this important goal.
- Increase opportunities for learning. My goal is to make sure we offer at least one international Practice Exchange (PE) opportunity for our members annually. This March, I was fortunate to attend the India PE and lead the Nepal PE; both of these experiences were truly life-changing and I am reminded of the value of these learning opportunities.
- To increase our base funding. We are a small, largely volunteer-run organization and it’s my intent to leave the IACD in a better place than at the start of my term. Part of my responsibility is to build existing revenue options as well as secure new ones so that the IACD is solvent for years to come.
I believe transparency, inclusiveness and diversity are foundational characteristics of any organization and I intend to make these central tenets during my term. I would also like to welcome our two incoming Vice Presidents, Muhammad Bello Shitu and Anastasia Crickley, who will join our existing VP Anita Paul and Treasurer, Rob Gregory to form our new Executive; My thanks to each of them for their commitment to serve in this capacity. Committee chairs and members are still be negotiated and we’ll have a complete list to share with you at the next newsletter.
Until, then, please share with me your ideas on how we can more effectively achieve the goals above or if you think there are additional areas and topics that I should devote my attention. I look forward to working with our dedicated board, our membership, and all those interested in international community development to create a more robust, relevant and resilient global network of community development professionals and practitioners.
As a last note, I would also like to express my gratitude on behalf of the entire board and membership to outgoing President Charlie McConnell and outgoing Vice-President Randy Adams. Their collective service to the IACD is nothing short of monumental and their work has truly impacted this organization positively. We are very fortunate that Randy will serve as an IACD Global Ambassador and Charlie will continue to advise the Board as immediate Past President.
IACD’s new international Board elected in Minnesota.
