Bali Practice Exchange October 2018

A partnership between 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).

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. To visit the FB page for images of this exchange – please click here #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).

Ireland Practice Exchange June 2018


Two Practice Exchanges were available after the World Community Development Conference in Ireland. A 1-day mini exchange through Dublin City and a 5-day experience called the Wild Atlantic Way which included visits to both Rural and Urban Centres and Inis Oirr – The smallest Aran Island. The exchanges were in collaboration with Community Work Ireland

More information about these exciting experiences will be available in our 2019 edition of IACD’s Practice Insight magazine.

A personal perspective is available from IACD Vice President – John Stansfield: Ireland Practice Exchange 2018https://www.unitec.ac.nz/whanake/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Whanake4.2_Editorial.pdf