CHILE

ICA started in Chile in 1978 with the Sol de Septiembre Human Development Project run for 3 years by an international team. The project then continued under the direction of its own local members. A group of enthusiasts of the methodology of participation made up of urban residents of the capital city Santiago formed a team of volunteers round the learning of Imaginal Education and through this course trained about 500 people over 8 years. Manuals & texts were translated into Spanish. We taught LENS, Effective Supervision, and Indicative Planning in Santiago. The participation of Ana Mari Urrutia & Eduard Christensen in the first IToPToT enthused us to start a training and consultancy company in 1996 that rapidly gave us the opportunity to commercialise ToP, to register the courses with SENCE the government training registry, and compete in the training market. With this formal structure we targeted the educational sector and trained 970 teachers from 37 schools. We were able to cover basic operating costs but the hoped for large scale sales never materialised. With other members of the team attending IToPToT and staying in Phoenix as volunteers we moved towards training projects, a longer term approach that assures learning, the application of the methodology in the future and furthermore would give us a more stable source of income.

The Present
Based on the vast experience of Ana Mari Urrutia in the world of the handicapped, of Nigel Blackburn in curricular design, of Andres Christensen in the design and presentation of projects the Teleton of Chile bought a PELP (Programa de Entrenamiento de Lideres Participativos) Participative Leader Training Programme. This programme was 8 months long and took place in 2001-2. Out of the 36 young participants, 24 were physically handicapped.
We applied the whole GFM course but with many more exercises and over a longer period of time in weekly sessions so that they could apply their newly learned methodology with their families, friends, work, church and in their leisure time. To assure the adoption of the participative philosophy the participants designed & executed 5 projects. Some of which have been completed & others are still in process. The projects include the study of the current law with respect to the handicapped with a view to pressuring for changes, a PR campaign to change the public image of the handicapped, a project in the social education of mentally handicapped youths and the setting up of an arts centre as a small company. We have sent a video of the project to Brussels.

The Facilitators Circle has been very active with 8 members that meet weekly and carry out regular practice in methodology. Based on the success of the PELP (see video) in 2002 we presented 3 proposals for social programmes to form young leaders to various agencies. These activities have permitted us to expand our team to 9 facilitators. They are a group of young people who are keen to learn, are perseverant in their regular attendance at meetings, and are waiting for opportunties that are little exploited. Some are graduates and all work together well creatively and with mutual respect.

At the Latin American level ICA Chile has delivered a GFM course at the Latin American Facilitators conferences in Quito, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Cochabama, a GFM & PSP in Caracas, Venezuela with Jesusa Aburto from Peru and a PSP for Latin American colleagues sponsored by ICAI. A PSP for the Consorsio Andino was carried out in Arica, Chile with the participation of professionals from Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Chile. We have carried out GFMs in Bolivia, La Paz, Tarija and Santa Cruz de la Sierra. ICAs first venture in Colombia was Jesusa Aburto and Eduard Christensen facilitating strategic planning workshops in Bogot Cali and Medell on contract to the World Bank.

The Future
In the near future we are programming, at a national level, 3 PELP in the area of the handicapped financed by different national institutions. We are promoting ToP courses to companies. At the international level we are seeking to deliver programmes of social development and leadership on the one hand and ToP training to companies, organisations and government agencies on the other.

Personnel
Eduard Christensen, Ana Mari Urrutia, Nigel Blackburn, Isabel de la Maza, Andr Christensen, Yelmo Duran, Ana Ma Christensen, Javier Salinas, Isabel Roduez.

Contact Information
ICA Chile - Holanda 1595 depto. 501
Providencia, Santiago, Chile
tel/fax: +562 2048527
email: icachile@entelchile.net
Last Update
July 2002