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ALARA African Events

Introduction

Action Learning, Action Research Association Ltd (ALARA) has a strategy to encourage and support the development of local and regional ALARA events and conferences in Australia and in other countries. This strategy is aligned to the organisation’s vision: that action learning and action research will be widely used and publicly shared by individuals and groups creating local and global change for the achievement of a more equitable, just, joyful, productive, peaceful and sustainable society. Local and regional conferences create opportunities for individuals and groups to better understand action learning and action research and thus promote wider use and public sharing of action learning and action research.

Africa
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Following the 2015 ALARA World Congress in Pretoria, South Africa, and in agreement with ALARA's co-hosts for that event, ALARA has funds that it can utilise for seed funding action learning / action research events in Africa. ALARA plans to use these funds as a perpetual source of funding for such events in Africa.

Requirements

To gain access to these funds, an organisation must:

  • Propose an event that it will conduct on the African continent that is open to all people within that continent (and other continents) with an interest in action learning or action research, and which will directly benefit African citizens;
  • Include an existing ALARA member who must remain a member during the life of the proposal, must be in a senior decision-making role within the group and must be a member of the Organising Committee for the event;
  • Submit a proposal to the ALARA Board in the prescribed proposal format to seek the seed funding; and
  • Meet the conditions within the proposal, including ensuring adequate insurances for the event.

To be considered for funding, the event must be in keeping with ALARA’s vision to create opportunities for individuals and groups to better understand and use action learning and action research.

ALARA will consider many different types of events, such as a:

  • Meeting of action learning and action research practitioners
  • Conversation, in which action learning and action research practitioners discuss a specific practitioner’s approach / activities / area of work with that practitioner with the intent to develop knowledge of those present
  • Series of scheduled meetings or conversations on action learning / action research
  • Action learning / action research seminar
  • Action learning / action research workshop
  • Action learning / action research conference
  • Local tour by a group of practitioners to one or more locations where action learning and action research are utilised

Seed Funding

For the purposes of supporting these events, seed funding means funds provided to pay some of the costs associated with an event before attendees to that event have paid their registration fee, and which is refunded soon after the event from the income generated by the registrations (and any sponsorships) for the event. ALARA expects the event organiser to refund all of the seed funding within two weeks of the event's conclusion, unless it reaches agreement with the organiser on a different date. ALARA also expects the organiser to share any profit from the event with ALARA, unless the two parties reach a different arrangement during the proposal assessment stage.

Application and Approval

To obtain seed funding for an event, a proposer must supply a proposal (business case) and proposed budget, using ALARA's template documents as guides. The size of the event and amount of seed funding sought should influence the length and amount of detail in the proposal and budget. These template documents are available from ALARA's Administration Support(admin [at] alarassociation.org).

The Board may seek further information before reaching a decision to accept or reject the proposal, which it will communicate promptly to the proposer. The Board will make that decision based on a number of criteria, including:

  • type of event
  • potential diversity, spread and quantity of audience
  • perceived benefits to the audience
  • other events of a similar or conflicting nature
  • organisation and reliability of the proposer to deliver on the event
  • risk to the seed funding and ALARA
  • value for money, for both delegates and ALARA

If the Board rejects the proposal, the proposer may seek to resubmit the proposal, adjusting it according to the feedback from the Board.

If the Board accepts the proposal, the proposer and ALARA will exchange letters of agreement about the proposal, including details of the event, timing of payment and repayment of the seed funding, management of organising of the event, and any other relevant matter.

Conduct of Event

As indicated in the proposal, the event Organising Committee will manage the conduct of the event, providing regular progress reports to the Board.

At the event's conclusion, the Organising Committee will provide ALARA with a list of delegates with the following information as a minimum:

  • Given Name
  • Family Name
  • Email address
  • City and Country of residence
  • Membership status (of ALARA and the Proposer’s organisation

ALARA may contact the delegates (usually via emails) to obtain feedback on the event, to advise of future events or invite membership in ALARA, and the Proposer should advise potential delegates of the likelihood of these emails. The Organising Committee will also provide the Board a short report on the event and the operations of the Organising Committee with the aim of helping ALARA improve the organisation of similar events.

Disclaimers

  • Neither ALARA nor the proposer / organiser is an agent, employee or contractor of each other, and they must not represent themselves as spokespersons, agents, employees or contractors of the other party.
  • All events supported by ALARA via seed funding or organised by ALARA are advertised on the ALARA website (http://www.alarassociation.org). Any event that proclaims to be an ALARA event and is not advertised on the ALARA website, is NOT an ALARA event. If you are aware of such an event, please notify ALARA (admin [at] alarassociation.org) immediately.