Yoland Wadsworth
President
ALARPM Association

This is the world congress that we - the members all around the world of ALARPM (the Action Learning, Action Research & Process Management Association), and again, in 2003, the world PAR network - organise for and with our global communities-of-interest.

It is a joint World Congress of which we are very proud. The five previous world congresses have been held in Australia (Brisbane and Melbourne), the United Kingdom of Great Britain (Bath), South America (Cartagena) and now South Africa. The PAR community have a longer history of nine previous world congresses, the last three of which have been joint with ALARPM.

Maybe you will be involved in running a World Congress yourself for 2006, or 2009 or 2012! ... and where will it be?! ... India? Asia? Europe? North America? Let us know! 

Thanks to all those who've been "cooking up" this Congress behind the scenes for nearly 2 years. For those of us coming from outside Africa - we have already started saving now to be able to attend this exciting event!

At this Congress we specially look forward to hearing of the powerful work - often against huge odds - being carried out on the African continent. The congress theme is timely : "Learning Partners in Action". For a long time, researchers have learned - but not often tested their learning in action or drawn their learnings from real-world action. And for a long time, people have acted, but often without deeper reflection on what more could be understood and learned so that actions might better match cherished hopes and intentions.

To match our ambitious World Congresses, for the last couple of years, ALARPM has also been quietly "scaling up" to be a truly international association for action research, action learning and participatory and systemic processes for knowledge co-construction. Even our organising committee of 20 is now from 7 different countries!

This nicely reflects the world phenomenon of these approaches beginning to hit something of a "critical mass". For those of us who've been "at it" for several decades, we know this is no fad, but instead, a new paradigm emerging to take a major role worldwide.

In a way the last three Congresses themes have perhaps told a story.

In Cartagena in South America in 1997 the theme was one of "Convergencia" (convergences) as our various streams and strands and variants of activity became aware of each other. The coming together of people across difference can sometimes result in friction, challenge, anxieties and worse. So next in Melbourne the theme was "Reconciliation". And now perhaps we are learning to live again with difference, and so the talk is of "partners" - "Learning Partners in Action".

As we begin to "connect more locally" and "network more globally" in the lead up to and at this World Congress, I wish us well for becoming collective learning partners in action for the kind of world we most hope for together. In my home city of Melbourne in Australia, inscribed in a circle on the elegant mosaic tiled floor of the governing parliament building, are words to the effect - "In the Counsel of the People there is Wisdom".

So also may it be with us, in Pretoria in September 2003.

See you there!

Yoland Wadsworth
President
ALARPM Association
www.ALARPM.com.au