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Contents:
Peacemaking & reconciliation
Community-building & dialogue
Nation-building & transforming society
Global economy & sustainability
Capacity-building programmes
Journalism for Peace and Reconciliation, Côte d'Ivoire (Photo: Danielle Maillefer)
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Peacemaking & reconciliation
Former combatants harvest rice with local community at peace farm (Photo: Keith Neal)
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Sierra LeoneHope-Sierra Leone grew out of the decision of one person, John Bangura, to abandon his plan to seek revenge for the murder of nine family members and kin during the civil war in Sierra Leone. John's transformation led to him building a core team of Sierra Leoneans ready to risk their lives to help free their country from the ravages of war, corruption and poverty.
H-SL is a locally based peace and development organisation. The central aim of its work is to bring fundamental change in people's motives and attitudes, without which long-lasting peace and development cannot be achieved. Since 2000 it has been registered in Sierra Leone as a Non Governmental Organisation and is affiliated to Initiatives of Change – International.
The campaign To read more about the campaign against election violence click here.
Creators of Peace
Creators of Peace (CoP) is an international women’s initiative started in 1991 with the aim of engaging women in their role as creators of peace at every level of society. In response to a growing demand in Africa, a series of 'training the trainers' workshops took place in October 2007 led by an international faculty, starting in South Africa, then in Kenya and on to Sudan. In Juba, South Sudan, a five-day workshop for politicians and social activists was opened by Dr Riek Machar, Vice-President of the South Sudan Regional Assembly. The workshop was then repeated in Khartoum. In Sudan, the faculty were hosted by Angelina Teny, Minister of State for Petroleum and Energy. To read more about these workshops, and the workshops in Kenya and South Africa click here.
For more background on Creators of Peace click here or visit the COP website.
Cambodia-Vietnam Dialogue
The Cambodia-Vietnam Dialogues (CVD) started in 2004 when young people from both nations started to talk openly at the Asia-Pacific Youth Conference in Cambodia about the things which divide them. To read more about the dialogues click here.
To download the official report of the 4th CVD click here
Journalists for Peace and Reconciliation
A workshop on the media's contribution to clean and hate-free elections in the the troubled west African nation of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) took place in Grand Bassam, 1–7 March 2008. It was organized by Initiatives of Change Ivory Coast (ICCI) in collaboration with Initiatives of Change International and the the Info Sud press agency. It was the fifth training session that the two partners have organised together. Previously trainings have taken place in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and twice at the IofC centre in Caux, Switzerland, for the journalists from the African Great Lakes region. In total, 125 journalists have taken part in these five seminars.
As a result of the seminar, the journalists decided to create a network of 'journalists for peace and reconciliation' to consult each other on issues of political bias and manipulation, and to raise awareness with their colleagues and other players in the electoral process to bring about hate-free, successful elections. To read more about this workshop click here.
Caux conferences
Mohamed Sahnoun and Annan (Photo: Edward Peters)
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Caux conferences in Switzerland, 5 July – 19 August 2007, on the theme Trust across the world’s divides? Dignity for all?, were attended by 1490 people from all over the world including many from conflict regions. To read a brief summary, click here.
To download the full Caux Report, click here
To read a report on the 'official day' when Swiss Ambassador Pierre Combernous saluted the ‘special relationship’ between Switzerland and Initiatives of Change, click here
To read about the visit of Kofi Annan, and the Global Indigenous Dialogue click here
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Community-building & dialogue
Initiatives of Change is an active member of the Conference of International NGOs of the Council of Europe. Christoph Spreng, the IofC representative, helped draft the Conference’s contribution to the Council’s White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue drawing on the experience of IofC and other NGOs. Many IofC projects aim to promote understanding and reconciliation, particularly between Muslim and Western societies.
Initiative Dialogue
For ten years, this programme has brought together French of North African and 'native' stock into local circles to ‘bridge gaps between different worlds that ignore each other’. To read more about the Initiative Dialogue programe, click here, or visit their website (in French)
Imam and Pastor
Pastor Wuye and Imam Ashafa at BC Justice Institute, Canada (Photo: Chris Hartnell)
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The Imam and the Pastor is a production of IofC’s FLTfilms. It tells the story of Pastor James Wuye and Imam Muhammad Ashafa who led opposing, armed militias in Kaduna, northern Nigeria when thousands were killed in clashes between Christians and Muslims in the '90s. In pitched battles, Pastor James lost his hand and Imam Ashafa’s spiritual mentor and two close relatives were killed. Now the two men are co-directors of the Muslim-Christian Interfaith Mediation Centre in their city, leading task-forces to resolve conflicts across Nigeria.
To read more about the film, and how it is being used around the world click here
In October 2007 the film won first prize in the documentary section at the Africa World Film Festival, held in St Louis, Missouri, USA and Lagos, Nigeria. Read more.
To read about the premier of the French version of the film click here
To read about the premier of the German version of the film click here
Remembering the slave trade
2007 marked the 200th anniversary of the ending of the trans-Atlantic slave-trade. In Liverpool, UK, whose ship-owners financed 40% of the slave ships, the anniversary was marked by a ceremony on the river Mersey, symbolically laying to rest, in the African tradition, the souls of the slaves who had perished. To read more click here. The event was attended by a delegation of five from Richmond, Virginia, led by the Vice-President of Richmond City Council, Councilwoman Delores McQuinn, an African-American, who is also Chair of the Richmond Slave Trail Commission. The group have been a part of the Reconciliation Triangle initiative between Liverpool, Republic of Benin and Richmond facilitated by IofC’s Hope in the Cities programme.
In Richmond, where racial inequality still impacts the school system, 450 attended Metropolitan Richmond Day in November 2007 to support HIC's commitment to equal education in the region. To read more click here.
Sorry day
In Australia the first act of a newly-elected Parliament in February was to say ‘sorry’ to the ‘stolen generations’ – indigenous Australians who were forcibly taken from their families to be raised in white institutions under racial policies up until the 1970s.
Click here to read the official parliamentary record of the Prime Minister's apology in parliament.
John Bond, for many years the Secretary of the National Sorry Day Committee, has been among IofC activists who have campaigned over a decade for this historic apology, and helped to bring many Aboriginals to the Australian Parliament to hear the apology. Over the years he has brought several spokesmen of the movement to Caux. In May, Bond gave an insight into the process leading up to the apology in a public meeting at the IofC centre in London. Click here to read more.
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East Europeans in teambuilding exercise
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Nation-building & transforming society
Kenya
The Kenya I Care campaign was launched by young Kenyans associated with IofC in February 2008, in response to the ethnic violence that rocked the nation after the December 2007 elections. The violence claimed over a thousand lives and displaced up to 60,000. The campaign visits schools and uses story sharing, skits and songs to empower schoolchildren to help break the chain of tribal hate and tackle corruption. To read more click here.
Foundations for Freedom
The Foundation for Freedom programme has been running since 1993. It aims to develop people through encouraging them to search for values-centred decision making in personal and professional life whilst creating positive change in their communities and countries. Originally developed for Central and East Europe, its main activity is still in that region. To read more click here.
Education for Peace
Recognizing that many children are not equipped to deal with conflict in non-violent ways, IofC France developed the Education for Peace programme, a series of courses in schools to give kids the skills to better manage conflict. Over 500 children took part in an art competition, in which children had to imagine a conflict scenario and tell the story of its peaceful resolution in pictorial form. The winning entries were exhibited as part of the Salon for Peace initiatives in Paris during May. Responding to a growing demand for these courses, 'training for trainers' programmes were held in November 2007 and April 2008. To visit the Education for Peace website (in French) click here.
Africa
To read more about the 'Imbizo' consultation for Africa, May 2007, click here.
To read more about the African Youth Forum in Ghana, May 2007, click here
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Asian executives gather in India (Photo: Altaf Mohammed Abid)
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Global economy & sustainability
Caux Initiatives for Business
Asian executives gather in India (Photo: Altaf Mohammed Abid)
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Caux Initiatives for Business (CIB) is a programme which aims to engage business-people and decision-influencers in honest conversations on the broad issues associated with globalization and the human face of economics.
Visit the CIB website
To read more about the conference ‘Asia’s Relevance in a Globalizing World – Trust and Integrity in the New Leadership Model’ click here
To download the report of the CIB conference in Caux 2007, click here
To read more about the Ethics in Public Governance programme at Asia Plateau, the IofC centre in India, click here
To read about the 10th International Farmers Dialogue in France click here
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Caux Scholars at the UN (Photo: Danielle Maillefer)
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Capacity-building programmes
IofC training programmes aim to build ethical capacity, developing and nurturing qualities of visionary, inclusive and humble leadership.
To read about the Caux Scholars programme click here
To read about the Tools for Change programme click here
To read about the Life Matters programmes for young adults in Melbourne click here
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