After over 20 years of civil war and numerous failed peace-conferences, Somalis and the international community are daring to believe that a reborn Somalia might just be possible. Fourteen flights a day are bringing members of the Somali diaspora back from all corners of the globe, to reclaim property, to start new businesses, to take posts in the new government. In January, Fauzia Yusuf Haji Adan, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Somalia – a former refugee in London – visited IofC’s London centre to meet members of Somali Initiative for Dialogue and Democracy (SIDD), the network of Somalis which has been associated with IofC since its inception in 2005.

Twenty five people gathered in Beirut, Lebanon to take part in the first consultation of representatives of Initiatives of Change Arab teams. The meeting, which took place 8-10 March, included representatives from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia as well as Arabs living in France and the UK.

On May 11 'Oratorio for our Times' was performed in Lille cathedral, the largest city in northern France, on the occasion of the Night of Cathedrals. 

The Rt. Hon. Malcolm Fraser, former Prime Minister of Australia launched The Promise of Diversity on 16 April at Armagh, the Initiatives of Change centre in Melbourne, Australia. The book, written by the late John Hartwell Williams and John Bond, both full-time IofC workers, is a biography of Professor Jerzy Zubrzycki, known as 'the father of multiculturalism in Australia'.