Mpanzu Bamenga closed this year’s International Peacebuilders’ Forum (IPF) by sharing his story of migration from Zaïre to the Netherlands.  He spoke of difficulties he encountered as a migrant, and he described the way in which he overcame barriers in his past and barriers today that arise in his political work. Through his story, he encouraged participants to approach those with whom they feel the biggest conflict with forgiveness, compassion, and understanding.  

Mr. Bamenga’s speech was a perfect end to this week that has brought reflection, heartfelt dialogue, and constructive brainstorming on the future of peacebuilding among people displaced by violent conflict. 

IPF 2016 opened on Wednesday 20 July with Janet Lim’s reflection on her work with UNHCR. Ms Lim invited participants to consider how to use grassroots projects to better involve migrants in addressing the societal problems associated with mass migration. 

On Thursday 21 July, participants worked together to identify challenges to peacebuilding in their own contexts. They then broke into workshops to explore peacebuilding methods and approaches that they have not previously encountered. These workshops inspired them to consider new ways of addressing the challenges they identified.

The comedians who performed at Comedy for Change offered yet another novel way of approaching deep-rooted societal problems. Through humor these comedians have learned how to provoke discussion, challenge stereotypes, and incite societal change, while diffusing tensions associated with socially ‘taboo’ topics.

After identifying challenges and exploring new ways of addressing these challenges, participants were given a day of reflection. Participants shared stories with each other and reflected independently on the ways in which they have each changed since arriving at Caux this week.

On Friday 22 July, participants were asked the question: “What will I bring with me, and how can I apply it to my everyday life?” Some participants expressed the need to maintain the valuable connections that they have made during these four days. One young woman explained that these connections are both external, with others, and internal, with themselves. Others noted specific concepts that moved them and that they intend to share with their communities back home. For example, one man from Burundi expressed that he will bring back to his community the idea of transforming conflict into opportunity. Another participant said that this forum has greatly “expanded her horizons.” 

An important aspect of the forum was embodied work. Although some participants found it challenging to engage with exercises, one man expressed that it increased his awareness of his body. One woman asserted that this kind of work helped her to better connect to the other participants, especially as the participants were linguistically split between English and French. Embodied work allowed everyone to connect, overcoming linguistic barriers.

But most broadly, participants walked away from the forum inspired by new ideas, encouraged by learning of others’ experiences, and connected to an international community of peacebuilders. 

Comedy for Change drew a lively crowd to Caux’s theatre on the evening of Wednesday 20 July with four internationally acclaimed comedians! South Africa’s Stuart Taylor, Celeste Ntuli, Conrad Koch, and Canada’s Dana Alexander left the audience breathless from laughter with their observational comedy. 

These comedians use their talents not only to entertain, but also to provoke discussion, challenge stereotypes, and incite societal change. Each of them has a unique style that draws on their personal experiences of racism, conflict, multiethnic identity, and post-apartheid South Africa. By using humor to diffuse tensions associated with uncomfortable topics, they are able to talk about things that are usually considered ‘taboo’ and open them up to critique.

At the end of the performance, the comedians engaged with the audience in a panel discussion. Audience members asked the comedians about their creative processes, about concepts of race, and about the use of humor as catharsis. A few people described their own experiences of racism and conflict, and some shared their reactions to this innovative use of comedy. 

CATS conference opens in the splendid Caux Conference Centre with the commitment to foster policy change with future generations.

“We must enable children and young people to contribute to decision making. Everyone should be focused on policy making, not just those at the top,” said the CATS conference Director, Jonathan Levy, at the opening.

According to the United Nations (UN), an estimated 5.9 million children under 5 died in 2015; 1 in 8 people lived in extreme poverty in 2012; and 800 million people are currently suffering from hunger.

In 2015, UN Member States agreed on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development to fight poverty and hunger, to improve education and to protect the environment. If we are to achieve these goals, children must be involved.

As SDGs’ implementation begins this year, CATS conference 2016 aims at supporting collaboration between children and adults in policy making. The title of the CATS Conference is “Local to global: how will we influence policy?” and will run from 27 July to 1 August 2016.

Keynote speakers at CATS include MEP Julie Ward, the Polish Ombudsman for Children Marek Michalak, the child rights reporter Tako Rietveld, and Esteban Quispe, an 18 year old from Bolivia who turns waste into robots.

On its final day, CATS Conference will release recommendations to governments and international bodies (e.g. UN, the Council of Europe and the European Union) on how working with children and adults together can help achieve SDGs.  

Key moments will also include the CATS parliament on 29 July, when proposals on SDG-related participatory policies will be debated as well as the ‘Night of Change’ on 31 July, when the best of all policy proposals will be voted on.

CATS is a conference co-led and co-organised by adults, children and young people. This year, CATS is hosting 310 participants, of whom more than half are children and young people.

Every year the conference gathers stakeholders, civil society organisations, representatives of international and governmental bodies as well as young delegations and families.

CATS is organised by Eurochild, the Universal Education Foundation, the CAUX-Initiatives of Change Foundation, Initiatives of Change International and Child to Child. The conference is hosted every year by the CAUX-Initiatives of Change Foundation in the Swiss Alps.

• More information on CATS can be found here
• Join us on Facebook to follow all main meetings live!

It is 70 years since 95 Swiss families bought the Caux Palace Hotel as a place where people from the warring nations could meet after the Second World War. The anniversary has been marked by several public events in the course of the CAUX-Initiatives of Change summer conferences. 

On Tuesday, 19 July 2016, a public event kicked off the conference Adressing Europe's Unfinished Business on the theme ‘Passing the baton’, with four of those who were young when they participated in Caux conferences at that time. They were hosted by two of today’s young people, Noucayba Soltani a post-graduate student from France, and Jonathan Nelson, a teacher from Norway. Noucayba said, ‘Each of us has a responsibility to rethink Europe. Everyone can make their contribution. If we look around the world, nothing is working. There is war, refugees, and no one knows what to do. But Europe has faced great difficulties and it overcame them. If we don’t learn the lessons of the past, we are condemned to repeat them.’

Jens Wilhelmsen from Norway had been a junior member of the Resistance in Norway before he came to Caux in 1946. Elsa Vogel was a medical student in Paris who narrowly escaped a massacre by a Nazi soldier in the hours before Paris was liberated. Fiona Daukes’ father was a British chaplain with the Royal Air Force who had stayed with his men on a ship which was sunk by a German torpedo rather than save his own life. And Charles Danguy from Geneva had discovered Caux by chance because of his passion for the Swiss railway system!

For Jens, overcoming his hatred for the Germans was a particular challenge. But having done so, the subsequent experience of spending five years among the miners of the Ruhr ‘witnessing the hardship of their lives, and the courage with which they fought for their convictions’ had given him a love for the Germans. He believed that the efforts he had been part of in the Ruhr at that time had helped turn class war in the area into cooperation between management and labour.

All of them referred to the challenge they had encountered in Caux to make a new start by looking at themselves honestly, and putting right anything they had on their consciences. Elsa realised that she was resentful of the way she had been treated by her family because she was illegitimate. ‘I realised that you can’t be a victim all your life. You have to face the choices you made and their consequences, and change and move forward.’ As a result of accepting that, she said, ‘A wind of new life swept into my heart and I felt I was a new person’ and she became a full-time volunteer with IofC, serving on all five continents. 

Charles stressed the importance of another tool of IofC, the ‘quiet time’ – the daily practice of spending time in silence to seek correction and direction. It had led him into a 30-year ministry with IofC to members of the European Parliament, connecting MEPs and citizens from around Europe.

Fiona was filled with hope when she arrived in Caux in 1946 aged 15, particularly by meeting many other young people ‘who seemed to have a light in the eye and a sense of purpose’. She decided not to embark on an acting career, but to give all her time and energy to work with IofC, and had done so ever since. She and her husband subsequently lived in four European countries. She said, ‘We are facing ever more anger, hate and violence, but as we use our hearts to care for one another and to listen to that “arresting tick”, which I believe is the voice of a higher power, we will bring something entirely new and fresh to our very dear, exasperating old continent’.

Gilles Grin, Director of the Jean Monnet Foundation and historian at Lausanne University, rounded off the event with a reflection on the evolution of the European Union, its different phases and the crises it had passed through. His conclusion: ‘The European project is more relevant than ever’!

Antoine Jaulmes, president of the CAUX-IofC Foundation then proceeded to officially open the AEUB Conference and called for ‘a necessary change of attitude to address the issues and to overcome the lack of trust between European countries’. 

• Follow the Addressing Europe's Unfinished Business 2016 conference live on Facebook! 
• More of Antoine Jaulmes' insights on addressing Europe's challenges in daily videos on Youtube (in French). 

We are excited to announce the opening of the International Peacebuilders’ Forum (IPF) 2016! In light of current trends in mass forced migration across the globe, this year’s theme of the forum is “Peacebuilding among people displaced by violence and war.” The aim is to provide a platform and safe space for reflexivity for practitioners in refugee and migrant work, and people from these communities to deepen contextual understanding, foster collaboration and joint action, and establish an international community of peers.

Janet Lim, former UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, launched the forum 2016 on Wednesday, 20 July with her speech “Exploring the Big Picture on Refugees and Migrants.”  She drew on her 34 years of experience to present an overview of the present situation, operational challenges, and changes within the migration sector of development. Among the changes she noted, she included the emerging relevance of acknowledging the agency of migrants themselves: “Another area of change, one that is close to my heart, is the need to recognize that displaced people, whether they be refugees, IDPs, or migrants are people who have capacities and need also to be given a chance to help themselves.”

In the afternoon of the the same day, participants broke into discussion groups to engage with the topic “How the big issues play out in our own contexts.” After this discussion, participants have been invited to attend an exclusive comedy show at the end of the day. Comedy for Change presents four internationally acclaimed comedians: Conrad Koch, Stuart Taylor, Celeste Ntuli, and Dana Alexander. Participants will explore the element of comedy and how it can be used in conflict transformation through their own experience of comedy at the show tonight.

On Thursday, 21 July, participants will have the opportunity to choose between seven workshops that address various relevant topics such as how to create calm in chaos and that are led by professional peacebuilders from around the world. Friday will offer time for sharing stories and for reflection. The afternoon session will encourage participants to brainstorm possibilities to progress, improve, and collaborate in their work. The forum will close on Saturday, 23 July, with a speech by Mpanzu Bamenga, former asylum seeker from Zaïre and founder of the Dutch Inclusion Leaders Network.

Built into the program of this week’s forum are opportunities for self-reflection, like morning quiet time and afternoon reflection, and opportunities for embodied engagement. Special exercises are designed to allow participants to engage with the forum, express themselves, and relate to each other using their body. These exercises are especially relevant at a bilingual forum such as this, as they allow for people who do not speak the same language to relate to each other wordlessly.

We welcome you to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as we undertake serious discussion, thoughtful reflection, and exciting collaboration at IPF 2016!

What is this palace overlooking Montreux? 

Over 100 people have come to discover the Caux Palace during CAUX-IofC Foundation’s Open House Day, on 16 July 2016. Featuring at this event celebrating the foundation’s 70th anniversary : an introduction on CAUX-IofC’s work, a historical treasure hunt throughout the Caux Palace and a workshop on mediation skills.

For visitors mainly from the Montreux region, but also from Ukraine and all over the world, it was the opportunity to finally discover the famous Palace that can be seen high over the city of Montreux. For others, it was simply the occasion to enjoy the idyllic setting and the splendid views over the Montreux Riviera. 

“What makes Caux such a unique place for peace and reconciliation?”

It is through an open discussion with the visitors that the CAUX-IofC Foundation was able to provide an overview of its mission and its activities in Switzerland. Some visitors were surprised as to how many people from different countries could be gathered in such a place, high up in the Swiss mountains, to discuss world peace. Barbara Hintermann, secretary general of the CAUX-IofC Foundation, highlighted Caux as a special and safe space allowing an open and honest dialogue, the importance of sharing positive testimonials and stories and listening to one’s inner voice as some of the factors making the international Caux Conferences an inspiration for change. 

A place steeped in history

To discover this place with a unique heritage and history, visitors were divided into small groups of 5 to 15 and accompanied by local and international guide-story-tellers. The visit included historical re-enactments, insider anecdotes and a chase down the old luxury hotel’s corridors for clues, in a fun and family-friendly atmosphere. The history of the village before the building of the Palace was shared in the exhibition hall, the visit of the Maharaja’s room in the south-east part of the building enabled participants to learn more about the Maharadja’s visits, and finally a stop by the panoramic terrace provided an opportunity to commemorate the Jews that found refuge in the Caux Palace as well as those that did not. 

At the end of the day, visitors participated in a dialogue on the role of mediation. This workshop was led by Enrico Formica, UN mediation expert in Geneva, and focused on acquiring practical skills for mediation in everyone’s own environment. 

We would like to thank all visitors for their interest and for making this day a moment full of exchange and discovery!

After a week full of reflections, exchanges of personal stories, plenary sessions, practical workshops and evening programs, Just Governance for Human Security 2016 has come to a close.

With over 40 countries represented at this year’s conference, including delegations from Senegal, the United States, Sahel region, India, Turkey, Armenia, and Ukraine, and over two hundred participants, a vibrant and diverse atmosphere was inevitable.

The main theme of this year’s conference was ‘the human factor’ in the context of good governance, human security, and migration. With an in depth look at the challenge of migration, addressing the root causes of extremism, looking at the struggle for good governance in business and community, as well as discussing practical skills of trustbuilding, participants brought their own individual experiences, sufferings, struggles, questions and concerns to the table. With dynamic workshops, question and answer periods and space for networking, the conference acted as a global platform where government officials, humanitarian and NGO workers, students, journalists, chiefs, and UN representatives connected and dialogued.

The programme also included the chance for participants to interact in practical workshops, including the skills of negotiation (with over 150 people in attendance), UN mediation, combating corruption for sustainable development, healing history, environmental migration and much more. These sessions equipped participants with hands on strategies, encouraging and inspiring them to bring their learning's back to their own environments and apply them to their local communities.

The UN definition on human security was also discussed, giving permission for participants to explore several questions throughout the week based on the following definition:

“To protect the vital core of all human lives in ways that enhance human freedoms and human fulfillment. Human security means protecting fundamental freedoms – freedoms that are the essence of life. It means protecting people from critical (severe) and pervasive (widespread) threats and situations. It means using processes that build on people’s strengths and aspirations. It means creating political, social, environmental, economic and cultural systems that together give people the building blocks of survival, livelihood, and dignity.”

United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security, 2009.

Questions were asked to the participants for further, in depth discussion and dialogue outside of the plenary, in a smaller community group. These included:

• What would you see/experience in a world where human security is fully valued?
• What challenges to human security you see in your community?
• What will you do to address one or more of these challenges in the coming three months?

These types of questions provide opportunity for monitoring and evaluation of the new created ideas to be implemented and next steps towards action.

The continual discussion of these questions flowed into the final day of Just Governance for Human Security 2016, which was centered on vision, commitments and strategies. Participants arrived at the final session with a wealth of knowledge, ready to discuss and encourage one another. The morning session took participants on a journey, weaving in elements encouraging the process of personal to global change. A time of corporate individual reflection sparked off the morning. The majority of conversation took place between individuals and groups to share key learnings and new inspirations, as well as action points.

• More information on Just Governance 2016 onwww.justgovernance.net.
• If you wish to find out more about the Caux Conferences 2016 please click here.

By Ashley Muller

Two clowns from Commediagillet, a mask and theatre company based in Sweden, kicked off the fourth annual Seeds of Inspiration conference on 12 August 2016.

Over 40 participants, including a delegation from Japan and from Nottingham, UK, gathered in the Main Hall of the Caux Conference Centre for the opening session. The theme of this year’s conference is “Without Borders” and will challenge participants to break through the walls which limit their creativity and separate them from each other.

“Caux today is founded on the principle that we can and indeed must change and that our personal borders are moveable”, said Caux Conferences Manager Nick Foster in his opening speech. He shared a personal story of how borders can induce fear when travelling for those who do not enjoy the same rights to overcome the boundaries and borders that confine them.

“We have to break down the walls to understand that we have common humanity and learn to live together”, said Conference coordinator William Leigh-Knight. He explained to the audience how the conference would address overcoming borders, barriers and boundaries in different ways.

Tilda Stickley shared her experience working with refugees, most of them fleeing Syria through Turkey, on the Greek island of Chios. She spoke of her time spent in a woman’s centre where women and teenage girls found a safe place away from the harsh conditions of the refugee camps. One of the things Ms Stickley learned from her time in Chios is that “small interactions matter, listening to each other’s stories matter”.

Seeds of Inspiration is unique in that it is a conference with a difference which offers a space for reflection, creativity and community. This year’s conference promises to be an inspiring and reflective time, giving participants the opportunity to connect with each other and to be inspired by others. Workshops will provide opportunity to learn how to juggle, sing, dance or clown, as well as space for intergenerational dialogue and reflection on conflict and community.

“We want a world that is just, peaceful and sustainable, this is the dream that gives us, Initiatives of Change, our raison d’être. In order to achieve this, we must start with ourselves.” - Barbara Hintermann, Secretary general of the CAUX-Initiatives of Change Foundation (CAUX-IofC), opening plenary

The fourth annual Just Governance for Human Security conference opened on Tuesday, 12 July 2016, at CAUX-IofC’s conference centre in Caux, Switzerland. CAUX-IofC is celebrating seventy years of trustbuilding, with an overall conference season themed around migration. Caux places a strong emphasis on personal responsibility through creating a space for meaningful dialogue, which sparks individuals towards a more peaceful and just world. The tone was set for a week focusing on the importance of the human factor across a diverse range of governance-related issues, from the challenges of migration fuelled by environmental factors and extremism to issues around integrity in business and community, and the vital importance of healing the wounds of the past in order to move forward towards a better future.

Change leaders Cornelio Sommaruga, honorary President of Initiatives of Change International (IofC) and Barbara Hintermann, Secretary-General of CAUX-Initiatives of Change Foundation welcomed over 200 participants, representing sixty-nine countries to the opening plenary. They shared their hopes for a fruitful conference, imploring all to begin at the individual level when looking at how movement towards a more positive future can be achieved. Sommaruga emphasised encouraged participants not only to discuss issues with vigour during their time at Caux, but to take firm action grounded in ethical principles upon their return to their respective homes. Hintermann too spoke of the need for a system based on values and people who live by these values, noting that Caux is one such place – a place for those of integrity, and for open and honest discussion.

Conference co-convenor John Bond reiterated the importance of everyone playing their part to empower ordinary people in creating a just world, declaring his delight at the wealth of conviction, experience and wisdom present at Caux this year: “There are many complex challenges today: migration, extremism, and healing the wounds of history. The hope for this conference is that everybody leaves with more clarity on how he or she can make a difference in their situation.”

A considerable number of individual change initiators, along with a wide selection of delegations will feature at this year’s conference, presenting and dialoguing across plenaries, workshops and other dynamic activities. Groups from Ukraine, Armenia, Turkey, the Sahel region, Senegal, and a large contingent from Tulsa, Oklahoma make up just some of the participants working towards change this week.

The aims of the 10th anniversary of the TIGE conference were to illuminate and connect models of the new economy, to facilitate inquires into aspects of our economic future and to create a space for individuals to connect to their authentic self. After a full four day programme which was brought to a close on the evening of 9th July, participants' reflections during this session were that their takeaways from the conference were in line with these aims.

The participants' journey, based on the metaphor of the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly, looked at both the macro and micro level of the economic future. There were new economic models presented, for example the Integral model in Slovenia (the idea being born in a previous TIGE conference) to the local level - a courageous social entrepreneur presenting her social enterprise which serves low income amputees in Columbia.

The four inquiries took participants on a deep, collective process of looking into various aspects of economic leadership, these groups fed their discussions into the TIGE Hub each day, the 'catalsying' for the future part of the conference. A talented graphic artist harvested these insights to integrate the knowledge of the sessions which were woven together in the closing session.

The practical side could be found in the workshops where participants gained knowledge on the role of business in peace, the gross national happiness model, sustainable development goals (SDGs), the Holacracy organisational model and more!

Combined with daily morning reflection time and inspiring stories, many synergies were created, projects aligned and future initiatives beginning to emerge. This energy will be captured into the expanding TIGE Chapters that are emerging around the world - from Europe, to the Americas and Africa. After 10 years at Caux, this is where the TIGE team will be focusing their efforts in the coming year - nurturing the growth of these Chapters. Watch this space!

By Talia Smith