Afghan soccer player and women’s rights advocate Kawser Amine was a guest speaker at a Human Library event during the online 2022 Creative Leadership conference on Living your Possibilites - From Healing to Action. On International Women's Day 2023, celebrating the achievements of women from all walks of life, she talks about her remarkable journey and her fight for every woman to be free to fulfill her potential.

Whether she’s on the soccer field, or speaking up for women’s rights, Kawser Amine doesn’t believe in giving up. For eight years, she was a member of Afghanistan’s first national women’s soccer team, a risky business in a society where infringing cultural conventions can put your life at risk.

Three times a week, she and her sister went to the army helicopter ground in Kabul, passing through 12 checkpoints on the way to train behind high walls.

Once a bomb exploded behind them just as they were getting onto the bus home. ‘It was very hard, but we did not give up because if we did, there would be no opportunity for the women and girls standing behind us.

We opened up the field for girls. Before the regime change, hundreds of girls were playing soccer in Afghanistan. I felt so proud!’

Kawser was only nine in 2007 when she was selected for the team. (She explains that, because of cultural norms, the women’s national team is made up of youth and teens.) Her mother must be remarkable, to allow her children to follow their dreams in the face of such risks? Yes, Kawser agrees: ‘She did an amazing job of supporting us in continuing our education and playing our sport.’

Kawser went to the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) in 2013 to study political science, got married in 2014, and resigned from professional soccer the next year, with her daughter on the way. In 2016 the AUAF was attacked. Thirteen people were killed and 50 injured. The Taliban followed up with a letter to each student, threatening to kill them if they continued to study there. The university closed down indefinitely, and Kawser transferred her degree to the Indian School of Business Management in New Delhi, where she graduated in general management with a specialization in international relations.

From Afghanistan to the US

Meanwhile, she and her husband looked for ways to leave the country for their own safety and for their daughter’s future. ‘Afghanistan is not a country where girls are safe to explore or to think big. I didn’t want her to experience what I had experienced.’ Finally, in 2019 they left for the US under a scheme open to them because her husband worked with the American military and NATO. 

The adjustment was difficult. In Afghanistan, Kawser had worked as a political advisor, gender advisor and programme director for the government. ‘I struggled to find myself as an immigrant woman in San Francisco, but I never thought of leaving my activism,’ she says. ‘I got a job as a bank teller, but my heart and mind were far away from my job.’ Then Covid started, and because Kawser was pregnant, her doctor advised her to resign.

Over the next 18 months, during which her son was born, Kawser began to build her own foundation, Women’s Solidarity for Peace and Leadership, with the help of a friend and the network she created. Then, in August 2021, Kabul fell. ‘I knew from the very beginning that the Taliban would stop girls’ activities and women’s access to their fundamental rights.’  She designed a social media campaign, Stand for Girls’ Education in Afghanistan.

New initiatives

A year later, when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was beaten to death in Iran for allegedly failing to comply with women’s dress regulations, Kawser realized that her advocacy needed to reach wider. She launched Join My Voice, an international women’s solidarity campaign which invites women to share their stories. ‘The campaign is designed to respond to women’s crises, such as inequality, sexual assault and violence of all sorts, and to uplift their stories and experiences,’ she says.

Kawser believes in the power of sport to bring change for the better. ‘Soccer is not just a game to me: it’s a language of unity, power, solidarity and peace.’

Alongside her social media campaigns, Kawser is setting up the Amine Soccer Academy, to help vulnerable children to realize their dreams of playing soccer. ‘I want to give them the confidence that comes from sport, the skills to succeed and the belief that they are capable of greatness.’ She has found a warm response to her plan from local government and schools and allies in such organizations as the US Soccer Foundation and Beyond Sport to partner with her.

She is also taking part in an initiative of the National Football League, which promotes football in high schools as a means of preventing students from falling into addiction. Recently she spoke at a high school in Arizona and was astonished by the warmth of the students’ response.

‘I never give up,’ she told them. ‘I fought for my education. You guys have many opportunities. Please use them to change your society. I come from a country that has seen more than 45 years of war and oppression. But instead of becoming a victim, I choose to turn my anger into action.’

A call for gender equality in Afghanistan

On International Women’s Day, Kawser calls on world leaders to push for gender equality in Afghanistan. ‘Women in Afghanistan are not even allowed to go out of their homes without a male companion: can you imagine what it is like in families where there are no males? I hear these stories every day and night, and my heart breaks.’

The Creative Leadership conference Living your Possibilities - From Healing to Action challenged participants to explore their potential to change the world for the better. Nearly 200 people from all over the world took part. Kawser’s mission fitted right in.

Read the full report on Creative Leadership 2022

Soccer is not just a game to me: it’s a language of unity, power, solidarity and peace.

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Watch Kawser introducing her work with Women’s Solidarity for Peace and Leadership

• Interview by Mary Lean
• Photos published with kind permission by Kawser Amine

24 February 2022 marks a day that many of us will not forget and divided the lives of many into ‘before’ and ‘after’. Since then, millions of displaced people have left their homes in Ukraine in search of a safe space.

Initiatives of Change Switzerland felt compelled to respond to the need and decided to offer accommodation and support at their centre in Caux. The Caux Refuge was born.

The Caux Palace has a long tradition of providing a safe space for people from conflict areas. It acted as a refugee centre during WWII, before Initiatives of Change bought the building with the purpose of restoring trust between people in post-war Europe.

The Caux Refuge was located in the Villa Maria next to the Caux Palace. Alina and her mother Liudmyla were the first Ukrainians welcomed at the Caux Refuge on 23 March 2022. ‘I am so thankful to all the members of the wonderful IofC and Caux community, who brought all the essentials – healthcare items, medicine, clothes and food, all with great generosity.’ Alina told Ukrainian journalist Anastasia Slyvinska, who supported the Foundation’s communications department, giving her fellow Ukrainians in Caux a voice through a series of interviews.

The Caux Refuge quickly started filling up. Thirty-five Ukrainians, including eight families with children, stayed at the Villa Maria during the year. Some had a direct connection with IofC, others were sent by family members who had been to Caux or were part of the IofC- inspired Foundations for Freedom (F4F) network. For some, Caux was only a place to pause, gather strength and then move on. Others stayed the entire year.

They included people from all walks of life – a politician and his family, a teacher and her daughter, a nurse.

The children quickly integrated into local life. ‘The school here is fantastic. They organized a special class with five boys, a teacher and a translator’, said Anatolii, father of three teenage boys.

IofC Switzerland’s liaison officers, Ekaterina and Marina, helped the Caux Refuge residents enrol in French lessons (‘Language is crucial’, says Oksana), apply for internships and training, discover the social welfare system in Switzerland, explore Swiss culture and customs and and gain in autonomy.

Since that fatal day in February 2022, a year has gone by and the Ukrainians of the Caux Refuge have moved on. All but one have left the Villa Maria. Many have decided to stay in Switzerland and close to Caux.

This last year hasn’t been easy. But the Ukrainians of the Caux Refuge are now ready for their next steps.

We wish them all the very best for this next chapter in their life and are grateful that we were able to help and offer them a safe space in these difficult times.

Thank you

So many have helped and supported us over this past year and we are grateful to each one of you. This list is by no means complete but we would like to name some of those who have been particularly involved in making the Caux Refuge a success:

• Ekaterina, Horia, Fabian, Adrien, Myriam, Edna, Claude, Valentin, Nick and Stephanie from IofC Switzerland
• Véronique and Sylvie from the Amis de Caux association
• Eliane, Andrew, Amandine, Marina and Alessandro from the village of Caux
• Victor, Greg, Patric, Ana, Patrick and Mica from a local hotel school
• Etablissement Vaudois d'Accueil des Migrants (EVAM), Commune de Montreux, Société de Développement de Caux, Amis de Caux, L’Armée du Salut, Office régional de placement (ORP), IofC Netherlands, IofC UK

A special thanks goes to all those who have responded to our call for donations and supported the Caux Refuge financially!

Without you, this year would not have been possible! THANK YOU!

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Everything is forever changing. Nothing is permanent. Nothing can last forever. If the curve has gone down so drastically it means, at some point it is bound to go upwards again! Of this I am absolutely convinced and I have trust.

Oksana, Caux Refuge

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Eliane Stallybrass lives in Caux and has supported the Caux Refuge with French lessons, an open ear, friendship, advice and practical help. Looking back on the past year she writes:

A year has gone by since the first Ukrainians arrived in Caux. Their time in Caux has enabled them to gain a foothold in Switzerland, to find security and to prepare themselves for their next steps which are still so uncertain.

They are taking French classes and the EVAM, the institution that looks after refugees in this canton in Switzerland, has allocated them a small sum of money so that they can settle ‘at home’ with their own lease. They have all found a flat and some of them are housed in the rectory of the Protestant Church in Montreux where 11 people, including families with children, are now free from the worry of finding somewhere to live. Their move to Montreux took place on 1 March. A local hotel school donated desks and tables, an organization offered beds and mattresses, and IofC Switzerland is happy to see chairs and tables, received 60 years ago for the Caux Palace dining room, finding a new life. There are also dishes, towels, sheets and duvets that have finally come out of the cupboards where they have been sleeping for years.

Several of the Ukrainians have become close friends. We celebrated Liuba’s 70th together and the oldest Caux Refuge resident, Anna, has an incredible gift for making friends. Everyone knows and loves her in Caux and even though she hasn't managed to learn more than ‘Hello, how are you?’ she will have coffee at everyone's house.

We will miss their smiles and their ‘Bonjour, ça va?’ here in Caux.

By Ulrike Ott Chanu and Eliane Stallybrass

When you own a unique historic building like the Caux Palace with its 225 rooms, 1,600 windows and 1.6 kilometres of corridors, reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 seems a Herculean task. But each step on the way is important. Over the last years IofC Switzerland has worked continuously on improving the ecological sustainability of its flagship building. 

In its current edition, the top real estate magazine in French-speaking Switzerland, immobilier.ch, showcases the Caux Palace as one of five positive examples of how historic buildings can be preserved and renovated, while improving ecological sustainability.

Read the full article featuring the Caux Palace (in French)

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Restoring historic buildings keeps local history alive and anchors them in their communities. This is certainly true of the Caux Palace. Its prominent position high above Lake Geneva and its long and rich history attracts tourists and visitors.

Restoration is also a step towards ecological sustainability because it maximizes the use of existing materials and reduces waste and consumption.

Sustainable living is part of IofC Switzerland’s mission, as is preserving the Caux Palace. The renovation of the Caux Palace has been carried out gently and subtly to preserve its heritage. This work has included:

• Progressive insulation of the 1500 m2 of flat roofs. A study is underway to evaluate the installation of invisible (flat) solar panels
• The regulation of heating in certain areas such as corridors and staircases.
• Regulation of heating in such areas as the corridors and staircases. 
• Reduction of the hours when the heating is on.
•  The use of efficient thermostatic valves and of water flow limiters.
•  Improved seals on doors and windows and insulation of blinds.
•  The replacement of lighting with LEDs.
•  An awareness campaign for all occupants.
•  A multitude of small measures which, when taken together, represent significant savings.

But the biggest milestone on the Foundation’s road to sustainability has probably been the replacement of the Caux Palace’s oil-fired heating system with a wood-fired one, fed 80% with forestry chips and 20% with oil. The wood comes from the region, thereby reducing CO2 emissions from transport and supporting the local economy.

Setting up the new system in the confined space of the Caux Palace’s basement was not an easy task. The project began in July 2015 and the system was inaugurated in October 2016. It saves about 600 tons of fossil-fuel-based CO2 every year.

We are pleased and grateful that our efforts to maintain and restore the Caux Palace have been recognized in the region. The Foundation will continue to ensure the preservation and sustainability of this unique place.

Read more:

• https://www.immobilier.ch/fr/actualite-magazines/e-paper (p. 9)*
• https://www.iofc.ch/stories/behind-scenes-caux-palace-meticulous-work
• https://www.24heures.ch/le-caux-palace-change-ses-grandes-chaudieres-520927066202

By Ulrike Ott Chanu / Photo top: Paula Mariane

Creative Leadership aims to be an inclusive space where diverse participants from around the globe can come together and reconceptualize leadership. The 2022 conference took people on a journey of personal and collective growth, using arts, story-sharing, workshops and dialogue groups. These tools helped participants unlock their own leadership potential.

Creative Leadership 2022 guided its participants on a six-day journey from healing to action. The conference took place online from 23 to 29 July – with a break day in between – and brought together around 194 participants in 54 countries to engage in meaningful dialogue, listen to inspirational stories from like-minded changemakers, and gain tools from experienced speakers. At the heart of it all, the Creative Leadership conference offered space for inner reflection and network building.

The theme of Living your Possibilities: From Healing to Action was a response to global events, in times of uncertainty and rapid change. To take action and create change, we must begin by reconnecting with our inner voice and finding our own healing process. The conference was based on the idea that healing is a continuous process that requires conscious effort and deliberate action in our day-to-day lives.

Now more than ever, conscious leadership and collective action are required. This was an opportunity to empower global voices to come together to find hope and healing for themselves and their communities.

The Team

The inspiration for the Creative Leadership conference came from more than 250 young changemakers of 98 nationalities who have taken part in the Caux Peace and Leadership Programme (CPLP).

The conference was organized by an international team of 10, supported by 16 facilitators and six others, as well as  the Caux Peace and Leadership Programme team, the Caux Forum team and the IofC Switzerland team.

The Programme

We began each day with time for individual reflection and growth. Activities then focused on fostering a culture of solidarity and collective healing through compassion, awareness and overcoming individualism. Finally, we explored creative methods to reignite participants’ energy for taking personal and collective action.

Creative Leadership uses a wide range of activities to take people on the journey through healing to action. The centrepiece is dialogue groups, which bring participants together to discuss and share their different perspectives. This places participants at the centre, rather than requiring them to be passive listeners. These encounters are deepened through the time-honoured IofC practice of quiet time, offering space and time to reflect and process. Webinars and workshops focus on issues concerning the participants, with speakers sharing their own experiences.  Workshops are more interactive. with more time for questions and answers. In the human library people share highly moving personal stories, as a bridge to understanding. Finally, tea time offers a chance to chat informally and get to know other conference participants.

Discover the full programme

Dialogue Groups

The dialogue groups focused on exploring a four-part journey, taking people from healing the wounds of the past, personal or collective, and moving towards taking action in the future to prevent further suffering. This involved engaging with the inner journey and then taking outward into daily life. On the first day participants were divided into small facilitated discussion groups, which they stayed with for all four sessions.

Journey of conscious healing – The first dialogue group focused on creating the space for the journey of conscious healing.

Culture of solidarity – The second dialogue group allowed participants to engage with the connection between solidarity and healing, and discuss how to create a sense of healing.

Igniting action – The third dialogue group focused on story-telling and on using imagination and experiences to ignite action through healing and solidarity.

Reflection – The final dialogue group offered the chance to reflect on previous discussions and set future intentions.

The facilitators of each group had the freedom to shape their group according to their own facilitation style. This meant that every group tailored its own unique space and built its own special connection of trust.

Read more

Webinars

Culture of Solidarity - 25 July 2022

Solidarity is the bridge between the possibility of healing and the step towards action and justice. Most healing processes can't be addressed alone, a culture of solidarity is therefore needed.

During this session we began to see solidarity as essential to our individual and collective healing processes and as an indispensable element in enabling us to move towards global action in the search for justice.

Find out more about the webinar and the speaker

 

Going to the Root - 28 July 2022

This webinar focused on the human journey of going to the root. Regardless of the social, political, environmental or economic issue, going to the root means discovering the deeper layers of beingness where real, meaningful and sustainable change can manifest.

We explored three interrelated topics: Indigenous prophecies and spiritual leadership, children and intergenerational collaboration and, lastly, art as a vector for social healing.

The aim was to support changemakers in returning to their spiritual homes and seeing  action through the lenses of social healing and personal healing.

After celebrating our webinar, a seven-month period of community building was  launched, as a partnership between the Creative Leadership & School of Conscious Politics team.  The main reference was to the seven steps of the Spiritual Politics model:

1. Listen to the social pains of your context
2. Reconnect with your soul mission
3. Acknowledge your gifts and talents
4. Bond with the right networks and coalitions
5. Take time to strategize to overcome obstacles
6. Manifest your sacred activism
7. Celebrate the learnings

Find out more and discover the speakers

 

Workshops

 

 

 

Human Libraries

The Human Library sessions were a space for story-sharing. Participants and speakers connected and grew through listening to different experiences.

Sunday 25 July - Journey of Conscious Healing

• Druthi Rathod (India)
• Jake Jay-Lewis (UK)
• Rainer Gude (USA/Switzerland)

Wednesday 27 July - Cultivating a Culture of Solidarity

• Dalia Ihab Younis (Egypt)
• Olena Kashkarova (Ukraine)
• Kawser Amine (USA/Afghanistan)

Read more

 

Quiet Time

Quiet time is a core practice of Initiatives of Change, and one of the best ways to introspect, connect with one’s inner self and others. For this reason, this year’s Creative Leadership conference offered a collective quiet time at the beginning of every day, in order to use inner listening and reflection as a core tool in moving from healing to action.

During this 30 minutes, participants had the chance to explore different ways of practising inner reflection, ranging from open reflections (through songs or texts) to guided questions related to each day’s theme. The sessions included room for general sharing.

Each quiet time facilitator brought their own definition and experience along with their practice. Participants were encouraged to take what they adopted into their day to day lives.

 

Tea Time

At the end of each day, participants were offered an informal optional space where they could meet webinar and human library speakers in smaller groups. Other breakout rooms included a culture sharing space, international music jam sessions, art sessions and an unfacilitated space where participants could meet each other.

Tea times were ranked the second most successful sessions in the conference, with dialogue groups taking the lead. These spaces, where people could participate actively and listen to one another, helped forge lasting and meaningful connections.

 

Closing Session

The closing ceremony began with music provided by the Trio Rigudon, a father-son band composed of Bennet on the violin, Raphael on the cello and Clement on the double bass, playing everything from oriental to jazz.

Participants were given the chance to share what had affected them most deeply from the dialogue groups, before finishing with a celebration of our backgrounds, with participants speaking about their countries and culture.

 

 

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What participants said this year
 

We blossomed from silence to relevant deep sharing. We felt a safe space where we trusted each other with deep things, and laughter and love.

Charles Aquilina

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We all came in as individuals acknowledging that we needed to acknowledge pain and accept and embrace healing. From there we were all walking on this journey and held each others’ hands. The culture of solidarity came to the forefront when we walked together through haze not knowing what is beyond.

Arpan  

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We started as a group and ended as a family of diversity.

Fahim Mayar

 

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Conscious healing plus unconscious healing equals optimal healing.

 Swee Lin

 

Download the full report

 

 

It is with pleasure that we announce the appointment of Ignacio Packer as Executive Director of the Initiatives of Change Switzerland Foundation, starting 1 May 2023. 

Ignacio Packer is currently the Executive Director of ICVA, bringing with him more than 30 years of experience in the fields of development cooperation, human rights and humanitarian assistance. He served a five-year term as Secretary General of the Terre des Hommes International Federation, and previously worked for the Terre des Hommes Foundation, the Swiss Tropical Institute, the European Association for Development and Health, Médecins Sans Frontières, KPMG and the European Bank for Latin America. He has been involved in various Initiatives of Change activities, primarily in Caux, and has passion and vision for the future.

‘On behalf of the Council I am delighted to welcome Ignacio as our next Executive Director,’ says Jacqueline Coté, President of IofC Switzerland.  ‘He possesses the essential values-based leadership skills that are needed to steer the Foundation in its next phase of development, as well as an international network built over several decades that will greatly support our new strategy. Both of these elements will ensure the sustainability of our Foundation and its unique contribution both to the Initiatives of Change movement and our partners.’

Ignacio says of this new opportunity: ‘I am grateful for what I have experienced with my colleagues in leading the ICVA network.  I am deeply honoured by the trust the board of IofC Switzerland has placed in me. I have a high degree of confidence in the strengths of IofC and its dedicated team. I am excited to contribute with IofC to building trust across the world’s divides, leading ethically and living sustainably.’