Fresh air for Young Ambassadors

Tools for Changemakers 2019

16/08/2019
YAP 2019 congratulations

 

This year’s Young Ambassadors Programme (YAP) brought 39 young people from across Europe to Caux for four intensive days of training in how to work for change in their communities. They then took part in the Tools for Changemakers conference, 14–18 July.

 

YAP 2019 discussion

 

‘We explored our own identity and how to be aware of the lenses and filters we might be looking through,’ said Niall Ridley from the UK, who took part in YAP 2018 and returned this year as a facilitator. ‘We saw how judgement, cynicism and fear can impact our perceptions of the experiences we have. We’ve observed how important it is to build trust. We’ve been each others’ catalysts, helping to distil ideas for initiatives and projects. We’ve introduced each other to silent reflection, and the role it can have in helping us to digest and make sense of our experiences.’

‘The YAP programme was a life-changing experience for me,’ said another of the facilitators, Daniela Moisei from Moldova. ‘This programme is like a breath of fresh air. It has everything a young leader needs: time for oneself and one’s ideas, informational and moral support, an active and enthusiastic group of peers and a breath-taking setting.’

When Daniela first came to Caux as a Young Ambassador in 2016, she was a radio presenter, the President of the Student Council at her university and the founder of a school for young entrepreneurs. Her experience motivated her to continue her Master’s studies abroad and inspired her to work for an international organization.

‘YAP offers a networking platform, where young people can exchange project ideas, best practices, conflict resolution methods and other techniques that have worked well in their communities,’ she went on. ‘The alumni community grows over the years, and transforms our days here into a continuous opportunity for promotion, cooperation and collaboration.’

 

YAP 2019 holding hands

 

‘I returned to Caux to facilitate this year because it was here in where, for the first time in my life, I felt inspired,’ said Mariam Inayat from the UK, who has been involved with YAP for three years.

‘The YAP programme is important because we are helping to build resilient and ethical leaders not just for the future, but for today. We have a duty to ensure that young people have a platform to be involved in dialogue. Too often there are discussions about us, without us. But our time at Caux has gone beyond that. We have not only been given a platform, but also the tools that will equip us to be successful changemakers.’

 

YAP 2019 group

 

Text: Mary Lean, with contributions from Daniela Moisei, Mariam Inayat, Niall Ridley

Photos: Leela Channer, Paula Mariane

Featured Story
Off
Topics
Caux Forum

related stories

Viki square EN no logo.png

Europe: A Mindset of Diversity

Spanish journalist Victoria Martín de la Torre is passionate about Europe, diversity and interfaith relations. Here she reflects on different aspects of Europe, based on her PhD research which led her...

YAP 2021 article square

Young Ambassadors Programme 2021: Learning to listen

When Indonesian law student Agustina Zahrotul Jannah discovered the Young Ambassadors Programme (YAP) on Google she felt both excited and hopeless: excited because she hoped it might give her the skil...

YAP goes online

The Young Ambassadors Programme goes online

The Young Ambassadors Programme (YAP) went online for the first time this summer, after six years of continuous growth and development and a pause in 2020 for reflection and adjustment to the new real...

Patrick Magee 600x600

‘Where Grieving Begins – Building Bridges after the Brighton Bomb’: a live interview with Patrick Magee

The second in Tools for Changemakers’ series of Stories for Changemakers took place on 25 August 2021, with an interview with Patrick Magee, who planted a bomb at the Grand Hotel, Brighton, in 1984, w...

Books for changemakers

Books for Changemakers

A bi-monthly drop-in book club to resource you and fellow change-makers. Dive or dip into important and inspiring resources and ideas, connect with kindred spirits and explore your inner wisdom. ...

Geneva Peace Week T4C square teaser

The Courageous Listener: Bearing Our Own Discomfort

Listening is a powerful tool that can have powerful effects on its recipient. It is also a difficult one to master. On 5 November 2020, Initiatives of Change Switzerland led an online workshop on the ...

Mohammed Abu-Nimer

Mohammed Abu-Nimer: Dialogue – Weaving peace into the fabric of society

Mohammed Abu-Nimer is Professor at the American University’s School of International Service in International Peace and Conflict Resolution in Washington DC and a Senior Advisor to the International D...

Sabica Pardesi

Learning to be a Peacemaker 2020

"I am really thankful to the person who introduced me to the Initiatives for Change programme "Learning to be a Peacemaker". It was life-changing in so many ways. It opened my eyes to things we know i...

SCreenshot keywords T4C 2020

Tools for Changemakers 2020 – Shaping the future together through dialogue

Can you truly listen? What if we all had the power to make our communities more cohesive and inclusive by starting to deeply listen to each other? The Tools for Changemakers conference was a three-day...

Armenian-Kurdish-Turkish Dialogue 2019

It takes more courage to love than to hate

The Armenian-Kurdish-Turkish Dialogue 2019 took place during the Tools for Changemakers conference, bringing together people of Armenian, Kurdish and Turkish backgrounds to explore sensitive issues th...

Jens Wilhelmsen

Jens Wilhelmsen: IofC values as a practical tool for change

After fighting against the German occupation of his country, Norway, Jens Wilhelmsen worked with Initiatives of Change (IofC) in Germany and Japan. In over 70 years of fulltime work for IofC on three ...

LPM 2019

Healing the alienation of young European Muslims

How can the alienation felt by so many young Muslims be healed? Imam Ajmal Masroor believes that the alienation stems largely from the inner conflict generated by feeling caught between two value-syst...

Marc Isserles

How storytelling can foster healing and reconciliation

Marc Isserles’s poignant one-man show, We Must Save the Children, comes to life when you discover that his grandparents sought shelter at the Caux Palace in 1945 as Jewish refugees. The play took plac...

Tools for Changemakers 2019

Rebuilding Trust in Europe: An Overview

The first edition of the ‘Tools for Changemakers’ conference took place from 14-18 July 2019 at the Caux Forum. It was based on the conclusions from the conference ‘Addressing Europe’s Unfinished Busi...