Understanding our comparative advantages

On Tuesday March 20th, during the ICVA's (International Council of Voluntary Agencies) annual conference, IofC was asked to facilitate an interactive session at the Centre International de Conférences (CICG) in Geneva. The conference focused on navigating the humanitarian, development and peace nexus and aimed to introduce actors from these different sectors to each other so that they could learn from one another.

The Initiatives of Change (IofC) session, entitled “Understanding our comparative advantages,” was facilitated by Rainer Gude, Strategic Partnerships Manager, and Sofia Mueller, Project Coordinator at IofC Switzerland. Over 130 participants were invited to choose one of twelve storytellers to listen to. IofC was also represented by Angelo and Daphrose Barampama of Creators of Peace. They both shared stories of how they got involved with IofC, as well as the peace and development work they do in Burundi.

Afterwards, participants were invited to form groups of 3 with individuals who had listened to different storytellers. They were asked to discuss the question, "What are you learning about working in the nexus in your group discussions?" As part of the development, peacebuilding and humanitarian nexus, participants were asked to share their impressions of the stories they had listened to and see how this related to their own work.  The session ended with the facilitators asking participants to write on a post-it one of their key learning points from the session and stick it on a flip chart before leaving the room.  Many participants were grateful for the interactive and dynamic style of the session and for the more intimate discussions, proving that conferences can also be a place for deep and meaningful conversations.

Photo: ICVA