Conference report 2013

International Caux Conferences

REPORT 2013

www.caux.ch

Initiatives for human security

CONTENTS Conferences are organised by CAUX-Initiatives of Change and Initiatives of Change International every year in Caux, above Montreux, Switzerland. CAUX-Initiatives of Change, a charitable Swiss foundation, owns and runs the Caux conference centre. It is a founder Member of IofC International. The 2013 programme consisted of a series of conferences, each covered in this report. More information, including the full texts of many talks, videos and photos can be found at www.caux.ch/2013.

Editorial Healing begins with the commitment of one individual

Learning to live in a multicultural world 3

The heart of resilience Building trust across generations ‘Diversity is richness’

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Seeds of inspiration

Caux-Expo An astonishing exhibition at the Caux-Expo

Official Day Inspiration for a broad audience

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Just governance Seeking a governance of integrity, a complex issue Reconciliation after conflict How to overcome the ‘resource curse’

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Silence is golden 18 The Charter for Compassion 18 Finding inspiration in creative workshops and in the theatre 19 Sharing experiences and inspiration 19

International Caux Conferences 2014

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A few figures

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Healing history A shared work of healing and justice Coming clean with history A global undertaking against racial segregation

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Caux Dialogue on land and security Adding ethics to economics Practical action on dry-land areas Is restoring land a business opportunity?

Global initiative to preserve dry lands signed

by IUCN and UNCCD Land and security in the Sahel region

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Trust and integrity in the global economy Recipes for leadership in today’s business world ‘West is not best’ Katrin Muff: ‘Developing the human in the leader’ ‘One is never too young to become a leader’

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Children as actors for transforming society Making child participation matter The future of education: mixing innovation, imagination and interaction ‘We need to listen to the children!’

Children’s workshops: encouraging participation

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Publisher: CAUX-Initiatives of Change foundation Editor in chief: Cynthia Jhaveri Texts and photos: Mirjam Beeler, Naïke Bochatay, Laura Graafen, Cynthia Jhaveri, James Nikitine, Pontus Wallstén Design and Print: Brunner AG, Druck und Medien, 6010 Kriens, Switzerland, October 2013

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EDITORIAL

Healing begins with the commitment of one individual Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General, summarised the spirit of our 2013 conference season when he shared his vision of the three pillars on which to build societies.

In his concluding address at the ‘Trust and Integrity in the Global Economy’ conference, he called for ‘peace and security, economic development but also the rule of law and respect for human rights.

No long-term development is possible without them. Every group of people must be respected. We have to look out for each other and remain vigilant. Genocide begins with the humiliation of one individual.’

The conferences broached issues of human security in that necessary spirit of listening and care.

One highlight was the Caux Dialogue for Land and Security which gathered together high level participants around Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the UN’s Convention to Combat Desertification, for a three-day consultation. If this battle is lost, 60 million people could migrate from subSaharan Africa towards North Africa and Europe by 2020.

The Healing History conference brought the issue of resentment and trust into focus, as well as the need for stories, more than facts, to bring about change. This was particularly emphasised by Dr Gail Christopher who leads the Kellogg Foundation’s wide-ranging racial equity actions in the USA, supporting racial healing in communities and aiming to end structural racism.

Children as actors for transforming society was a world premiere, in partnership with like-minded organisations such as the Child-toChild Trust. The conference incorporated a large group of children and addressed – with them – the theme of childrens’ participation, an important emerging need as children can no longer be shielded from the sound and fury of aggression and war or from the pressure to perform.

We owe immense gratitude to our sponsors, staff and volunteers for making these 2013 conferences possible. Special thanks to the conference organising teams, to the Caux Interns who were the

backbone of the house’s services, to the Caux Scholars who brought an amazing support while working on their curriculum, to the Caux Artists Programme who produced high quality performances and to so many others who would deserve to be named here.

In his speech, Kofi Annan stressed that ‘one is never too young to become a leader’. Nor is one ever too old, may I add, thinking of the late Stéphane Hessel who became a global star at the age of 93 with his booklets Time for Outrage! and Get involved!

In the face of the world’s needs, whatever our inadequacies may be, we must get involved. There is no excuse. May the 2013 international Caux conferences bring this conviction home to all those who will browse through this report.

Antoine Jaulmes President Foundation CAUX-Initiatives of Change

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CAUX-EXPO

An impressive exhibition at the Caux-Expo During the whole summer, an exhibition of EPFL architecture students took place in the exhibition space at the conference centre.

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he exhibit was inaugurated by Andrew Stallybrass, director of the Caux-Expo, and Christoph Spreng, CAUX-Initiatives of Change Foundation Council member, in the presence of Laurent Wehrli, Mayor of Montreux, and recently elected President of the Grand Conseil of the Vaud Canton.

Organised in a joint partnership with CAUX-Initiatives of Change, the SDC (Development Society of Caux), the SHMS (Swiss Hotel Management School), the Montreux City council and the EPFL (Polytechnic Federal School of Lausanne), this public event was a great opportunity to showcase a model of the Caux mountain and twenty different drawings of architectural projects.

Andrea Bassi, professor in architecture at the EPFL and head of the project, conducted a presentation of the 3rd year students’ audacious drawings. The students worked on an entirely fictional project over eight months for which they had to create 20,000 square meters of buildings, including office space, commercial space and living space in the Caux village. The purpose of the project was to open up the debate around a

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Andrea Bassi explains the projects of his students.

Lake Léman metropolis, with an emphasis on Caux and the Riviera region of the Vaud Canton.

The students challenged themselves to overcome the difficulties that such a construction implicates on a steep, inaccessible mountain.

At the crossroads of architecture, urban planning and ecological, futuristic and sustainability values, the results were curious, very well researched and often phenomenal. We can mention the one project that imagined a prolongation of the CauxPalace down onto the cliff edge, thus creating a massive 14-storey promontory.

OFFICIAL DAY

Inspiration for a broad audience On June 30, the public came to the traditional Official Day to which representatives of the international organisations in Geneva, diplomats and representatives of the federal and cantonal and local authorities are invited annually. The speakers shared with the audience their visions on just governance.

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he Official Day of the Caux 2013 ‘Initiatives for human security’ opened with speeches by Antoine Jaulmes and Dr Omnia Marzouk, the presidents of CAUX-Initiatives of Change and Initiatives of Change International, respectively.

They pointed out the importance of striving for change on all levels – from grassroots to leadership, beginning with ourselves. ‘You need to think big but also work on small things,’ Dr Marzouk noted.

Swiss Ambassador Claude Altermatt from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs started a plenary session ‘Towards a just governance.’ He paid tribute to IofC’s continuous efforts to bring together people from various backgrounds and engage them in dialogue, and underlined the Antoine Jaulmes and Omnia Marzouk common goals of Switzerland and IofC: the promotion of peace, democracy and responses it requires on all levels. In rule of law through dialogue and com- turn, he highlighted that just governmon understanding. ‘Switzerland is proud ance and human security demand a to support these series of conferences,’ he ‘globalization of responsibilities’. stated.

Building on her work with the CanaDr Cornelio Sommaruga, Honorary dian indigenous people, Dr Maggie President of IofC International and for- Hodgson emphasized the role of the mer President of the International Com- community in identity building and mittee of the Red Cross, pointed at the personal change – the starting point of consequences of globalization and the just governance.

The day ended with a much applauded speech by the Congolese Senator and former Minister of Economy Moïse Nyarugabo, a former rebel who is now committed to the fight against corruption. With a personal account, he illustrated that fighting corruption starts with ourselves.

Stressing the responsibility of Africans in the fight for good governance on their continent, he also reminded the West of its responsibility to assist in this effort.

Claude Altermatt

Cornelio Sommaruga

Moïse Nyarugabo

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JUST GOVERNANCE

Seeking a governance of integrity, a complex issue During the ‘Just governance’ conference, a plenary session on seeking a governance of integrity inspired a lot of discussion, during and after the meeting. Two of the main themes of the conference were corruption and extractive industries. urged me to change my mind,’ she said.

‘I stood firm, suggesting we should instead give our candidates extra lessons in their weakest subjects. They accepted and that year we achieved an 80% success rate.’

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kuru Aukot directed the Committee of Experts which developed the 2010 Kenyan constitution. Kenya’s constitution now sets out the qualities expected of its political leaders, he said. ‘But without drivers of change, agents of integrity, the constitution may not be worth the paper it is written on.’ He is working to bring younger people into politics through a model of representation whereby more political power is distributed to Kenya’s 47 counties.

Shehu Sani, President of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, said that democracy is the foundation of integrity in governance. ‘During three decades of military rule, some of us had to stand against dictatorship,’ he said. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and served four years before military rule ended in 1999. ‘Now we are working for transparency in governance and we are making progress.’

Lucienne Munono, a school principal from the Democratic Republic of Congo, told of her struggle to overcome corruption in education. ‘When I refused to allow my students to bribe the inspectors, the students and their teachers

Oleksandra Baklanova from Ukraine said that, in the absence of vision from political leaders, civil society can offer this vision. ‘In Ukraine we created the Nestor Group of professionals from many walks of life.’ As one project, they challenged the strategy of the city of Kiev, which focused on tourism. ‘We said that the priority should be the intellectual and creative services which shape the environment which tourists wish to experience. Gradually this approach received support and has now been voted a city strategy.’

Lucienne Munono

Oleksandra Baklanova

Reconciliation after conflict A discussion around reconciliation, whether racial, religious or political, showed how civil society has an important part to play in educating reconciliation, transformation and forgiveness.

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he ability to reconcile foes and bridge bridged lies between the state and society. divisions is a vital attribute of anyone ‘Most people feel excluded from the poseeking just governance. For Ashraf Ali, litical process because, in their view, it President of the FATA Research Centre in benefits only the elite.’ He is working to Northern Pakistan, the division to be improve the quality of governance and he

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also believes that the West could help. ‘If the money spent on drone attacks in my region went into developing the region, support for the militants would drain away.’

Bedan Mbugua, director of a major Kenyan media company, described his decision in 2009 to meet the leader of Kenya’s ruthless gangster organization, Mungiki, whose members had just killed 27 people in cold blood. They met, and their discussion profoundly affected the leader, who ordered his followers to stop the killing – a decision which has held ever since.

From Northern Ireland, Inderjit Bhogal told of the work of Corrymeela, a community devoted to reconciling the warring factions in that country’s conflict. ‘A peace agreement was signed 15 years ago,’

he said. ‘But reconciliation is harder work than peace. Like Caux, Corrymeela is cre-

ating spaces in which difficult people can meet and hold difficult conversations.’

Ashraf Ali

Inderjit Bhogal

How to overcome the ‘resource curse’ A plenary and some workshops focused on enabling the developing world’s natural resources to benefit genuine development.

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t present, Zimbabwean Farai Maguwu said, ‘African leaders collude with powerful interests outside Africa to control their resources and Africans are alienated from these resources.’ Mr Maguwu is the Director of Zimbabwe’s Centre for Natural Resource Governance and a recipient of a Human Rights Watch award for his ‘tremendous courage in working to end rampant violations of human rights’.

Chidi Odinkalu, Chair of Nigeria’s Human Rights Commission, told of the agreement reached in Nigeria to include

Farai Maguwu

communities affected by mining in the contract negotiations and ensure they receive a percentage of the royalties. He urged others to work for this provision.

The conference also heard from Africans who have won back control of their resources. Tadesse Meskela, General Manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union of Ethiopia, described the growth of cooperatives in his country, which have enabled coffee farmers to receive millions of dollars more from their exported coffee. And from Afghanistan, Benjamin Phelan, Technical Director of Future Brilliance, described their work in training jewellers to ensure that the gemstones mined in the country are then converted into jewellery, providing employment and income, before being exported.

Neil Buhne, Director of UNDP’s Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Recovery, outlined the struggle in the region of Switzerland where the mining giant Glencore Xstrata has its headquarters.

Many residents of the region argue that some of the taxes they receive from Glencore should go to charities in countries suffering the consequences of the extraction of raw materials. This, he said, exemplified a growing view in the developed world that extractive industries are

exploiting developing countries and this recognition could help reduce conflict over resources.

Tadesse Meskela

The conference in brief The conference on Just Governance explored the structures and personal qualities which promote ethical, inclusive governance. It was held between June 29 and July 3. Described as a ‘gathering of changemakers’ by one of its organisers, the conference provided politicians, government officials, academics and others from over 30 nations with a chance to discuss governance issues from a practical point of view.

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HEALING HISTORY

A shared work of healing and justice The opening plenary of the ‘Healing history’ conference addressed ‘our dream for the twenty-first century’: embracing our common humanity in the work of healing and justice.

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r Gail Christopher, vice president for program strategy at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, underlining the fallacy of the idea of racism, called on those present to ‘be in the business of changing a belief system. All humans are equal.’

Doreen Lawrence from the Stephen Lawrence Trust (UK) emphasized this point by the example of institutional racism of the UK police in the investigation of the murder of her son in 1993 by 5 young white men. ‘Stephen was a bright young man, had a future and that was taken away from him. And for the past 20 years, my family and I have been fighting for justice. The struggle has been enormous and has taken a toll on

our family. Two men are now in prison for Stephen’s murder, but it has taken nearly 20 years to get there!’

Gail Christopher

Lisa Jackson-Pulver from the University of New South Wales (Australia) pointed to patterns of health disparity between Caucasians and Aboriginals as evidence of structural racism. John Powell from the Haas Institute for a fair and inclu-

sive society, University of California Berkeley, showed how influences on the subconscious mind can lead to racist actions and policies. Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson and biographer of Mahatma Gandhi, referred to the challenge of religious extremism and summed up the session with the question: ‘What does overriding loyalty to humankind demand of us?’

Coming clean with history Truth telling, healing and social change was at the heart of one of the plenaries.

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ine speakers addressed the topic of Ciraj Rassool, from the University of the the impact of racial history and how Western Cape in South Africa, said reconto address it. John W. Franklin, from the ciliation ‘is a discourse, it is a story’. SpeakNational Museum of African American ing of the importance of belonging but History and Culture (Washington, DC, also of the human interaction with each USA), spoke of the need for a balance in other and with the problem of (de-)colonihistorical accounts of racial conflicts, par- sation and provenance, he added that ‘land ticularly during the slavery era: ‘It is about must not only be treated as property. Land knowing our part of the story but also is also landscape. Land is the land with about knowing the other person’s story.’ human history on top of it.’

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A variety of geographical and historical examples about racism emerged. Paul Komesaroff from Monash University in Melbourne spoke of Caucasians and Aboriginals in Australia: ‘Race doesn’t exist but racism does. In order to progress, in the prospect of honest dialogue, we have to be prepared to put ourselves at risk.’

Scott Weber, director of Interpeace, commented on the importance of NGOs

working together: ‘The peace building community and the transitional justice community need to reconcile, it is a pro-

cess that needs to be triggered.’ Mireille Fanon-Mendès-France (Frantz Fanon Foundation, UN independent expert)

summed up: ‘There isn’t a superior civilisation and an inferior civilisation. There is only one civilisation: Humanity.’

Ciraj Rassool

Scott Weber

Mireille Fanon-Mendès-France

A global undertaking against racial segregation How can we move people beyond their hardened beliefs?

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ichael Wenger from the Joint centre for political and economic studies in Washington, DC, USA, pointed out the importance of healing the wounds of racism. This was followed by a transmitted message from the Director General of the UN Office at Geneva, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who emphasized the unique space for dialogue across communities created at Caux and its ability to formulate innovative solutions for a better world.

Marc Leyenberger from the European commission against racism and intolerance from France highlighted the existence of numerous websites that incite racial hate, and the crucial need to denounce these. It is tolerance and openness that makes peace possible. ‘But we must systemically renounce the voices of hate and violence. We cannot tolerate the intolerable.’

In her keynote address, Dr Gail Christopher, vice president for the program strategy of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, called for the creation of a global fund ‘for the healing of racism’. Racial segregation disables development in all sectors of society in the long term. It is crucial to find ways to ‘move people beyond their hardened beliefs,’ she said. ‘I believe this is the real work – to assert a system of common humanity.’

Marc Leyenberger

The conference in brief From 3 to 7 July, a conference on ‘Healing history: overcoming racism, seeking equity, building community’ was held in Caux. While mostly focusing on inequalities related to race and class in English-speaking countries, this conference, which was designed in collaboration with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, also addressed other issues, such as discrimination against the Roma in Kosovo, relations between India and Pakistan in the Punjab, and the aftermath of the civil war in Chad. As participants shared a common concern for wounds left by historical events, they discussed ways to move forward without forgetting their roots. A full report is available at www.us.iofc.org.

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CAUX DIALOGUE ON LAND AND SECURITY

Adding ethics to economics The first session of the ‘Caux Dialogue on land and security’ focused on the future of our resources and on the importance of ethics and values in our economic model.

Bianca Jagger

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attan Lal, professor of Soil Science and Director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at the Ohio State University, made a detailed exposé of the future of the planet’s soil and resources, placing his hope in a renewal of values. He called for sustainable soil management, reminding the audience that all cultures consider land as the basis of life.

Responding to Prof Lal’s emphasis on values, the Secretary General of the Club of

Rome, Ian Johnson, proposed a complete revision of our outdated 20th century economic model starting with a wide-ranging review of our fundamental value system.

Ian Johnson

Bianca Jagger, founder and chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, ‘we will either stand together or fall tomember of the Executive Director’s Lead- gether’. ership Council at Amnesty International USA, highlighted the importance of hu- This session provided the audience with man rights and empowering women in the examples of how land, security and human context of land restoration, claiming that behaviour are related.

Practical action on dry-land areas During a morning plenary, the conference looked at effective grassroots action.

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Adam Koniuszewski 10 CAUX REPORT 2013

ianca Jagger, founder and chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation and ambassador for the IUCN Plant a pledge campaign, emphasised in her speech the importance of land and land degradation and put an accent on other very serious environmental issues, such as global warming. The IUCN Plant a pledge campaign has undertaken to elicit pledges from governments and landowners to restore 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2020, making it the largest restoration initiative in the world.

Simon Maddrell, executive director of Excellent Development, emphasised the im-

portance of restoring dry-land areas, pointing out that 80% of the poor people in the world live there. Tony Rinaudo, natural resources advisor, World vision, Australia, described his reforestation work in Niger, where reviving tree stumps with underground root systems that are still alive has reforested 5 million hectares and increased crop yields dramatically. Adam Koniuszewski, chief operating officer, Green Cross International, spoke about the various environmental actions undertaken by the Green Cross Foundation, such as the destruction of chemical weapons and obsolete pesticides, a very expensive process.

Is restoring land a business opportunity?

Projects are best co-created by business, farmers and civil society.

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llan Savory – a Zimbabwean biolo- as reversing desertification’. According to gist, farmer, soldier, exile, and envi- him, the only way to do this is to reintroronmentalist, winner of the 2003 Banksia duce livestock on dry lands, managed so International Award and of the 2010 as to mimic the effect of the great wild Buckminster Fuller Challenge – started herds which used to graze generations ago. off by challenging the audience: as we are ‘Land management has to be holistic, it increasingly promoting sustainable agri- cannot continue to be reductionist,’ he culture, organic and local food, how does claimed. that differ from what was done by our Once a panel of experts joined him, repancestors? resenting business and academia, the conHe went on to talk about desertification versation turned to the relationship – ‘nothing is going to build peace as much between business and land restoration.

Global initiative to preserve dry lands signed by IUCN and UNCCD

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n July 10th, Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), signed an agreement to cooperate

in drawing global attention to the value of dry lands.

Julia Marton-Lefèvre described desertification as a ‘major threat to global sustainability, peace and security’. Luc Gnacadja added: ‘Dry lands are regions that not only house diverse animal and plant species but also about one third of the world’s human population.’ Additionally, they are critical sources of the global food supply.

Before the signing, Julia Marton-Lefèvre planted a tree in honour of Gnacadja’s role at the UNCCD and Caux in bringing together the land restoration and security agendas.

The panel agreed that the urgent need to restore soil represents a business opportunity. Business, farmers and civil society should co-create solutions.

Allan Savory

The conference in brief The ‘Caux Dialogue on Land and Security’, held from 7 to 11 July, brought together people sharing a common concern for desertification, the effects of poor land management, and security. Adopting a unique approach, the conference focused on the link between land degradation and peace. In addition, various workshops looked at the successes and failures of initiatives aiming to preserve land and build trust. The conference was convened by Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, and Mohamed Sahnoun, Chair of the Caux Forum for Human Security.

Land and security in the Sahel region HE Amedou Ould Abdallah, from Mauritania, President of Centre 4s and former UN Special Representative to Burundi, West Africa and Somalia, introduced the session. He focused on the multi-faceted security threats to the Sahel region and how useable land – which is getting scarcer – plays a central role exerting pressure on populations. He was joined by a high-level panel which included HE Ridha Bouabid, Ambassador of the Francophonie; Luc Gnacadja; Chris Reij, of the World Resources Institute; and Ramadane Barma, Secretary General, la Médiature de la République, Chad. Addressing security concerns through land restoration was felt to be a promising approach to the region’s situation.

Luc Gnacadja and Julia Marton-Lefèvre CAUX REPORT 2013 11

TRUST AND INTEGRITY IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Recipes for leadership in today’s business world What does it take to be a successful leader of integrity in today’s world? This was the question addressed by Joe Garner, former Head of HSBC UK retail bank, during his interactive keynote, opening the ‘Trust and integrity in the global economy’ conference.

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oe Garner discussed the issue of ‘leading business towards 2020: the importance of character in a transparent world’.

According to him, the recent financial crisis had resulted in ‘a massive pressure for change’ in the business realm, a drastic erosion of trust, and increasing corporate scandals.

Joe Garner

Therefore, how can business leaders do better? His solution at HSBC was to gather his brand new team and have everyone share ‘what they love, what they fear, and what they have in their pocket’.

They realised that ‘we can deal with all these issues [of life] as human beings. So, we concluded that we could deal with

anything, but that the business world had frozen us. As long as we keep our humanity, things pass.’ Because of that, it is paramount to create work environments ‘where people can be themselves, where people can be people first, and bankers second’.

that was well received by the audience, as shown by the enthusiastic applause that followed his presentation.

These new trends are, according to Garner, ‘here for the long term, and they are not going to go away’. Using personal anecdotes, his sense of humour and studies, he illustrated how managers can act with integrity by trusting people, a message

‘West is not best’ Peter Brew, non-executive chairman of Trans4M, Center for Integral Development, gave a public lecture entitled ‘Initiatives for a new global economy’.

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eter Brew tackled the subject of sus- ing that ‘we have to understand that West tainability in today’s global economy is not best. We do not dominate the world!’, and in businesses. He commented on the and that ‘we have to get sustainability into fact that following the rise of the East, ma- the DNA of businesses’. He underlined that jor changes had occurred in the economy, ‘companies have to think beyond compliand that each sector had its own problems. ance: just because something is legal does Some are due to changing situations in the not mean it’s right, and we have to start world and the development of certain doing what is right. We have got to see each events, such as increased social instability other not as potential enemies, but as partand poverty leading to social unrest. ners for the future. The west can no longer Brew outlined possible solutions to the see the rest of the world as its servant. We problems businesses face today, emphasis- are partners needing to work together.’

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Peter Brew

Katrin Muff: ‘Developing the human in the leader’

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uring a session focused on how peo- support sustainability. Indeed, she ple and civil society can take action claimed that educational institutions have to bring change in their communities, Dr a responsibility towards society: that of Katrin Muff, Dean of the Business School ‘developing the human in the leader and Lausanne, spoke about measures that her the leader in the human’. school has taken to promote ‘management education for the world’.

With the belief that ‘we need companies that are different from what they were in She told the audience about the 50+20 the past’, her school has adopted a cominitiative she launched at the Rio+20 pletely new approach which, instead of Summit in 2012, a project aiming to find aiming for short-term profits, favours the new ways for management education to planet and the common good.

Katrin Muff

‘One is never too young to become a leader’ Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations and founder of the Kofi Annan Foundation, closed the conference. His intervention, often humorous, was followed by a 45-minute session of animated questions and answers.

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ofi Annan said how happy he was to take care of the young who have to work return to Caux after his previous visit to maintain the older ones. It’s a real chalin 2007. He explored the challenges in lenge protecting both.’ He encouraged human security matters posed by the eco- them to launch themselves into action: nomic environment, which have evolved ‘Young people are determined to par­ greatly over the last few years. ‘I travelled ticipate in civil society, to become young the world and have talked to people,’ he entrepreneurs, to become leaders. They said. ‘They are angry; they don’t manage just need help and advice. One is never to pay their bills.’ There is a need to re­ too young to become a leader.’ establish trust in the authorities, he said.

Kofi Annan also evoked the situation in He particularly emphasised the impor- Northern Africa and in the Middle East. tance of the younger generation, crucial ‘People have taken their destiny in hand,’ for the future, and on the best way to pre- he noted. He nevertheless warned against pare them for their role: ‘Getting degrees the effects of the street demonstrations, by for what purpose? Wouldn’t it be better to underlining that they shouldn’t overthrow give them vocational training? We have to real democracies: ‘The streets are not

equivalent to parliaments or to elections.’

About Syria, at the heart of the audience’s questions, he noted especially that the conflict should not expand to the greater region and called for further diplomatic efforts. He concluded by emphasising the three pillars on which societies should build themselves: peace and security, economic development but also the rule of law and respect for human rights.

The conference in brief From 13–19 July, the ‘Trust and integrity in the global economy’ (TIGE) conference focused on ways to bring economic justice and environmental sustainability into today’s world economy. There were distinguished keynote speakers from the grassroots as well as the corporate level. They spoke of the potential and necessity of ethics in the various dimensions of the economy – from education to businessmaking – and explored ways for transformation. A 32-page report is available online at www.cauxbusiness.org.

Kofi Annan CAUX REPORT 2013 13

CHILDREN AS ACTORS FOR TRANSFORMING SOCIETY

Making child participation matter The first ‘Children as actors for transforming society’ conference addressed the issue of child participation from different angles.

Child-to-Child Trust Children changing their lives

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erison Lansdown, Chair of the Child-to-Child Trust, opened the conference by unpacking the essential elements necessary for children’s participation. This included: the right to be heard – a fundamental value of children’s rights; an entitlement – not a privilege; both a substantive right and a general principle to inform the realisation of all other rights – a means and an end; a right both for children as individuals and as a constituency. This is a challenge to traditional power bases.

Jean Zermatten, the Swiss founder and director of the International institute for the rights of the child, explained how the context of child participation has changed since the introduction of the UN Convention on the rights of the child (UNCRC), in 1989. He said that ‘the participation of children reverses what we previously believed in. Children are becoming social actors, who we listen to and who increasingly influence our social lives.’

He stressed the importance of ‘not viewing children as objects or property, but to recognise them as individuals with rights’.

Following this, Jana Hainsworth from Eurochild and Daniel Kropf from the

Universal Education Foundation presented the initiative ‘Learning for WellBeing’. Jana Hainsworth noted that ‘in order to change society, it is us adults that need to change their perception. Our job is not to shape children to fit in our own ideas; it is to unfold the character of each child to help them to find direction in life.’

Gerison Lansdown

Jean Zermatten

Daniel Kropf with his daughter

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He described this change of view as a revolution that is not yet over and that has to be worked on: ‘We have not yet moved on to really recognising the status of children and I hope that this meeting will help!’

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The future of education: mixing innovation, imagination and interaction Two distinct but not incompatible visions of our education model were presented.

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arie Wernham, international child rights worker and consultant for UNICEF, started the discussion with the pivotal role of education, laying out the concept of ‘Child Rights Education’ through a presentation representing the different stages of education with roots, branches and leaves. ‘How does child participation relate to the different parts of the tree? It is a learning process, which involves learning as a right, learning about rights, learning through rights and learning for rights.’ She concluded with a figurative slide of an arch: ‘We need to

build the arch of human rights, with both children and adults together.’

Christopher Clouder, founder of the European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education, talked about education and ways to ameliorate it. He started with quotes from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s ‘The Little Prince’, favoring a more dream-like, imaginative approach of education practices. He emphasised the importance of creativity in education and alternative methods of learning. According to him, ‘there is no recipe.

Everything comes from the inside. We spend our lives learning from each other.’

Christopher Clouder

Marie Wernham

He concluded by reinforcing the socializing role of schools and repeated the importance of incorporating spirituality, emotion and love in our education model.

‘We need to listen to the children!’

Children’s health issues were at the heart of one of the plenaries. Sir Albert Aynsley-Green (1st Children’s commissioner for England) emphasized the importance of listening to children. ‘Their health needs are staggering,’ he said, talking about children with physical disabilities.

He ended with a few saddening figures, stating that on average, in the UK, a child experiences the loss of a parent every 22 minutes. It is very important for these children to have someone to talk to in such hard times, or they may fall into depression and feel excluded at school.

Children’s workshops: encouraging participation While adults attended the plenary sessions of the conference, children were busy with their own workshops.

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nna Bondarenko, who is a youth worker with Foundations for Freedom in Eastern Europe, is part of the team who organised these workshops. In her group, fifteen children coming from ten countries, speaking six different languages and aged six to ten gathered every morning. Through games, theatre and drawings, the topics of the plenary sessions were discussed with the children, who surprised adults with their wisdom.

‘Sometimes, they say something, and you just think “wow”!’, she said, smiling at the thought. As she explained on the day

health was addressed, a nine-year-old boy claimed that ‘to be healthy, you need to be honest. If you are not honest, you feel guilty, and you feel it in your body: you don’t feel hungry, you get depressed. So, feeling guilty influences your body and your health.’

Children were given an opportunity to share their thoughts with adults after the workshops, during discussion groups.

Bondarenko was very enthusiastic regarding the outcomes of these conversations.

However, she admitted that ‘as adults, we got much more from children than they

got from us. If you are ready to really listen to children, you realise that there are many things that they already know.’

The conference in brief From 24–30 July, the ‘Children as actors for transforming society’ (CATS) conference, a joint initiative of IofC and the Child-to-Child Trust, took place for the first time. In line with the topic, children were actively involved – around 60 children and teenagers participated in the conference.

In the plenaries as well as in separate children’s workshops and mixed discussion groups, the participants explored ways to enhance children’s participation in fields such as education or post-conflict reconstruction.

CAUX REPORT 2013 15

LEARNING TO LIVE IN A MULTICULTURAL WORLD

The heart of resilience In an effort to respond to the feedback from last year’s participants, this year’s ‘Learning to live in a multicultural world’ conference was much more interactive and participative as demonstrated in a plenary on ‘How to build resilient communities’.

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assima Aboun, a psychologist from Belgium/Algeria, shared her personal experience with resilience after losing her job and everything she owned: ‘I had to start from scratch […] and little by little to overcome my problems – to do that I started within myself.’

Hiroshi Ishida, Professor from the Institute of Business and Accounting at the Kawansei Gakuim University, Japan, explained what the tsunami meant for the Japanese: ‘People search for a meaning behind the disaster… They find it in the need to survive to tell the next generations and learn from our mistakes.’

Subsequently, Glenda Eoyang, Founding Executive Director at the Human Systems Dynamics Institute, took over the facilitation of the plenary, making this morning session a joyful experience. She explained that the process of building a community was happening in the room with ‘adaptive action’. ‘The questions: “What?” “So what?” “And now what?” are always helping when there is a problem and therefore the heart of resilience.’

Her explanation was illustrated with a game, the marshmallow challenge, which provided great fun for the participants. They had to build the highest

tower possible using 20 spaghetti noodles, one meter of tape, one meter of string and one marshmallow. The debriefing showed that every group noticed different learning points, but shared one observation: everybody in the team was aiming for the same goal, but it was their differences that helped to build the tower.

Building trust across generations Two case studies illustrated trust building during a morning plenary.

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he first case study was presented by Marcel Obst and Rodrigo Araneda (Xarxa Antirumores), from Barcelona.

Their organisation works in trying to reduce prejudices against migrant communities in Barcelona. These include people who had to move from their countries due to their different religious/cultural beliefs or sexual orientations. Their case study fo16 CAUX REPORT 2013

cused on a young man from Georgia, who and raised in the Netherlands, in very difhad to flee his country due to his homo- ficult and disadvantaged neighbourhoods. sexual orientation. Upon arriving in Spain, In these areas, multiculturalism and intehe was helped by members of the organisa- gration were foreign concepts and migrants tion who enabled him to feel comfortable felt left out, thus becoming outsiders. and be accepted by others.

Over time, she became politically active The second case study was the personal and tried to push her multiculturalism as story of Seren Dalkiran, (Energized Earth an asset rather than a defect. As she stated, Network) originally from Turkey, but born ‘diversity is not a handicap, it is an indis-

pensable strength! For me it has been an incredible enrichment!’ She concluded by saying that we should not forget or discredit what past generations have done, but

instead work and build on their legacy to bring about change.

Applying the participatory approach, participants did not simply listen to those case

studies but met in their discussion groups to reflect upon a one of the case studies, sharing their ideas either in the form of song, drama or art.

‘Diversity is richness’ One morning was dedicated to the topic ‘Benefitting from the power of diversity’.

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atma Wakil, a young member of the conference team who is originally from Afghanistan but grew up in the Netherlands, shared her experience of living in these two countries. Her reflection and the subsequent discussion particularly raised the issue of lacking the sense of real belonging. ‘I felt too Dutch in Afghanistan, and too Afghan in the Netherlands,’ Fatma noted. However, one conclusion was that people rooted in multiple

The conference in brief From 1–6 August, the participants of ‘Learning to live in a multicultural world’ (LLMW), which this year put a special emphasis on intergenerational trust, could experience a whole new format of the conference: keynote speeches were abandoned and instead, the conference built mainly on the knowledge and exchange of the participants. This left room for many group discussions, dialogues and interactive exercises aimed at building trust across cultures, communities and generations, and at empowering participants for action.

cultures can also become potential bridgebuilders, connecting different cultures and countries.

In a number of exercises the participants subsequently explored and discussed the value and potential difficulties of diversity: The majority agreed that ‘diversity is richness,’ as one participant put it, however, more opportunities to ‘learn to live

in a multicultural world’ are necessary to avoid that diversity becomes a source of conflict. Glenda Eoyang, Founding Executive Director at Human Systems Dynamics Institute, underlined that it is crucial not only to recognise differences, but to connect across them: ‘Turn judgement into curiosity, turn conflict into shared exploration, turn defensiveness into self-reflection.’

CAUX REPORT 2013 17

SEEDS OF INSPIRATION

Silence is golden Interviewed by Caux Books director Andrew Stallybrass, Graham Turner, author and journalist, told a captivated audience about the power of silence. This opened the first plenary of the ‘Seeds of inspiration’ event.

The Charter for Compassion The Charter for Compassion was the theme of one of the plenaries. It was created by the British theologian Karen Armstrong.

The Charter is inspired by the Golden Rule that states: ‘Do unto others what you would like done to you.’

Compassion is universal and the Charter calls for people to act accordingly: ‘to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures… and to treat everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.’

It further expresses the belief that ‘compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries… It is the path to enlightenment and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful community.’

‘G

ood friends tell you the truth, but they do it with love.’ Although it could have been made with more love, it was a remark of a friend, when he was 24, which led Graham Turner to experience silence for the first time. During 15 minutes, he reflected upon what he had done in his life, becoming aware of things for which he should apologise.

the Western world are afraid of silence.

However, there are many people who are preoccupied with silence: musicians regard silence as just as important as the

As time passed, he focused on his successful career, forgetting about this episode.

However, he came to think about silence again, realising that he had not lived in line with his values. Sacrificing his savings, he started repairing past actions, ‘obeying an inner voice’.

In ‘The Power of Silence’, published last year, he set out the experiences of various encounters with silence: in a monastery in Egypt, in prison, with a man who had murdered one of his friends and for whom meditation sessions had been life changing, or in Colorado, with a Trappist priest.

As Graham Turner said, ‘a lot of people in 18 CAUX REPORT 2013

Andrew Stallybrass and Graham Turner

notes they are playing.’ He encouraged everyone to consider silence as a resource and to have moments of silence and reflection.

Finding inspiration in creative workshops and in the theatre

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uring the conference, the participants chose among a wide range of creative workshops and discussions, including Japanese calligraphy, the topic of ‘reconciling religious difference’, circle dance, magic and juggling. These provided a space for personal encounters, giving participants from all over the world, the chance to express their creativity, learn new skills and have unexpected experiences – making the conference a true source of inspiration.

Two of the evening events revived the great tradition of theatre at Caux: a one-man show on a spiritual folktale with John Locke, The Legend of the Fourth King, and a modern adaptation of some scenes from Shakespeare, by the Intermission Youth Theatre from London.

Sharing experiences and inspiration The last morning plenary explored more personal stories with specific examples of disaster relief from Japan, while the closing plenary focused on participant feedback.

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ayumi Matsushita from Japan shared her disaster relief experience working as a volunteer to aid those in need following the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami in Fukushima. She pointed out that ‘if we have the will, we are all capable of making a difference.’ This was put into action in

Mayumi Matsushita

Japan, where various examples of success- showed his overall feeling by saying that he ful relief aid were established. Mayumi’s ‘felt plugged into this event’. group had several main focus areas, such as rebuilding and cleaning up devastated The conference in brief homes. She talked of hosting tea times in temporary homes in the most affected arThe Seeds of inspiration event (7–12 eas, thereby trying to bring a smile onto August) offered participants an opporthe very saddened faces of people who had tunity to share their experiences and lost all their possessions, homes and, in the sources of their inspiration (whether some cases, family members and friends. an experience of faith, of art, of science, As Mayumi concluded, even though there the influence of another person or of a is still a lot of work to be done, Japanese world event, etc.). The aim of the event people never give up. was to expand people’s horizons, to reThe evening plenary summed up the spirit fresh their commitment and to renew of these few days: ‘Seeds’ was intended to themselves. The format was very parfocus on the participants – the content ticipative and concentrated on interacwould be driven by their experiences and tions between people. their inspiration. Among the numerous comments, a young man from London CAUX REPORT 2013 19

International Caux Conferences 2014 Exploring the human factor in global change 30 June–4 July Caux dialogue on land and security Addressing the connections between poverty, conflict and land degradation 5–10 July Trust and integrity in the global economy Inspiring people and purpose for sustainable prosperity 12–17 July Just governance for human security Structures and personal qualities which foster ethical, inclusive governance

26 July–1 August Children as actors for transforming society Young advocates for change 3–8 August Living in a multicultural world Innovation and action for social cohesion 10–13 August International peace-builder’s forum Connecting personal and systemic change

20–24 July Seeds of inspiration Sharing inspiration that shapes lives

✂

A few figures • 1451 participants • 109 children and young persons (up to 17) • 102 nationalities • 13,866 bed nights • 9.6 average bed nights • Incl. 71 interns (and team) • Incl. 29 Caux Scholars (and team) • Incl. 32 Caux Artists (and team) • Incl. 125 volunteers

CAUX-Initiatives of Change PO Box 3909 CH-6002 Lucerne E-mail: info@caux.ch Web: www.caux.ch Tel +41 41 310 12 61 Fax +41 41 311 22 14

Initiatives of Change International 1, rue de Varembé, PO Box 3 CH-1211 Geneva 20 E-mail: iofc-international@iofc.org Web: www.iofc.org Tel +41 22 749 16 20 Fax +41 22 733 02 67