Just Governance Conference Report Caux 2014

A conference on

JUST GOVERNANCE Caux, Switzerland — 12-17 July 2014 ­

2 0 1 4 CO N FE R E N C E R E P O RT

EXPLORING THE HUMAN FACTOR IN GLOBAL CHANGE

‘Structures are enablers, people are the doers’ Michael Møller Director-General of the United Nations at Geneva

CAUX CONFERENCES 2014

How is trust built?

Civil society shapes peace agreement in Chad Hélène Lambatim Nadjilengar Chad

also ignored, until a United Nations official urged our Head of State to meet us. The Government did so, asked our help with those refugees for which Chad was responsible, and gave us funding.

Chad has been at war for over 30 years – rebellions, Muslims against Christians, pastoralists against crop farmers. These wars are destroying the fabric of our society.

This began a growth in trust between the Government and civil society.

With the support of development agencies we worked with the refugees for three years, allaying their suffering and providing them with enough to support themselves.

Member of the Constitutional Council

Little by little, civil society organisations have grown. We women lawyers created an association to defend the rights of women and girls. The government ignored us. So we met with human rights associations and trade unions, and created a Committee Calling for Peace. The Committee wrote a proposal for dialogue between the nation’s communities, political parties and military groups. Again the government ignored us.

In 2006 there was war in Darfur, and thousands of victims fled into Chad. These refugees and the Chadians in the region were moved away from the border. Some of us went to meet them, and wrote a report on their desperate situation. This report was

JUST GOVERNANCE

Now dialogue is accepted nationally, and civil society is represented in these dialogues. Even the election commission includes representatives of civil society.

E X P LO R I N G T H E H U M A N FAC TO R I N G LO B A L C H A N G E

This conference brought together 200 people who are working to improve governance in 32 countries. Many of them came from situations of armed conflict. They came seeking strategies to answer the grievances and to restore peace.

The conference dealt with many aspects of this search, in particular the personal qualities which enable a person to be effective in building trust {2

As trust grew, the Government started to take an interest in our Committee’s proposals on dialogue. They became the basis for the ‘13th August agreement’ between the Government and the Opposition. It allowed Chad to have peaceful elections in 2011, despite an outbreak of conflict not long before.

between warring factions, in healing national wounds, in overcoming corruption, in sharing resources equitably – in all that advances Human Security.

This report carries extracts from the conference discussions. Space does not allow for all that was discussed, and the conference website, www.cauxforum.net, carries much more information.

Caux conferences respect confidentiality. Everyone quoted in this report has approved their contribution.

Even in situations of intense mistrust, there may be a breakthrough.

Hundreds of thousands of lives saved Michael Møller Director-General

of the United Nations at Geneva

urged civil society to fill the gap left by a deficiency of leadership at national and international levels.

‘There is a massive trust deficit in the world today,’ he said. ‘Not just in the context of peacemaking. Politicians are mistrusted, and so are banks, journalists and other professions that used to be trusted as authorities. We have a deficit of leadership, the result of which is seen prominently in the Middle East, for example, in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Syria and Iraq, to mention only some of today’s crises. How do we address this?

‘I take inspiration from my own experience and from the ethos which underpins the initiative of Caux – the centrality of the individual. The only way to build trust is between people. Structures are enablers, people are the doers.’

He described two situations of intense mistrust where he had represented the United Nations. In the first situation,

Michael Møller with conference participants

Cyprus, trust grew as they worked out how to restore basic services to both the Greek and Turkish communities. In the second, Haiti, trust grew through an act of courage which persuaded the Haitians that the UN had their best interests at heart. In both cases, the growth of trust enabled daily life to improve among the general community.

‘The role of civil society today is much greater than it used to be, but the potential is also much greater,’ he said.

‘A classic example is the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel mines. Civil society pushed member states to approve a Treaty which has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. It shows what is possible once civil society organises itself and pushes our leaders to do what may be counterintuitive for them.

‘This has to be done in all areas of society – in education, in the media. There are people giving good leadership, especially in our cities. We need more people who will take responsibility where they may not have done so a few years back.’

Thérèse Mekombe President of the Women Lawyers of Chad (left)

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Ukraine-Russia – civil society initiatives Andrei Zubov

Ukraine is reeling under Russian aggression, and needs all the help other nations can give.

But the Ukrainians at the conference recognized it is also vital to confront the weaknesses in their own society, and keep reaching out to those in Russia who will respond.

Platform for Russian-Ukrainian dialogue Musical evenings featured concert pianists Victor Ryabchikov from Russia (below right) and Penelope Thwaites from Australia, and Ukrainian concert violinist Dima Tkachenko.

The conference brought together participants from East and West Ukraine and from Crimea. They included Mustafa Dzhemilev, the best-known leader of Crimea’s Tatars (the ethnic group native to the Crimean peninsula); Myroslav Marynovych, ViceRector of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv; and many others active in shaping the future of Ukraine.

There were also a number of Russians present, including Andrei Zubov, a historian who was recently dismissed from his post at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations after writing an article that attacked the Russian annexation of Crimea.

Intense discussion took place between all sides, sometimes heated. Yet people recognised the importance of genuine dialogue, however painful, and often found much in common at the level of fundamental principles. Out of these discussions

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came a ‘Platform for Ukrainian-Russian Contact, Dialogue and Initiatives’. While condemning ‘the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation towards Ukraine’, and calling for an end to military action, this states that it is vitally important to build bridges of understanding between Ukraine and Russia, and outlines a value base on which this can happen. Signatories commit themselves to ‘improve relations between the people of Russia and Ukraine through dialogue, joint initiatives, and other means.’

Not all participants felt able to endorse it, but Professor Marynovych and Professor Zubov signed it on behalf of those who supported it. The statement is now circulating in Russia and Ukraine, and civil society activists in both countries have written asking to cooperate with this initiative.

See the full statement at www.cauxforum.net or by writing to platform2peace@gmail.com

A transformed quality of governance Hannah Hopko Ukraine Advocacy coordinator chosen by the World Economic Forum as a Global Shaper

people with relevant expertise.

The EuroMaidan revolution brought over a million people to the centre of Kiev, calling for European values for our country. When President Yanokovich fled to Russia, we asked ourselves how we could transform this revolution of dignity into reforms which can shape a new country.

Our main task is to fight corruption. We work with a group of 24 Members of Parliament, who we provide with ideas and draft bills. We speak about reforms in meetings widely across Ukraine. We organise actions outside the Parliament. Those in power are reluctant to change. That is why we have to move fast. So far the Parliament has adopted 10 laws which we have developed. Each has been a difficult struggle.

We set up a new movement, the Reanimation Package of Reforms (RPR), which is working for laws to fight corruption, to reform the judiciary, the tax system for mass media, and much else. Many NGOs have joined us, as have over 150

Why do I do it? Three times I have faced death, and I felt that God saved me. That surely was for a purpose. And I do it for my 3-year-old daughter Sophia. I want her to have a country she can be proud of.

Bridging the East-West gulf Lena Kashkarova Ukraine Dialogue facilitator,

‘Healing the Past in Ukraine’

I am a Ukrainian of Russian ethnic background, my native language is Russian. In 2006 I took part in an international programme in India. Another participant was Olha Hutz from Western Ukraine. We got on fine except when we talked about the history, language or politics of Ukraine or Russia.

In a quiet day of reflection I tried to understand why I reacted so strongly, and I realized that it was fear.

Under Stalin whole nations were deported, sent to gulags or murdered. In Ukraine, 6 million people died in the 1932-3 man-made famine. Nobody has apologised, nobody has been charged, nobody took responsibility for the crimes. I was scared that history might repeat itself.

During that quiet reflection a thought came that being

Russian means not only pride in Pushkin, Tchaikovsky and Dostoevsky, but also accepting the shameful side of our history.

If nobody takes responsibility for it, I can do so. Later I heard Russian philosopher Grigory Pomerantz formulate this thought beautifully: ‘Pride in your nation is nationalism. Patriotism means feeling both pride and shame.’

As a Russian I apologised to Olga for the suffering of the Ukrainian people. Several weeks later she apologised to me for her bitterness towards Russians. Later she started a project aimed at enabling people to reconcile with each other and with their past. ‘Healing the Past’ organises dialogues between Ukrainians of differing ethnic backgrounds. And it is documenting and publishing the stories of Ukrainians all over the country.

This work, which I joined, was vital. But we did not do enough.

Had we held more dialogues, this could have helped avoid armed conflict in Ukraine. We need to go on, and this we are doing.

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Sahel leaders seek solutions to crisis The Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) sponsored 28 senior officials and political and civic leaders from Mali, Chad and Niger (left).

Workshop led by FDFA team

Neil Buhne

Gali N’gothe Eugene SensenigDabbous

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Gali N’gothe MP, President of Chad’s Economic and Planning Commission, described why they came to Caux.

‘The Sahel region of Africa is besieged by terrorist groups that kidnap and murder people, and trade in drugs. Where armies are weak, and civil society is weak, those who have weapons, even if small in number, become powerful. They set up a network that can overthrow formal states. Here at Caux we have met together to discuss solutions.’

been key to Singapore’s economic success.

Neil Buhne, Director of the UNDP’s Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Recovery in Geneva, detailed a variety of approaches to defeating corruption, including little-known successes such as Botswana and Bhutan. Vital factors are committed political leaders, adequate pay for civil service and police, and independent courts.

One workshop dealt with the extraction of natural resources.

Lebanon has recently discovered oil, and Eugene SensenigThey sought strategies to improve governance. ‘Without any Dabbous of Notre Dame University Lebanon described how exaggeration,’ said one senior official, ‘bad governance and a group from academia, civil society and the public service are corruption were the cause of the crisis in Mali.’ pooling their expertise to ensure the oil revenue benefits national A series of workshops on corruption were led by Katherine development. Structures of accountability are needed, he said, but Marshall, former Senior Advisor to the World ‘in my experience, effective anti-corruption is really Bank, now advising the International Antia question of the courage of the people on the ‘A different way governing bodies.’

Corruption conference. ‘Economists used to see corruption as “grease for the engine”, facilitating to achieve justice’ The Sahel group also discussed how to deal with inefficient government processes,’ she said. ‘The past injustices, from which many of them had East Asian financial crisis led to a complete suffered. ‘My life has been punctuated by arrest and prison,’ said Dr rethinking. Understanding grew that the whole basis for N’gothe, ‘and when I first came to Caux I was filled with hatred and international assistance is eroded by corruption.’ destructive forces. As a victim of the regime of Hissen Habre, I was This has led to a variety of anti-corruption initiatives, such determined to put him on trial. But the exchanges which took place as the UN Global Compact which aims to help businesses here changed me, and my response to the injustice of the past has also conduct their affairs ethically. Peer-review mechanisms have changed. Maybe there is a different way to achieve justice.’ grown, whereby regional neighbours help each other combat Contributers on this topic included Joe Montville who directs corruption. But, Professor Marshall pointed out, above all, the Program on Healing Historical Memory at George Mason efforts to defeat corruption need a champion. In Singapore Lee Kuan Yew’s determination to outlaw corruption has University, Washington, and Matthias Stiefel (see opposite).

Farai Maguwu

Listening to extractive industries Farai Maguwu Zimbabwe Director,

Centre for Natural Resource Governance

compromising on our demand that they play their part in community development, but I thought we might make progress if we listened to each other.

My apology to my brother healed our broken relationship. And this opened my eyes to new possibilities in my work. As a human rights advocate I have exposed much abuse in our extractive industries. But I had never thought of talking to them. When I phoned a mining company notorious for bad community relations, and asked for a meeting, they were amazed. I said I was not

They invited me to their head office, and for two hours explained the challenges they faced. They were losing large sums to politicians who demanded protection money, and we offered to raise this publicly and with the Government. They asked us to help overcome their impasse with the community, and they are heeding our advice. I now believe that if, in a conflict, we hear both sides, we can work from there to find common ground.

Healing the wounds of history Matthias Stiefel Switzerland

Founder of Interpeace

Unless they are healed, wounds inflicted on a person or a people carry on in history. Over time the wounds become collective mythology that drives one ethnic group against another, one religious group against another.

In my experience these wounds can be healed through a long process carried out by the victims and perpetrators themselves. External actors cannot offer solutions, but they can help people who dare not talk to each other to start communicating.

At the end of a war, people do not trust each other.

In Rwandan villages there are mixed populations of Hutus and Tutsis and everyone knows who has killed each other’s family. They are not able to talk about this. But to survive they have to sow fields,

tend cattle. Often this is how cooperation starts.

Talking about the conflict and its history can happen only when they are able to cope with it. It raises issues of who is guilty, who should be punished, and that is very difficult. But it is vital that the historical truth is established.

Katherine Marshall

Joe Montville

This process happens within a political context which may not be helpful, because often the politicians do not want healing; they want to stir up ethnic and religious tension. It is often non-political figures who carry the process of reconciliation.

After a war both justice and reconciliation are needed, but they cannot coincide. Justice is a matter of judgement and punishment, whereas reconciliation is a matter of asking and offering forgiveness. This is often a spiritual process that leads to a catharsis. The memory will never go away. But the memory stops hurting, stops becoming a source of a future conflict.

Matthias Stiefel

Steve Killelea See page 9

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Bridge-builders for a divided world

Just governance depends on a spirit of service, and Caux offers everyone a chance to serve each other through preparing the meals, as Gershon Baskin illustrates.

Jayashree Rao

Palestinian film producer Imad Karam with Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun {8

From Israel to Hamas India – human development

Daphrose Barampama President, Creators of Peace

Gershon Baskin Israel Founder, Israel/ Palestine Center for Research and Information

Jayashree Rao India Director, Grampari rural development program

For many years I have worked for IsraeliPalestinian peace. At a UN conference in Cairo a Professor from Gaza introduced himself, and told me he was a member of Hamas. I had never met anyone from Hamas. So over the next two days we talked. We didn’t agree, but after the conference we continued.

I was running a successful business in Bangalore. I had just sold some machines for a profit of a million rupees. I came in a chauffer-driven car, got out and went to a vegetable vendor and bargained with him for a few rupees, as I have always done. Suddenly I realised how very selfish I was.

Since then I have never bargained with any vegetable seller.

In 2006 Palestinian commandos attacked an Israeli army base, killed two soldiers and dragged a third into Gaza. His name was Gilad Shalit. The Israeli military bombed Gaza, and hundreds were killed.

After six days the Palestinian professor called me and said, ‘Gershon, we have to do something.’ That day I organised a phone call between Gilad’s father and a Hamas leader, and started trying to organise a prisoner exchange.

This was one incident in a growing conviction that I should do something for rural India. Eventually it led me and my husband to leave Bangalore, leave our businesses, our club, our friends, our Saturday night parties, and move to work in rural India. There I started an initiative called Grampari to work for development in the surrounding villages. This meant working on governance, water issues, livelihood skills and, above all, getting to know the villagers well enough to be able to discuss personal concerns.

Five years later Gilad came home and 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli prisons. This only happened because of the trust which developed between myself and the deputy foreign minister of Hamas, a trust built over a long period of time.

This was a challenge. I realised that, though I was ready to work for rural development, I had never let the person who worked in my house sit at the dining table with me. This prejudice that we inherit is very difficult to remove, and it was a real struggle. But I accepted it, and it has made a real difference to me.

The conference heard from many who are reaching across divides – in the Middle East, between Turkey and Armenia, and far beyond. Here are short reports from some of them.

More can be found at www.cauxforum.net

USA initiative for trust-building A National Centre for Community Trustbuilding has been established in Richmond, USA. This was announced by Sylvester Turner, Director of reconciliation programs at ‘Hope in the Cities’, during a workshop on America’s racial challenges. The Centre’s

first major event will be an international conference on ‘Healing History: Memory, Legacy and Social Change’, in collaboration with the University of Richmond, the Poverty & Race Research Action Council and other national and regional organisations.

Freedom in Burundi

A prerequisite for survival

Creators of Peace (www.iofc.org/creators-

of-peace) is a global programme which has enabled thousands of women to discover their role in peacemaking. Some of them met at Caux during the conference, including a group from Burundi.

One Burundian wrote after their meeting: We set out from Caux, if not healed, at least healing, carrying each other’s burdens, with projects to carry out. We will remember the woman who is going to visit the family of the person who killed her family.

And the woman who has decided to pay to the killer of her parents the debt which her parents owed him.

And who would have guessed that I would find my brother’s murderer and tell him that I forgave him?

We are finding freedom from the hate which gnawed at us, and holding out hope to those who flee at the approach of their victims.

Australian entrepreneur Steve Killelea was in central Africa when a thought struck him. ‘So much effort goes into studying war. Why do we put so little effort into studying peace?’ As a young man, Killelea had developed software which now operates many of the world’s ATM machines. It made him a wealthy man, and he has used his wealth to promote peace. His aid programmes reach some of the poorest of the poor in many countries.

He founded the Institute for Economics and Peace (www.economicsandpeace.org), and the Global Peace Index. ‘Peace is a prerequisite for the survival of society as we know it in the twenty-first century,’ he told the conference. ‘We need a philosophy that incorporates all individuals of the world in a global vision, because our issues are global in nature.’

Rama Mani a member of the World Future Council, and Cameroonian singer Yolande Ambiani presented Healing the wounds of war, bringing alive the suffering, the strength and the vision of women – Muslim, Jewish, Christian – engulfed in war in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Many were profoundly moved, among them John Franklin of USA’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture: ‘Working on museum projects about the history of my people, I am sometimes consumed with anger and hatred towards the perpetrators. Dr Mani has listened to the testimony of people caught up in war, who yet move towards forgiveness and love. I realized that I need to be on that road. Our future lies in creating a society that goes beyond tolerance into love and appreciation for each other.’

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Ethics for the 21 Century st

Caux seeks to bring an ethical dimension into public policy. New ethical issues are constantly emerging, and some were discussed in workshops.

John Sanderson

Penuo Hiekha

Meeting global challenges – the role of belief systems John Sanderson, former Australian Army Commander and Governor of Western Australia, led a session on ‘Meeting global challenges – the role of belief systems’.

The introduction read: ‘Meeting global challenges – the role of belief systems.’ Population growth and technological advance mean that many more aspire to share the planet’s riches. Yet inequality has grown, with huge wealth accruing to a small minority, while global poverty increases radicalism, instability and migration.

Forums such as Davos address these issues largely in economic terms, seeking solutions in

investment and employment while standing back from the impact on climate change and ecological destruction. Megacities grow as people migrate from the land in which their cultures and belief systems were founded.

The nurturing of the land gives way to its industrial management.

How do we change the conversation to a recognition of the wellbeing of the Earth and all its inhabitants? This is fundamentally a spiritual issue, and in the world’s belief systems are the resources which we need.

How can we harness these resources to the challenges we face globally?’

Media: conscience-to-conscience dialogue

William Morris Chair of the International {Communications 8 Forum

Journalists with the International Communications Forum (www.icforum.org) led sessions on the media coverage of the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, and on the challenge of reporting in tense situations. Topics included ‘Do

opinion formers have a role in promoting peace?’ and ‘How do ethical principles influence professional integrity?’ The Forum works for high ethical standards in the media through ‘person-to-person, conscience-to-conscience dialogue’.

Ethics for Industry and Government Every year Asia Plateau, the Initiatives of Change conference centre in Western India, trains hundreds of people in the leadership qualities needed to create good working conditions with high ethical standards. Participants include senior public servants, NGO leaders, managers from Daimler-Benz, Indian Railways and the Tata Group. In the past four years, 500 senior managers from the multinational Siemens have undertaken this course.

The course, known as The Heart of Effective Leadership, was developed at Asia Plateau by Indians who know from their own experience what it takes to outlaw bribery and exploitation in their businesses, their government offices, their NGOs. Four of them came to Caux and presented this course, among them Penuo Hiekha from Nagaland, India.

Sources of strength The struggle to overcome injustice is never easy. What sustains those who take it on?

Seven years in a gulag

Making others great

From criticism to service

Myroslav Marynovych Ukraine Vice-Rector, Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv

Wadiaa Khoury Lebanon University lecturer

Guled Osman Somalia

Lebanon has been overwhelmed by occupation, assassinations, war, economic crisis – and two million refugees. Many Lebanese emigrate if they can. I stay because I want to work for reconciliation.

Living in London, and seeing Somalia fall apart, I became very critical of the political class.

One day I asked myself what right I had to hold them to a higher standard than I held myself.

Two years ago I came to Caux. Instead of criticizing from afar, I decided to go to Somalia and offer my services.

When I was a university student, the KGB accused me of anti-Soviet comments, and said that I would be expelled unless I became an informer. This was a red line I could not cross while retaining my self-respect. For a long time I struggled to overcome my fear. Eventually the KGB told me, ‘If you are not with us you are against us.’ I said, ‘OK, I will be against you.’

This was my first moment of complete freedom. I realized that I don’t want to side with evil. This resulted in my imprisonment for seven years in a gulag, and then three years in exile. There my conviction grew that God gives me strength when I fight on the side of the good.

During the months of Ukraine’s Maidan revolution, I had the same feeling. Everything that is founded in lies will fall apart, and if we defend fairness and the good, we will win in the end.

We hold camps to which we bring young Iraqis of different origins and religions who cannot meet safely in Iraq. The funds come from Muslim and Christian Lebanese. I also work with Syrian refugees who are rediscovering their humanity through cultural activities, through dialogue, through manual work. Focusing on talent rather than ideology creates a new atmosphere, in which the two cultures can come closer.

In the past, faced with our vast problems, I was exhausted. But I am discovering what Teresa of Avila meant when she said that a spirit which lives in love neither gets tired nor tires others. And I understand Rajmohan Gandhi’s conviction that true leadership means making other people great.

The President’s office asked me to help develop the civil service – which was practically nonexistent. Corruption was everywhere. The vital need, I realized, was to live the values that Somalia needs, working honestly and openly, refusing bribes, walking to work instead of using a government car.

I also gain strength from friends. The more we say what is on our hearts, the more we discover people with whom we can work. Many entrepreneurs, teachers, priests, businessmen are returning to Lebanon, conscious of our country’s role in the resurgence of the Middle East. As Pope John Paul said, Lebanon is more than a country, it is a message of coexistence.

Colleagues responded to this approach, and we are making progress towards a functioning civil service. Many times I have come close to danger but I have often felt something protecting me.

I have the sense that I am in the place I am meant to be, and that keeps me going.

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INITIATIVES OF CHANGE (IofC) is a world-wide movement of people of diverse cultures and backgrounds, who are committed to the transformation of society through changes in human motives and behaviour, starting with their own.

The CAUX – IofC FOUNDATION is the Swiss IofC national body and an officially recognized independent charitable foundation. It manages activities in Switzerland, as well as the conference centre in the former Caux-Palace hotel above Montreux.

www.caux.ch

Asia Plateau, Panchgani, India

A Dialogue on Just Governance will take place at Asia Plateau, Panchgani, India, 24-28 February 2015

EMAIL CAUX AT comms@caux.ch FIND US ON FACEBOOK facebook.com/CAUX.Iofc OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL youtube.com/user/CAUXIofC OUR TWITTER HANDLE @CAUXIofC

For further information, see:

www.in.iofc.org/JG

JUST GOVERNANCE The next Caux conference on Just Governance for Human Security will take place 3-8 July 2015 See the conference website for further details:

www.cauxforum.net

CAUX – Initiatives of Change Conference Centre Rue du Panorama 2 CH–1824 Caux Switzerland Tel: + 41 (0)21 962 91 11

VISION A just, peaceful and sustainable world to which everyone, responding to the call of conscience, makes their unique contribution.

MISSION To inspire, equip and connect people to address world needs, starting with themselves.

FOCUS AREAS Trustbuilding: Peace and social cohesion by building trust and reconciliation across divides.

Ethical Leadership: Good governance at every level by developing a leadership culture based on moral integrity, compassion and selfless service.

Sustainable Living: Economic justice and environmental sustainability by inspiring transformation of motives and behaviour.

APPROACH IofC focuses on the link between personal change and global change.

Its approach involves:

Just Governance Conference Secretariat

Starting with oneself: An honest look at one’s own motives and behaviour is often the starting point for personal transformation.

c/o Initiatives of Change International Rue de Varembé 1 CH-1202 Geneva Postal address: PO Box 3, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland Tel: +41 (0)22 749 1620 Fax: +41 (0)22 733 0267 Email: humansecurity@cauxforum.net www.cauxforum.net

Listening to others: With its intergenerational, multicultural and interreligious diversity, IofC enables honest conversations in an open spirit, building bridges of trust and community between people of similar, different, and even antagonistic, backgrounds.

Photo Credits include: Stéphanie Buri,Thaïs Ruegg, Delia Malut, Elodie Malbois, Anne Reid, Stefanie Marxer

Silence: IofC places the search for inner wisdom at the heart of its approach.

While some understand this experience as divine guidance and others see it as the leading of conscience, many find that the regular practice of silence can give access to a source of truth, creativty and inspiration.

Taking focused action in concrete situations.