Current Contributions to International Trust and Reconciliation

Today, Initiatives of Change (IofC) attempts to build a culture of integrity, leading to trust and conflict prevention, through dialogues, trust-building workshops, education, campaigns and training programmes. Through these activities, key individuals in conflict situations develop a greater capacity to act with ethical responsibility. Current examples of trust and reconciliation programs with international implications include:

Africa

• Burundi: Conducted several reconciliation workshops in the international centre of Initiatives of Change in Caux, Switzerland, from 2003 onwards, involving leaders from all major factions in the conflict. Supported the negotiations leading to the September 2006 cease-fire agreement and subsequent work to consolidate the peace.
• Democratic Republic of Congo: In 2002 and 2003, IofC coordinated interfaith and inter-ethnic activities, and programs, in and around Lubumbashi.
• Côte d'Ivoire: IofC was awarded the 'Prix du Merite' for its work towards national reconciliation. A 2007 workshop for journalists in partnership with the press agency InfoSud resulted in a new network of 'Journalists for Peace and Reconciliation'.
• Ghana: Chieftaincy and land disputes had resulted in periodic violent clashes over the years. In 2003, IofC brought together disputants in the town of Bortianor.
• Kenya: In response to ethnic violence after the 2007 elections, young Kenyans associated with IofC launced 'Kenya I Care', using story sharing, skits and songs to empower school children to break the chain of tribal hate.
• Sierra Leone: Trust-building seminars for training senior police and military officers. Reintegration programs for former RUF rebels and dialogues between former members of the RUF and CDF, conducted by Hope Sierra Leone (H-SL), a chapter of IofC. H-SL ran a "Clean Election Campaign" in the run up to the 2007 elections, and subsequently worked to prevent outbreaks of violence around the elections.
• Somalia: Conducted numerous trust-building workshops and seminars in Sweden, UK and Switzerland, involving leaders of different clans, both from within Somalia and from the Diaspora. Over the last 13 years significant reconciliations have taken place, involving dozens of key personalities.
• Sudan: Teams from IofC's Creators of Peace network led workshops for politicians and social activists in Juba (South Sudan) and in Khartoum in 2007 breaking down the barriers of hatred and prejudice which have contributed to 20 years of conflict.

Europe

• A Heart and Soul for Europe: Conferences and dialogues between Europe's diverse peoples, old and new, build commitment to the shared basic values which build cohesion.
• France: For the last 10 years an 'Initiative Dialogue' programme has brought Muslim and non-Muslim residents into local circles to 'bridge gaps between different worlds that ignore each other. 'An 'Education for Peace" programme works with schools teaching students how to manage conflict without violence.
• Foundations for Freedom: A programme of training courses and workshops to ground young leaders in the moral and spiritual values which underly free societies. The programme, now based in Ukraine, has run since 1993.
• Britain: IofC's Hope in the Cities programme focuses on healing racial and economic divides. In 2007, the 200th anniversary of the ending of the trans-Atlantic slave-trade was marked by events in Liverpool, Richmond (Virginia, USA) and Benin (West Africa) forming a new 'reconciliation triangle'.

Japan / Korea

• Focus on acknowledging and healing wounds arising from history. IofC has inspired senior level exchanges involving parliamentarians, business leaders and others.

Middle East

• Israel / Palestine: Conferences, workshops and inter-faith dialogues involving Israelis and Palestinians from different sectors, mainly in Caux, Switzerland.
• Lebanon: IofC has worked for many years to build bridges between the different religious communities. Caux conferences under the theme ‘Agenda for Reconciliation’ have often involved groups with a mixture of religious from Lebanon. Some of these conferences have led to significant reconciliations that paved the way for fresh constructive initiatives in Lebanon.
• Muslim-Non-Muslim Dialogues in Switzerland ’02 and Morocco ’04. Amman scheduled for ’06 or ’07. Designed to deepen understanding between academics, diplomats, religious leaders, politicians and young people from Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities.

Oceania

• Australia: Behind the scenes support role – for over 50 years – for national and state processes towards Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Including informal strategic work for the Journey for Healing that included National Sorry Day public Rallies for Reconciliation which engaged the participation of hundreds of thousands of Australians. In Sydney a series of large public Christian-Muslim dialogues have brought local communities together.
• Papua New Guinea: Engagement over six decades. Recently conducted forty workshops at the village level about turning enemies into friends, living in right relationships within families and communities, and grassroots development programs.
• Solomon Islands and Fiji: Intensive trust-building conferences and workshops conducted over the last five years, designed to resolve tribal conflicts, address underlying corruption, and lay a basis for lasting peace. Workshops for reconciliation have taken place for officers of the Solomon Islands police force and for former combatants.

Southeast Asia

• Cambodia and Vietnam: A series of four reconciliation dialogues and exchanges between young Cambodians and Vietnamese to heal the legacy of mistrust after recent wars.

North America

• Canada: Through its Partners in Reconciliation program, IofC conducts dialogues and bridge-building workshops between First Nations, English, French and other ethnic communities, as well as between faiths.
• United States: Through its Hope in the Cities program, IofC seeks to create just and inclusive communities through reconciliation among racial, ethnic and religious groups based on personal and institutional transformation. Based in Richmond, Virginia, Hope in the Cities has set out to establish ‘an honest conversation on race, reconciliation and responsibility'. It is working to create racial partnerships for reconciliation in a dozen American cities, and training dialogue facilitators in inter-racial community initiatives. Urban leaders and activists from cities in Britain, Brazil, South Africa, Australia and other countries are also participating in Hope in the Cities programs internationally.