Contents:

How it works
Peace and trust building
Transforming society and culture 
Global economy & sustainability
Training and capacity building

How it works 

You can read more about the basic ideas of Initiatives of Change here
To read more about Professor Rajmohan Gandhi, President of Initiatives of Change, click here

For more about Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor Wuye and some their activities during 2008, click here
For more information on their visit to Australia, click here
To read about the screening of The Imam and the Pastor at Cinéma Verité in Geneva and Paris, October 2008, click here
To read about the launch of the Arabic version of the film in Lebanon click here
To read about the launch of the film in Egypt, click here

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Peace and trust building

To read more about the first Solomon Islands workshop for ex-combatants, and some of the background of the conflict, click here
To read more about the IofC conference on reconciliation with the participation of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and the second workshop for ex-combatants, click here
In addition to the workshops, a women’s Creators of Peace Circle has also taken place in the Solomon Islands. To read more click here

Since the post-election violence in Kenya, the local IofC team have taken various initiatives to bring reconciliation and built trust between the different tribes involved. These have included a spiritual retreat with some of those who had suffered during the violence, Creators of Peace Circles workshops, a Creators of Peace Circles reunion, for participants of previous workshops, and a Kenya I Care outreach programme in Eldoret North. IofC also facilitated the participation of Imam Ashafa and Pastor Wuye from Nigeria in a workshop bringing together the divided communities of the Burnt Forest are, which had seen some of the worst of the violence. You can read more about that workshop here.

Hope Sierra Leone is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) affiliated to Initiatives of Change International. To read about its founder, John Bangura, click here.
Click here for the Hope Sierra Leone website.
Full reports are available of many of the eight regional dialogues held around the country.

• To read about the launch by the Vice President of Sierra Leone in the Sierra Leone parliament click here.
• To read about the 3rd dialogue in Bo, Provincial HQ of the Southern Region, click here
• To read about the 5th dialogue in Kono, click here
• To read about the 6th dialogue in Pujehun, South Sierra Leone, click here
• To read about the 7th dialogue in Kenema, click here
• To read about the conclusion of Sierra Leone regional dialogues, click here.

The people of Sierra Leone voted Hope Sierra Leone as NGO of the Year, 2008. To read more click here

To read more about the launch of Michael Henderson’s book No Enemy to Conquer – forgiveness in an unforgiving world, at the St Ethelberga Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in London, click here.
Michael Henderson’s website can be found here, with full details of this and other of his books.

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Transforming society and culture

Initiatives of Change has facilitated clean elections campaigns in many countries, including Kenya, Taiwan, Solomon Islands and Sierra Leone. To read more about the programmes, click here.
To read a report of the Clean Election Campaign in Ghana, click here

To read more about the Education for Peace programme in France, click here

To read more about Foundations for Freedom, click here

To read more about the Hope in the Cities programme, click here.
In May 2009, Hope in the Cities partnered with the American Civil War Center (ACWC) at Historic Tredegar Ironworks and Hermitage High School (Richmond, Va.) to facilitate dialogue among students and support their exploration of how the Civil War and its effects continue to influence their lives. To read more click here.
Other initiatives have included a community art programme (click here for more) and the annual Metropolitan Richmond Day (Click here for more).

To read about IofC’s participation in the Big Hope conference at Liverpool Hope University, click here.
After the conference some of the international speakers stayed on for a ‘Conversations on Trustbuilding’ conference, organized by IofC UK. For more information click here.
Previously, Gerald Pilay, the Vice Chancellor and Rector of Liverpool Hope University, had given a Caux Lecture on Education for a Changing World. Click here for more.

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Global economy and sustainability

To read more about the IofC centre in Caux, Switzerland, click here.
To download a report of the 2008 Caux conferences, click here (PDF file, 7.3MB)
To read more about the first Caux Forum for Human Security, click here.

The Caux conference, Trust and Integrity in the Global Economy is run by Caux Initiatives for Business (CIB). To read more about CIB click here.
To read more about the 2008 conference, click here.

To read more about the food conference in Bologna, click here
To read more about the International Farmers’ Dialogue, click here
To read more about the Farmers’ Dialogue in Kenya, December 2008, click here

To read about the Heart of Effective Leadership conferences in Panchgani, India, click here

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Training & Capacity building

Initiatives of Change offers a variety of training programmes which can be tailored for specific needs. To find out more, contact the Office of Training Services in Geneva (click here to send an email)

The Action for Life programme is an intensive leadership development programme lasting seven months. It takes place every two years in Asia, starting with a period of intensive training at the IofC centre in Panchgani, followed by outreach into India and then other countries of Asia. To find out more visit the Action for Life website (click here)

To download a full report of the Harambee training programme in South Africa, click here

To read a report of the 18th Life Matters course, click here. To find out more about the Life Matters courses, click here

Other training programmes run by IofC during the year have included:

• An workshop on Leadership, Conflict Resolution and Cultural Understanding took place in Geneva at the end of May. (click here for more)
• A ‘Faith in leadership’ course for young leaders from different faith traditions in the UK. (click here for more)
• ‘Tools for Change’ conferences in Caux, Switzerland and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Click here for more on the Malaysia conference.

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